Lit Ensemble Dark Horses of Legends and Canon

So, who are the minor characters you unreasonably love and why? The minorer the better. Because, Star Wars is a series which is fueled by intrigue at characters who started off with very minor roles. Wedge Antilles and Boba Fett are the two most prominent examples but who ever thought we'd have massive amounts of fiction devoted to Clonetroopers? Doctor Aphra is now rising to become a lovable rogue with her own section of the comics.

Here's some of mine:

Tremayne: You don't get much more obscure than (ironically) the most famous villain of the West End Games books. Tremayne was created to be a substitute for Darth Vader which the terminally underpowered heroes of the game could defeat. Basically, Jerec before Jerec existed and not as cool or badass. We never did find out what happened to him, unlike the majority of Legends Darksiders.

Brakiss: I actually really liked his character in the short time he managed to appear in both the Young Jedi Knights series and The New Rebellion. Weirdly, it was the latter I liked him most in. He's just this insecure Force Sensitive teenager who is playing at being a Dark Sider. A bit like Kylo Ren before we got Kylo Ren. I suspect that's also why I like KR while despising Caedus as he has more of the pathetic qualities of Brakiss that made him a tragic villain as well as a inoffensive one.

The D'Asta Family: It's a bit of a shame that Kir Kanos has the personality of duracrete because, honestly, I would have loved to have seen more of these. A richer-than-God Imperial quintillionaire as well as his daughter and clone of his daughter who are the powers behind the Imperial Remnant. That would be an interesting damn story. I'm sorry we never had someone like James Luceno expand on them.

Nash Windrider: This is a bizarre choice because he's basically an insane Imperial fanatic but I actually sympathize with his character more than I do the majority of characters out there. He's broken himself mentally to justify the destruction of Alderaan and then finds himself betrayed by someone he thought was a friend. I also liked his puppy love for Ciena Re, even though he'd be horrified by her actions on Thane's behalf. I'd like to see him again, either in a Lost Stars sequel, or as part of the First Order. He's probably beyond redemption but, notably, Leia managed to get through to Imperial Alderaanians like him before.

Alex Winger: Even more obscure than Tremayne but someone I actually wished had her own Legends book. She's probably the most normal person which Luke could have seriously dated and, ironically, someone I think he would have been happy with.

 

Domina Tagge, and her family. I would have liked to see a nod to them in the new Vader comic that featured Cassio...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

For me one is Kinman Doriana.
He appears in a few novels as an ally to Palpatine/Sidious who at least during his earlier service didn't even knew they were the same person. But he defenetly works as one of Palpatines most trusted agents later on. What facinates me about the character is that in The Hand of Thrawn its mentioned that Dorianna died at some point during the emperors reign over the galaxy and Palpatine filled the spot he left with Vader, Thrawn and Mara. Given how badass each of these characters is one has to wonder how important Doriana was for the emperor. He is also called the architect of the emperors rise at one point hinting that he might have been part of Palpatines sceming.
That and the fact that we never learn how Doriana died make him a very facinating character in my eyes.

 

Kud'ar Mub'at: The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy holds a place in my heart as some of the first EU I ever read. Kud'ar Mub'at and the assemblers as galactic middlemen were an incredibly cool concept, and I've always been disappointed that they almost never showed up again with their creepy living web space stations and various nodes. Shout out to Jason Fry for including Balancesheet in the Essential Guide to Warfare, that was a real treat.

Sardu Sallow: The Tusken bounty hunter and tracker that teamed up with Zuckuss and 4-LOM during the hunt for the Yavin Vassilika. He was the only bounty hunter in that comic that wasn't in the movies, and he more than acquitted himself. His unique way of speaking and pack of Jawa hirelings were great as well, and its a pity he never showed up anywhere else.

 

Havet Storm.

Mainly because I like name dropping him in these sorts of discussions and watching people go "Huh!?"

And also because he was my first player character and I have fond memories of cheating my way through THE LOST JEDI only to be told, "YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU COULD WIN A LIGHTSABER DUEL AGAINST DARTH VADER, DID YOU!?", which was awesome.

 

Have to agree with that. BHW is one of my favorites, and the spiders were just creepy. I'd also put the Shell Hutts into the category. That scene with them, Fett, and the other hunters was great.

 

I first heard of Havet through Abel Pena's Dark Forces articles, in which he was revealed as the student Desann killed at the Academy.

I think an imagined list of Kylo Ren's most hated fellow New Jedi Order members could itself be comprised of minor characters from the EU:

Jaden Korr (if Kylo could just figure out what s/he looks like. One account says Jaden is a Twi'lek female, the other says Jaden is a human male.)
Rosh Penin
Tionne (Kylo thinks her music is terrible)
Mander Zuma
Havet Storm (How is this guy still alive? Kylo read the reports that Desann killed him years ago. No matter, Kylo and the Knights of Ren will just kill him again)
Streen (this old guy reminds Kylo of Lor San Tekka)
Saba Sebatyne (Kylo really wants to take out this self-righteous one )
Dorsk No. whatever (Kylo lost count of the Dorsks quite a while ago. No matter how many there are now, he'll wipe them out. All of them )
Klin-Fa Gi (told Ben that he was ugly and she'd never date him in a million years--it's why he why he wears a mask all the time now)
Lowbacca (is it Lowbacca? All wookiees look the same to Kylo )

 

All of the advisors from ROTJ need more fleshing out. Some of them don't even have names! Janus Greejatus is in a few books but he usually only gets a line or two.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

And now we have Vanee from Rogue One... Is this Kren-Blista Vanee? We never got clarification...

I also want Sate Pestage back. I thought we were going to have an interesting political story involving the downfall of Mas Amedda and the rise of Sate Pestage to the position of Vizier. But it never happened... Honestly, having Amedda in the same job for 40 years is just dull...

 

I love Tremayne, but because of Evasive Action.

One other character would have to be Sigel Dare. I just love the Imperial Knights and she's totally my favorite.
I think pseudo-Jedi Imperial force users just have that appeal to me.

 

Most people did, I'm sure.

I'm still sore.

 

Adalric Cessius Brandl - An art appreciating Imperial like Thrawn, except different. He's an Inquisitior and his art of choice is theater.
Ima-Gun-Die - simply because his name was imo the greatest pun in all of Star Wars.
Emperor's Shadow Guards - Well obviously, because they're actually my favorite characters period. I just find the whole concept behind them absolutely wonderful and even though I hate The Force Unleashed's story, the minor details in it such as the various different enemies you fought had great flavor. Especially in contrast to the dull one dimensional billy badass Gary Stu personality of the main character. My love for the Shadow Guards is proof of that opinion.

Sent from my Alcatel_4060O using Tapatalk

 

Heh, I got really far into writing up the reasons I so enjoy my favorite characters (all either unscrupulous cranks or cartoonish villains), then realized they hardly qualify as dark horses, as their dastardly plans are always thoroughly routed in the end, which is part of why I'm so entertained by them.

So, I will third Tremayne. I actually just reread Evasive Action last night. West End Games introduced so many fun and intriguing minor characters.

 

I want more of Gaff: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gaff

 

Cole Fardreamer

I have a soft spot for Dorsk 81. He was always questioning himself but in the end he made a meaningful sacrifice that pushed back a lot of Daala's attack fleet and helped save Luke's Academy.

 

Bob Hudsol. The name, the mustache, the enigma.



One of the things I get a kick out of with ANH in general is how by the time he neared the end of the script, GL had clearly run out of inventive names and was now just calling his characters things like Bob, John, and Dave.

 

Chase Piru - a brave young Jedi Padawan that (almost) gave her life to protect a bunch of younglings. I wish we got more stories with her.


Jan Ors - I like Kyle Katarn as much as everybody else, but Kyle wouldn't be Kyle without Jan.


Zao - the original Zatoichi Jedi. Before someone brings up Rahm Kota or Kanan, remember, Zao did it first! Oh, and he'd wipe the floor with both of them (disclaimer: I like Kota and love Kanan, but they aren't a match for Zao).


Slyssk - I love that trandoshan soooo much and wish we got more of him in KOTOR.


Mezgraf - I just like big cats, cool jackets and good food. And Mezgraf is a big cat with a cool jacket that cooks good food. 'Nuff said. Here's him preparing an awesome meal:

 

Vaneé is definitely not Kren Blista-Vanee. KBV is already a member of the Ruling Council in Tarkin, he's not going to be demoted to Vader's butler. Also, Vaneé looks significantly older than Kren.

I could buy them being related or something, though.

 

Odd fact, I really want to believe the two Royal Guardsman pulling Vader detail are Kir Kanos and Carnor Jax. Because ONLY those two guys are trusted enough by Vader to:

1. Be badass enough to hold down whatever comes after him while he's in the tub
2. Be sport enough if he decides to kill them.
3. Kill each other if Carnor or Kir decides to kill Vader for A:] Ambition (Jax) or B:] Loyalty to Palps (Kanos)

 

I do like Tremayne, but my personal favorite minor EU characters definetly has to be Rivoche Tarkin, Octavian Grant, and good old Betl Oxtore.

 

I love Rivoche. She deserved to be in a book or two.

I also would have loved to have met Grant as he seemed like the only Sane Man in the Room.

Some more on my list:

Grand Moff Kaine: Like Tremayne, he is a WEG villain which actually fulfilled a role necessary in the game of a Tarkin replacement. The thing is, I actually think Kaine is probably more of a Pellaeon type of fascist than a Tarkin one as there's no real sign he's committing the kind of atrocities which his predecessor did. Indeed, a lot of his reforms to the Pentastar Alignment were badly needed and would have done well to keep the trains proverbially running on time. He's also the single most successful Legends character after Pellaeon since the Imperial Remnant's "core" is the Pentastar Alignment. It's a shame he died in Operation: Shadowhand because I'd like to know the circumstances.

My fanon theory is Colonel Stormcaller assassinated him, only to realize that the people would never rise up and had become Imperialized--then he held off the reinforcements from the Empire until the PCs could escape.

Tanda Pryl: You have no idea who this woman is but she's the 2nd Imperial female officer in Star Wars history (after Shira Brie) and the first Imperial Female Naval Officer. She's the Captain of a Star Destroyer in the Elrood Sector. Tanda is also Force-Sensitive and the quietly competent one of Elrood's two ISDs.

 

I'm running this committee for the Model UN conference at my university, where you play as the (bastardized, non-canon-compliant, and immensely expanded) IRC after Endor, so I'm pulling from the depths of WEG to fill out the ranks of all the positions. Needless to say, dark horse WEG characters are my jam.

 

Malinza Thanas. Sean Williams and Shane Dix took a wide-eyed five-year-old kid from Assault at Selonia and turned her into a deep, mature, and complex character who was the highlight of the entire Force Heretic trilogy. Would have loved to have seen more of her.

Lumpy, of course.

Denjax Teppler.

Nei Rin was someone I would have liked to have seen more of had Legacy been allowed to continue past fifty.

Pretty much anyone from Droids. Great to see Admiral Screed in canon; I always had a soft spot for that old hawk-bat.

 

Oh, Charlemagne19 Kaine is lured into a trap by a defecting Grant, who has a bunch of E-Wings kill Kaine's shuttle.

 

Slyysk was absolutely my favorite KOTOR character who wasn't named Marn Heirogryph.