Deland Tyerell

"Hey, I heard your race! You really had me concerned there for a second! It is truly a dangerous and deadly sport."
"Yeah, I'm aware."

―Deland Tyerell and Volo Bolus, on the dangers of podracing^[6]

Deland Tyerell was an Aleena and the son of the podracer Ratts Tyerell, who was killed during the Boonta Eve Classic in 32 BBY. After his father's death, Deland founded the Ratts Tyerell Foundation, an organization dedicated to exposing the dangerous aspects of podracing. Due to his campaigning, the sport was eventually banned in the Core Worlds and saw a sharp decline in popularity over ten years.

By around 10 BBY, Tyerell lived on to the planet Malastare and made friends with the Prae'tus Volo Bolus and the Twi'lek Pyya Bocc. The trio went on multiple trips around the planet, including once where they trespassed a restricted area in the outskirts of the Industrial Sector to get to their lunch spot. Around the same year, Tyerell's friend, Bocc, would succumb to his illness and passed away.

Following Bocc's passing, around 10 BBY, Tyerell continued his endeavor against podracing and its dangers. He was putting out promotional holograms for an anti-podracing protest at the then-upcoming podracing event on the moon Nar Shaddaa. His view on the sport often butted him against Bolus, who was a podracer. Despite their differences on the matter, Tyerell remained friends with the Prae'tus, though he often tried to nudge Bolus away from their racing profession.

Later at the Moon Curser's Cup circuit on Nar Shaddaa, three other people showed up alongside Tyerell for the protest, which did not last long as he was escorted away to a holding facility. On his way to the facility, Tyerell stumbled upon Bolus, who participated in the podracing event, at the pit stop. Tyerell then got dragged into the business of the Hutt criminal Grakkus Jahibakti Tingi, accidentally getting pulled into a highspeed chase by the Dug Sebulba, who made a quick getaway with a TIE podracer. Bolus managed to rescue Tyerell and handed Sebulba over to Grakkus, who wanted the Dug to answer against his actions. Tyerell was grateful of Bolus' skill as a podracer to rescue him, but was still adamant about the banning of podracing regardless.

Biography

Anti-podracing activist

"Let's face it! I mean, good people like you, or my dad, get chewed up and spit out by podracing. It's time we put an end to it altogether."

―Deland Tyerell, to Volo Bolus^[6]

Ratts Tyerell, moments before his death during the Boonta Eve Classic

Deland Tyerell^[3] was the son of^[2] the Aleena podracer^[7] Ratts Tyerell and his wife, who had two other children.^[5] In 32 BBY, Ratts participated in the Boonta Eve Classic podracing event,^[3] where his family witnessed his death.^[5] Following his father's passing, Deland would set up the Ratts Tyerell Foundation—a foundation dedicated to protesting the dangerous sport—which gained followers and support in the years leading up to the Clone Wars. Deland's anti-podracing foundation and protests eventually led to many criminal aspects of the sport to be uncovered, arresting several popular podracers for serious crimes. It also then led to the sport being banned within the Core. In ten years, while podracing was still active in other parts of the galaxy, the sport saw a sharp decline in popularity.^[3]

Dreams and ambitions

"We took this right before our speeder trip last season. I accidentally threw out what Deland packed for lunch… but it was stinking up the whole speeder!"

―Volo Bolus, reminiscing on their trip months ago^[6]

At some point, Tyerell, along with his friends—the Prae'tus Volo Bolus and the Twi'lek Pyya Bocc—took a picture together with three pit droids before going on a speeder trip. During the trip, Bolus would accidentally threw Tyerell's packed lunch, though they later justified their action as the food smelled up the entire speeder.^[6] Months prior to^[1] around 10 BBY,^[8] Tyerell, along with Bolus and Bocc, raced through the outskirts of the Industrial Sector on^[1] the Mid Rim planet^[9] Malastare to a photo destination that simultaneously worked as a lunch spot. They proceeded to take a shortcut by trespassing a restricted area, which alerted three security droids. In the rush, Tyerell quickly regretted the decision as he started to lose appetite.^[1]

One of the security droids chasing after notified Tyerell, Bolus, and Bocc of Trespassing Ordinance 347 violation, as the three droids opened fire. Due to the high speed chase, Tyerell's Ronto Wrap flew off and covered the sensor of the first droid. Blinded by the food, the security droid aimlessly crashed into another, leaving one droid left in the chase. The last droid continued its chase outside of the restricted area and shot down a tree. Bocc, who was leading ahead in the chase went past the falling tree just fine, though both Tyerell and Bolus narrowly dodged it by sliding under. The security droid behind was then crushed by the tree.^[1]

