Steela Gerrera

Steela Gerrera was a Human female and the younger sister of Saw Gerrera. She lived on Onderon and served as a bold leader of the rebel group that fought against the Separatist occupation of her homeworld during the Clone Wars.

Biography

Early Life

Steela Gerrera was a young^[1] female Human native^[4] from Onderon,^[1] a planet located in the Inner Rim region of the galaxy,^[5] and lived during the last years of the Galactic Republic.^[6] She had a brother named Saw Gerrera^[4] and they lived originally at Iziz.^[7] As a sister, Steela knew him the most and could easily cut through his bluster with a well-timed and affectionate jibe.^[1]

Figthing for Onderon

Early figths against Rash

In 22 BBY,^[8] at the beginning of the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems took control of Onderon^[4] after a local coup^[2] that saw Sanjay Rash taking the throne as the new king.^[4] The people of Onderon, though, began to reject Rash's rule,^[9] as they preferred the neutral stance championed by former monarch Ramsis Dendup.^[10] An insurgency began targeting the battle droid forces stationed on the planet, refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of Rash's rule.^[4]

The rebels, made up by outcasts^[11] and patriots,^[12] eventually included Steela and his brother Saw,^[4] who were cast out of the walled city of Iziz and forced to live in ruins amid the jungles of Onderon. Steela eventually became friend of Lux Bonteri,^[7] returned to Onderon^[4] to free his homeworld from King Sanjay Rash's Separatist-backed regime,^[13] as she believed him vital to helping secure Onderonian self-determination.^[7] She had a close bond to her ruping mount, and it would plunge into danger to save its rider.^[14] At some point, she wrote for The Daily Rebellion.^[15]

Help from the Republic

In 20 BBY^[2] Gerrera was one of the insurgents who contacted the Jedi for help to overthrow their corrupt King. Upon Anakin Skywalker's prompting, a Jedi training team, consisting of Skywalker himself, Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the clone trooper Rex were sent to Onderon to train the rebels in fighting techniques.^[4]

Upon meeting the Jedi, Gerrera became acquainted with Tano, who was a close friend of Lux Bonteri, one of the co-leaders of the rebel forces. Gerrera had a silent crush on Bonteri. As a result, she reacted with barely veiled jealousy at Tano's closeness to Bonteri, and Tano in turn became painfully aware of Gerrera's attraction to Bonteri. During training, Gerrera profiled herself as a talented sharpshooter with precise accuracy.^[4]

As the Jedi and the resistance fighters were ready to attack the droids, they developed a plan to get inside the capital city of Iziz. There, they disguised themselves as hunters in order to cross on weighing the security check at the gate unmolested. Inside the city, Steela and the group planned to split up and regroup after dark. In the evening Steela and the group met with the Jedi and her brother to discuss the situation in the rebel hideout of the city to discuss their plan in overthrowing the King. In order to win, Steela and the rebels planned to hijack a Separatist tank and use it to destroy the power facility which would cause a blackout. Steela was able to kill the droid leader until it sent out a distress signal. While Saw would blast the facility with his tank, Steela was tasked in eliminating the guard droids with her Avarik Armaments long rifle and gave her brother enough time to destroy the generator, allowing the rebels to destroy the remaining droids. During a subsequent celebration in the hideout, Steela was appointed as the new leader of the resistance group.^[16]

As Count Dooku began to deploy more Separatist reinforcements to support King Sanjay Rash, Steela led a small group of rebels to destroy all the droids and the tanks. After completing the mission, Steela was put on a roof and made a speech to the people of Iziz to not lose hope and to turn against King Rash, although, King Ramsis and the Separatists were able to identify her. In order to lure the rebels out of hiding, the king announced the execution of the former regent Dendup. Steela decided to wait for the time to rescue him at the day of the execution, but her brother went to the royal palace in an attempt to rescue the former king Ramsis Dendup. He failed, however, he was captured and tortured by General Kalani. As Dono witnessed his arrest, Steela refused to free her brother, but remained focused in rescuing Dendup from execution tomorrow,^[17] the kind of hard decision that leaders had to make.^[18]

The next day, Steela led a squad and nearly succeeded in rescuing the former King, but they were quickly overwhelmed and surrounded by battle droids. Since her brother was able to convince General Tandin of what the Separatists had done, he betrayed Rash and freed Steela and the rebels from near-execution with all the palace guards by the general's side.^[17]

Heroic death

The Rebels, having rescued their king, set up a base in the highlands to hide from the droids. However, Kalani, having acquired HMP Gunships, launched a vicious assault on the rebels to kill King Dendup. They were saved in the nick of time by the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who brought a 'gift' of Sienar rocket launchers, which Anakin Skywalker had paid him to deliver. With the rocket launchers, the rebels began to gain ground against the droid forces. The last gunship was shot down by Steela's brother Saw Gerrera. Unfortunately, it crashed near Steela and sent her off a cliff, though she managed to grab a ledge. Lux Bonteri attempted to rescue her, but almost fell over himself. Ahsoka Tano managed to use the Force to lift him to safety and was lifting Steela as the wrecked gunship shot her in the shoulder, causing her to drop Steela. She died from fall trauma.^[19]

Legacy

A funeral was later held in Iziz to honor her. Because of Gerrera's heroics, the King and people of Onderon would remember her as a martyr who saved their world from the tyranny of the Separatists.^[19]

Even after the death Steela remained a rallying figure for the people of Onderon, who remained part of the Republic until its fall.^[2]

Personality and traits

Not as boisterous or as outspoken as her brother, Steela Gerrera was nonetheless firmly dedicated to the cause of Onderonian independence. She was not one for impassioned speeches or political rhetoric. These were not her areas of expertise, and she felt far more comfortable peering through the macroscope of her blaster rifle. A crack shot, Steela racked up an impressive number of droid kills with precise headshots fired from the cover of canopy jungle.^[1] A driven rebel soldier of intense focus, Steela hide self doubt behind her icy stare of determination.^[10]

Behind the scenes

The character Steela Gerrera was created by George Lucas. Lucas had already created Saw, her brother, and wanted to involve and tell more about that character, resulting in Steela. The people behind the show also wanted a brother/sister duo on Onderon. Steela would also act as a natural foil to Ahsoka Tano.^[20]

The character was voiced by Dawn-Lyen Gardner.^[4]

Appearances

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "A War on Two Fronts" (First appearance)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Front Runners"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Soft War"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Tipping Points"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Gathering" (In flashback(s))

Sources

Explore all of Wookieepedia's images for this article subject.

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 5 Trailer on StarWars.com (backup link) (First mentioned)
• "A War on Two Fronts" - The Clone Wars Episode Guide on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
• "Front Runners" – The Clone Wars Episode Guide on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
• "The Soft War" – The Clone Wars Episode Guide on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
• "Tipping Points" – The Clone Wars Episode Guide on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars Comic 6.46
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Episode Guide
• "The Show That Changed Star Wars" — Star Wars Insider 142
• 2013 Topps Star Wars Galactic Files Series 2 Card: Steela Gerrera (Onderon Rebel)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File Part 15 GER 1-2: Steela and Saw Gerrera
• dalgo in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
• King Ramsis Dendup in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct) (Picture only)
• King Sanjay Rash in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct) (Picture only)
• Okalin in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct) (Picture only)
• Onderon in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
• Onderon rebels in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
• ruping in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
• Saw Gerrera in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
• Steela Gerrera in the Encyclopedia (original site is defunct)
• The Official Star Wars Fact File Part 44

Notes and references