Vanden Willard/Legends

Vanden Willard was a tactical advisor and military officer in the Rebel Alliance and New Republic.

Biography
A human Alderaanian, Willard was an old friend of Bail Organa, and served as a spy for the Organa family. During his career, he served as commander of Delta Base in the Suolriep Sector.



Six months BBY, Willard joined Alliance forces at the Massassi Temple. General Jan Dodonna assigned Willard, now an Alliance general, to command Yavin 4’s planetary defenses. Willard was speaking with Bail Organa through a secure Holonet channel when Alderaan was destroyed. Willard feared that Princess Leia Organa had perished, and was elated when she arrived at Yavin IV with the plans for Death Star I. When Death Star I arrived in the Yavin system, Willard began devising an evacuation plan after assisting Dodonna with the development of an attack plan against the space station.

After the Alliance victory at Yavin, Willard retired for active military duty to train officers, captains and pilots in the vagaries of military strategy, space combat and tactical decision-making. He is remembered with particular bitterness by starfighter pilots who faced the Redemption scenario, a particularly difficult simulation designed by Willard.

As the New Republic formed, Willard worked with fellow strategic luminaries Dodonna, Adar Tallon and Pashna Starkiller. The work of the “Gray Cadre” was essential in developing the strategic and tactical methods that would assist the New Republic in defeating enemies like the cloned Emperor.

Behind the scenes



 * Willard was played in Star Wars IV: A New Hope by English actor Eddie Byrne. While the Star Wars Customizable Card Game accurately identifies Willard (as played by Byrne), other sources, such as Star Wars: Rebellion seem to have confused Byrne’s Willard with the mustachioed General Bob Hudsol.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Empire: The Short, Happy Life of Roons Sewell
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope