Koska Reeves

Koska Reeves was a human female Mandalorian who was a member of the Nite Owls. Several years after the Great Purge, Reeves was on the moon of Trask, where she helped steal an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser alongside Lady Bo-Katan Kryze, Axe Woves, and Din Djarin. Later, she and Kryze joined Djarin once again on a mission to rescue Djarin's companion Grogu and claim the light cruiser he was on for Kryze's efforts to take back Mandalore as well as to reclaim the Darksaber from Moff Gideon. However, when Kryze failed to reclaim the Darksaber, Reeves defected from her and became a mercenary in a Mandalorian group led by Woves. Later, Kryze defeated Woves in single combat and once again became the leader of her unit, with Reeves returning to her side.
==Biography==
===Operations at Trask===
During the reign of the New Republic, Koska Reeves was a member of Clan Kryze, a Mandalorian clan led by Lady Bo-Katan Kryze,Star Wars Rebels: Heroes of Mandalore as well as Kryze's Mandalorian unit the Nite Owls. Kryze wished to regain control of the planet Mandalore, but had lost the Darksaber, a black-colored lightsaber whose user could stake claim to the Mandalorian throne, to Moff Gideon, an ex-Imperial Security Bureau officer who led a remnant of the Galactic Empire. In 9 ABY,The events of "Chapter 11: The Heiress" took place in 9 ABY per the reasoning here. serving as part of a Mandalorian resistance movement, Reeves, Kryze, and fellow Mandalorian Axe Woves targeted transports flying for Gideon's Imperial remnant in hopes of stealing weapons and locating Gideon and the Darksaber. The Imperials chose to run life-form scans to prevent the Mandalorians from stowing away on their starships.
Reeves and her comrades eventually traveled to the estuary moon of Trask, where an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser was purchasing weapons at a local black market port. The presence of the three caught the attention of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin, who sought other Mandalorians to help him return the Force-sensitive foundling Grogu to the Jedi. Djarin made his way to Trask in search of Kryze's party. After the Mandalorian arrived, Reeves spied on him at the port, disappearing from Djarin's sight as he was scanning his surroundings.
===Rescuing Din Djarin===
Djarin went aboard a Quarren boat, having been promised by a Quarren boatman to be taken to the Mandalorians. However, the Quarren tried to feed Grogu, trapped inside his hovering pram, to their mamacore and trapped Djarin in the creature's pit to drown him and steal his beskar armor. Reeves and her comrades then came to the bounty hunter's rescue, Kryze being the first to engage the Quarren. Reeves and Woves joined the fight shortly after, and the Quarren were defeated.
With the three Mandalorian resistance fighters having defeated the Quarren, Kryze pulled Djarin out of the mamacore pit, and the Mandalorian bounty hunter stressed about Grogu being inside the creature. Reeves thus jumped into the pit to rescue the foundling, firing on the mamacore and flying out with Grogu still sealed safely in his hovering pram. After landing, she freed the foundling from the pram and handed him to Djarin. The Mandalorian thanked the three for their help and began to explain his mission when Reeves and her comrades removed their helmets.
Djarin believed that they could not be Mandalorian if they removed their helmets, leading Kryze to realize he was a member of an extremist Mandalorian cult named the Children of the Watch, who followed an ancient form of the "Way of the Mandalore." After insisting that there was only one Way of the Mandalore, Djarin left the three, and Reeves and Woves exchanged looks. Reeves and her comrades later destroyed the Quarrens' boat.
===Joining forces===
Djarin was soon confronted at the port by the brother of the boatman that had led him on before. The boatman's brother, backed by other armed Quarren, were then stopped by Reeves, Kryze, and Woves, who gunned the group down with their WESTAR-35 blaster pistols and invited Djarin to a local inn. At a table, Kryze explained their mission to seize weapons and ultimately retake Mandalore to the bounty hunter. Reeves and Woves listened to the pair converse, the former slurping a tentacled creature in the meantime, and Kryze promised Djarin information on the whereabouts of a Jedi in return for him helping the Mandalorian resistance fighters in their mission.
The four Mandalorians sat atop Djarin's gunship, the Razor Crest, and viewed the Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser, which was docked nearby. Kryze explained the resistance fighters' plan to seize weapons from the cruiser, and Reeves mentioned the vessel's precaution of scanning for life forms when Djarin proposed that they stow away. The bounty hunter then left Grogu with his friends Frog Lady and Frog Man to keep the foundling out of the way for the mission.
===The hijacking===
====Pushing through defenses====
The Imperial cruiser took off at dawn, and Reeves and her three associates flew up to the vessel by jetpack. Kryze and Woves attacked two stormtroopers on an outside walkway, and Reeves attacked another who came out and sealed the door. After disarming the trooper, she flew upwards while carrying her adversary, dropping him onto the cockpit of the Gozanti cruiser. Woves opened the door into the cruiser, and Kryze eliminated three stormtroopers before the other three joined her and made their way down the hallway, engaging another group of troopers. Taking cover in intervals, the Mandalorians defeated the stormtroopers and made their way towards the cargo bay, killing more defenders along the way.
Another stormtrooper squad attempted to stop the Mandalorians in another hallway, but Djarin used a smoke bomb and the four used the cover to gun down the troopers with ease. Reeves and her comrades used a lift to reach the cargo bay area, exiting to find a number of stormtroopers led by an Imperial deck officer awaiting to stop them. The Mandalorians engaged the defenders, killing a number of troopers before they were trapped in the cargo control area. Using the control area, the four opened the cargo bay doors, flushing the remaining Imperial defenders from the Gozanti-class cruiser.
====Capturing the cruiser====
Reeves and her companions made their way into the cargo bay and began inspecting the crates of weapons while Kryze exchanged with the Gozanti cruiser's captain. After Kryze threatened to take the entire vessel, Djarin insisted that it was not part of their agreement with him. Kryze, though, convinced him to continue fighting with them, and the Mandalorians began making their way towards the bridge, where the captain was. Meanwhile, the captain contacted Gideon, requesting reinforcements. Gideon instead ordered the captain to scuttle his ship, and the captain killed his two bridge officers, taking one's seat to fly the cruiser in a nosedive towards Trask.
The Mandalorians soon realized the cruiser was plunging towards Trask when they were shaken by the sudden maneuver. As they reached the hall to the bridge, a squad of stormtroopers fired on the four, pinning them down. Woves assessed the enemy numbers and Reeves used her vambrace to measure the Gozanti-class cruiser's loss of altitude. She called out altitude measurements while Kryze wished to push forward and Woves stressed that they would not be able to. Djarin then asked the other three to cover him and advanced while Reeves and her fellow resistance fighters opened fire on the stormtroopers. Using his armor to protect him, the bounty hunter threw detonators at the enemy squad, destroying them instantly.
While Woves covered their flank, Reeves, Kryze, and Djarin entered the cockpit, the latter pulling the captain from his seat. Reeves and Djarin took over manual control and prevented the ship from crashing into the ocean of Trask. The captain committed suicide with an electronic mechanism in his mouth after Kryze attempted to interrogate him. Reeves continued piloting the ship and warned the others about a distress signal. Kryze thus ordered Reeves to fly the cruiser out of the atmosphere and prepare to jump to hyperspace while she gave Djarin the location of a Jedi. The bounty hunter parted with Reeves and her comrades shortly afterward.
===A new mission===
====Reunion====
Reeves, Kryze and Woves left Trask, and the former two eventually visited the desert world Lafete on a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport, attending a diner there. While the pair had drinks, Djarin and Boba Fett, the clone of a Mandalorian who wore his gene donor's armor, entered the bar, approaching Reeves and Kryze. Djarin revealed that Grogu had been taken by Gideon and needed help to execute a rescue mission, but Kryze doubted that they would be able to find the moff and labeled Fett a fake Mandalorian. Reeves further dismissed Djarin's companion as a sidekick, and Fett told her to take it easy. She then threatened him, but Kryze parted the two.
Djarin revealed that he had the coordinates of Gideon and his Class 546 Cruiser, which the Mandalorian bounty hunter claimed could help Kryze's campaign to retake Mandalore. Fett showed disgust to the idea of retaking the planet, and exchanged jibes with Kryze. Reeves then swung a fist at Fett, who threw her onto a table and tried to pull back with his whipcord launcher. She instead pulled her opponent to her and dealt a blow to him before using her jetpack to throw him onto another table. As the pair used their flamethrowers at each other, Kryze again split them up and agreed to help Djarin in exchange for Gideon's light cruiser, Djarin's reconsideration in joining them and a chance to kill Gideon and take the Darksaber.
