Grizz Frix/Legends

"She's gonna blow!"

- Grizz Frix

Grizz Frix was a Human from Devaron who served as a pilot in the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He was raised in a prejudiced society, inspiring him to join the Alliance and help the fight against Palpatine's rule. At first, his skills positioned him as a favorite for Rogue Squadron selection, but an accident on Gerrard V left him psychologically scarred and unfit for active service.

Instead, he was assigned to the Alliance Support Services, where he escorted fertilizer barges and refugee supply ships. This turn of events transformed him into a tough cynic, but the Battle of Endor provided Frix with an opportunity to return to active combat duty. His enthusiasm returned, but the battle would eventually claim Frix's life.

Early life
Grizz Frix was born on mountainous Devaron, in the outskirts of a poor town inhabited by both foreigners and Devaronian natives. Due to the fact that he was an alien amongst the majority of the Devaron populace, he was looked down upon and scorned by fellow citizens. The Devaronians held him in low regard due to his alien nature, and offworlders disliked the fact that he lived amongst what they perceived to be aliens. Frix clamored for a more tolerant and multicultural society, but that was nearly impossible while living under Imperial rule. His only escape from the prejudiced environment was the opportunity to pilot a dilapidated old airspeeder, which allowed him to soar high above his home, and forget about his worries and his strife.

Joining the Rebellion
Desperate to break free of the Empire's restrictive hold, Frix was inspired by bootleg copies of Mon Mothma's A Call to Reason pamphlet, as well as the Declaration of Rebellion. He decided to join the Alliance to Restore the Republic as a pilot, and suitably impressed a Sullustan recruiter with his skills. The Sullustan subsequently had him transferred to the MC80 Star Cruiser Type 1 Independence. His enthusiasm and dedication served him well, and he was thought to be a favorite for Rogue Squadron selection if his skills improved at a constant rate.

Frix's career, however, took a turn for the worse during a training mission on Gerrard V. His T-65 X-wing starfighter collided with another starfighter, requiring him to undertake extensive bacta treatment. He fully healed, but the psychological scars of the ordeal could not be ignored, and although he protested, Alliance High Command decided that he was unfit to return to active fighter duty. Instead, he was assigned to Alliance Support Services, escorting refugee supply ships and fertilizer barges to Alliance-controlled planets. He could do nothing but listen to tales told of other pilots, involved in vicious dogfights and epic battles. Soon enough, Frix shed his idealistic demeanor and became a hardened cynic.

The Battle of Endor
With the Alliance Fleet massing in the Sullust system for their attack on the Death Star II, High Command decided that they needed every pilot they could get. As a result, Frix was returned to active duty. Despite his cynical new attitude, his enthusiasm for flight that he had on Devaron returned, and he found himself reveling in the opportunity to return to an X-wing cockpit. He participated in maneuvering exercises shortly before the battle, brushing up on his skills and passing on his knowledge to some of the newer recruits.

His nostalgia, however, was short lived. When the Alliance fleet entered the Endor system, they found that the Death Star II's shield was still active, barring any attack on the superweapon. Even more alarming was the fact that a substantial Imperial fleet was blocking their exit vector, forcing an elongated and bloody battle. During the chaotic dogfighting, Frix participated in a daring attack on an Imperial Star Destroyer. Though the attack resulted in the destruction of one of the Star Destroyer's sensor globes/shield generators, Frix's X-wing was caught in the ensuing explosion, killing him.

Personality and traits
Due to the fact that he was raised in a prejudiced society, Grizz Frix believed that the Galactic Empire needed to be overthrown from an early age. He would find solitude in the hours he would spend flying his old airspeeder high above the mountains of Devaron. Up there, racial divides were nonexistent, allowing him a brief moment of escapism. When he did get the opportunity to fight the Empire, his skills were apparent, and it was only bad luck preventing him from joining Rogue Squadron, one of the Alliance's most elite corps. The accident on Gerrard V actually turned him into a bitter cynic, since he felt he had been cheated out of his destiny. Nevertheless, the young optimist he had once been returned, if briefly, for the Battle of Endor.

Behind the scenes
Grizz Frix was played by Ronny Cush in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

The character of Grizz Frix first appeared in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, where he is shown as a pilot that perishes during the Battle of Endor. In the film, the helmet worn by the actor playing Frix is in fact the same one worn by the character of Jon Vander in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and (though it never appeared on film) Derek Klivian in The Empire Strikes Back. In 2005, Paul Celer, under the pseudonym of "Kast Morben", developed the backstory of the character through the StarWars.com Hyperspace feature, "What's the Story?". Basing the name "Grizz" on the word "grizzled", Celer was inspired by Angela Phillips's short story, Slaying Dragons, while developing the entry. Celer's entry was later re-printed, almost verbatim, in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Manga: Return of the Jedi