Saw Gerrera

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**Saw Gerrera** was a Human Onderonian rebel fighter who as a battered veteran of a number of rebel movements, was one of the leading members of the Onderon Resistance, a movement that battled against the Separatist Alliance on Onderon during the Clone Wars. He and his sister, Steela Gerrera, did become instrumental in the rebels liberation of their homeworld during the Onderonian Civil War. Saw later became a key member in the fight against the Galactic Empire and assisting in creating a Rebel Alliance to oppose it. During the ongoing rebellion, he led his own group of rebellious extremists, using tactics which led Saw to be seen as an extremist whose notoriety would be recognized by the Empire and, years later, the New Republic. In the end, Saw Gerrera died when first Death Star destroyed the Holy City of Jedha, where he led rebels against Imperials.

## Biography

### Early Life and Career

#### The Onderonian Rebellion

**Saw Gerrera** was a Human born on the planet Onderon in the last years of the Galactic Republic. Growing up within walls of Onderon's capital Iziz as an Onderonian with his sibling Steela Gerrera, he learned to greatly respect their Onderon monarch, longtime King Ramsis Dendup. Over two decades before their rebellion movement against the Galactic Empire, thousands of systems seceded from the Old Galactic Republic and formed their own galactic government, the Separatist Alliance. Within two years the Republic and Confederacy broke into a conflict called the Clone War and the King Ramsis Dendup, wishing to keep his people out of the war, sided with neither Republic or the opposing Confederacy of Independent Systems enemies.

Not more than a year after the opening salvos of the Clone Wars were fired during the First Battle of Geonosis, the wars continued to sustain itself on battlefronts across the galaxy. During this time, at the behest of the Confederate Head of State Count Dooku of Serenno, the Separatist Battle Droid Army invaded Saw's homeworld and subjected its citizens to Confederate law. And to make matters worse for Saw, King Dendup was ousted from his royal throne and replaced with King Sanjay Rash, a "puppet leader" who answered directly to Count Dooku of Serenno. King Rash had enacted Royal Proclamation that declared any who tried to usurp him from his throne would be declared a terrorist. Deeply troubled for Onderon's future and undeterred that Saw and his sister Steela had been banished from Iziz for openly defying the King, they began to gather resources and like-minded people in a hope of forming a rebellion to combat Rash and the droids.

#### Receiving Jedi Assistance

Saw Gerrera, his sister Steela Gerrera, and their comrade Lux Bonteri managed to form a ragtag rebels group. But their lack of experience led them to petition the Jedi Order for help. Due to the circumstances, the Order could not "officially" aid the Onderon Rebels since their "King" had allied their planet with the Separatist Alliance. Saw and Lux argued their King wasn't their rightful king and a traitor, so the Jedi Council decided to instead deploy Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and the Clone Captain Rex to train the Onderon Rebels to be able to fight and free their world themselves. After receiving training and some real fighting experience, the Onderon Rebels moved their operations into the capitol, where they began their work in fighting against the Separatist battle droids patrolling the streets, gaining the support of the civilians, and dealing blow after blow to their false King's rule. To Saw's disappointment, his sister Steela was elected leader of the Onderon Rebels over him, but he'd quickly accepted it and gladly followed her lead. But when Dendup was announced to be executed, Saw snuck into the palace in an attempt to free him, only to be caught himself.

He was interrogated first by a Super-Tactical Command Droid, Kyloni, before the Onderon General tried to sway Saw to surrender his allies but Saw refused, declaring himself a patriot and supporter of the true Onderonian King, this caused the General to realize he was on the wrong side. When the execution began, the rebels struck in a attempt to save King Dendup and Saw and were almost captured, only for the General to switch to their side and assist them and Dendup in their escape. The Batte Droids soon descended upon the Rebels' secret base in the wilds, but thanks to the transaction between Anakin and Hondo Ohnaka, they gained new weapons to destroy the Separatists war machines. In the course of the battle, Gerrera shot one of these war machines down, which caused it to crash near Dendup, Steela, Ahsoka, and Lux. Ahsoka managed to save Dendup but as she used the Force to try and save Steela, the machine shot her shoulder, only grazing her, but made her lose focus, and Steela fell to her death. Saw blamed himself for Steela's death, and even after Onderon was free and Steela was honored at her funeral, Saw appeared unable to forgive himself for Steela dying.

### Rebel of the Partisans

#### Battling Imperial Dominance

Following the Galactic Republic's transformation into the Galactic Empire, Saw Gerrera fought against Imperial Military, organizing a group that became known as the Partisans. While he learned the art of combat from Jedi, Saw Gerrera did become a rebellion leader in his own right. After the Clone Wars, he continued the fight against the Empire, garnering a reputation as an effective soldier -- but over time he became more extreme in his methods. This was evident during one particular mission on Geonosis. Saw and his rebels went to the barren planet after the rebels of *Ghost* had reported that all of the population was gone. There was one survivor, however, and this Geonosian methodically took out Saw's team. Gerrera was determined to find this "bug" and make him talk -- through any means necessary -- about what the Empire had been building on Geonosis. The *Ghost* crew soon arrived, sent by the Rebel Alliance to recover Saw and his rebels. But Saw ended up saving the small team from the Geonosian’s Battle Droids. Together, they found the sole Geonosian, and discovered that he was the last of his kind; the Empire had indeed wiped out the Geonosians. But the alien survivor, who Ezra had called Klik-Klak, was guarding a queen egg -- a key to a species survival, and why he killed Saw’s team.

