Garm Bel Iblis

"Who better to send than Bel Iblis?"

- Grodin Tierce

Garm Bel Iblis was a Galactic Republic Senator of Corellian Sector, a skilled military leader, and one of the co-founders of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Senate service
In the Galactic Senate, Bel Iblis was a respected and charismatic political leader known for his balanced position on maintaining the rights of member worlds while installing a central government powerful enough to be useful. For this reason, Bel Iblis was one of the earliest opponents of Palpatine's ever-expanding powers following his election to the seat of Supreme Chancellor. In an effort to diffuse the growing Separatist political crisis, Bel Iblis often spoke firmly on the Senate floor against the legality of member worlds. He was close friends with Senator Fang Zar, and the two shared similar views. His chief aide as a senator was Sena Leikvold Midanyl.

As it became clear that the political crisis would soon spill over into a military conflict, Bel Iblis and Diktat Shyla Merricope removed Corellia from the Military Creation Act vote to keep their hands clean of the clone army in 22 BBY. To protect Corellia, Bel Iblis used an obscure clause in the Galactic Constitution known as Contemplanys Hermi, an olys Corellisi phrase meaning "meditative solitude". Corellia sealed its borders politically, commercially and militarily. Despite his best efforts, his beloved home world was dragged into the Clone Wars after the fall of Duro.

Founding of the Alliance
In 19 BBY, Palpatine announced an Extraordinary Session, forcing Senator Bel Iblis to reopen the Corellian system and return to Coruscant. In it, the Chancellor declared himself Emperor and the Republic was replaced by the Galactic Empire. Fearful of the dark influence that Palpatine and his Imperial supporters would exert upon Corellia, the Corellian Sector and the galaxy at large, Bel Iblis began secretly building a political resistance group and met with other senators who shared his concerns. Bel Iblis found an unlikely ally in Bail Organa, who chose to stay close to Palpatine in an attempt to balance his power rather than oppose him. Organa had gathered a clandestine hub of politicians, military officers and intelligence operatives secretly opposed to Palpatine, including Bel Iblis' close friend Senator Fang Zar, who was ultimately murdered by Darth Vader. His efforts took a toll on his family life as well, as his wife Arrianya took up support of the Emperor and his policies. It was during this time that he used his position as an Imperial Senator to finance the passage of Irenez through the Imperial Academy.

As Palpatine consolidated his New Order, Bel Iblis became one of his earliest targets. The charismatic Corellian had worked to undermine Palpatine's influence in the past, and had made an enemy of the new Emperor. While Bel Iblis was on Anchoron to deliver a speech at the Treitamma Political Center, the Emperor dispatched Imperial assassins to kill the Senator and his family. The timely arrival of the Alderaanian agent Aach, who had arrived to inform him of the discovery of the Death Star plans, stalled Bel Iblis long enough that he missed the detonation of the bomb meant to kill him. His family and the Assistant Director of the center died in the blast. Many Corellians believed Bel Iblis died on Anchoron, and mourned his loss. Suddenly Bel Iblis' grudge against Palpatine was no longer a purely political or social one, but a personal one as well.

Bel Iblis went into hiding and began shaping a military resistance force of volunteers from the Corellian Sector. Under the alias "The Commander", Bel Iblis led a small fleet of starships and an assortment of sabotage and guerilla ground forces in a series of strikes against key Imperial outposts in the Corellian Sector. Despite his early successes, Bel Iblis knew that his organization could not defeat the Empire alone. He called Organa and Chandrilan Senator Mon Mothma to a meeting on Corellia to discuss the future of their resistance forces. There, at the Corellian System Meetings, Bel Iblis argued for a consolidation of the Alderaanian, Chandrilan and Corellian resistance forces into a single organization capable of striking at the Empire around the galaxy. Together, they drafted the Corellian Treaty that formed the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Prior to this meeting, Galen Marek had rescued Garm Bel Iblis from the clutches of a bounty hunter named Chopaa on Bespin. Marek united the three leaders and was originally supposed to lead the rebels. However, Darth Vader interrupted the meeting and captured the rebel leaders. He took them to the Death Star for execution, and there Marek sacrificed his life to help the rebels escape.

A man apart
Between the three leaders a simple division of labor formed: Bel Iblis provided strategic and tactical advice, Organa supplied access to crucial resources and intelligence, and Mon Mothma became the public face of the Alliance with her ability to inspire and unite beings. In time a schism in ideology between the three leaders developed. Bel Iblis brought a military view to the trio, and often called for military action against Palpatine, while the pacifist spirit of Mon Mothma sought to minimize violence and bloodshed. The Corellian and Chandrilan argued relentlessly over the appropriate course for the Alliance, and it seemed that only Organa's mediation kept the young Alliance from falling apart.

The death of Organa in 0 BBY put the system out of balance. Bel Iblis watched as credit for establishing the Alliance went to Mon Mothma, and more importantly for him, observed her gathering increasing influence and power within the Alliance. The conflict between the two reached its peak when Mon Mothma ordered Bel Iblis' troops to launch an attack on an Imperial facility on Milvayne. Bel Iblis knew his forces would be put in unnecessary risk because the mission was based on faulty intelligence. After accusing Mothma of wanting to overthrow Palpatine to merely rule in his place, Bel Iblis was released from the Alliance.

