Profiles Of Heroism: Evaan Verlaine

Star Wars

Jul 12

Evaan Verlaine with R2-D2, — Image Source: Wookieepedia

The Rebel Alliance gave birth to many great heroes during its time, some who lost their lives for the cause, but others who survived the years of grueling conflict in the long fight against the Empire. Among them are Shara Bey and Kes Dameron, but we’re here to talk about another figure from the early canon who played an important role in notable storytelling: Evaan Verlaine. A name fans may remember, who surprisingly popped up again in Charles Soule’s 2020 Star Wars main comic run, this recent focus on her character prompted us to write this article exploring just what makes Evaan Verlaine a hero.

Background

We currently know very little about Evaan Verlaine’s life before she joined the Rebel Alliance; however, she was born and raised on Alderaan. She was among the lucky few who mentored under the planet’s queen, Leia’s mother, Breha Organa, and Evaan states later that this helped shape her into a devout monarchist. Exactly how or why Evaan secured this spot is unknown, and could suggest anything from a degree of political influence from her family, to being plucked from obscurity. Despite training with Breha, it would appear that Evaan had not met Leia before the hours following the end of A New Hope.

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Abilities/Skills

Evaan Verlaine and Princess Leia with R2-D2 on Naboo, — Image Source: Wookieepedia

In addition to the likely high quality education she received on Alderaan, Evaan Verlaine would grow up to be an excellent pilot. Flying a Y-wing by the time of A New Hope, she participated in both the Battle of Scarif and the Battle of Yavin as Gold Three, and showed her skills with the vessel by surviving both major battles while many other lives were lost. Evaan also had considerable skills with other ships, once using a shuttle to outfly Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles while using a cunning deception planned with R2-D2 to help her fully escape. The pilot could also participate effectively in a ground-based firefight with a blaster, though they rarely got to make use of this skill.

Acts Of Heroism

Evaan Verlaine joined the Rebel Alliance sometime before Rogue One and would fight in the two major battles that would define the next several years of galactic history. While her contribution was small in both instances, she was still one of many pilots and fighters to give the Empire a black eye. However, Evaan’s greatest act of heroism was helping her fellow Alderaanians survive the Empire’s extermination campaign after the destruction of Alderaan. Rumors of these operations leaked back to the Rebel Alliance, though they were busy with a rapid evacuation from Yavin 4. Evaan firmly believed these rumors and informed Leia of the ongoing atrocity, spurring the princess to leave the protective bubble of the Alliance to pursue uniting and protecting the remains of her people. Evaan went with her, despite initially believing Leia to be cold and haughty.

Leia and Evaan debate in a shuttle cockpit — Image Source: Wookieepedia

The two, with help from R2-D2, first traveled to Naboo and collected a troupe of Alderaanian musical artists, before then going to Sullust, where they encountered extremely paranoid Alderaanians living at an isolated site. Masters of espionage and intelligence gathering, not culture or philosophy, Leia nevertheless recruited them, and used their services to track down a security leak in the midst of the growing convoy.

While Leia and Evaan went to deal with this mystery, even falsely allowing Leia to be turned over to the Empire to save the life of a captured Alderaanian, others in the convoy went to the planet Espirion to try and recruit another Alderaanian enclave. This went poorly due to the bigoted reaction of one of Leia’s envoys to finding that this other group of Alderaanians was half-Alderaanian, partly mixing with the native population. However, elsewhere in the galaxy, Alderaanians had been gathering together into their own flotilla as they heard of Leia’s mission, and jumped to Espirion, only for Leia to arrive and warn everyone of an approaching Star Destroyer. The resulting battle saw all Alderaanians unite, and the massive ship was destroyed. The Alderaanian flotilla then formed, saving thousands of lives from genocidal extermination.

Evaan, second from the right, stands with Starlight Squadron, — Image Source: Wookieepedia

In the aftermath of this event, it appears that Evaan temporarily left the Rebel Alliance, being elected the new democratic monarch of the Alderaanian refugees, while Leia returned to Yavin 4. The two women also became friends and equals, even if Evaan was often very deferential to Leia due to her status. Evaan did not stay away forever though, as she later returned to the Alliance at some point and formed part of Starlight Squadron in the aftermath of the Battle of Hoth. Led by Shara Bey, and with a mission to reunite the surviving splinters of the divided Rebel Fleet, the team were abruptly ambushed by Commander Zahra and had to abandon their mission. Evaan continued to fly with the Alliance, but closer to the events of Return of the Jedi, informed Leia and Luke that she had lost contact with the Alderaanian flotilla which now operated in deep space with some support from the Rebel Alliance.

The three went to investigate the situation, and encountered a trap laid by a returned Zahra aboard a derelict Alderaanian ship. The returned Imperial was intent on using the capture of Leia and the surviving Alderaanians to regain her command. However, the trap was thwarted by a confident Luke, who plowed through her forces, while Evaan, who had successfully escaped capture, called for Alliance support. This led to Zahra’s presumed death in an attempted suicide run on Luke and Leia in a starfighter. While Leia despaired that Zahra had likely killed many Alderaanians, Evaan was able to assure her that the majority of their people still survived, and helped facilitate communications with one of the floatilla’s leaders that drastically improved Leia’s spirits.

Final Act

Leia and Evaan first meeting on Yavin 4, — Image Source: Wookieepedia

Much like Evaan’s early life, we currently know very little about her later life. In the leadup to the Battle of Jakku after the Rebel victory at Endor, she was still a pilot, though now serving the New Republic. Stationed on Chandrila, she helped Leia reach Kashyyyk to aid Han Solo and Chewbacca in ending the ongoing Imperial occupation of the planet. Past this point, we know of very little, but it seems likely that Evaan would continue to focus on holding humble jobs while also standing firm against the remnants of the Empire that lurked in the galaxy for years following Jakku.