X-Wing Rogue Squadron/Characters

Characters from the X Wing Series who play a smaller role, if any, in the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Characters from this series which appear in large roles outside this series can be found on the appropiate character page.

Wedge Antilles
Wedge and X-Wings are the one absolute constant to the series. Wedge appears in almost every part of the series.

"Wedge shoved aside the targeting computer. He didn't have the Force, as Luke did, but he had something else, something just as important. Faith in his own abilities."
 * Ace Pilot
 * A Father to His Men
 * Ascended Extra: From the films to the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and from there to here. (Between the three, he may be on more character sheets than any other Star Wars character.)
 * Asskicking Equals Authority
 * Badass Normal: Though the normality is sometimes questioned. By Starfighters of Adumar, his nearly-inhuman reflexes, situation awareness, and experience add up to a level of skill that some regard as supernatural. In the narration he once mentions precognitive warnings - in the sense of pattern recognition serving that way, but still. At the end of the book he actually ignores his targeting computer and feels his awareness flow from his X-Wing into his opponent, knows what the other will do ahead of time, fires without looking, and disables the enemy craft. Wedge is explicitly not Force-sensitive, though; he was tested in two different ways in the Jedi Academy Trilogy and came up as a normal human both times.
 * He survived both Death Stars without Character Shields. He's not Force-sensitive, and was just a Mauve Shirt, but he survived.
 * The New Rebellion has this moment, before he makes an impossible shot.


 * Colonel Badass: Of the Commander variety.
 * Day in The Limelight: The series itself is one, but specifically the comics arc The Phantom Affair and the entire novel Starfighters Of Adumar.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: In The Phantom Affair, we learn that as a child and teenager, he was called "Veggies" by his parents and friend Mirax Terrik.
 * Expecting Someone Taller: He's about an inch shorter than Luke Skywalker - about five foot six inches. Pilots tend to be smallish. They're more comfortable in cramped starfighter cockpits.
 * It Never Gets Any Easier: And he doesn't want it to.
 * Jerkass Facade: To new recruits who are rude or overconfident or mess up, he can be incredibly cruel, and to the rest he's generally a bit distant and not particularly friendly. But he cares deeply and honestly about his people, and when they prove themselves trustworthy, he'll back them to the end of the galaxy.
 * Limited Advancement Opportunities: Subverted. He's promoted multiple times over his career.
 * Machine Empathy
 * Mauve Shirt: By definition in the original films--a common alternative name for this trope is "Wedge-type character". Of course, this series is his Day in The Limelight.
 * Military Maverick
 * Neck Lift
 * Platonic Life Partners: He and Leia Organa, in the one scene they have alone together.
 * Sergeant Rock: He can be, anyway.
 * Technically a Smile/Slasher Smile: He's fond of flashing smiles with no warmth or humor to them, giving them to his enemies and various politicians.
 * The Heart
 * The Captain
 * The Chains of Commanding: Oh, so very much.
 * Phrase Catcher: "Yub, yub, Commander!" At least until he turns it around in his epic revenge scheme.
 * Power Trio: With Wes and Hobbie.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: When you add Tycho.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

Tycho Celchu
Alderaanian pilot whose family died when the Empire destroyed his homeworld. He's a very different character in the comics than in the novels.


 * Ascended Extra: one of the very few characters in this franchise who ever appeared in the movies (and even then, his two seconds of screen time were something of a Retcon).
 * Berserk Button: Alderaanians are pacifists, Endor never happened.
 * Continuity Snarl/Retcon: The first arc of the comics had Winter, who'd read up on him, telling another Rogue that he'd lost a fiance, Mia, on Alderaan and that he'd been drafted into the Imperial military, since he was a man of peace at heart. Two problems: it had already been decided that his fiancee's name was Nyestria, and he'd joined willingly and enjoyed his job. This was retconned by means of him correcting her at a party and saying that his records had been scrambled.
 * Four-Star Badass: In the later EU.
 * Number Two
 * Dogged Nice Guy: His pursuit of Winter Retrac.

Plourr Illo
The last surviving member of Eiattu IV's royal family, she didn't tell her squadron of her royal heritage until people from her world came looking for her. Her story was loosely inspired by the myth of Anastasia.


 * Action Girl
 * Badass Princess: Potential poster girl for the trope.
 * Bald of Awesome: Until she started letting it grow out, anyway.
 * Berserk Button: Mechanics, don't screw up while maintaining her X-Wing.
 * Boisterous Bruiser
 * Everything's Better With Princesses
 * Hot Amazon
 * Kissing Cousins: Marries her first cousin Rial, who she'd been engaged with since an early age.
 * Royally Screwed-Up: Not her, though.
 * Shoot the Dog: Killed her brother when they were both children, because
 * The Bus Came Back: The arc after she left the Rogues to rule her planet she returned with a squadron of fighters to pull a Big Damn Heroes moment - and the arc after that, she was with them again.

Baron Soontir Fel
Soontir Fel was a Corellian starfighter pilot of great skill, like Wedge, but he worked for the Empire until he executed a Heel Face Turn. Married Wedge's sister.


 * Defector From Decadence
 * Development Hell: The Reenlistment of Baron Fel, a collaboration between Michael Stackpole and Timothy Zahn, was written as a comic. Then the X Wing Series comic was cancelled. Then the authors remade it into a novella. This was ten years ago. To this day it sits on their hard drives, because the publishers wouldn't buy it. A fan talking to Stackpole asked him to pitch it to one of the newer, more likely publishers, and he said he'd keep it in mind.
 * Farm Boy
 * Happily Married
 * Send in The Clones: Fel proved very popular, and in the Hand of Thrawn duology he was revealed to be the template for Sleeper Cell Jenth.
 * Universal Driver's License: Subverted. He's not flight-qualified on Y-Wings.

Nrin Vakil
A Quarren pilot who joined the squadron just before the campaign to restore Plourr as ruler. Initially clashed with Mon Calamari pilot Ibtisam, but the relationship developed into a.


 * Fantastic Racism: His relationship with Ibtisam intially begins this way, as the Mon Calamari and Quarren species traditionally detest each other.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Though not known for his ground combat skills during the comics, when he reappears in Isard's Revenge, he wades in with two very large blaster rifles looking like an avenging water monster. As Tycho puts it, "You haven't seen Nrin in a firefight."
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: When the Rogues are trapped on a dark-side-infested moon and ambushed at night by bizarre natives, he runs off, initially seeming cowardly to Ibtisam. However, he had run to the landing zone, where he fights off a large number of natives to bring back his X-wing, which he then proceeds to use in pulverizing the opposition.

Ibtisam
A Mon Calmari pilot who joined the Rogues shortly before the campaign to restore Plourr. Initially hostile to Quarren pilot Nrin Vakil, but their relationships develops into something more romantic.



Elscol Loro
A human female pilot who was with the squadron briefly during the beginning of the post-Endor campaign. Widowed by the Empire, she later becomes a hazard to her squadron mates when her last friend is killed, and Wedge is forced to fire her. However, he pairs her up with a betrayed Imperial Special Forces soldier, and together they liberate worlds (reappearing in The Bacta War).


 * Heroic BSOD: occurs in The Phantom Affair, when the mysterious "Jedi" popping up around the city reveals himself as her dead husband.  She also later has one when her Wookie friend Groznick is killed, leading to reckless flying and an ejection from the squadron by Wedge.

Feylis Ardele
Human female pilot who joined shortly before the Plourr-restoration campaign. Was originally part of an Imperial-allied militia, and nervous about her standing with the other Rogues as a result. However, as Tycho, Hobbie, and several other Rogues had served with the Empire, her fears were soon allayed.


 * Action Girl: Feylis particularly distinguishes herself as a very cool fighter, both in the air and on the ground.
 * Battle Couple: When new pilot Avan Beruss joins during the Brentaal IV campaign, he is immediately attracted to him. Though initially hesitant because of her grief at losing two squad members in the previous campaign, she warms to him, saying she was pleased to save his life.

Avan Beruss
Human male pilot who joined during the Brentaal IV campaign. The nephew of one of the New Republic's Provisional Councilmembers, he is well versed in political maneuvers, but not as experiences in maneuvers in a snubfighter.


 * Battle Couple: With Feylis Ardele. He is immediately attracted to her upon joining the squadron, and later owes her his life in battle. They eventually become a couple, and he proclaims, "You keep me safe when we fly, I'll keep you safe when we swim."
 * It's All My Fault: When the Rogues are trapped by an Interdictor cruiser on Ciutric, Avan tells Feylis that because his aunt is on the Provisional Council, she will not send reinforcements to avoid the appearance of Nepotism. She makes a no-dying-pact with him, however, and they both survive.

Koyi Komad
A university student introduced in The Phantom Affair, this Twi'lek later became a mechanic for Rogue Squadron.


 * Continuity Nod: Stackpole's novels don't have much to do with her, but she did appear in one of Allston's, angered by a Fantastic Racism policy that was due to the efforts of Warlord Zsinj. Allston later noted that Komad had married Nrin Vakil, further tying into Vakil's interspecies romance pattern.
 * Off-Model: Her one-panel cameo appearance in Masquerade was... something.

Loka Hask
A former pirate turned Imperial captain. During his criminal days, he was directly responsible for the deaths of Wedge's parents, Jagged and Zena Antilles.


 * Body Horror: When a young Wedge Antilles blew up his pirate vessel in revenge for the deaths of his parents, Hask survived via spacesuit. However, a Corellian limpet had stowed away in his suit, and cheerfully grafted itself to the side of his face, leading to Hask's distinctly horrifying appearance.

Corran Horn
The real main character of the Rogue Squadron books, Force-sensitive, and Michael Stackpole's golden boy. See the character sheet for the New Jedi Order and Legacy eras for his full entry.

Gavin Darklighter
Related to Biggs Darklighter, Luke's Mauve Shirt friend from A New Hope. See the character sheet for the New Jedi Order and Legacy eras for his full entry.

Tycho Celchu
Very different since the comics. The change in his character from a Hot-Blooded pilot to one who is endlessly patient and seems to have no temper whatsoever is usually attributed to the time he spent on the Lusankya being tortured by Isard.


 * The Ace
 * Ascended Extra
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: When Corran has to fly against him (see below), he sees Tycho's fighting style through the Force as being like a computerised box of possible actions around Corran's craft, which gets smaller and smaller as Tycho meticulously eliminates all the possibilities and hunts him down.
 * The Cape: If he resents being under so much suspicion, he never shows it.
 * Clear My Name/Decoy Trial
 * Doomed Hometown: He's from Alderaan.
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness
 * Improbable Piloting Skills: In I, Jedi Corran Horn, undercover as a pirate, flies against him, and barely survives despite being a Jedi who is drawing on the Force to stay alive. He later calls it the most difficult thing he's ever done in his life - Corran, who just a few chapters back was beaten physically and emotionally to a weeping pulp by a Sith Lord. It's actually implied that Tycho wasn't trying to kill him, since Corran got a kind of message off suggesting that he wasn't a pirate.
 * The Stoic: Even when he isn't sad, he looks sad. Makes the ladies want to comfort him.

Derek "Hobbie" Klivian
Biggs' friend from the Academy. Hobbie is a long-time member of Rogue Squadron, where he serves as the resident cynic.


 * Artificial Limbs
 * Ascended Extra: He piloted a snowspeeder in The Empire Strikes Back. He's the one who asks, "Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?"
 * Beware the Nice Ones: It takes a lot to rile him up, but boy, when he gets mad...
 * Captain Crash
 * The Chew Toy: He gets hurt often enough that bacta companies have offered him endorsement deals.
 * Continuity Snarl: In the deleted scenes, he rams an AT-AT when his speeder is damaged, and the EU had some trouble deciding whether it actually happened. Eventually, it was Hand Waved by saying he ejected offscreen.
 * The Eeyore
 * Harmless Lady Disguise: When Red Flight got into a hangar in drag, Hobbie cemented the disguise with a high, panicked scream.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname
 * Power Trio: With Wedge and Janson.
 * Spell My Name With an "S": His last name is often misspelled as "Klivan".

Ooryl Qrygg

 * Badass: Not only is he one of the better pilots in his generation of Rogue Squadron -- tied with Corran and Bror for first to become an ace -- but he's also insanely competent on ground missions, to the point of actually being scary on Talasea.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: When Wedge is asked whether Ooryl can see in the ultraviolet range, his first thought is "I wouldn't be surprised. He doesn't breathe or sleep and can regenerate severed limbs."
 * A Day in The Spotlight: After being a marginal character in the first three books, he manages to get nearly as much focus as Corran in The Bacta War.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: He loses an arm in Rogue Squadron. By The Krytos Trap, it's grown back. Slight subversion in that the regeneration takes a realistic amount of time, but still.
 * One Gand Army
 * Spell My Name With an "S": There's been a fair amount of debate over whether his last name is "Qyrgg" or "Qrygg".
 * Third Person Person: Done for different reasons than human versions of this trope who refer to themselves in this way to be arrogant. Ooryl's doing it out of humility, because he doesn't feel he's important enough to warrant first-person pronouns. Apparently, this is his species' hat.

Bror Jace

 * Improbable Piloting Skills: In the first book of the series, he has three "ace missions" -- five or more kills in a single mission -- and scores a total of twenty-two kills in only five missions, including NINE in the book's last mission.
 * Note: He beats out Corran Horn! Guy with YMMV Canon Sue mark.
 * Jerkass: In Rogue Squadron, he's just a puffed-up, arrogant ass with no redeeming qualities other than his piloting skills.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: In The Bacta War, he gets better.
 * Pride: His homeworld of Thyferra's hat.
 * Punny Name: Corran lampshades the fact that his last name rhymes with ace. He also has many elements of another trope with "ace" in its name.
 * The Rival: To Corran, in the first book where they're measuring their piloting abilities against each other. He beats Corran by one kill, perhaps softening Corran's arguable Canon Sue status a bit in the process.

Nawara Ven

 * Artificial Limbs
 * Batman Gambit: The way he played the Smug Snake, Dr. Edda Gast, in Solo Command definitely qualifies as one of these. And arguably qualifies him for Magnificent Bastard status because he pulled it off so awesomely.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Once he mentioned that he used to be a lawyer in the first book of the series, we all just knew there was going to be a trial of some sort eventually. He has shown up in several other EU works defending main characters.
 * Interspecies Romance: With Rhysati.

Mirax Terrik
See the character sheet for the New Jedi Order and Legacy eras for her full entry.

Booster Terrik

 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: The "jerk" part can be seen in his general behavior, especially toward Corran Horn. The "heart of gold" comes into play where his daughter Mirax and adopted son Wedge are concerned.
 * Papa Wolf: Very protective of his daughter Mirax, and also cares a great deal for his adopted son Wedge Antilles. He does not like Corran one bit.

Erisi Dlarit

 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Until The Bacta War. In that one, she's just a bitch.
 * The Mole
 * Yandere: For Corran. To such an extent that it could be argued her actions at the end of the second book -- which led to his capture and attempted brainwashing -- were designed with the ultimate goal of "Evil Corran" winding up with her after what she assumed would be successful brainwashing.

Ysanne Isard
Effective leader of the Empire for the first two Rogue Squadron novels, originally being the Director of Imperial Intelligence. Later led an Imperial remnant based on Thyferra. After that it gets...complicated.


 * Bad Boss
 * Big Bad: For Rogue Squadron, Wedge's Gamble and The Bacta War.
 * Cloning Blues: Isard's Revenge has both the original Isard and a clone. They don't get on.
 * Foreshadowing: In the Wraith Squadron books, Face has a theory that the Rogues didn't kill her when they destroyed her shuttle in "The Bacta War". He turns out to be right.
 * Klingon Promotion: After arranging her father Armand, her predecessor as Director of Imperial Intelligence, to be falsely fingered as a Rebel sympathiser.
 * Mismatched Eyes: One eye is red and one is blue, evoking fire and ice to suggest her tendency towards both cold intellect and raging fury.
 * Punny Name: She's known as "Iceheart", similar to how 'Isard' is pronounced.
 * Self-Made Orphan
 * Xanatos Gambit: Rather than trying to defend Coruscant, she arranged for it to be infected with the manmade Krytos Plague (affecting aliens only) so the New Republic would conquer a poisoned chalice and be open to accusations of not doing enough to live up to its alien-friendly reputation. However the Rogues' activity did mean that Coruscant fell earlier than she wanted and the plague was less bad than she'd hoped.

