Narthax

OnALegendsArticle

Narthax was[1] a Human[2] male[4] clone[3] from[1] the planet[5] Ukio.[1] He[4] served the Galactic Empire[1] as a clone stormtrooper[3] during the Galactic Civil War, a conflict between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In 3 ABY, the Empire discovered Echo Base, the Alliance's hidden headquarters located on the planet Hoth, leading to a ground invasion of the facility.[6]

Narthax was involved in the assault[1] as part of the Imperial Blizzard Force.[3] As a snowtrooper sergeant, he commanded a squad during the battle,[1] where the Empire was victorious and forced the Alliance to evacuate the planet.[6] Narthax trained snowtroopers in extreme-weather survival tactics, and wore full snowtrooper armor with an E-11 blaster rifle in hand.[1]

Behind the scenes

Narthax appears in a deleted scene of the 1980 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. The scene involved him and his snowtrooper group being tricked into entering a wampa pen during the Imperial attack on Echo Base, provoking the wampas within; C-3PO of the Rebel Alliance had ripped off the warning label on the pen's entrance while evacuating the base.[7] The scenes surrounding the snowtroopers' initial entrance into Echo Base were filmed in England's Elstree Studios between March and April 1979.[8]

Sergeant Narthax (leftmost) was one of the snowtroopers filmed for the The Empire Strikes Back deleted scene outside the wampa pen.

Sergeant Narthax (leftmost) was one of the snowtroopers filmed for the The Empire Strikes Back deleted scene outside the wampa pen.

In 1996, the scene with Narthax was used as the basis for "One Step Ahead," a short story in the second edition of Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back. Although "One Step Ahead" canonizes the event of wampas attacking snowtroopers,[9] no link was ever officially made between production photos of the deleted scene and the short story. Therefore, this article avoids making any in-universe links between Narthax and any of the snowtroopers from "One Step Ahead."

In May 1996,[10] the deleted scene was described, along with photos showing Narthax and his squad, in the "Prequel Update" article for Star Wars Insider 29.[11] In fall 1998, the CD-ROM Star Wars: Behind the Magic also included the deleted scene with photos of the snowtroopers. While Behind the Magic states that all the snowtroopers were being attacked by the wampas in the deleted scene,[12] the scene itself only shows one of the snowtroopers entering the pen and being attacked by the wampas.[7]

Later, in October of 1998, David West Reynolds' reference title Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary provided the first canonical depiction of Narthax with respect to the Star Wars Legends continuity,[13] and the snowtrooper sergeant was identified by name in a card for the Special Edition Limited expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game the next month.[1] In 2011, the scene depicting Narthax was officially released as part of the Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray set.[7]

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

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  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Swccglogolg Star Wars Customizable Card Game — Special Edition Limited Card: Sergeant Narthax (backup link)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary establishes that all stormtroopers were Humans during the Galactic Civil War.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Star Wars Trading Card Game — The Empire Strikes Back Card: Blizzard Force Snowtrooper (backup link)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Soldiers of the Empire!" — Star Wars Official Poster Monthly 4 establishes that all clone stormtroopers were males and used he/him pronouns during the Galactic Civil War.
  5. ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 277 ("Ukio")
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The New Essential Chronology
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Star Wars: The Complete Saga — Deleted Scene: "Wampa Scenes"
  8. ↑ The Making of The Empire Strikes Back
  9. ↑ WEGCite-Icon "One Step Ahead" — Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, Second Edition
  10. ↑ The "Lucasfilm's Latest" departments of Star Wars Insider 29 state that the issue was published after E3 1996 in May, but prior to the release of several Shadows of the Empire material also in May.
  11. ↑ SWInsider "Prequel Update" — Star Wars Insider 29
  12. ↑ Star Wars: Behind the Magic
  13. ↑ Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary