Pandak Symes Pandak Symes was a human male Imperial cadet who briefly trained at the Academy for Young Imperials on Lothal as a member of Unit Aurek of squad LRC077 . His parents , Colonel Symes and Major Symes , were career members of the Imperial Army . Unable to endure the harsh initial orientation , he was one of the first cadets of his term to wash out of the Academy early and was replaced by " Dev Morgan " , who turned out to actually be Ezra Bridger . Biography . Pandak Symes was the son of two career officers in the Imperial Army , Colonel Symes and Major Symes . Both his parents had high expectations for Pandak and hoped their son would follow them into the Imperial Military . Several years before the Battle of Yavin , Pandak enrolled at Lothal ' s Academy for Young Imperials , a one - year junior academy that prepared Imperial cadet s for further training at specialized academies throughout the Outer Rim Territories . While Pandak had little interest in embarking on a military career , he reluctantly obliged in order to live up to parental expectations . After being accepted into the Imperial Academy , Symes was assigned to Unit Aurek , a four - member cell in squad LRC077 . While Pandak managed to befriend fellow cadets Zare Leonis and Jai Kell , he was repeatedly bullied by Nazhros Oleg , who despised him as a weakling and hoped to force him to " wash out " from the Academy . During the two - week orientation period , Pandak took part in frequent running drills and training exercises . Often , Symes struggled to keep up with his fellow cadets and was repeatedly berated by the drill sergeant Currahee , who was known for her harsh training methods . Unhappy with the brutal , regimented nature of Academy life , Symes planned to wash out after the orientation period On several occasions , Leonis tried to help Symes and often tried to shield him from Oleg , who was known as the squad ' s bully . One evening , Oleg attempted to force Symes to hand over his fruit bar . When Pandak resisted , Oleg taunted the cadet by telling him that he could not cut it at the Academy and should instead go home . Leonis stood up for Symes and knocked the fork out of Oleg ' s hand . When Oleg threatened Leonis , Lieutenant Chiron intervened and issued Oleg with two demerits before summoning Leonis to his office for a discussion . Near the end of the orientation period , Symes and his fellow cadets took part in a military exercise that involved them deploying from a " Sentinel " - class landing craft into a lake . Despite difficulties with his comlink , Symes and the rest of Unit Aurek managed to land safely . For this exercise , the cadets had to use a navigation system in their helmet to proceed to their next rendezvous point . After landing onshore , Leonis helped Pandak to assemble his E - 11 blaster . When Oleg taunted Leonis for " babysitting " Symes , Leonis responded that they were better together as a unit then by themselves . The third part of the obstacle course involved the cadets having to navigate across broken terrain to another rendezvous point while under fire from Imperial troops , who had their blaster s on training setting . If cadets were hit , they were out . Symes and Kell voted for Leonis to lead the squad since they knew that Leonis cared for his fellow cadets . Under Leonis ' orders , Symes and his fellow cadets advanced forward in file formation . Despite Leonis ' effective leadership , Symes was unable to cope with the stress of the exercise and experienced a nervous breakdown a few kilometers short of their rendezvous point . Despite Leonis ' best efforts to help him , Symes was unable to continue with the exercise ; forcing the other cadets to proceed leave him behind as they proceeded to their rendezvous point . Following the field exercise , Symes voluntarily withdrew from the Academy for Young Imperials . While Oleg was jubilant at Symes ' withdrawal , Leonis was unhappy that his fellow cadet had given up . Symes ' voluntary withdrawal was part of the Empire ' s policy of " winnowing out the unworthy " in order to find the best cadets to fill the ranks of the Imperial military . Personality and traits . Pandak Symes was physically weaker than his fellow cadets at the Academy for Young Imperials and was unable to keep up with the ruthless training program . Symes was a reluctant cadet and had only enrolled at the Academy to comply with the expectations of his careerist parents , who wanted their son to follow them into the Imperial military . While Symes got on well with his fellow cadets Zare Leonis and Jai Kell , he was regularly bullied by Nazhros Oleg , who despised him as a weakling . Unhappy with his parental expectations and life at the Academy , Symes had resolved to pull out at the end of the two - week orientation program . Despite his poor physical prowess , Pandak was skilled enough to win a game of chance cube . Behind the scenes . Pandak Symes first appeared in Jason Fry ' s 2015 young reader ' s novella " " , a spin - off book tied to the children ' s television series " Star Wars Rebels " . His lines are told from the point - of - view of Zare Leonis , the protagonist of the " " series who appears in the " Rebels " episode " Breaking Ranks " .