Nee Alavar

"Senator Alavar's gone back home, where I imagine her protests will be more welcome—"
"Don't worry about Alavar."

―Haki Zeophrine and Gerrus Bariovon^[4]

Nee Alavar was a Lorrdian senator of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. She became a member of the Delegation of 2,000, a group of senators concerned with the actions of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine during the war.

After Palpatine was rescued during the Battle of Coruscant in 19 BBY, Alavar was among a group of senators who greeted him upon his safe return to the planet Coruscant. She was later one of several delegation members who attended a meeting with Palpatine in his office in order to discuss their concerns. After the formation of the Galactic Empire later that year, Alavar was placed under surveillance by Imperial Intelligence and vanished after being arrested by the Empire.

Biography

Fall of the Republic

Nee Alavar was a Lorrdian^[1] who served as a senator in the Senate of the Galactic Republic. During the Clone Wars, Alavar became a member of the Delegation of 2,000, a group of senatorial representatives who were concerned with the conduct of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine during the war and wanted him to revoke the emergency powers he had been granted.^[3]

Nee Alavar was among those who greeted Palpatine after the Battle of Coruscant.

In 19 BBY,^[5] she^[1] was among a group of senators who gathered on a landing pad of the Senate Office Building on the planet Coruscant in order to greet Palpatine after he was rescued from Separatist General Grievous by the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Battle of Coruscant. After Palpatine arrived in a Util-313 speeder bus, Alavar followed him and the rest of the group into the Senate Building while speaking to^[2] fellow senator and delegation member Malé-Dee.^[3]

Alavar was later one of several delegation members, alongside senators Padmé Amidala and Fang Zar, who met with Palpatine in his office to discuss their concerns. Due to the chancellor's popularity in the Senate, Alavar and her colleagues had to be very careful in how they approached the conversation in order to not appear unpatriotic or traitorous.^[3]

Birth of the Empire

"What about the signatories of the Delegation of Two Thousand? You've been watching them?"
"The delegation is defunct, but I've been tracking the ringleaders best I can."

―Gerrus Bariovon and Haki Zeophrine^[4]

Alavar was placed under surveillance alongside other delegation members including Bail Organa and Mon Mothma.

Soon after their meeting, Palpatine was declared Galactic Emperor and the Republic reformed into the Galactic Empire.^[2] The Galactic Senate became the Imperial Senate and many of the members of the Delegation of 2,000 were arrested for treason and brought in for questioning by the new regime during its first few days, although many were eventually released after varying degrees of mistreatment. Alavar remained a Senator but continued to protest and was placed under surveillance by Imperial Intelligence alongside all other delegation members, with a team of forty Intelligence operatives led by the agent Haki Zeophrine assigned to watch them.^[4]

Hakaryeung considered the delegation to be defunct but created a priority list of senators to watch despite her limited staff and the wide-ranging coverage Intelligence wanted. She personally tracked those considered ringleaders, including Alavar, Senator Bail Organa, and Senator Mon Mothma. After Alavar returned to her home, Hakaryeung reported on the various ringleaders' activities to her supervisor, Gerrus Bariovon, and speculated that Alavar's protests might be more welcome back home. However, Bariovon cut Hakaryeung off and told her that she would no longer need to worry about Alavar, redirecting her toward Mothma instead.^[4] Following her arrest by the Empire, Alavar then vanished.^[1]

Personality and traits

Nee Alavar had tan skin and brown eyes.^[2] She was a capable reader of body language and strongly intimated that Palpatine was more than he seemed.^[1]

Equipment

Alavar wore a dark blue robe.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Returning cameo

"Taun We was my first ever alien, and a hard act to follow! To be honest, playing a human in, Revenge of the Sith, was boring in comparison. But needless to say, another wonderful experience to be on the Episode 3 set for 3 weeks."

―Rena Owen^[6]

In a deleted scene, Nee Alavar visits Palpatine's office.

Nee Alavar first appeared in the current Star Wars canon in the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith,^[2] which was released on May 19, 2005.^[7] Alavar additionally appears in one of the film's deleted scenes, in which she visits Palpatine's office with several other members of the Delegation of 2,000 led by Amidala in order to discuss their concerns with the Chancellor's changes to the Galactic Constitution.^[8] The scene, including Alavar's involvement, was partially brought into canon by the 2017 reference book Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia.^[3]

The character's name was not used in the film, but appeared in the credits. She was portrayed by actress Rena Owen,^[2] who had previously voiced the Kaminoan Taun We in the 2002 prequel film, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.^[9] Owen was invited back to play Alavar so that she could be in the final part of the trilogy after playing Taun We, and was on set for three weeks,^[6] having been flown to Sydney, Australia for a month.^[10] The deleted scene was filmed on July 15, 2003 on Stage 7 at Fox Studios, Sydney, and the scene on the landing platform was filmed on Stage 3 at the studio on July 22 of that year.^[11]

Premonitions of being cut

"When I first read the script, I do remember having a feeling that the scenes might be cut because they weren't intrinsic to the overarching plot of Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side, but that whole group of senators were so interesting and colorful, and really painted a fascinating picture of Padmé's hopes and fears, both politically and personally."

―Rena Owen^[10]

Nee Alavar was portrayed by Rena Owen, who asked Lucas if senators were allowed to smile.

Owen considered the human role of Alavar fairly boring compared to the alien Taun We, but she enjoyed being on set^[6] and was flattered to return, as she felt it meant the she had become part of the family of people that the film makers trusted. Upon reading the script for the deleted scenes, she had a feeling that they might be cut, as they did not tie into the central story of Anakin Skywalker. Nevertheless, she found the group of senators interesting and colorful and felt the scenes painted a fascinating picture of Amidala's character.^[10]

While filming the landing platform scene, she asked director George Lucas if senators were allowed to smile and was told that they were;^[11] Alavar can be seen smiling in the final cut of the film.^[2] Prior to the release of Revenge of the Sith, Alavar first appeared in the Star Wars Legends novelization of the film, which was written by Matthew Stover^[12] and released on April 2, 2005.^[7]