Unwilling to accept his dismissal by Mon Mothma, Bel Iblis established a secret, mobile base called Peregrine's Nest, from which he conducted a hit-and-run campaign against the Empire. Without access to the Rebel Alliance's resources and finances, Bel Iblis sought a funding source for his private army, and found it amongst Bothans who shared Bel Iblis' distrust of Mon Mothma. The forces of Bel Iblis grew to include other parties interested in fighting the Empire, but concerned about Mon Mothma's leadership. Bel Iblis acquired a number of heavy cruisers and established several fronts, such as Amethyst Shipping & Storage warehouse front on New Cov, to funnel assets to his cause. He had six cells operating on Stoga, although they were eliminated by the Empire.

At some point, Bel Iblis stole the Gargantuan, an enormous mobile weapons platform from an Imperial testing facility, from which he led Alliance attacks.

Re-emergence
Despite the Rebel Alliance's victory over the Empire at the Battle of Endor, Bel Iblis and his force remained hidden, waiting for Mon Mothma to make her bid for power. But as Bel Iblis watched the New Republic rise under her guidance, he realized that he had misjudged Mon Mothma. When he was approached to aid the New Republic in locating the fabled Katana fleet, Bel Iblis agreed out of guilt for his stubbornness, anger at feeling a puppet of Borsk Fey'lya and in recognition of the threat that Grand Admiral Thrawn posed to the fledgling Republic.

With his fleet of six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, including his flagship, Peregrine, Bel Iblis played a decisive role in the battle against Thrawn over the Dark Force, allowing the New Republic to claim fifteen warships of the Katana fleet. The New Republic was outmatched by Thrawn's wit and force until Mon Mothma asked Bel Iblis to lead the defense of Coruscant, saving it from Thrawn's attack. It was his tactical brilliance that allowed the New Republic defense forces at Coruscant to counter Thrawn's cloaked asteroids with the Stardust plan. After the defeat of Thrawn, Bel Iblis became an admired and respected Republic leader once again, and Corellians across the galaxy celebrated his public return. Mon Mothma and Bel Iblis established a cordial but tenuous relationship.

In 10 ABY he was one of the signatories of Why Do We Fight the Empire? In the later years of the Galactic Civil War, Bel Iblis held the rank of general, and commanded an independent task force designed for "fire brigade" tasks; it comprised numerous capital ships and crack starfighter groups (including, periodically, Rogue Squadron), and was commanded from the Peregrine. He fought in the Battle of Coruscant and the Defense of Mon Calamari where he coordinated the air defense.

Yuuzhan Vong War
Bel Iblis' relationship with the New Republic Senate fell apart fifteen years later during the Yuuzhan Vong War that began in 25 ABY. He came back to service and served as Admiral Kre'feys military adviser. The political pettiness, corruption and backstabbing Bel Iblis witnessed in the New Republic reminded him of the Galactic Republic that had died before his eyes. Mothma and Leia Organa Solo, Bail's daughter and Mon Mothma's successor, were high principled leaders he could rely on, but Fey'lya was greedy and self serving, even by Bothan standards. At the First Battle of Coruscant in 27 ABY, Bel Iblis commanded, appropriately, Bail Organa, and provided vital coverage fire for escaping vessels. Unfortunately, the Yuuzhan Vong were using refugee transports as shields. To the horror of the rest of the Defense Force, Bel Iblis actually ordered his forces to fire on the refugee vessels, as he realized they would die anyway.

Finished with the Senate's political scheming, Bel Iblis broke off the New Republic Defense Force and re-established his private war. As during the Galactic Civil War, Bel Iblis commanded an elite group of officers and soldiers interested in avoiding the bureaucracy they saw as a hindrance to the defense of the galaxy. Regardless of his age of approximately seventy, the old Corellian commanded three fleets from a base on Tallaan and Fondor, damaging and confusing the Yuuzhan Vong forces with hit-and-fade strikes. Towards the apex of the conflict, Luke Skywalker was able to convince Bel Iblis to aid the New Republic in their ambush at Ebaq 9. Although recalcitrant, it was Bel Iblis' timely arrival with his force and the fleet of the Smuggler's Alliance that tipped the balance of the Battle of Ebaq 9 away from the extragalactic invaders. At this day most of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet was destroyed.

After Ebaq 9 Bel Iblis command the Battle of Duro along with Wedge Antilles an was an enemy of the Offensive at Bilbringi. Later he was stationed at Mon Calamari and had a meeting with the Alliance pilot Jagged Fel, Soontir Fel's son and leader of the Vanguard Squadron. Then he was present at a meeting with several fleet commanders like Gavin Darklighter, Eldo Davip or Brand and after the Liberation of Coruscant and the Battle of Corulag, Bel Iblis served as one of the occupation commanders.

His position during the Second Galactic Civil War and his eventual fate are unknown.

Behind the scenes
A common misspelling of Bel Iblis' surname is to write it in lowercase, as "bel Iblis". In Jedi Search he's called "Bel-Iblis".

He is one of the Miniatures in The Force Unleashed expansion of the Star Wars Miniatures game.

Bel Iblis' name is apparently composed of three mythological characters; the Norse guardian of Hel, Garmr (alternately spelled Garm), Bel of Babylonian mythology, and the Islamic devil, Iblis. It is interesting to note that all three of those are the primary residents of the respective mythologies or religions versions of an Underworld. Hel is the same as the English Hell.

Bel Iblis also appears in Forces of Corruption with his mobile fortress the Gargantuan as a Rebel Ground hero unit. In Galactic Conquest and Skirmish modes he can be on any Rebel controlled world, as well as can be seen on Tatooine and Sullust on the Campaign.

In The Force Unleashed video game, Garm Bel Iblis is voiced by Kristoffer Tabori.