Rebel Honor Guard

For other uses, see Honor Guard.

The Rebel Honor Guard was the ceremonial guard of the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. It comprised former Blue Guards of the defunct Old Republic's Senate, and several survivors of the destruction of Alderaan by the Galactic Empire.

Organization

The guerrilla nature of the Rebel Alliance minimizes the use of ceremonial uniforms and personnel. However, there are occasions when pomp and formality are either required by protocol or desired by Alliance leaders and soldiers alike: medal ceremonies, formal visits to high-ranking officials, and bereavement traditions, to name a few.^[1]

To fulfill these roles, the Alliance maintains a small ceremonial unit known as the Rebel Honor Guard. Trained as bodyguards, they serve as protectors of the Alliance leadership during formal occasions. Though they are not trained to the same level of ability or fanaticism as the Imperial Royal Guard, Rebel Honor Guards are professional, disciplined, and loyal.^[1]

Honor Guard personnel are regularly rotated back into standard Rebel units. There, they share their training with other unit members, which increases the likelihood that a few Honor Guards are present in any given sector. However, the primary reason for this rotation is Mon Mothma's awareness of the dangers of keeping an elite unit too close to Alliance leadership. By rotating the troops, she aims to prevent the Honor Guards from becoming overly loyal to any single leader or developing a sense of elitism. ^[1]

History

The Rebel Honor Guard served as the ceremonial guard of the Alliance to Restore the Republic—better known as the Rebel Alliance—a resistance movement opposed to Palpatine's Galactic Empire. Initially, many Honor Guards had been former members of the Blue Guard,^[2] the duty of which was to protect the Supreme Chancellor and the Senators in the time of the Old Republic.^[3] When the then Chancellor Palpatine turned the Republic into his Galactic Empire, some of the Blue Guards refused to join the new Emperor's red-clad Royal Guard.^[2] They may have had relations with the Alliance Elite Guard, who were tasked with nearly the same duties.

Following the destruction of the planet Alderaan by the Empire's Death Star battle station^[4] in 0 BBY,^[5] the Rebel Honor Guard comprised survivors from that once ceremonious planet. While many Rebel officers lacked proper dress uniforms, the survivors of Alderaan had retained theirs, thereby conferring the Honor Guard a more solemn aura.^[4]

Shortly after that same year, a group of Alliance starfighters attacked and destroyed the Death Star over the gas giant Yavin Prime. In celebration of their victory, the Rebels held an award ceremony in the Throne Room of the Massassi Station—an ancient temple located on the fourth moon of Yavin.^[6] The members of the Honor Guards who were Alderaanian survivors were selected to stand in front of the Throne Room's main doors during the ceremony, which honored Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca for their efforts in destroying the Death Star.^[4]

After the Alliance finally got the upper hand against the Empire and evolved into a New Republic, the Rebel Honor Guards were reorganized into the New Republic Honor Guard.^[7]

Equipment

The Rebel Honor Guards wore dark green, button down jackets with pockets, matching pants and black boots. They wore helmets similar to that of the Rebel Vanguard troopers and wielded an electropole.^[4]

Behind the scenes

The Rebel Honor Guards first appeared during the ending segment of the 1977 movie Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the first installment of the Star Wars saga. An action figure of the Rebel Honor Guard was released by the Hasbro toy company in 2007, as part of their Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection set. The background of all the Honor Guard sentries present during the award ceremony was expanded on the action figure's accompanying card. In 2008, a 34 mm scale model of the Rebel Honor Guard was released for the Star Wars Miniatures, an RPG-style game by Wizards of the Coast.

Inconsistencies

The Honor Guards sentries did appear in the 1987 comic Droids (1986) 8, although with a significantly different uniform than what was shown in A New Hope. The sentries' design in According to the Droids was likely based on a piece of early concept art drawn by John Mollo for the movie. That conceptual drawing was later published in The Art of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.