Ralgha nar Hhallas

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Ralgha nar Hhallas
Rank:	Colonel
Callsign:	Hobbes
Species:	Kilrathi
Gender:	Male
Date of birth:	2641
Date of death:	2669
Home planet:	Hhallas
Affiliation:	Terran Confederation
First Appeared:	Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi

Ralgha "Hobbes" nar Hhallas was a fictional character in the Wing Commander universe and was the Kilrathi defector from Secret Missions 2: Crusade, though his first appearance was in Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. Ralgha nar Hhallas was the commander of the cruiser Ras Nik'ra, whose doubts about the Kilrathi Empire's righteousness led to his defection (detailed in the novel Freedom Flight). Though initially distrusted, Hobbes eventually proved himself to his humans counterparts and became one of the Confederation's top pilots. His callsign is reportedly a homage to "an ancient Terran philosopher" - whether this is a reference to the great philosopher Thomas Hobbes or a philosophical feline character from a certain old Earth comic strip is never explained (though the latter is suggested in the novelization of Wing Commander III, the same reference incorrectly states that it was Blair who bestowed Ralgha's callsign). The name was given to Hobbes by Downtown, a pilot on the TCS Concordia (CVS-65), who considered him very wise.

[edit] Personal biography

Hobbes was greatly loyal to the Terran Confederation, his sense of duty and justice not clicking well with the brutality and savagery of the Kilrathi Empire. He acted on a series of campaigns against the Kilrathi, opposed to their concept of total war and the brutal destruction of humanity at its roots.

However during the course of Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, the Terran Confederation, panicked by recent incursions near Earth, attempt to up the stakes of the war by building weapons of mass destruction capable of destroying Kilrah. This acts as an echo to the A-Bomb strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The hope is that by destroying Kilrah, and thus killing the emperor, the Kilrathi would lose any centralization and will to fight, and sign a peace accord with the Terran Confederation.

Midway through the course of the game, it is revealed that Hobbes has transmitted confidential information to the Kilrathi, including schematics of the Behemoth Cannon and T-Bomb. The pilot Cobra attempts to stop him, but he quickly kills her and makes off with a Thunderbolt heavy fighter.

Hobbes is killed attempting to defend the Kilrathi homeworld, Kilrah, against Col. Christopher Blair.

There is some debate over the source of this betrayal. One theory holds that this was a voluntary, moral, act, as a response to the potential actions of the Confed. military. While this would provide a considerable depth to the character and story, the majority of information, both in-game and from the novelisation, seems to favour a second interpretation.

It appears that the Hobbes we know was a personality construct, overlaid on top of the 'real' Ralgha nar Hhallas on the orders of Prince Thrakath. Hobbes was a sleeper agent, infiltrated into the Confederation. A key phrase ("The Heart of the Tiger") spoken by Thrakath during a transmission to Colonel Blair had awakened Hobbes' true personality. The newly awakened Hobbes still retained considerable respect and admiration for Col. Blair. Uncertainty over this plot aspect has been aggravated by the cutting of certain cutscenes from the PC release of the game. However, the Wing Commander CIC website has posted video clips ripped from the 3DO version of Wing Commander 3.^[1] These cutscenes were deleted from the PC version, and in particular include a "Hobbes explanation scene"^[2] that confirms that Ralgha was a sleeper agent in the original, filmed game script. The scene was also added to the Playstation version.