Kirtan Loor
Old enemy of Corran Horn from when he was an Imperial Intelligence overseer on Corellia, and ensured the killer of Corran's father got Off On a Technicality. Serves under Isard and is tasked with leading the pro-Imperial resistance after the New Republic takes Coruscant.


 * Distaff Counterpart: In one short story, Corran Horn helped a Rebel sympathiser infiltrate a facility by using his knowledge of Loor's backstory to create the identity of "Kirtana Loor" for her. The real Loor showed up soon afterwards and it's implied he did not find it as funny as Corran.
 * Expy: Invoked in-universe -- Loor believes he looks like a "taller, handsomer Grand Moff Tarkin" and plays up the resemblance. In actuality he is neither as intelligent and masterfully manipulative, nor as much of a Complete Monster, as Tarkin was.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
 * Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Thinks he's much cleverer than he is, and the reader knows it.
 * Revenge/It's Personal: Loor only gets up to really nasty stuff when plotting against his old enemies from the Corellian Security Force, such as Corran Horn and Gil Bastra. The rest of the time he's a more sympathetic character who is repulsed by a lot of Isard and Derricote's plans.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He decides to defect after Isard orders him to bomb a school.

Wes Janson
Another long-time Rogue, and a temporary Wraith, Wes is a prankster and an excellent gunner.

""You know, you've finally earned my gravest revenge."
 * Adult Child: Sometimes. He can be mature and serious when he wants, but he also believes that you can't look dignified if you're having fun - and you have to have fun. It helps prove that you're alive.
 * Ascended Extra: Wedge's Guy in Back during The Empire Strikes Back.
 * Continuity Snarl: One of the Marvel Star Wars storylines was Wedge's anguished tale, told to Luke, of losing his gunner on Hoth. It's since been retconned to a story Wedge would tell people before Wes would walk in, just to shake them up, and they even fooled Luke.
 * Friendly/ColdSniper: Is he off-duty, or on?
 * It should be mentioned that even though he can be cold, he's never quite reaches Donos' level of emotionlessness.
 * Fun Personified: Official Wraith Squadron Prank Master.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills
 * Naked People Are Funny: As seen in Wedge's epic revenge scheme... yes. Yes, they are.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He's very good with his fists.
 * Oh Crap: Unspoken. Wedge planned to work with Chewbacca on a mission; Wes remembered that Wedge can't speak Wookiee and went to every pilot in or related to Wedge's command, taking bets about what Wedge would do or say when he realized his mistake. Wedge realizes, arranges for a protocol droid to come with him and Chewie, and finds out what Wes did.

"You don't ever take revenge. That's beneath Wedge Antilles, Hero of the New Republic."

Wedge gave him a smile, one full of teeth, and Janson's own grin faltered. "Dismissed.""

Lara Notsil /
Lara is an Imperial spy who specializes in creating false identities. She infiltrates the Wraiths, but starts to have doubts about her allegiance...


 * Becoming the Mask
 * Blondes Are Evil: Played straight in Wraith Squadron, subverted after that.
 * Double Consciousness: Imperial intelligence agencies demand results first, with the agent's mental well-being somewhere down the list near their physical well-being and properly groomed nose hair.
 * Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: It is not easy on her.
 * Even Evil Has Standards/Heel Realization: While she's still The Mole, she has an internal monologue with herself about how Zsinj is a noble villain and Trigit... not so much. What causes her to first consider switching sides is the realization that Zsinj is actually just like Trigit, and therefore not worthy of her services. The actual decision to make her Heel Face Turn was made easier by further tropes below, though...
 * Good Feels Good: Along with The Power of Trust, it's what causes her to become the mask and make a Heel Face Turn.
 * Kick the Dog: Talon Squadron was wiped out because of information she discovered. When Myn falls in love with her (and she starts reciprocating), this rapidly becomes problematic.
 * Master of Disguise
 * The Mole: And then not. And then she's a Reverse Mole.

