Forten

Forten, formerly designated JL-4410, was a human who served as a stormtrooper in the First Order's Company 77. When ordered to fire on civilians at the Battle of Ansett Island, the entire company refused and defected from the First Order, giving up their former designations and choosing new names. After a period of turmoil, he and the rest of the company came to reside on the ocean moon Kef Bir, where they domesticated a herd of orbaks. Forten became chief groomer for the animals, and was charged with their well-being. He came to consider his own mount, Zeegar, as his closest friend.
In 35 ABY, the YT-1300 light freighter known as the Millennium Falcon crashed on Kef Bir and Forten accompanied the company's leader, Jannah, in riding to see if the starship's crew were friend or foe. The crew, who were members of the Resistance, sought a Sith wayfinder that was located on the moon, and Jannah offered them help in their search. After the wayfinder was discovered, Forten and the rest of Company 77 then aided the Resistance at the Battle of Exegol, where Forten and the other orbak riders battled Sith troopers on the surface of the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Steadfast. Forten ultimately survived the battle and returned with the Resistance to the moon Ajan Kloss to celebrate their victory.
==Biography==
===Abandoning the First Order===
JL-4410 was the designation of a human who was conscripted as a child by the First Order. He served as a stormtrooper in Company 77, a teenage training unit that was ordered to massacre innocent civilians during a battle on Ansett Island. The whole company refused and laid down their weapons before abandoning the First Order. In the turmoil that followed the mutiny, the company stole the cruiser they had been assigned to and fled, taking new names. JL-4410 became known as Forten while the trooper who rose to become the group's leader, TZ-1719, took the name Jannah. The fugitives eventually settled on Kef Bir, an uninhabited moon in the Endor system, where they domesticated a herd of wild orbaks to ride. Forten became chief groomer of the orbaks and was responsible for tending to the health and well-being of the company's entire contingent, including his own mount, Zeegar.
===New arrivals on Kef Bir===
By 35 ABY, Forten was one of around forty members of Company 77 who remained on Kef Bir, where they had lived in peace for several years. In that year, the droidsmith Babu Frik sent a message to the company informing them of the impending arrival of the Millennium Falcon, a YT-1300 light freighter carrying Resistance agents who sought a Sith wayfinder located in the Death Star ruins on Kef Bir. Forten was part of a group led by Jannah who rode out to meet the freighter's crew, curious to see if the new arrivals were friend or foe. After the crew of the freighter emerged from the starship, Jannah rode forward and greeted them while Forten hung back on Zeegar with the rest of the orbak riders who had come. Jannah offered to aid them in reaching the ruins, which rose up from one of the moon's oceans, but told the Falcon's crew that they would have to wait till the following morning when the waters would be calmer.
While the company aided the Falcon's crew in repairing the freighter, the crewmember Rey, unwilling to wait over night, took one of the company's sea skiffs to reach the Death Star ruins on her own. The astromech droid BB-8 alerted Rey's companions and Jannah to her disappearance, after which they rushed to the ocean's edge to search for her. Forten rode up behind the group as they spotted her out on the waves. Jannah and the Resistance member Finn then rode out after Rey, who discovered the wayfinder, but then left Kef Bir without them.
===The Battle of Exegol===
The rest of the Falcon's crew then left once the ship was repaired, but Finn then reached out to Company 77 to ask for their aid in attacking the Sith Eternal's forces on the planet Exegol. The company agreed, and Forten and the other members traveled to the world with their mounts onboard the YC-123B transport hauler Fortitude. The plan was for the orbak riders to land on Exegol's surface and destroy a Sith navigation tower needed for the Sith Eternal to launch its fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers, the Final Order, to reinforce the First Order; however, upon the Resistance's arrival, Allegiant General Enric Pryde transferred the tower's navigation signal to the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Steadfast. Forten and the other riders therefore deployed alongside Resistance ground forces directly onto the surface of the Steadfast.
Sith troopers quickly engaged the Resistance forces and orbak riders, but Finn and Jannah successfully destroyed the Star Destroyer's navigation tower, after which the forces deployed from the Fortitude began retreating back to the transport. The Resistance and its allies ultimately emerged victorious and destroyed the remaining Sith forces after a fleet of allies from across the galaxy arrived to aid them. Forten survived the battle and traveled on the Fortitude to the Resistance base on the moon of Ajan Kloss, where a celebration was held amongst the surviving victors. Still on Zeegar, Forten rode through the base alongside fellow surviving Company 77 member Jayelle as crowds of celebrants cheered and hugged around them.
==Personality and traits==
Forten was especially drawn to the simplified life on Kef Bir and knew every orbak in the company's herd by name and temperament. He forged a bond with his own orbak, Zeegar, and considered the beast his closest friend and confidant. Along with the rest of Company 77, Forten trusted Jannah completely. He had light skin, brown hair, and gray eyes.
==Equipment==
On Kef Bir, Forten wore brown pants and a tan, hand-knit chordwool tunic that was felted for durability and warmth. He also wore a brown bandolier, belt, pair of boots, and pair of bikvox-skin gloves. The chief groomer wore a knife on his belt that he used for trimming knotted orbak hair and carried a modified GA-2128 blaster rifle in battle. The blaster rifle had an expanded bore to increase its destructive yield and was also equipped with a bone bayonet and a hardwood stock, the latter of which could be used with a bolted on hand grip to allowed the weapon to function as a club.
==Behind the scenes==
Forten first appeared in the 2019 sequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker. He was identified in the accompanying reference books Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Galactic GuideStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Galactic Guide by Matt Jones and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary by Pablo Hidalgo.
==Appearances==
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*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker die-cut children's book
*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Screen Comix
*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Graphic Novel Adaptation
==Sources==
*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Galactic Guide 
*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary 
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==Notes and references==
Category:Company 77 personnel
Category:Individuals of unspecified gender
Category:Individuals with he/him pronouns