Dash Rendar

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Star Wars character
Dash Rendar
Portrayed by John Knoll (live action), and John Cygan (voice in Shadows of the Empire)
Position Unknown
Homeworld Unknown
Species Human
Gender Male
Affiliation Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance

Dash Rendar is a fictional character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. He is a Corellian smuggler, and friend to Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and the rest of the Rebel Alliance.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

As portrayed in Rebel Dawn, Dash is born on Corellia, where he lived with his parents and his brother Stanton. Dash is eventually accepted and begins attending the Imperial Academy on Carida, where he is a promising student.

However, when Stanton crashes a sabotaged freighter into Emperor Palpatine's private spaceport museum (arranged by Prince Xizor), Dash is expelled from the academy and his entire family is banished from the Core, giving Dash a serious grudge with the Empire. Dash quickly becomes a freelance spacer, and travels the galaxy in his ship, the Outrider. He is soon accompanied by his droid co-pilot and mechanic LE-BO2D9 (Leebo), whom he receives as a gift from a comedian on Rodia.

[edit] Freelance Spacer

He befriends Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and Katya M'buele, for whom he occasionally works. He enjoys a rivalry with Solo, mainly over the speed of their respective ships. Solo narrowly beats Rendar in a race between the two ships the last time that they meet. Dash becomes so successful that he is soon able to purchase another ship, the Outrider.

In Galaxy of Fear: The Doomsday Ship, he assists Zak and Tash Arranda in saving the liner Star of Empire from a rogue artificial intelligence called SIM. Shortly afterward, he begins his loose affiliation with the Rebel Alliance, transporting food and medical supplies.

[edit] The Rebel Alliance

Dash became entangled in the Galactic Civil War when the Empire attacks the new rebel base on Hoth circa Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Dash flies a snowspeeder with Rogue Squadron as Rogue 12 and takes down one AT-AT during the engagement. Like Solo, he is forced to escape Imperial capture by flying through the Hoth asteroid belt.

Thanks to his previous association with Lando Calrissian, Dash is hired to track down Boba Fett and the captured Han Solo. Dash follows leads to the junkheap world of Ord Mantell where he battles IG-88. Using this information he tracks Fett to Gall. Fett is repairing his ship at the spaceport and Dash fights the bounty hunter and Slave I, damaging it in the process. But having led the Alliance to Gall, he abandons them during the battle, preventing the rescue of Han Solo. Shortly after, Dash is hired by Princess Leia to keep an eye on Luke Skywalker while he is in retreat on Tatooine. Dash saves Skywalker's life for the first time when he prevents an ambush by a swoop gang led by Big Gizz and Spiker. Dash continues his tenure with the Alliance by flying with Luke and a squad of Bothan pilots in the attack on the Imperial freighter Suprosa, a mission to intercept the plans for the Death Star II.

Dash saves Skywalker's life again in Shadows of the Empire, when Luke and Lando are attacked while trying to infiltrate Prince Xizor's palace. Xizor, attempting to gain the Emperor's favour and take Darth Vader's place, captures Princess Leia. He then accompanies the rebels in rescuing her. After moving through the structure's sewers and the main palace, and having a standoff with Xizor, Dash tosses a class A thermal detonator down a garbage chute leading to the sub-basement of Xizor's skyhook. Rendar then escapes with Leia, Skywalker, and company. He transfers into the Outrider in space, and Xizor's skyhook, Falleen's Fist, opens fire on both ships. When the Skyhook is destroyed by Vader's Executor, the rebels attempt to escape through the debris. During this escape, the Outrider appears to have been destroyed by a hunk of debris. However, Dash jumps to hyperspace just in time and survives.

[edit] Surviving death

Dash shows up again when the Alliance attempts to prevent Guri being used by Xizor's niece Savan in an attempt to revive the Black Sun crime syndicate. Dash meets up with Guri and the pair become partners. Shortly thereafter the pair helps Kyle Katarn infiltrate the Tof fortress world of Saijo.

He and Guri also set up ODT, a company that constructs Human Replica Droids on Onadax in the Minos Cluster. They used the company to bring his brother Stanton back to life, but both left the company by the time it is infiltrated by Jaina Solo in the New Jedi Order series.

[edit] Behind the scenes

The character was developed for the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project. Lucasfilm and Steve Perry had conceived Dash as a "swaggery Top Gun-style fighter pilot. A guy with real talent but a bit of a braggart and a blowhard, too."[citation needed]

In the game Shadows of the Empire, Dash flies his ship within the Skyhook blasting the reactor and destroying it.

Though a high profile character, Dash had only a supporting role in the narrative of the comics and novels. He is the lead character in the Shadows of the Empire Nintendo 64 game. Players navigate Dash through 12 separate missions following the course of the Shadows storyline. Concept artist Mike Butkus, who listens to music while he illustrates, explained that Dash was designed while listening to Elvis Presley and 1960s rock'n'roll.

The character's design originated as a combination of sketches by Butkus, Kilian Plunkett, and John Knoll. They were then refined by LucasArts as a combination of a "good looking loner tough guy" and "unshaven two-fisted brawler", "Tom Cruise with attitude", and "Elvis in space". Dash Rendar's live-action likeness was portrayed by John Knoll. He was voiced by John Cygan in the Shadows of the Empire video game.

Dash's ship, the Outrider, was seen leaving Mos Eisley in the Special Edition of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Dash's theme music can be briefly heard during the "Beggar's Canyon Chase" piece on the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] References

[edit] External links