Roons Sewell Roons Sewell was a general in the Alliance to Restore the Republic , and a former actor . He was one of the early commanders of Massassi Station . Known for his courage and devotion , Sewell was admired by those under his command , including General Jan Dodonna . Biography . Early life . General Sewell grew up poor on the streets of a dirty industrial city on a backwater planet . When he was a young boy , he was badly beaten by a group of older boys and left for dead . Fortunately for Sewell , he was found by a passing transport pilot and taken to a local hospital . Sewell was able to recover and it was not long before he was back on the streets . A secret that Sewell took to his death was that after his recuperation , he led the three boys who had beaten him into a trap , killing them . Years later , as a young man , Sewell joined a local theater group . Sewell would later tell General Jan Dodonna that those were the happiest days of his life . It was there that he met the love of his life , an actress named Masla . This would all end when one day , Imperial stormtroopers attempted to stop a performance , accusing the players of being subversives . Onstage , Sewell refused to stop his performance , becoming more aggressive as he continued . When Sewell , enraged , threw a chair at the accompanying Imperial officer , the stormtroopers opened fire . Though Sewell attempted to save her , Masla was one of the first to die in the resulting massacre . After escaping backstage and into the city , Sewell was able to find the Imperial officers waiting at Masla ' s mother ' s residence . He baited them out and they left in their speeder , to which Sewell had attached a heavy - duty chain . The speeder ripped itself apart , mortally wounding two of the officers . Sewell finished the last one himself , with the officer ' s own blaster . For a while after this , he lived life on the run , work as a lone agent against the Empire . He knew however that to truly make a difference he would have to connect with the Rebel Alliance . Service with the Rebellion . Eventually , the Alliance found him . One of his early missions involved a small team disguised as Imperials tasked with stealing Imperial shuttles . The mission was particularly bloody , resulting in the deaths of almost every Imperial on the station . His career with the Rebellion was quite remarkable , and he quickly rose to the rank of General , one of the youngest in the Alliance . One of his first tasks upon gaining his rank was that of evacuating the then Captain Jan Dodonna following his defection . Though Dodonna was at first a bit unimpressed with the man under whom he would be serving , in time he grew to respect Sewell ' s unorthodox tactics and quick wit . Shortly after , Sewell and Dodonna were tasked with arming the Rebel base on Yavin 4 and beginning to assemble a space fleet . Here a hatred of small rodents Sewell had developed in his early life caused him to act irrationally around such creatures native to Yavin 4 . In one incident , named the " Battle of the Bunkroom " by Dodonna , he attempted to exterminate several of the creatures with a blaster . Sewell quickly grew restless in his role as an administrator and undertook an unscheduled mission in spite of Dodonna ' s urging patience . With only a small squadron of Y - wings , Sewell raided an Imperial supply depot , recovering a Corellian Corvette , twenty hyperdrive units and many needed supplies and small arms . Sacrifice . His last mission was a raid on an Imperial outpost to secure proton torpedoes . The raid went fairly well , but they were forced to retreat into an asteroid belt , where they lay hiding . After a long and heated argument with Dodonna , Sewell transferred into a Y - wing . Sewell planned to act as a decoy for the pursuing Imperials , and brought two remote controlled fighters along which were programmed to follow his every move . Though he succeeding in allowing the getaway of Dodonna and the crew , General Roons Sewell was shot down by a TIE Fighter and died . Behind the scenes . Roons Sewell is an anagram of . Many aspects of Sewell ' s character follow those of the young Welles : his appearance , histrionic speaking style , love of theatre , and meteoric rise through the ranks despite his youth . One might also argue that Sewell ' s demise mirrored Welles ' swift descent from Hollywood royalty . Additionally , Sewell ' s war - cry of " Masla ! " , of which no one knew the true meaning , is reminiscent of the dying words of the titular character of " " , a film by Orson Welles .