Arihnda Pryce

Arihnda Pryce was a female human who served as governor of the Lothal sector fourteen years after the rise of the Galactic Empire. She was, at times, absent from Lothal, and Minister Maketh Tua would directly govern in her absence.

Governor of Lothal
Arihnda Pryce was a human female from the Outer Rim planet Lothal who supported the Galactic Empire. She looked down on her Lothalian roots and sold out her planet to the Empire to advance her own ambitions. Pryce was appointed governor of the Lothal sector after the previous governor, Ryder Azadi, was charged with treason by the Galactic Empire and imprisoned. Under Pryce's rule, Lothal became the main hub for the Imperial presence in the Lothal sector. She was based in Lothal's Capital City where the Empire had a large military presence on Lothal, built numerous factories, and exploited the people of Lothal in order to benefit the Empire. At one point, Pryce visited Coruscant to discuss Lothal's industrial and mining sectors, and was received by Grand Vizier Mas Amedda. She was extended an invitation to meet with officials on Eriadu within the upcoming weeks. Pryce's rule also saw the rise of a rebellion, particularly in Capital City.

In 3272 LY, Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan lent Pryce two droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, to help negotiate an Imperial arms deal. While on loan to Minister Maketh Tua the droids were captured by the rebels of the Ghost, who fought against the Empire. C-3PO attempted to contact Governor Pryce for help, but the call was intercepted by Imperial Security Bureau agent Kallus.

During the Empire Day festivities marking the fifteenth anniversary of the rise of the Empire, Pryce was invited to Coruscant to celebrate alongside Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine. She remained absent at times, and the government was overseen by Minister Tua. In Pryce's absence, the rebels continued to attack Imperial targets, drawing the attention of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and, soon thereafter, Darth Vader.

Fighting the rebels
During her tenure as governor, the impact of the growing rebellion continued to destabilize parts of the Empire, Lothal being no exception. In the second year before the Battle of Yavin Pryce met with Grand Moff Tarkin to discuss the growing threat posed by the rebel insurgency. During the meeting, Pryce informed Tarkin that things were quiet on Lothal but that there had been a prison breakout on nearby Naraka. Dissatisfied with the performance of Admiral Kassius Konstantine whom she regarded as more of a politician than a soldier, she believed that the only way to effectively wipe out the rebellion was to enlist the help of someone who could "see the bigger picture." Tarkin understood her concerns and granted her request of the Seventh Fleet.

Later, Pryce and Tarkin met with Admiral Konstantine and the ISB Agent Kallus on the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Konstantine disagreed with Pryce's assessment that the Phoenix rebel cell posed a serious threat and dismissed them as a localized insurgency. At that point, they were joined by the decorated Imperial officer, Grand Admiral Thrawn, who had recently been promoted for his role in suppressing the rebel presence in the Batonn sector. When Kallus expressed concerns about the high civilian casualties, Pryce justified Thrawn's actions on the grounds that the rebel presence there had been eradicated, showing her disregard for innocent lives.

When Tarkin asked Thrawn about his thoughts on Pryce's theory that the rebels were linked to a wider rebellion, Thrawn discussed the recent rescue of the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka from Naraka prison. Since Phoenix Squadron had destroyed Mining Guild vessels a mere hour after Ohnaka's rescue and Ohnaka's cellmate Terba had been a laborer at the nearby Imperial junkyard Reklam Station, Thrawn believed that the rebels planned to raid the junkyard and steal several decommissioned Y-wing starfighters for their fleet. Thrawn vowed to destroy the rebels before they could pose a threat to the Emperor's plans and the Galactic Empire.

Following Thrawn's instructions, Governor Pryce, Admiral Konstantine, and Agent Kallus traveled on their Star Destroyer to the planet Yarma, which hosted Reklam Station. Upon receiving news from Commander Brom Titus that the Lothal rebels had attacked Reklam Station, Pryce ordered him to wait for reinforcements. However, the rebels managed to steal the Y-wings, free the Ugnaught laborers, and destroy the station. Pryce's Star Destroyer arrived in time to intercept the rebel Y-wings, which lacked hyperdrives. Before the Imperials could wipe out the stolen fighters, other rebel ships including the Ghost and a Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier arrived and managed to ferry the Y-wings to safety. After consulting Thrawn, Pryce ordered her forces to allow the rebels to escape since Thrawn believed that sparing the rebel cell would allow them to hunt down and destroy the wider movement.

Hunting rebellious cadets
Following that incident, Pryce and Agent Kallus then traveled to Skystrike Academy. There they met with Commandant Argin Relik and told him that several of his cadets were planning to defect to the rebellion. When Relik protested that his cadets were thoroughly well-trained and loyal, Pryce warned him to cooperate with their investigation and told Kallus that she had something to teach him.

Under Pryce's direction, Agent Kallus proceeded to ground the cadets and question them. His investigation yielded no results but Pryce was still unsatisfied and decided that it was time to take a more direct approach. When Relik reiterated his unhappiness with the investigation, Pryce then suggested that they could reach a mutual agreement by getting the cadets into space though a mock simulated exercise. Pryce planned to use this exercise to lure the dissident cadets out of hiding. As expected, the undercover rebel agent Sabine Wren and the cadets Wedge Antilles, Hobbie and Rake Gahree made an attempt to escape.

Sabine contacted her fellow rebels aboard a CR90 corvette and attempted to rendezvous with them. Pryce ordered Sabine and her wingmates to return but Sabine taunted her. In response, Pryce activated a button which disabled the TIE fighters' solar collectors; leaving them floating in space. Under her orders, Captain Vult Skerris destroyed Rake's fighter as a warning to the "traitors." Skerris and his TIE interceptors inflicted damage on the rebel cruiser and drove them away.

After capturing the rebellious cadets, Governor Pryce confronted the three youths. She was about to torture Wedge with an electronic torture device when Sabine identified herself as the rebel agent. While Agent Kallus took the other prisoners to a holding cell, Pryce proceeded to question Sabine. When Sabine refused to talk, Pryce brought up a glyph of her file and "welcomed" the former cadet back to the Imperial Academy. Before she could place Sabine in the torture device, the rebel agent broke free of her stormtrooper captors and fought with Pryce, who demonstrated surprisingly astute combat abilities. Pryce smirked, remarking that the Empire had taught her well, Sabine retorted that her clan had taught her better and sent the governor reeling with a powerful right hook. Stumbling backwards, Pryce accidentally triggered the torture device and was zapped with a powerful surge that knocked her out cold. Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie then took the opportunity to escape with the help of Kallus, who had grown sympathetic to the Lothal rebels following his encounter with Garazeb Orrelios.

Continuing the hunt
While traveling aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer, Governor Pryce was praised by Agent Kallus for her plan to lure the Lothal rebels into a trap at a fuel depot. However, Pryce responded that her plan was only a success if they could catch the rebels. Admiral Konstantine then reported that they had received an encrypted distress signal from the planet Agamar. While thinking that it was strange for the rebels to encounter trouble, Pryce nonetheless ordered the nearest Imperial outpost to send troops to Agamar immediately; resulting in a skirmish in which the Lothal rebels and the Separatist garrison under the super tactical droid Kalani joined forces to escape the Imperials.

Hunting down saboteurs
The former Governor Ryder Azadi's rebel cell undertook a campaign of sabotaging military vehicles produced by the Imperial Armory Complex. This led to a high rate of accidents among Imperial Military personnel. In response Imperial High Command dispatched Grand Admiral Thrawn to investigate the Lothal Imperial factory. Governor Pryce along with Agent Kallus and Lieutenant Yogar Lyste were present when Thrawn gave a speech berating the workers for their poor craftsmanship. Pryce smirked after a test demonstration with a sabotaged 614-AvA speeder bike claimed the life of factory worker and undercover rebel operative Morad Sumar.

