Nien Nunb is the focus of this week’s Star Wars Character Spotlight, the Sullustan rebel pilot mostly famous for being Lando Calrissian’s copilot in the Battle of Endor. The Sullustan pilot has a surprisingly fleshed out backstory, with a rich history as a rebel fighting against oppressive regimes, going all the way into the sequel trilogy era.
Joining the Rebellion
We don’t see exactly how Nien Nunb joins up with the Rebel Alliance, but the updated and expanded Star Wars Character Encyclopedia and Princess Leia comic miniseries tell us about Nien Nunb’s early missions with them. Nunb learned how to fly when he joined the SoroSuub Corporation, but became disillusioned with the company once it started cooperating with the Empire.
He stole his freighter from SoroSuub and handed it over to the Rebel Alliance after the Battle of Yavin. At this point he had established himself as an independent pilot and arms dealer, flying his own ship called the Mellcrawler. He helped safely evacuate Alderaanian survivors from Sullust, delivering them to Alderaanian rebel Evaan Verlaine along with the Mellcrawler.
He also became friends with Lando around this time, according to the Ultimate Star Wars reference book.
A key member of the Rebel Alliance
Nien Nunb next pops up in the Star Wars: Battlefront II tie-in novel, Battlefront: Twilight Company. He led the local Sullustan resistance against the Empire, which had occupied their homeworld, while the Rebel Alliance fought a battle against the Imperials.
While his and the Alliance’s efforts were not as joined up as they perhaps should have been, their combined efforts ended up inspiring an uprising across the planet.
Nunb had some small appearances in the 2020 run of the main line Star Wars comic, set after the events of The Empire Strikes Back. His most active role in the story was when he piloted the Millennium Falcon as part of a rebel squadron that did a hit-and-run raid on Coruscant, acting as a distraction while Rebel pathfinders stole an ancient droid from the Imperial Museum on the planet.
He next appears in the novel Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure, set just before Return of the Jedi. He became a key component of Operation Yellow Moon – namely, transporting Princess Leia and her team to several planets to set up hyper-transceivers at each location. These would distract the Empire from the Rebel Alliance fleet that had gathered above Sullust, preparing for its assault on the second Death Star.
Nunb proved a reliable pilot once again, safely extracting his team each time, though he was eventually captured by a Star Destroyer when the Mellcrawler became caught in its tractor beam. Thankfully, he was only imprisoned a short while and was able to free himself when the destroyer was hit by an electro-magnetic pulse.
He next pops up in the 17th issue of the Star Wars Adventures comic on a mission with the Duros rebel Shriv Suurgav. While pursuing two TIE Fighters on board the Mellcrawler II, they lose track of them on an unidentified planet with a thick fog. The ship became stuck inside a cave inhabited by dangerous huge blue worm creatures. While the creatures ate one of the TIE Fighters, they managed to free the ship and escape the planet.
Battle of Endor
Most Star Wars fans will remember Nien Nunb from the Battle of Endor, his first appearance in any Star Wars story. He served as Lando Calrissian’s copilot in the Millennium Falcon during the battle.
Lando had picked Nunb personally according to the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, having been impressed by his exploits with the Mellcrawler. Nunb expressed his doubts at the start of the battle about whether or not Han’s team would be able to bring down the Death Star’s shield generator, but Lando reassured him that Han would get it done.
They had to wait and survive a relentless onslaught of TIE Fighters before Han managed to get the shield down, but then they managed to lead a squadron of X-Wings inside the Death Star and destroyed its reactor, fleeing the battle station as it exploded.
The Star Wars Character Encyclopedia tells us that Nunb received the Kalidor Crescent medal for his bravery during the battle.
New Republic
Nien Nunb only pops up briefly in New Republic stories so far, but he is present in Battlefront II when the Empire attempts to carry out Operation: Cinder on Naboo. He was part of the Alliance fleet in the Mellcrawler II, helping to defend the planet from the Imperial Remnant.
We don’t hear from Nunb again for roughly two decades until the novel Bloodline. When Leia Organa’s true lineage as the daughter of Darth Vader comes to light, Nien is among the first to message her words of support as her political career lies in tatters. The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary also tells us that he was one of the first people to join the Resistance, having been inspired by Leia’s call to action.
Serving in the Resistance
Nien Nunb served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Resistance fighting against the First Order. He appears in the Age of Resistance – Poe Dameron one-shot comic, where Amilyn Holdo tasked him with recovering the head of New Republic Admiral Mathieson’s protocol droid to uncover evidence that the New Republic was ignoring signs of the growing danger posed by the First Order. When the head was stolen, Nunb and his squadron managed to evade the New Republic forces led by Poe.
He had a brief appearance in the 14th issue of the Poe Dameron comic, when he can be seen at the funeral of Resistance pilot L’ulo Lampar.
Nien Nunb makes his grand return to live action in the sequel trilogy. He can be seen at the Battle of Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens as part of the Resistance fighters led by Poe Dameron, and then he is seen celebrating with the rest of the Resistance back on D’Qar.
In the expanded edition of The Last Jedi novel, Nunb is also present at Han Solo’s funeral. In the film, he is first seen at the briefing where Amilyn Holdo is presented as the new fleet commander, and then again in the final battle as he pilots the old speeders across the salt flats of Crait with Poe, Finn and Rose.
In the 27th issue of the Poe Dameron comic – which takes place immediately after the events of The Last Jedi – we see that Nien Nunb is one of the few Resistance members to escape on the Millennium Falcon. On the ship, General Leia invited him to sit in the co-pilot’s seat with Chewbacca, assuring him that he had as much right to sit there as anyone.
Nien Nunb also features in the Rise of the Resistance attraction at Galaxy’s Edge. He’s running a job for the Resistance on Batuu when he and his team are captured by the First Order on board the Finalizer. As Poe Dameron and the other Resistance fighters arrive, they give Nunb enough time to make it to the Star Destroyer’s escape pods and back to the Resistance base on Batuu.
A valiant end
Nien Nunb’s final appearance is in The Rise of Skywalker. The film’s visual dictionary tells us that he was appointed pilot of the Tantive IV, which had recently been recovered and was being used as Leia’s command ship.
In the film itself, he can be seen holding a briefing underneath the Tantive IV following Leia’s death and pilots the ship during the Battle of Exegol.
When Emperor Palpatine sent huge bolts of Force lightning into the sky above Exegol, the Tantive IV was one of the ships caught by the bolts. It didn’t survive, and Nunb died as the ship exploded.
Legacy
Nien Nunb will always be a cult favorite character after his introduction in Return of the Jedi, and the resulting films and comics have given him many more stories since. Though he perishes in The Rise of Skywalker, his sacrifice meant that the galaxy could finally be rid of Palpatine’s oppressive tyranny once and for all.
What next?
It probably won’t be long before we see Nien Nunb again. The mainline Star Wars comics are about to cover the New Republic era after the Battle of Jakku, which gives plenty of opportunity to see Nien Nunb piloting ships for the nascent government. There’s also nothing stopping him from popping up in future Mandoverse movies and series, like The Mandalorian and Grogu or Dave Filoni’s film wrapping up that story.
Thanks again to Wookieepedia, without whom I’d have forgotten that Nien Nunb was in the sequel trilogy films at all.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
source: www.starwarsnewsnet.com