Upon arriving at their destination, Bolus gave their Ronto Wrap to Tyerell, who lost it during the chase. The three friends sat along the edge of a cliff, as Bolus praised Bocc for the spot suggestion and gazed at the possibility of them both being podracing champions one day, while Tyerell enjoyed his newly-acquired Ronto Wrap. However, breaking their short celebration, Bocc teared up and revealed that he was dying from an illness. Bocc explained that the doctor was unsure as to how much time Bocc has. Bocc begged Bolus to understand and to live on their dreams, before the three of them hugged.^[1]

Opposing ideals

"I'm planning a podracing protest! At the championship race! On Nar Shaddaa!"
"And you're asking me, who you know is a podracer, to push an anti-podracing rally? No!"

―Deland Tyerell and Volo Bolus^[6]

Around 10 BBY,^[10] following Bocc's passing after succumbing to his illness, Tyerell helped support Bolus through their grief.^[4] Later on, around the same time, Tyerell was putting out promotional holograms to protest the then-upcoming podracing event at the Moon Curser's Cup on^[6] the moon^[11] Nar Shaddaa. While in the process of putting the holograms around Sornah's Garage, the Aleena bumped into Bolus—who had just recently returned from their loss at the Hydian-Hutta Podracing Circuit.

Upon meeting, Tyerell shared his concern over Bolus' decision to participate in podracing. The two quickly got into an argument due to their opposing stance regarding the racing sport, though it ended as Bolus needed to find their magna-driver. Tyerell offered to help search for the tool and went off, despite Bolus' initial disapproval. Tyerell later found Bolus' magna-driver, though he was startled by a creature^[6] named Ba'zhu,^[2] who burrowed out of the ground and attempted to steal the tool. Bolus scared the creature away, which knocked Tyerell down, saving their tool from being stolen. Having found Bolus' magna-driver, Tyerell asked for a favor in return by putting one hologram up at the garage. Bolus compromised by letting him put one up at the dumbster out back.^[6]

In the next day, the Neidorian podracer Paghee'Dhe parked their speeder right outside of the garage shop, looking for Tyerell. Later that same day, Tyerell met up with Bolus at an art studio owned by the Twi'lek Sornah Bocc to congratualte them for winning the semifinal at the Pixelito Beast circuit, but was surprised after seeing the studio's vicinity was filled with crates. Bolus explained that the crates belonged to the Hutt criminal^[6] Grakkus Jahibakti Tingi,^[12] before panicking further as to not let Bocc know of the crates. Tyerell offered to help move the crates, though he did not have enough strength to move them.^[6]

Before the two could hatch up a plan to remove the crates quickly, Bocc opened the door of her studio, revealing that she was stuck inside as the crates were blocking her exit. As Bolus started to move the crates slowly with the hovering platforms, Tyerell supported his friend through words of encouragement, while also trying to nudge Bolus away from being a podracer. After moving most of the crates aside, Bocc confronted Bolus as to why crates filled with spice were at the studio, as one crate near them was actively leaking out spice. Tyerell connected the pieces together, bluntly revealing that the crates were owned by Grakkus to Bocc. Tyerell then earnestly left the the two to talk the rest out.^[6]

The big day on Nar Shaddaa

Deep trouble

"Looks like my protest sure caught their attention!"

―Deland Tyerell^[6]

Sometime later on Nar Shaddaa, as the podracing event at the Moon Curser's Cup about to begin, Tyerell showed up to protest against the sport, along with three other protestors; however, the anti-podracing protest did not last long before Imperial forces shut it down. Tyerell tried to flee from the scene, though he was still captured by two stormtroopers, who then locked the Aleena in stuncuffs. As he was escorted to a holding facility by the two stormtroopers, Tyerell met up with Bolus, who made a pit stop during the race to fix the cooling pump in their podracer engine. There, one of the stormtroopers asked if the two individuals—Sebulba and Trizz Vezcro—had authorization to be at the pit stop. Vezcro attempted to stall, though the stormtrooper quickly recognized Sebulba due to his fame, who then immediately shot both troopers down.^[6]

Wanting no more witnesses, Sebulba and Vezcro pointed their blasters at Tyerell; a decision Bolus was against. Before anyone could do anything, however, a starship slowly descended at the pit stop. Upon landing, Grakkus came out of the ship in anger, asking as to why his pilot, Bolus, was not racing at the circuit. Grakkus proceeded to question the very suspicious nature of Sebulba and the others, including downed pit cams. Bolus whispered to Tyerell to hide as the exchange became tense. The Aleena took off his cuffs and walked on a speeder to take cover, though in the process knocking over a barrel full of credits—which was stolen by Sebulba and his crew from the Hutt earlier. Exposed to what they were really up to, Vezcro opened fire at Grakkus. However, Vezcro missed all of his shots, prompting Grakkus to slam him down to the ground.^[6]

Highspeed chase

"You know, I still think it should be banned. But, I am so glad that you are such a good podracer!"
"Thanks, Deland."
"You're…you're a champion to me."

―Deland Tyerell and Volo Bolus^[6]

Sebulba made a quick getaway by stealing a TIE podracer—a vehicle intended to be gifted to the Imperial admiral Rellen. Tyerell, who was hiding inside of an empty barrel, was sucked by the TIE podracer as it took off. Bolus quickly went in pursuit with their podracer to rescue Tyerell and catch the wanted Dug. The chase soon ended after Bolus slammed their engines to the TIE podracer, causing the two vehicles to crash uncontrollably just past the entrance of the smuggler's tunnels. All three of them survived the crash, with Sebulba putting a blaster up against Bolus—who was pinned by their podracer at the edge of a steep fall. As Sebulba opened fire, Tyerell threw a rock at the Dug, causing his shot to miss. The Aleena threw another rock at Sebulba the second time and took cover as^[6] the Keeradak,^[13] a starship piloted by the Skakoan Mayze Vice, approached the crash site.^[6]

Bolus managed to electrocute Sebulba—who was standing on a podracer engine—unconscious by pulling a binder coil out. Tyerell and Vice then helped free Bolus from being pinned, before Vice took Sebulba to Grakkus for his actions. After Vice left with Sebulba, Tyerell opened up to how happy he was that Bolus was a good podracer. Despite their opposing views on the sport, Tyerell still considered his friend, Bolus, to be his champion. During their exchange, one of Bolus' engines flew off and exploded, prompting the two to leave the scene immediately.^[6]

Back on Malastare

Soon after returning to Malastare, Tyerell witnessed the arrival of many people—including podracers Coy Vrizh, Raka, Staka, and more—to learn under Bolus, following their highspeed chase against Sebulba on Nar Shaddaa that became popular. At some point later, Tyerell stumbled upon one of Ba'zhu's children, which turned aggressive after getting picked up by the Aleena.^[6]

Personality and traits

Tyerell was an earnest Aleena with blue and beige skin, and a pair of light blue eyes.^[4] As part of the Aleena species, Tyerell was significantly shorter than his friends, such as Bolus and Bocc.^[1]

Equipment

During his time on Malastare, Tyerell wore a purple sleeveless vest with a beige tunic and a brown chest strap underneath. He also had an orange hat with a small pin—written in Aurebesh that read "RFB"—attached to it.^[6]

Behind the scenes

Deland Tyerell in a deleted scene from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace — Deland Tyerell in a deleted scene from *Star Wars*: Episode I *The Phantom Menace*

Deland Tyerell, albeit unidentified, was created for the 1999 theatrical film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace; however, the scene that featured Tyerell was cut from the final release. The deleted scene itself was made available following the home-video release of the film.^[14]

He was later reintroduced to current canon in the fifty-first issue of the magazine Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon, which was published by De Agostini on December 23, 2015.^[3] The Aleena would then get his visual depiction through the 2025 comic book one-shot Beyond Victory 1—written by Ethan Sacks, illustrated by Steven Cummings, Will Sliney, and Shogo Aoki, and published by Marvel Comics.^[1] The one-shot acts as a prequel tie-in to the virtual reality video game Star Wars: Beyond Victory - A Mixed Reality Playset,^[15] which Tyerell also appeared in and voiced by Teo Rapp-Olsson.^[6]

In the Star Wars Legends continuity, the character also debut in the same deleted scene from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace; however, the scene was considered canonical to the continuity as it does not provide any contradicting elements.^[14] The name was later revealed to be Pabs Tyerell in HoloNet News Vol. 531 #45 of the HoloNet News in-universe website,^[16] with HoloNet News Vol. 531 #48 clarifying that his full name being Deland "Pabs" Tyerell.^[17]