Myn Donos
Donos was a hot-blooded Corellian, until the squadron he commanded, Talon, was destroyed in an ambush just after they were fully instated. He was the only survivor through little more than luck. The ordeal has left him with heavy psychological scars.


 * Angst Coma: After Shiner, his astromech, is destroyed, he cracks and "goes away" into his own head because Shiner was the last Talon - the only thing he had left from his old squad. As long as Shiner survived, he hadn't completely failed them.
 * Cold Sniper: Even before the destruction of his squadron. Yes, he has looked down a scope at people completely unaware that he existed and pulled the trigger. No, he doesn't much like doing that. It's why he transferred.
 * Dating Catwoman: He falls for Lara during the events of the Wraith Squadron series.
 * Defrosting Ice King: Part of his Character Development, though his coldness isn't rude, so much as emotionally deadened.
 * Heroic BSOD: He pretty much lives in one after the destruction of Talon Squadron. He gets better.
 * Madness Mantra: "Shiner's not responding."
 * Survivor Guilt: It's telling that he's more protective of his droid than his own life.

Garik "Face" Loran
As a former child star of propaganda holodramas, Face inspired many to join the Imperial army. Now, he attempts to atone for his childhood by flying for the New Republic.


 * The Atoner: He thinks he needs to pay back for helping the Empire when he was young.
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: An expert at reading Body Language. He can tell what planet you're from by the way you walk.
 * Former Child Star: For the Imperials. Everyone but him thinks this is hilarious.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: A large one over his face, marring his boyish good looks.
 * Glurge: The only one of his old roles for which we get a synopsis features Face as a loyal Imperial child who ends the film being shot by his pro-Rebellion father as he runs to meet the Emperor, and begs Palpatine to destroy Rebels like his father as he dies in Palpatine's arms. Imperial holodramas aren't big on subtlety.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Phanan.
 * Interspecies Romance: With Dia.
 * Large Ham: He plays one remarkably well.
 * Master of Disguise: And improvisation. He tutors the rest of the squad.
 * Never Live It Down: How he feels about being a child star for Imperial propaganda movies.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: This is something of a theme with Wraith Squadron members.
 * Sherlock Scan

Ton Phanan
Ton is a bitter, sarcastic doctor who is allergic to Bacta, and thus ended up half-cybernetic when the medship he was serving on was attacked. He became a pilot after deciding that he'd rather kill people than heal them.

"It's a tool of medicine. I wasn't asked to turn over my bandages, bacta treatments, disinfectant sprays, or tranquilizers either, but I can kill a man with any of them, under the right circumstances."
 * Artificial Limbs
 * Combat Medic/Deadly Doctor: Being a doctor can come in handy when you're asked to surrender your weapons. He cut a guy's throat with a laser scalpel at one point when everyone had been relieved of their blasters or vibroknives, because their captors hadn't realised his equipment could re-purposed. He's a good guy, but he's a little creepy about it.


 * Casanova Wannabe: He hits on most of Wraith Squadron's female members. If he got shot down by TIE fighters as much as he gets shot down by women, his career would be over. This is not always played for laughs, though.
 * Collector of the Strange: Likes bugs (he was that kid who liked making girls shriek with them) and winds up keeping some as pets.
 * Cybernetics Eat Your Future
 * Drowning My Sorrows: It gets easier every year. Less meat, more machine.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Face. The first day they met, they were finishing each other's sentences and annoying the hell out of everybody else within hours.
 * Improvised Weapon: When the Wraiths are captured at the beginning of Iron Fist, the Imps confiscate their weapons... but they don't touch Ton's medical bag. That turned out to be an oversight on their part.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold
 * Sad Clown/Stepford Smiler

Kell Tainer
The Wraiths' demolition expert, Kell's father was in the Rebellion during its early days, but panicked and tried to flee during a critical mission and had to be shot down to avoid it being compromised. He was Wes Janson's first kill. Kell is attempting to make up for his father's failure, but blames Janson just as much.

"Cubber Daine: You play sabacc, son?
 * Ace Pilot: He's the most skilled pilot in the squadron except for Wedge (and possibly Janson).
 * Badass Normal: In addition to his demolition skills, he also has martial arts training, which he uses to good effect in the field at least Once A Book. See also Ace Pilot.
 * Bad Liar: Although it may be a double bluff...

Kell: A little. But I'm not very good at it.

Cubber: Do I look stupid? 'I'm not very good at it', indeed. My six-year-old daughter is a better liar.

Kell: Well, I lie a little, but I'm not very good at it."

"Kell: I don't have to blow up everything I see. I just like to."
 * Brick Joke: His last real mission in Wraith Squadron goes much the same way as his first simulator run near the beginning of the same book.
 * Cowardly Lion: Constantly deals with a strong performance anxiety that he mistakes for cowardice. It nearly overwhelms him in the final battle against Implacable, but he's (eventually) able to overcome it. The fear never completely disappears, but it's never more than a nuisance for him after Wraith Squadron.
 * Good Looking Privates: Everyone's first impression of him is that he'd look great on a recruitment poster.
 * Happily Married: To Tyria in later EU works.
 * Heroic BSOD: After failing to save Jesmin.
 * Loving a Shadow: His feeling for Tyria, at first. Eventually, he comes to love her for real.
 * Model Couple: With Tyria.
 * Out of Focus: He's the main protagonist of Wraith Squadron, but has barely a scene to himself in the latter two Wraith books. This is not a bad thing, as he had finished his Character Development arc and this allowed Allston to look at the other characters in more detail.
 * Phrase Catcher: Other people, mostly Tyria, tell him "Set Honesty to On".
 * Stuff Blowing Up: Bound to happen when he's around. Lampshaded by Falynn.


 * You Killed My Father: Which makes things somewhat awkward for Wes Janson - though it turns out that rather than completely hating him, Kell is terrified of Janson, seeing him as a deadly and unforgiving taskmaster. This could not possibly be less true.

Tyria Sarkin
A human female pilot from Toprawa, a planet viciously subjugated by the Empire. Blackmailed by a training officer, her career is flaming out in a combination of poor piloting skills and black-market pressure until Wedge picks her for the Wraiths for her dual talents of minor Force-sensitivity and experience as a Toprawa Ranger, an elite anti-Imperial guerrilla force. She eventually becomes a Jedi Knight.

""This isn't going to be one of those squadrons with one female pilot that all the men are chasing, is it?""
 * Action Girl: Even more so than other Wraiths, as her background was one of fight, die, or be viciously humiliated just to survive on Toprawa. Even more so when her Force abilities improve.
 * Always Second Best: Despite being a Force-sensitive with no small amount of combat experience, her low scores as a pilot are a constant source of insecurity for her. For instance, initially she can't even use her Force Powers consciously; she just gets suspiciously accurate and life-saving hunches every now and then.
 * Genre Savvy: In her earliest appearance:


 * She also calls Kell out on Loving a Shadow when he first professes his feelings for her.
 * Happily Married: To Kell in later EU works.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Initially the weakest pilot of the group, she obsessively trains, gains confidence, and becomes one of the most solid members of the Wraiths. After some time, her Force powers even develop enough that she leaves the military and becomes a full-fledged Jedi.

Voort "Piggy" saBinring
Piggy is a Gamorrean who was a result of Imperial experimentation. As a result, his intelligence surpasses by far that of his species, and even most humans.


 * BFG: A two-meter long, jury-rigged canon off the end on an X-wing's strike foil..
 * Genius Bruiser: How much of a genius? He's considered a living tactical computer, able to increase the efficiency of pilots he flies with thanks to his mental calculations. How much of a bruiser? He picks up a desk and slams a ship bulkhead (and an assassin) with it so thoroughly he nearly knocks someone out in the next hallway over from the resulting dent. All while being gutshot from a blaster.
 * And at one point, he single-handedly captures a Corellian corvette using an X-Wing's blaster cannon. That he fires like a rifle. He kind of, uh, melted the ship's captain.
 * Good With Numbers: This is often useful. He has a habit of trying to control all aspects of a skirmish by transmitting recommendations to his squadmates.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: He was originally given the nickname as an insult and tolerated it dispassionately, but Wedge tells him that Jek Porkins, a friend of his and Wes' who died in the Death Star trench run, was also called Piggy, and the name carries no stigma to him.
 * Playing With Syringes: His backstory.

Warlord Zsinj

 * Alternate Company Equivalent: His official art makes him look much like Star Trek`s Harry Mudd.
 * Badass Mustache
 * Bad Boss: Zigzagged; he's capable of considerable brutality and cruelty stemming from emotion, but can also sometimes be pragmatic. For example, when the Imperial Stormtrooper Gatterweld offers to help him regai control of Razor's Kiss, we see in the next book that Zsinj rewarded him with an officer's commission, even though the attempt failed.
 * Big Bad: Of the Allston books.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: His warlord empire is funded and supplied by a slew of shadow companies across many worlds, owned by Zsinj under assumed names.
 * In fact, this is the root of Zsinj's power: he is neither a General Failure nor a tactical genius like Thrawn, being a competent to mediocre commander, but is nothing without his corporate empire to back him up: it's when the Republic and Empire team up to bring down his corporate interests that he falls from power.
 * Cunning Linguist: Can swear fluently in 60 languages.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: He's the main villain of the Allston books, but also appears as something of an Outside Context Villain in the Stackpole books, intruding as a third party into the New Republic/Isard fight and being manipulated by Isard.
 * Man in White: He wears an Imperial Grand Admiral's uniform, a rank which he never attained.
 * Meaningful Rename: He always renames his current ship after his first command, an old Victory Star Destroyer where he made his name battling pirates: Iron Fist.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Cleverly used to excuse the cardboard villainy of Zsinj and Melvar in "The Courtship of Princess Leia".
 * Only One Name
 * The Spymaster: He inherits much of Isard's former Imperial Intelligence operatives and surrounds himself with them: when studying Zsinj's psychology, the Wraiths speculate that he likes testing his Obfuscating Stupidity image against their skills.
 * Take a Third Option: During the Stackpole books he was the third main faction of the galaxy besides the New Republic and the Isard-led remnant of the Empire, and both sides attempted unsuccessfully to court him, while he played both off against the other.
 * Villainous Breakdown: At the end of "Solo Command".
 * We Have Reserves: He's not shy about sacrificing his own troops' lives, but he hires pirates as a Redshirt Army of escorts to reduce his losses.

General Melvar

 * The Dragon: To Zsinj.
 * The Nondescript: Described as having incredibly bland features. People find it even harder to recognise him because they usually see him in makeup pulling a stereotypical villainous expression as part of his Obfuscating Stupidity.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Like Zsinj himself.
 * Only One Name

Admiral Apwar Trigit

 * Bad Boss: Unlike most Imperial villains, this is far from obvious at first--he seems to have genuine respect for much of his crew, but.
 * It's All About Me
 * The Starscream: He doesn't really have ambitions to overthrow Zsinj, but views himself as an independent who just happens to be aligned with Zsinj rather than his subordinate, and clashes with him over this.

Captain Darillian

 * It's All About Me: About all we learn about him is that his ego was enormous.
 * Miles Gloriosus: He had a captain's log recorded in full holo (in real-world terms, like using high-definition film for your private video blog) and boasted to it about fighting "the Rebels" like a cartoon villain - which makes his ignoble end before ever seeing any combat (or page-time) that much more morbidly hilarious.
 * Posthumous Character: He only physically appears in the story as a mess of fried flesh splattered across the ceiling after Piggy blasted his way up to the bridge of the Night Caller with his laser cannon. All we see of him are holographic recordings.
 * Something They Would Never Say: Face's impression of him almost cracks when he fails to recognise an Imperial Intelligence expression used by Trigit that the real Darillian would have, as both men had Intelligence backgrounds.