Torius Chord

Torius Chord
Descriptive information
Species	Human
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Blue
Skin color	Light
Chronological & political information
Affiliation(s)	Alliance to Restore the Republic Blue Squadron

"What is she proposing?"
"Just let the girl speak."

―An unidentified crowd member and Torius Chord during the meeting about the Death Star

Torius Chord was a human pilot for the Alliance to Restore the Republic flying in Blue Squadron out of the Great Temple on the moon Yavin 4. In 1 BBY, Chord attended a meeting at the temple at which the rebel Jyn Erso informed the Alliance Cabinet of the existence of the Death Star superweapon and proposed that the Alliance steal the Death Star plans from the planet Scarif.

After the cabinet rejected the idea, Erso led a unsanctioned mission to Scarif, which the Alliance fleet scrambled to support once they learned of it. Flying as Blue Two, Chord traveled with the rest of Blue Squadron to the Scarif system, where the squadron took heavy casualties while supporting Erso in successfully stealing the plans.

Biography

The human Torius Chord served the Alliance to Restore the Republic as a pilot in Blue Squadron, a a mixed-starfighter squadron that was based in the Great Temple on the moon Yavin 4 as part of the rebel Massassi Group. Shortly after Blue Squadron was partially scrambled for a mission to the planet Eadu in 1 BBY, Chord attended a meeting in the Great Temple alongside General Antoc Merrick, leader of Chord's squadron, in which the rebel Jyn Erso informed the Alliance Cabinet that the Galactic Empire was building a superweapon known as the Death Star and that her father, Galen Erso, had built a weakness into it that the Alliance could exploit to destroy the weapon. To find the weakness, they would need the plans to the Death Star, which were stored in the Citadel Tower on the planet Scarif, and Jyn proposed that they launch an attack to steal the plans, but the Cabinet could not agree on the proposal and the meeting ended with it being rejected, leaving Chord to disperse along with the others present.

Jyn then gathered a group of volunteers and led an unsanctioned mission to Scarif anyway, with word getting back to Yavin once Jyn's forces attacked the Imperials. The Alliance fleet was then scrambled to aid the rebels on Scarif, with Blue Squadron fully scrambled for the first time including Chord, who flew with the callsign Blue Two. Upon exiting hyperspace in the Scarif system, Blue Squadron was ordered by Admiral Raddus, head of the rebel fleet, to head to the surface and support the rebels there. Following Merrick's lead, the squadron then began to dive through an Imperial Shield Gate that represented the only way through a planetary shield surronding Scarif. Merrick made it through with eleven other T-65 X-wing starfighter pilots and a single UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft, but Vangos Grek and two other X-wing pilots crashed into the gate as it closed, while other members of the squadron were trapped outside and forced to join the rest of the rebel fleet in battling the Imperial forces above Scarif.

The pilots that had made it through the gate then provided aerial support for the troops who had accompanied Erso, destroying All Terrain Armored Cargo Transport walkers and battling TIE/sk x1 experimental air superiority fighters. All of them ultimately perished during the battle, which ended with Erso managing to transmit the Death Star plans to the Alliance fleet just before the Death Star itself arrived and fired on Scarif, obliterating the Citadel Tower and killing the surviving rebel grounds forces. Some of Blue Squadron did then escape with the elements of the fleet, but between Eadu and Scarif, Blue Squadron and Red Squadron had lost a combined total of nineteen pilots, leaving Blue Squadron with so few members that the Alliance was unsure if they could even use it when the Death Star attacked Yavin in 0 BBY.

Personality and traits

Torius Chord had light skin, brown hair, and blue eyes.

Equipment

Torius Chord's flight helmet was marked with symbols also used by other rebel pilots.

While on Yavin, Torisu Chord wore a blue flight suit, a white flak vest, and a white high-atmosphere specialist life support pack, which was used by U-wing pilots who needed to open their doors at high alltitudes. The pilot's K-22995 light flight helmet was primarily white white a dark green area above the visor. The sides of the helmet were marked with a black symbol consisting of a circle with several lines through it. This emblem could be found on the helmets of several rebel pilots including Chord's squadmates Jaldine Gerams and Barion Raner. Above the symbol, Chord had an arc of markings including a red star shape, two black "v"s, and three black "v"s in yellow circles, the latter of which fellow rebel pilot Wion Dillems used to represent twenty kills. The top ridge of Chord's helmet was marked with two more black symbols at the back which consisted of a black circle with a black triangle next to it, another emblem shared with other rebels.

Behind the scenes

"There was a scene with all the main good guys around a big table. I was stood there right next to Felicity Jones, Riz Ahmed and all the others. Disney had asked for the scene to be re-shot with more excitement and interjections from the smaller players round the table, and we were asked by the director to improvise."

―Samuel Victor

Torius Chord was portrayed by uncredited actor Samuel Victor in the Anthology Series film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was released on December 16, 2016. The pilot received the name Torius Chord in the reference book Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, which was written by Pablo Hidalgo and came out on the same day as the film.

The character was originally supposed to be played by a different "more famous" actor who didn't return for the film's re-shoots. Victor filmed his scenes in Pinewood Studios in July of that year, having only been told that he had the part by his agent a day before starting. During re-shoots of the Alliance Cabinet meeting, Victor and other actors playing minor characters were asked to improvise excited reactions or interjections. Victor's lines were later added into the scene's new script and asked to be re-recorded using ADR, with Victor's line making it into the final release of the film. Both the original actor and Victor filmed additional scenes including on the beach during the Battle of Scarif, but they were removed from the final film.

Appearances

• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (First appearance)
• Rogue One Adaptation 4

Sources

• Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide (First identified as Torius Chord)
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - The Official Mission Debrief (Picture only)
• "The Birth of the Rebellion" — Star Wars Encyclopedia (Picture only)
• Star Wars 100 Objects

Notes and references

In other languages

• Deutsch
• español
• 日本語
• polski