Thurlow Harris Thurlow Harris was a Human male starfighter pilot who served in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the early Galactic Civil War . The son of a Rebel captain , Harris spent much of his life in his father ' s shadow and witnessed many battles during his youth . Harris completed his Alliance training at the pilot training center on Kolaador , and was one of three pilots sent from Kolaador to Tatooine when Anchorhead Base was attacked by the Galactic Empire . Harris helped to incapacitate an " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer in orbit of Tatooine , but his group arrived too late to prevent the destruction of Anchorhead Base . Harris was later stationed at the Alliance ' s main base in the Great Temple on Yavin 4 when it came under assault by the Empire ' s Death Star battlestation . As part of Blue Squadron , Harris fought in the subsequent Battle of Yavin , in which Rebel forces destroyed the Death Star . He was captured soon after , however , when he returned to his homeworld of Centares to spread news of the Alliance ' s victory . After being tortured by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader , Harris revealed that Luke Skywalker was the pilot responsible for the Death Star ' s destruction . He was subsequently killed by the bounty hunter Mala Mala . Biography . Rebel pilot . Born in 20 BBY on the planet Centares in the Maldrood sector of the Mid Rim , Thurlow Harris grew up in a galaxy controlled by the Galactic Empire . His father became a captain in the Alliance to Restore the Republic , so Harris had seen many battles by the time he was twenty years old . Harris followed his father into the fledgling Rebellion early in the Galactic Civil War and undertook training as a starfighter pilot at the Alliance ' s pilot training center on Kolaador , alongside another recruit known as Rookie One . In 0 BBY , Rebel agents acquired the plans to the Empire ' s Death Star battlestation , a superweapon capable of destroying a planet . Pursued by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader , Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan entrusted the stolen plans to the droids R2 - D2 and C - 3PO , who escaped her ship as it was boarded by Imperial forces , landing on the Outer Rim world of Tatooine . Realizing that the plans were no longer aboard the vessel , Vader ordered his forces to begin searching Tatooine . When the Imperial search uncovered the Alliance ' s Anchorhead Base , the Rebels called for assistance from Kolaador . In response to the distress call , Harris , Rookie One , and Commander Ru Murleen were dispatched to Tatooine in T - 65 X - wing starfighter s . The three Rebels arrived in the Tatoo system to find an " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer in orbit around Tatooine , coordinating the attack below . As the Star Destroyer launched TIE / LN starfighter s against the incoming Rebels , Murleen led Harris and Rookie One in strafing runs to weaken its defenses . When the deflector shields protecting the bridge fell under the Rebel assault , Rookie One fired proton torpedoes at the unprotected command tower , crippling the vessel and allowing the Rebel flight group to proceed to the surface . As the Rebels approached Anchorhead Base , it came under attack from three TIE fighters . Arriving too late to prevent the base ' s destruction , the Rebels pursued the TIE fighters into Beggar ' s Canyon to stop them from reporting the arrival of the X - wings . After all three enemies were eliminated , the Rebels were joined by the X - wing of Captain Merrick Simms , and Murleen instructed Harris and Rookie One to accompany Simms while she attacked the Imperial supply lines . With enemy ground forces moving into Mos Eisley , Simms led Harris and Rookie One to the spaceport town , where they engaged All Terrain Scout Transports and Imperial landing craft until the arrival of a TIE fighter group forced them to withdraw . With Harris struggling to outrun a TIE / IN interceptor as the Rebels fled into space , Simms led the two rookies into a nearby asteroid field , where they lost their pursuers before making a hyperspace jump to rendezvous with the Alliance Fleet . Battle of Yavin . Harris was later assigned to the Alliance ' s main base on the moon Yavin 4 , but soon found himself in battle once more . The stolen Death Star plans were eventually delivered to the Rebel base , but the Empire dispatched the Death Star itself to destroy the moon . Analysis of the plans revealed a weakness in the battlestation which General Jan Dodonna formulated a plan to exploit ; a direct proton torpedo hit on a small thermal exhaust port would trigger a chain reaction in the Death Star ' s main reactor and destroy the battlestation . Harris was assigned to Blue Squadron , a group of four X - wings led by Simms and including Murleen and Rookie One ; Harris received the call sign Blue Four . Blue Squadron was charged with attacking the Death Star ' s superlaser directly in an attempt to both damage it and divert attention away from Red and Gold Squadrons while those groups attacked the exhaust port . As Blue Squadron approached the Death Star , a Star Destroyer in its support fleet launched TIE fighters to intercept them . The group battled their way through the incoming TIEs , with