Gilad Pellaeon

"Get Captain Pellaeon.''" "''Sir, they came out of hyperspace! I've never seen&hellip;"

- Grand Admiral Thrawn and Captain Pellaeon about the purrgil

Pellaeon was a male captain who served in the naval forces of the Galactic Empire as part of Grand Admiral Thrawn's Seventh Fleet. He participated in the blockade of the planet Lothal until it was liberated in the year 1 BBY. During the battle, the entire blockade was destroyed by flocks of purrgil, and Pellaeon's communication with the Grand Admiral was quickly cut off.

Biography
"Sir, several unidentified objects have just entered orbit.''" "My blockade will intercept them." "''They've destroyed the blockade. Our ships are just&hellip; gone."

- An Imperial officer and Grand Admiral Thrawn

Captain Pellaeon was deployed in the Imperial blockade in orbit around the planet Lothal as part of Grand Admiral Thrawn's Seventh Fleet. The blockade lasted until a band of rebels led by Padawan Ezra Bridger launched a final attack to liberate the planet from Imperial occupation in the year 1 BBY. After being informed that the entire blockade was destroyed by "several unidentified objects," Thrawn contacted Captain Pellaeon to ask about the situation, only to hear that the attackers came out of hyperspace before the communication was quickly cut off. Moments later, it was revealed to Thrawn that the ships were destroyed by flocks of purrgil &mdash;massive whale-like creatures that were naturally capable of traveling through hyperspace &mdash;as part of Bridger's plan. As a result of Lothal's liberation, the Empire never returned to the planet.

Introduction into Star Wars canon
"I just wanted to mention the name so it gets in there, so it's something people can use. And sometimes that's what I can do for things that come out of Legends. I could create just another Captain with some name there or I could put someone like Pellaeon in play. And then maybe he gets picked up in comics or novels, I don't know. But I think that would be kind of fun to do, and it's a way to get that idea rolling."

- Dave Filoni on the inclusion of Pellaeon in Star Wars Rebels

Pellaeon was introduced into the Star Wars canon in the Star Wars Rebels series finale "Family Reunion – and Farewell," which premiered in 2018. The character was voiced by Jim Cummings, an American veteran voice actor who was also the voice of Hondo Ohnaka in the series.

Dave Filoni, executive producer of Star Wars Rebels, described bringing Star Wars Legends characters like Pellaeon into the canon as one of the favorite parts of his job. He said that bringing in Pellaeon serves as an opportunity for other authors to explore new stories for the character in canon, which creating a new character with a new name would not necessarily allow for. Filoni also indicated that, in his opinion, Pellaeon survived the events of the Star Wars Rebels finale and expressed hope that other authors would continue the character's story.

Stories in Star Wars Legends
"Pellaeon, by the way, was named after Pelleas, an idealistic young knight in the King Arthur mythos."

- Timothy Zahn

The character of Gilad Pellaeon originally appeared in The Thrawn Trilogy, a trilogy of Star Wars Legends novels written by Timothy Zahn and debuted in 1991. In these stories, Captain Pellaeon was depicted as a elderly human with a bushy mustache, and was a prominent military officer who served Grand Admiral Thrawn as his right-hand man during his campaign against the New Republic. He played a role in numerous other stories&mdash;he acted as the founding leader of the Imperial Remnant, signed a peace treaty with the Republic that ended the Galactic Civil War, and later served as the Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force, an alliance that included former members of the dissolved Republic and even ex-Imperials, until the character's death in the 2008 novel Legacy of the Force: Revelation. Through his many appearances, Pellaeon became a fan favorite Legends character.

Timothy Zahn stated that Pellaeon was named after Pelleas, a knight from the King Arthur legend.