The four went aboard Fett's Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft the Slave I. There they met the assassin Fennec Shand, the New Republic marshal Cara Dune, and the captive Imperial scientist Doctor Penn Pershing, whose Lambda-class T-4a shuttle designated Shuttle 2743 was parked outside. They assessed Gideon's Class 546 Cruiser, with Pershing helping them map the location of Grogu and a platoon of Dark Troopers which were not activated. Kryze formulated a plan to fake an attack on Shuttle 2743 by the Slave I to force the cruiser to take them aboard before she, Reeves, Shand, and Dune fought their way to the bridge to take on Gideon while Djarin silently made his way to deactivate the dark troopers and liberate Grogu.
====Cruiser infiltration====
Reeves and Kryze and Kryze piloted Shuttle 2743, with Djarin, Dune and Shand as passengers, and through hyperspace, closely followed by Fett aboard Slave I. Kryze informed the rest of the group to leave Gideon to her, intending to defeat him and claim the Darksaber. The Reeves and Kryze soon exited the shuttle from hyperspace before Gideon's cruiser and faked being chased by the Slave I, Kryze sending out a distress call for emergency docking. The cruiser's comms officer advised Shuttle 2743 to stay clear of the launch tube to allow TIE fighters to deploy against the Fett's attack craft, but after Kryze belayed the order, the TIEs ceased from launching, but not before two were able to be deployed.
Reeves and Kryze flew Shuttle 2743 into the launch tube, skidding it to a halt in the middle of the tube. As stormtroopers ordered for the shuttle to clear the launch tube, the group, excluding Djarin, deployed and began gunning down stormtroopers. After Kryze snared one trooper with a grappling line, Reeves fly-kicked the soldier and continued to eliminate other personnel in the hangar. The group made their way towards the command bridge, Reeves looking as they reached a corner to a walkway bridge. She reported that the route ahead was clear, but Kryze was suspicious about this and so the pair took point as they crossed the walkway. When a squad of stormtroopers appeared at the other side, Reeves and Kryze flew clear of the walkway bridge while Dune and Shand defeated the squad.
Six more stormtroopers ambushed Dune and Shand from behind, but Reeves and Kryze reappeared from either side of the troopers and gunned them down swiftly. The four reached a storage room, where additional stormtroopers awaited to take the infiltrators by surprise. Shand had Kryze and Reeves cover their rear while the assassin and Dune picked off the hiding troopers. Reeves found one stormtrooper and threw the soldier to the floor, finishing off her foe with her blaster pistol. As the group made it to the other side of the room, more troopers came from behind, only to be targeted by Reeves and Kryze. The pair continued to cover their rear as their two allies advanced forward, fighting more defending stormtroopers along the way.
====Capture of the bridge====
Reeves and her three companions made their way into a lift, which took them to the bridge. They immediately exited into a gunfight with defending stormtroopers, which the four mowed down with ease. The group then charged into the center of the bridge, killing the remaining troopers and Imperial officers. Reeves disabled the weapons system by removing a code cylinder from a terminal, and Kryze questioned where Gideon was. The four thus waited, Reeves continuing to consult the same terminal she had taken the cylinder from, until Djarin arrived. The Mandalorian bounty hunter brought with him both Grogu and a captive Gideon, who he had defeated during his mission and subsequently earned the Darksaber.
As the group acknowledged Gideon's defeat, the moff bragged that Djarin was now in possession of the Darksaber despite Kryze's wishes. Reeves watched as the bounty hunter attempted to hand the lightsaber over to Kryze, being unable to as it had to be won in single combat. She then consulted the same terminal again before everyone at the bridge was interrupted by an alarm indicating the approach of dark troopers. The droid soldiers were able to return to the cruiser despite being ejected by Djarin during his mission to find Grogu. Reeves observed a security feed showing dark troopers making their way towards the bridge. Shand then had the Mandalorian seal the blast doors to the bridge to slow the new enemy down. Reeves watched the dark troopers arrive at the blast door on the security feed and prepared for a confrontation alongside her comrades.
As they awaited for the dark troopers to breach the door, the group heard their enemy bashing the blast door. A new spacecraft then arrived at the cruiser, which Reeves identified as an X-wing. All parties aboard the cruiser were alerted to the new arrival, the Jedi Luke Skywalker, who disembarked and began destroying dark troopers with his lightsaber. Gideon tried to shoot Kryze and Grogu, but was quickly stopped by the group. Skywalker soon arrived at the blast door after laying waste to all of the dark troopers, and Djarin opened the door to let the Jedi through. Reeves watched as Djarin gave Grogu to Skywalker to be raised with the Jedi.