Harris getting at least one kill . During the fight , three of the Imperial fighters were able to get on Simms ' tail . Harris tried to go to his wingmate ' s aid , but he was unable to get a lock , leaving Rookie One to destroy the TIEs and save the flight leader . After making it past the perimeter , Blue Squadron commenced strafing runs on the Death Star ' s turbolaser batteries and cleared the way for the Alliance forces to enter the narrow trench leading to the exhaust port . Though the initial attempts failed , Red Squadron pilot Luke Skywalker finally made a direct hit on the exhaust port and destroyed the Death Star . The Rebels took heavy losses but Harris narrowly survived the battle . Capture . Following the Battle of Yavin , Lord Vader became obsessed with taking revenge against the Rebel pilot responsible for the Death Star ' s destruction and hired bounty hunters to track the pilot down . Believing Vader to have been killed during the battle , Harris thought that the Rebels would soon win the Galactic Civil War and returned to his homeworld of Centares to spread news of the Alliance ' s victory . There he was captured by a group of bounty hunters including the Sephi Mala Mala , her droid Fordee and the Human siblings Brazzo and Selle . Vader arrived on Centares soon after to oversee Harris ' s interrogation and , with the aid of Ban Papeega and a torture droid , tortured Harris in the former Museum of the Old Republic until he revealed Skywalker ' s name before he went unconscious . Flying into a rage , Vader , who had been born Anakin Skywalker and was Luke Skywalker ' s father , ordered the bounty hunters killed to prevent Skywalker ' s name from reaching Emperor Palpatine . Vader dispatched a stormtrooper to execute Harris , but Mala Mala intercepted and killed the trooper . Going to Harris , the bounty hunter inquired what he had revealed that had caused Vader to turn on her partners . After he admitted betraying Skywalker and the Alliance , Mala Mala killed him with a blaster shot . Personality and traits . Thurlow Harris was a Human male with brown hair , brown eyes and light skin . With his father serving in the Rebel Alliance , Harris was exposed to the Galactic Civil War at an early age and saw many battles during his youth . Harris chose to follow his father ' s example by joining the Alliance , but he struggled to escape his father ' s shadow . Although he became a skilled pilot , Harris lacked the confidence and mental control of more experienced pilots . Following the Alliance ' s victory at the Battle of Yavin , Harris was overjoyed and confident that the Rebels would soon win the war . Harris always believed he would be strong and not reveal anything if he was ever captured by the Empire , but his resolve failed when he was subjected to torture following his capture on Centares . After revealing Skywalker ' s name , Harris was ashamed and could not forgive himself for betraying the Alliance . He ultimately welcomed his death when Mala Mala came to kill him . Behind the scenes . Thurlow Harris was created by Vincent Lee for the 1993 LucasArts video game " " , and his backstory was expanded in the game ' s manual . Harris is a non - player character in the game , who serves in the same squadron as the player ' s character , Rookie One . " Rebel Assault " depicts Harris , as part of Blue Squadron , taking part in a trench run at the Battle of Yavin which contradicts the battle as depicted in . The trench run in the game is almost identical to that of the movie — only the persons involved are different . The game depicts Blue Squadron attempting a trench run with Simms entering first while Rookie One joins Murleen and Harris in providing cover . As they negotiate the long trench , the group is pursued by three TIE fighters , including a TIE Advanced x1 such as the one used by Darth Vader in the movie . The TIEs open fire , killing Harris and forcing Murleen to pull out , echoing the fates of Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles in the movie . Simms finally reaches firing range but his torpedoes impact on the surface , leaving Rookie One next to make an attempt , mirroring Garven Dreis ' s failed attempt . In the game , it is Rookie One ' s shot that is depicted as destroying the battlestation , as opposed to Skywalker ' s . In December 2006 , Leland Chee , keeper of Lucasfilm ' s Holocron continuity database , commented on the StarWars . com Message Boards that Rookie One ' s trench run was non - continuity , leaving it unclear whether the scene depicting Harris ' s death was canon . Harris received an entry in " The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia " ( 2008 ) which mentions his participation in the Battle of Yavin but did not clarify whether he survived the battle , and " The Essential Guide to Warfare " ( 2012 ) later confirmed that Blue Squadron were assigned to attack the Death Star ' s superlaser while Red and Gold Squadrons attacked the trench . In September 2013 , the Star Wars Blog article " The Not - So Magnificent Seven " by Greg Mitchell confirmed that Harris survived the battle . The article established that a previously unidentified Rebel pilot whose interrogation and death soon after the Battle of Yavin were depicted in the 1999 comic book " Vader ' s Quest 1 " by Darko Macan is Harris .