Arvel Crynyd/Legends

"Green Leader standing by."

- Arvel Crynyd checks in during the Battle of Endor

Arvel Crynyd was the leader of the A-wing-filled Green Group during the Battle of Endor.

Biography
During the Battle of Endor, Crynyd led his squadron into the fleet of Star Destroyers with the objective of disabling their ion cannons, thereby allowing the Alliance Fleet through to the Star Dreadnought Executor. At the climax of the battle, he was leading a strafing run of key locations on the Executor when point defense fire destroyed an X-wing and struck his A-wing, sending it into a spin. Knowing that his fighter was critically damaged, Crynyd managed to regain enough control of his starfighter to send it into the unshielded bridge of Executor. The wedge shaped fighter penetrated the bridge and its large fuel reserve ignited in a huge fireball that annihilated the command tower, killing Crynyd, Admiral Piett and the entire bridge crew instantly. With control lost, and in the middle of a battle maneuver, the mighty warship crashed into the second Death Star, thus turning the tide of the battle.

He was posthumously awarded the New Republic Medal of Bravery, which was one of the New Republic's most prestigious honors. In addition to this, a new award for acts of conspicuous bravery during space-to-space fighting was created to honor him, known as the Crynyd Award. An Imperial-class Star Destroyer captured at the planet Milagro was also renamed Crynyd in his memory.

Behind the scenes
Arvel Crynyd was played by Hilton McRae in an uncredited performance in Return of the Jedi.

Crynyd was incorrectly referred to as "Rogue Leader" in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, specifically the bonus mission to bring down the Executor, because the game reused soundclips of other wingmen in the game. In the same mission, Admiral Ackbar addresses him simply as "Pilot".

Even tough being the leader of the Green Squadron (Rebel Alliance), his starfighter had red markings.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi PhotoComic
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi PhotoComic