She and her subordinates then complied with Thrawn's orders to lock down the factory and detain the factory workers for questioning. Despite their best efforts, the undercover rebels Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and their astromech droid Chopper escaped the lockdown and infiltrated the factory's Section A2, which held Thrawn's top secret new weapon. Later, Pryce discussed her fears about the rebels infiltrating Section A2 and stealing its secrets. Thrawn responded that he had ordered for anyone entering the area without his personal code to be terminated on sight. When the Admiral chided Pryce for hiring locals, she responded that she had to fulfill certain Imperial quotas.

When Kallus requested more information on Thrawn's new weapon, Pryce responded that Thrawn had a new starfighter initiative. After Kallus questioned the effectiveness of a single fighter in improving Imperial fortunes, Thrawn responded that victory and defeat were determined by he smallest details. Pryce was present when Thrawn ordered another factory worker to demonstrate an AT-DP walker. When the walker broke down, Thrawn ordered the stormtroopers present to arrest the man.

Despite Thrawn's security precautions, Ezra's team managed to steal the starfighter plans and escaped with the help of Kallus, who had secretly alerted the Phoenix Squadron to the project. Pryce and Kallus later visited Thrawn's Office to discuss the recent rebel incursion. When Thrawn voiced his suspicions that the Empire had a traitor among their ranks, an alarmed Pryce advocated interrogating all Imperial personnel on Lothal. However, Thrawn counseled Pryce that emotion would not work and announced that he would uncover the traitor and co-opt them.

Personality and traits
Arihnda Pryce was an ambitious individual who looked down upon her Lothalian roots. While she was from Lothal, she had no interest in remaining there. She sold out her homeworld to the Emperor and allowed the Galactic Empire to make Lothal their local headquarters in the Lothal sector. She placed her own ambitions and career aspirations over the interests of the Lothalian people; this stood in contrast to her deputy ruler, Maketh Tua, who genuinely cared for the people. She rarely visited Lothal and only returned to her homeworld because the planet had become a haven for rebels about two years before the Battle of Yavin. Pryce saw the master tactician Grand Admiral Thrawn as a valuable asset in her fight against the rebel presence in the Lothal sector.

Pryce held little regard for others, deeming extremely high civilian casualties as "acceptable" due to there being no more rebels in the Batonn sector. She was also willing to torture the rebel spy Sabine Wren in order to obtain intelligence on the rebellion. Pryce smirked in a sadistic manner after witnessing the deliberate death of Morad Sumar in a speeder explosion. Despite her confident demeanor, Pryce reacted with alarm when Thrawn suspected that the Empire had a traitor among their ranks. When she suggested interrogating all Imperial personnel, Thrawn cautioned that this would only alert the traitor and advocated luring the culprit into a trap.

Skills and abilities
Unlike some other Imperial officials, Arihnda Pryce had received martial training and was not afraid to get her hands dirty if necessary. On one occasion, she actively engaged Sabine Wren in a fistfight rather than summon reinforcements or flee as most other officers would have done and though she managed to get in a few blows, her prowess was under-matched against a Mandalorian and she was defeated when she was knocked into an interrogation table and incapacitated.

Behind the scenes
Arihnda Pryce was first mentioned in HoloNet News Special Report: Lothal Jobless Rates Hit All-time Low, the third in a series of in-universe HoloNet News report videos posted at holonetnews.com tying in to the Star Wars Rebels television series prior to its first season in 2014. Pryce made her first appearance in the junior novel Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy, the first entry in a series written by Jason Fry which featured Zare Leonis, a character from Rebels. Throughout Rebels's first season and the remaining Servants of the Empire books, Pryce was mentioned several times, however she had yet to be visualized in any form. It was not until the second day of 2016's Celebration Europe, during which the first trailer for Rebels's third season was shown, that Pryce was revealed to be making her physical debut in the series. Voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Pryce appeared in the first episode of Rebels's third season, Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow.

Appearances

 * Thrawn
 * Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy
 * Droids in Distress book
 * Servants of the Empire: Rebel in the Ranks
 * Ezra's Duel with Danger
 * Servants of the Empire: Imperial Justice
 * Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy
 * Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow
 * Ezra's Duel with Danger
 * Servants of the Empire: Imperial Justice
 * Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy
 * Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow
 * Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow