Snowball

Snowball was a four-eyed bilge rat who nested within the droid SM-33. Around 9 ABY, the children Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB discovered the buried starship Onyx Cinder on the planet At Attin. Inside, Neel examined the deactivated SM-33 and was startled when Snowball jumped out of the droid's eye socket. Later, after the ship had made a hyperspace jump and SM-33 had been reactivated, Snowball scurried across the vessel's control panel and jumped onto Neel while the droid was searching his memory bank for the children's homeworld. The droid was unable to recall it and took the children to the Port Borgo spaceport. There, SM-33 was shot with an ion rifle while attempting to rescue the children from pirates, and they and Snowball were locked in the port's brig. Neel attempted to train Snowball to retrieve the cell's key, but when the rat reached the key, it instead scurried away.
The pirate Jod Na Nawood soon helped the children escape, and they then convinced him to return for SM-33 and Snowball. Na Nawood successfully rescued the droid and brought them both back to the Onyx Cinder. Aboard the starship, the children ate porridge and Neel fed some to Snowball. Later, as the crew traveled to the planet Lanupa, Snowball stretched its legs. After the children located At Attin, Snowball watched as the Onyx Cinder approached the planet. After SM-33 was beheaded by Na Nawood, who had betrayed the children, Snowball climbed out of the droid's head and was kicked by Na Nawood. The bilge rat then screeched at the pirate. Soon after, while KB was piloting the Onyx Cinder past the Barrier surrounding At Attin, Snowball climbed on her head. While KB spoke with the astronomer Kh'ymm via hologram, Snowball watched the hologram and waved its paws at it. When the children were reunited on At Attin, Snowball once again jumped into Neel's hands.
==Biography==
===Nesting in a droid===
Snowball was a four-eyed male bilge rat who nested within the droid SM-33 and damaged his memory circuits. Around 9 ABY, the children Wim, Neel, Fern, and KB discovered the buried starship Onyx Cinder on the planet At Attin. Inside the ship, Neel found SM-33, who had been deactivated. Neel examined the droid, saying he thought something was inside, and looked into its empty eye socket. Snowball then jumped out, startling Neel and causing him to jostle SM-33's arm, which then pulled down on a lever, closing the ship's hatch and trapping them inside. As the children searched for the vessel's power conduit to restore power to the hatch, Wim powered on the starship, and shortly after, accidentally caused it to jump to hyperspace.
After the Onyx Cinder came out of hyperspace, a reactivated SM-33 entered the ship's cockpit, where Fern convinced him to accept her as the vessel's captain and take them home. The droid did not recall At Attin and so searched his memory bank for it. As he did, Snowball jumped out and scurried along the ship's control panel. As it did, Neel suggested that the rat had eaten SM-33's brain. Snowball then paused in front of Neel, who greeted the rat before it jumped onto him, causing him to scream. The children were unable to determine how to return to their homeworld, so Fern agreed to SM-33's suggestion of bringing them to the Port Borgo spaceport. As the droid jumped the ship to hyperspace, Snowball climbed back into his eye.
===Imprisoned at Port Borgo===
After arriving at Port Borgo, the children searched for someone who could provide them with directions to At Attin, but the pirates there attempted to steal Wim's Old Republic credits. After a crowd of pirates trapped the children, SM-33 arrived to protect them and placed himself between the children and the pirate Vane. The droid warned Vane that he would not leave without his captain, and Snowball peered out of his eye to squeak at the pirate. SM-33 defeated several of the pirates and the group attempted to flee to the Onyx Cinder, but before they could reach it, SM-33 was shot by the pirate Brutus with an ion rifle. The droid shut down, and Snowball scurried out of his eye socket. It approached Neel, who gently scooped the rat up with his hands. Brutus then ordered the children to be locked in the port's brig.
After being locked in the brig, the children planned a way to escape. Neel, who was still holding Snowball, suggested training it to get the cell's key, which was hanging nearby. He knelt by the cell's caged door and pointed toward the key, telling Snowball to climb up the poles the key was hanging on, get it, and bring it back to them, then asked Snowball if it understood him. In response, Snowball turned around in Neel's hand to look at him and squeaked. Neel then lowered his hand and reminded Snowball where the key was. The rat jumped out of his hand, then scurried to the pipes and began climbing them. When it arrived at the key, Snowball rose on its hind legs and looked at the key. The rat glanced toward the children and then returned to standing on four legs while moving in front of the key. Wim pointed toward the key while he and the others tried to further instruct the rat, but Snowball instead spun around in place and cleaned itself before scurrying away. Wim groaned in response to their plan's failure and the children went back to planning their escape.