Still, that mattered little to Saw, who didn’t trust Klik-Klak. Moreover, Gerrera believed the *Ghost* crew was too soft, and wanted to question Klik-Klak his way, off-planet. But when the Empire arrived, they put aside their differences. Klik-Klak eventually took the rebels to the deep underground of Geonosis, where they had found empty canisters with with some symbols of the Empire. The canisters had carried poison gas, and were the weapons used to eliminate the Geonosians; as such, they could prove the Empire had committed atrocities. When the rebels had to make a quick escape, however, they lost the canisters in the process. In the end, Saw agreed that Klik-Klak should stay on Geonosis, showing that war had made him extreme, but didn't destroy his humanity. Though, he was fearful that they were too late in knowing what the Empire was up to on the planet. Saw encountered the Ghost crew once again after the rebels ignored his warnings about an Imperial relay. He rescued Sabine, Ezra, and Chopper from a failed mission, destroying a relay in the process. Later, he used the rebels to infiltrate a freighter holding secret cargo: a big kyber crystal. Determined to stop the Empire from using it, he drove a Lightsaber into its core. The crystal became unstable, exploding while Saw and others did flee.

#### Partisan Campaign of Jedha

Sometime after, Saw and his faction had broken with the Rebel Alliance: his campaigns against the Empire had become increasingly brutal, and Mon Mothma regarded him as an unrepentant extremist, refusing a formal relationship with him. By this point in time, Saw Gerrera lost both of his lower legs and struggled to walk on a pair of cybernetic replacements. Gerrera's lungs had also been damaged, confining Saw to a pressurized suit of armor and requiring him to regularly take supplementary oxygen from a breath mask. By this time, the Holy Moon of Jedha was under occupation by the Galactic Empire, which wanted the many kyber crystals that were predominate on the planet. Small, separate insurgent cells had begun to form in the moon's holy city, NiJedha. Saw Gerrera and his Partisans came to Jedha, hiding in the Catacombs of Cadera. Gerrera felt that Jedha was an appropriate place to bring his rebellion, as it was a city holy to many different communities. Saw Gerrera and his Partisans organized the small insurgencies on Jedha under the umbrella of Partisans. Among these insurgents were the Guardians Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus, who'd eventually part ways with Partisans.

Just prior to the Battle of Scarif, Gerrera's rebels caught Bodhi Rook, a recently defected Imperial pilot. Bodhi carried a message from Galen Erso, who was trying to alert their rebellion to the nearly-completed Death Star weapon. However, increasingly paranoid and believing that Imperial spies were everywhere, Saw was convinced that the defection was an attempt by the Empire to trick him. Saw Gerrera subjected Bodhi to torture with a Bor Gullet to read his mind, at the risk of driving him insane. Afterward he left a catatonic Bodhi in a cell, before deploying his men under Edrio "Two Tubes" to attack Imperial forces in Jedha City. In the ensuing firefight, an rebel intelligence Captain Cassian Andor, along with Jyn Erso, were captured: both were on the moon in search of Bodhi, whom the Rebel Alliance had learned had an message from Galen. Jyn and Cassian, along with Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus, who had been caught up in the fighting, were brought to Saw's base in the Catacombs of Cadera. Saw Gerrera would see only his old friend Jyn Erso. Saw began to question her on why she was there on the moon, and demanding to know if she had been sent to the moon to kill Saw.

She told him that she was there to ask for the message from her father and when it was given to the Rebel Alliance she would be on her way. Saw asked her why she did not believe in the dream of freedom in the galaxy. She told him about how he abandoned her at the age of sixteen and that his war did not mean anything to her. Saw had then showed her a message from her father which revealed the weakness in the Empire made Death Star. However, as they spoke, Wilhuff Tarkin and Orson Krennic had resolved to test-fire the Death Star's superlaser on Jedha, having traced Bodhi there and seeing an opportunity to wipe out Saw's insurgency. A low-power shot wiped out Jedha City in an instant and created a blast wave that spread for kilometers in every direction, threatening the Catacombs. Realising the threat, Saw released his prisoners, commending Galen's message to Jyn and begging her to save the rebellion. However, he declared that he would "not run any longer" and remained in the Catacombs. After seeing Jyn's party escape, his last act was to tear off his mask before the blast wave consumed the Catacombs, killing him, with Saw's last thoughts being of the late Steela.