Wedge Antilles

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Wedge Antilles
Star Wars character

Position	X-wing Pilot, New Republic Wing Commander, New Republic General
Homeworld	Corellia
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Height	1.7 meters (5'6")
Affiliation	Rebel Alliance, Rogue Squadron, New Republic
Portrayed by	Denis Lawson

Wedge Antilles (b. 21 BBY—) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He has served both the Rebel Alliance and its descendant, the New Republic, first as a starfighter pilot and later as a general and fleet commander.

Despite his limited screen time in the films, Wedge is one of the franchise's most popular characters among devoted fans, having played supporting roles in most of the novels and having been the lead character in most of the X-wing novels, not to mention his survival of the three most critical battles of the Galactic Civil War.

1 Background
2 Film role
3 Expanded Universe role
4 Appearances
5 Trivia
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Background

Wedge's early life was split between attending school on Corellia and working aboard the Gus Treta space station with his older sister Syal, where his parents, Jagged and Zena, operated a starship-refueling depot. Syal ran away from home when Wedge was 7, and they did not meet again until following the Battle of Endor.

When Wedge was 17, the pirate Loka Hask pulled away from the station while the fuel lines were still attached to his craft, Buzzzer. The resulting fireball would have killed all aboard had the Antilles not sacrificed themselves to save the station. Wedge was devastated and set out in a dilapidated Z-95 Headhunter borrowed from family friend and Corellian smuggler Booster Terrik to seek vengeance. Numb with shock and determination, Wedge tracked the pirates to the Jumus system and coldly obliterated Buzzzer, though Hask escaped.

Insurance money allowed Wedge to buy a freighter, and he spent several years running supplies for Terrik to the nascent Rebellion. He only joined its starfighter division during an open call for pilots. He was one of four pilots (along with Biggs Darklighter, Jek Porkins and Cesi Eirriss) who assisted Captain Nera Dantels in bringing badly needed R2 units to Yavin 4.

He flew against the Death Star in Red Squadron at the Battle of Yavin, where he played a key role, destroying a TIE fighter that was shadowing Luke Skywalker. He was also (along with Biggs Darklighter) one of Skywalker's wingmen on the run that resulted in the destruction of the Death Star. Shortly afterwards Antilles and Skywalker co-founded Rogue Squadron, with Antilles eventually taking command after Luke left the unit. In the Empire Strikes Back during the Battle of Hoth, he and his partner were the first to complete a snowspeeder cable attack against an AT-AT, which tripped it so that it may be destroyed with a shot to the neck. Later, he led an assault group in the Battle of Endor against the second Death Star, and destroyed the Death Star's power regulators, allowing Lando Calrissian in the Millennium Falcon to fire the shots that destroyed the battle station. He is the only pilot to participate in the destruction of both Death Stars. Six years later, at age 31, he grudgingly accepted promotion to the rank of general.^[1] Previously, he had turned down a promotion numerous times out of fear that he would not be able to continue as a pilot with Rogue Squadron. It was only when Ackbar promoted him and allowed him to retain his position in the squadron that he accepted.

[edit] Film role

Wedge Antilles appears in the films A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, played by Denis Lawson. The character also appears in most of the books set after these events. Fans of the Star Wars series explain his popularity by describing him as a survivor: he is the one minor character to survive all three movies without the blessings of "fate" (i.e. luck and destiny, or character shields) that allow the major protagonists to survive constant peril and certain death. He is also the only known pilot to have survived each Death Star attack; it is possible that the anonymous pilot of the Y-wing seen returning to Yavin with the Millennium Falcon and two X-wings may have survived until the Battle of Endor. Some suggestions for the identity of this pilot are as follows:

Keyan Farlander
Horton Salm, or
The late "Commander" Narra (according to the video game Star Wars: Rebellion)

If it was Salm who survived, he would have participated in both Death Star attacks. In the novel Wraith Squadron, Lieutenant Wes Janson denies the rumor by telling a young pilot that Wedge was the only (non Force-sensitive) survivor of both battles.

During the A New Hope pre-battle briefing Luke briefly chats with a character seated next to him who scoffs at the idea of successfully hitting the Death Star's extremely small exhaust port. In the shooting script and novelization of the film, this character is identified as Wedge, but his attitude is uncharacteristically skeptical and was not actually played by Lawson. For this reason, some fans choose to identify this fellow as Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, Rogue Squadron's resident skeptic. (In real life, Lawson was unavailable for that day's shooting, and so another actor, Jack Klaff, filled in for him in the briefing scene. It is meant to be Wedge, however.)

During the resolution of Revenge of the Sith, Senator Bail Organa gives C-3P0 and R2-D2 to a "Captain Antilles," the captain of Organa's ship, the Tantive IV. This character, however, was not related to Wedge Antilles, according to the X-Wing series of novels; Wedge is Corellian and Captain Antilles is from Alderaan, things could have been different because according to interview Lucas offered the role to Lawson, who declined.

[edit] Expanded Universe role

During the Galactic Civil War, Wedge participated in small battles spanning across the galaxy. He was also responsible for helping stop the Storm Commando Project. These minor events are depicted in the "Rogue Squadron" videogame series.

