Blanaid

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"Look!"
"Get him off of there!"

―Blanaid and Newland, upon spotting an Ewok assailant^[1]

Blanaid,^[2] also known as Watts^[3] was a male human who served as an AT-ST driver in the Imperial Army. During the Galactic Civil War, he took part in the Empire's struggle against the Rebel Alliance. At the Battle of Endor, Blanaid served under Major Newland aboard Tempest Scout 2, an All Terrain Scout Transport walker.

Biography[]

A male of the human species, Blanaid served as a lieutenant^[2] in the ground forces of the Galactic Empire, an autocratic government led by Emperor Sheev Palpatine. In that capacity, he was involved in the Galactic Civil War, during which the Empire tried to crush the resistance movement known as the Rebel Alliance. Four years after the Battle of Yavin, Blanaid served as Major Newland's copilot and gunner during the Battle of Endor. They were tasked with prowling the forest of Endor and firing at the planet's natives, the Ewoks,^[1] aboard Tempest Scout 2,^[4] an AT-ST walker. As Blanaid and Newland were performing that mission, their vehicle was assaulted by the Rebel Chewbacca, who swung on a vine to the machine's roof, with two Ewok fighters clinging to him. As the three assailants landed on the top of the walker, one of the Ewoks peeked through the cockpit's window. Blanaid noticed the upside-down Ewok hanging in front of his viewport, and he promptly warned Newland of the situation. Upon being ordered to remove the intruder, Blanaid opened the roof-mounted entry hatch. As soon as he put his head through the aperture, the lieutenant was yanked out and tossed overboard by Chewbacca. The two Ewoks subsequently leaped down into the cockpit and knocked Newland unconscious.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

Blanaid first appeared in the 1983 movie Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Although he had one line, he was neither identified on-screen nor credited, and the movie script referred to him as "walker pilot #1."^[1] The pilot was portrayed by Robert Watts, co-producer of Return of the Jedi, who had served in real-world armed forces as a lieutenant.^[5] Because of that, the character was christened "Watts" in 1999, in the Endor Limited expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game.^[6] However, the card game is part of Star Wars Legends, previously known as the Expanded Universe, and is therefore not canon.^[7] The name "Blanaid" was first revealed in the 2014 reference book Star Wars in 100 Scenes, written by Jason Fry.^[8] Before the character was identified as either Watts or Blanaid, Robert Watts had once claimed that the pilot he portrayed was actually General Maximilian Veers from Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.^[9]