Gilad Pellaeon

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

- Grand Admiral Thrawn and Pellaeon on 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 by the rebel Spectres and their allies shortly before the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War. During the liberation, all Imperial starships present were destroyed by flocks of the space-faring purrgil creatures, 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 gone."

- An Imperial officer and Grand Admiral Thrawn

Pellaeon was a member of the Imperial Officer Corps who held the rank of captain and was deployed in the Imperial Navy's blockade in orbit around the planet Lothal, as part of Grand Admiral Thrawn's Seventh Fleet. The Imperial blockade lasted until a band of rebels led by Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger of the Spectres launched a final attack to liberate the planet from its occupation, however, occurred shortly before the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War. While Thrawn was dealing with the rebels on the planet surface, he was informed that the entire blockade was destroyed by "several unidentified objects." The Grand Admiral subsequently 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. The rebel plan succeeded and the Empire never returned to Lothal following the planet's liberation.

Reintroduction 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 reintroduced into Star Wars canon in the Star Wars Rebels television series finale "Family Reunion – and Farewell," which was written by Dave Filoni et al. and aired on March 5, 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 back 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 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, the first entry in The Thrawn Trilogy Legends novel series written by Timothy Zahn. While the author named him after Pelleas, a knight from the King Arthur legend, the 1995 reference book The Essential Guide to Characters, written by Andy Mangels, introduced his first name Gilad.

In these stories, Captain Pellaeon was depicted as an 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 also played a significant role in numerous other stories&mdash;he acted as the founding leader of the Imperial Remnant, and signed a peace treaty with the Republic that ended the Galactic Civil War. Through his many appearances over two decades, Pellaeon became a fan favorite Legends character.