After Endor, Wedge revived Rogue Squadron as its sole commander, replacing Luke Skywalker, with an eye towards forming an elite, highly flexible fighter group. Rogues have traditionally been called upon to do the impossible, but too many pilots had gone in without the necessary training; most of those pilots hadn't come out. Wedge's new Rogue Squadron, though deprived of Commander Skywalker's talents, was all he could have asked for and more: it included such distinguished pilots as Tycho Celchu, Corran Horn, Gavin Darklighter, Pash Cracken and, later, Klivian and Janson. The squadron was instrumental in capturing Borleias, a staging point for the liberation of Coruscant. After the capture of Coruscant, Ysanne Isard established a death grip on the bacta-producing world of Thyferra, which nearly fiscally destroyed the New Republic. Rogue Squadron went rogue and without any official support from the Republic, defeated Isard in the Bacta War. This lead to the capture of the Super Star Destroyer-prison Lusankya; the freeing (eventually) of her prisoners. Soon afterwards, they were crucial to the harrying and eventual defeat of Warlord Zsinj (though they would not deliver the final blow themselves); the partial capture of the Katana Fleet; the Battle of Bilbringi. Wedge led a number of missions aboard Imperial-class Star Destroyers into the resurgent Empire's territory, on one of which was the disastrous excursion to the recently-lost throneworld, in which Wedge, Luke and Lando Calrissian were shot down aboard their Star Destroyer Liberator. Luke was captured and taken to the Reborn Emperor. Wedge and his squadron would be instrumental in defeating the World Devastators at the Battle of Mon Calamari, among many other feats.

Wedge's personal life has been somewhat rocky. His parents were killed by pirates who tried to depart from the Gus Treta fueling station, which his family owned, before all the fuel mechanisms were disengaged. Without support from Corellian Security, Wedge turned to connections on the other side of the law: his father's friend Booster Terrik, a smuggler, and his daughter Mirax helped him hunt the murderers down, and he borrowed a starfighter from a family friend and killed them. After that he turned unsuccessfully to smuggling before joining the Rebellion. For a long time the Terriks were his only friends outside the Rebellion military. The conquest of Coruscant, however, brought him into contact with Iella Wessiri, former CorSec partner of Corran Horn. He was all set to ask her out when her husband Diric showed up, just released from Imperial captivity. Unfortunately, Diric turned out to be an Imperial spy from Lusankya, and Iella was forced to kill him in self-defense. At this time the unworldly scientist Qwi Xux, primary designer of the Death Star, appeared in Wedge's life, and the two were involved romantically for several years, during which Kyp Durron's Force-mindwipe changed her life for better or for worse. Barely hours after the break-up, Wedge found himself en-route to Adumar as a pilot/diplomat for the New Republic; there he met Iella Wessiri again, and after a few false starts, the two became officially engaged. By the time of the events of The New Jedi Order series, Wedge had retired from Rogue Squadron, and he and Iella had two daughters.

After his retirement, Wedge was pulled into the Yuuzhan Vong war. He later formed a secret Rebel Alliance inside the former New Republic, known as the "Insiders." Wedge was designated Insider One, and participated in the Battle of Borleias. After the Yuuzhan Vong fell, Wedge went back into retirement. By the Legacy of the Force series, Wedge reassumes the rank of General again, serving as a liaison between Corellia's Prime Minister and Minister of War. His daughter Syal is an Ensign in the Galactic Alliance fleet under the name Lysa Dunter. She flies an Eta-5 Interceptor in VibroSword Squadron.

[edit] Appearances

Films:
Novels:
- The Truce at Bakura
- X-wing book series
- The New Jedi Order book series
- Galaxy of Fear: Planet Plague
- The Thrawn Trilogy
- Betrayal
Comic books:
- X-wing: Rogue Squadron comic series
- Dark Empire
- Crimson Empire
- Union
Video games:

[edit] Trivia

Lawson played Wedge in all three films. Coincidentally, he is the uncle of Ewan McGregor, the actor who played the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.
Many games in the Final Fantasy series feature a pair of minor characters named after Wedge and fellow Rebel Biggs Darklighter.
In Episode IV, the line "Blast it, Biggs, where are you?" from the original stereo sound version was changed to "Blast it, Wedge, where are you?" for the mono version, which was never released on home video.
In "Hornet Leader" the best air-to-air pilot in your squad has the callsign of Wedge.
His callsign in Return of the Jedi is Red Leader. Obi-Wan Kenobi has the same callsign in Revenge of the Sith.
He is in no way related to Captain Raymus Antilles, the man who is given R2-D2 and C-3PO near the end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. However, as an inside joke, George Lucas wanted Lawson to play Captain Antilles. Lawson declined the role.^{[citation needed]}
In fiction, minor characters who feature prominently in a series through sheer skill are known as Wedge-type characters, due to Antilles.
Neither Wedge, 'nor Biggs, appear in Lego Star Wars II.
Wedge was the first Star Wars character to have a Usenet newgroup, alt.fan.wedge, specifically devoted to him.