==Personality and traits==
Koska Reeves was a 1.7-meter-tall human female with dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes. She was loyal to Bo-Katan Kryze and stood up for her when Boba Fett insulted her, even starting a scuffle with the bounty hunter.
==Skills and abilities==
Koska Reeves was a master of hand-to-hand combat and was also able to quickly gun down enemies with a blaster pistol during battle.
==Equipment==
Koska Reeves wore brown clothing and dark blue beskar armor, passed down from a family member, with the emblem of the Nite Owls emblazoned on her shoulder pads. Her armor was equipped with a JT-12 jetpack, weatherproof gloves, a rangefinder attached to her helmet, and rocket dart launchers built into her knee guards. Reeves also wielded a WESTAR-35 blaster pistol which she kept in a holster, and had Mandalorian vambraces with hidden weapons such as a whipcord launcher and a flamethrower. Reeves wore a black cloak when shadowing the Mandalorian Din Djarin after his arrival on Trask.
==Behind the scenes==
===Varnado's appearance===
Koska Reeves appeared in "Chapter 11: The Heiress" of Jon Favreau's Disney+ series The Mandalorian, which was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and released on November 13, 2020. She was portrayed by WWE star Mercedes Varnado, aka Sasha Banks, with Lauren Kim and Caitlin Hutson being her stunt doubles. Reeves originally appeared in the official trailer for the second season of The Mandalorian on September 15 2020.
According to Varnado, she was discovered by Favreau after he saw her interview on the YouTube web series Hot Ones. The show runner felt that her fierce persona was fitting for a Mandalorian, as well as the physicality she showed from being in the wrestling business. After Varnado's contact information was obtained, the casting director of The Mandalorian reached out to the WWE star over Instagram and Favreau offered her the job over FaceTime. Varnado was initially nervous as she feared her portrayal in the show might clash with her wrestling career. To play her part, she apparently went straight from performing on live national television to waking up at 5:00 in the next morning, catching a flight and going straight to the trailer. Varnado still had glitter on her face from the prior WWE event.
===Portrayal===
Favreau and producer Dave Filoni gave Varnado a brief backstory for her character, such as Reeves' identity as a Mandalorian and her mission to help Din Djarin and obtain the Darksaber. Varnado also worked closely with Howard, who answered all of her questions and texted her prior to filming. The WWE star claimed that she had intended to provide a real-life sense of emotion to saving Grogu, putting in "everything" as if Grogu was actually drowning. Furthermore, she implemented her wrestling character, using moves she knew during her action scenes like the dropkick, the back elbow and the fireman's carry which her wrestling fans could recognize. Varnado was supported by her stunt team, Kim and Hutson, who did some of the action sequences, as the wrestler did not want to do too much in case a mishap affected her WWE career, which she performed in weekly.
When filming a scene at the inn on Trask, Varnado had to slurp a long udon noodle to imitate slurping an octopus, although she had been willing to consume an actual octopus for the show. The wrestler claimed to have been inspired by her favorite film Oldboy, where the main character Oh Dae-su slurps an octopus. Varnado's costume had to be tightened only once. She found it harder doing choreography in the armor, being used to wearing more athletic clothing in WWE, but was able to play her part despite this.
For the shooting scenes aboard the Gozanti-class cruiser, Sam Hargrave, the second unit director, wanted Reeves and the other Mandalorians to shoot and hide to mirror classic Star Wars gunfights. In addition, Favreau wished for Reeves, Woves, and Kryze to work in tandem separate to Djarin to differentiate the trio from their new ally. The hair stylist Maria Sandoval was behind Reeves' cross-braids, apparently intending for it to be a unique facet that girls could cosplay. In an interview with the Variety magazine, Varnado praised how welcoming Favreau, Howard, and Filoni were and compared being on set to her first time in the wrestling ring.
===Continuity===
The 2023 Topps Star Wars card set lists her homeworld as Trask, whereas Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy later stated it to be Mandalore. As the Topps Star Wars set makes several other mistakes when it comes to character homeworlds, this article assumes Star Wars Encyclopedia is correct.
==Appearances==
*Doctor Aphra (2020) 19 
*The Mandalorian Season 2 Junior Novel
*The Mandalorian: The Path of the Force
* 
*The Mandalorian Season 2 3
*
*The Mandalorian: The Rescue
* 
*The Mandalorian – The Graphic Novel of Season 3
*
*
*
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Clan Kryze
Category:Females
Category:Humans
Category:Individuals with she/her pronouns
Category:Mandalorian resistance members
Category:Privateers