===Eating porridge===
With the help of fellow prisoner and pirate Jod Na Nawood, the children escaped and returned to the Onyx Cinder. After convincing Nawood to return to rescue SM-33, Neel told him not to forget the rat who lived in the droid's eye hole. After Na Nawood found SM-33, he powered the droid on to confirm its identify. While Na Nawood questioned the droid, Snowball peaked out of his eye and squeaked. The pirate then deactivated the droid and brought him back aboard the Onyx Cinder. While the children examined the deactivated droid, Snowball exited its eye socket and climbed around its head. When KB activated SM-33, Snowball leapt off its head and scurried away. Later, as the children ate porridge, Neel held Snowball and fed it some of his food off of a spoon. After eating some of the porridge, the rat scurried off of Neel's hand and onto the table they were sitting at. It sat on its hind legs and used its front paws to eat, then scurried down off the table.
After obtaining coordinates from the astronomer Kh'ymm on the Observatory Moon, the crew traveled to the planet At Achrann, which they initially believed to be At Attin. While the children disembarked from the Onyx Cinder, Na Nawood remained on board with SM-33 and asked the droid about At Attin. In response, SM-33 turned to look at Na Nawood and began to speak to him, then paused. Snowball briefly popped out of his eye hole and squeaked, and the droid then again said he did not remember At Attin. Later, as the crew was traveling to the planet Lanupa to find coordinates to At Attin, SM-33 told the children about the pirate Tak Rennod, who had scanned At Attin's coordinates in his lair on Skull Ridge Mountain on the planet. As he told them about bubbling pits of mud in the lair that hid the mangled corpses of Rennod's foes, Snowball poked out of his eye upside down. The bilge rat then righted itself and stretched its front legs.
===Return to At Attin===
Later, while the Onyx Cinder was approaching At Attin, Snowball peered out of SM-33's eye as the droid piloted the ship. When Na Nawood, who had betrayed the children, entered the cockpit, SM-33 stood and approached him and Snowball retreated inside the droid's head. Na Nawood quickly beheaded SM-33 with a lightsaber and the droid collapsed. Na Nawood then ordered the children to get on the ground and Snowball climbed out of SM-33's head and jumped to the floor. As Na Nawood stepped toward them, he kicked the rat aside and it screeched at him.
As Na Nawood and his crew launched an Invasion of At Attin, KB—with assistance from SM-33, whose head she held next to his body—attempted to pilot the Onyx Cinder past the Barrier surrounding the planet in order to contact Kh'ymm for help. As the droid told KB to hold his head steady, Snowball jumped around in front of her and squeaked. As the ship approached the barrier, Snowball climbed up KB's arm and hopped onto her head. Shortly after, while KB was speaking with Kh'ymm via hologram, Snowball scurried toward the hologram and rose on its hind legs. It then scurried closer and again rose on its hind legs before leaping toward the hologram. After nearly falling, Snowball climbed back up and sat close to the hologram and repeatedly wave its paws into it. It then looked around and climbed back down.
Soon after, the Onyx Cinder was shot down by a pirate frigate and crashed on At Attin. After the battle ended, Wim, Fern, and Neel went to the crash site of the Onyx Cinder, where they reunited with KB. As the ship shuddered, the children began to move away to avoid being crushed. Before Neel stood, Snowball squeaked and hopped into his hands. Neel greeted Snowball and then carried it in his hands as they walked away from the crash site.
==Personality and traits==
Snowball was a male rat with four red eyes and gray fur. It was mangy and had barbels similar to a catfish. The rodent stood .05 meters tall.
==Behind the scenes==
Snowball first appeared simultaneously in "This Could Be a Real Adventure" and "Way, Way Out Past the Barrier," the first and second episodes of the live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which aired on December 2, 2024. Prior to the release of the series, Snowball was first pictured in a StarWars.com article published on August 10 of that year. It then appeared in a trailer for the series released on November 1, 2024. The day after the episodes released, Snowball was identified in another StarWars.com article.
Sound designer David W. Collins provided Snowball's vocals, although they were heavily pitched and processed. However, Collins felt there was an element missing and wanted a more feral sound for when Snowball shrieked at Neel or at pirates. Collins wanted Snowball to sound similar to the monkey in the 1981 film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Because Skywalker Sound had worked on the film, Collins was able to find the raw monkey recording in Skywalker Sound's effects library and then pitch and filter it to use in his vocal track.
Nick Frost, who voiced SM-33, listed the rat living in the droid's eye as one of the reasons he considered SM-33's unique design to be "a dream". Frost compared their relationship to "a Star Wars Ratatouille," in reference to the 2007 animated film. He imagined that the rat made the droid's brain tickle and that he could be heard laughing at night in his quarter. Frost also added that although he had been watching films for fifty years, a robot with a rat in its brain was something he had never seen before. Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who portrayed Fern, liked the little rat, and Robert Timothy Smith, who portrayed Neel, described it as his best friend.
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Individuals with it/its pronouns
Category:Males
Category:Named creatures