Pharl McQuarrie

"McQuarrie" redirects here. For the Star Wars conceptual artist, see Ralph McQuarrie.

Pharl McQuarrie was a human from the planet Ralltiir who fought in the Clone Wars as a prominent military advisor. He later served as a general in the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War and his work aided in the retrieval of the Death Star plans. With his knowledge of planning and logistics, McQuarrie played a key role in planning the Alliance's headquarters on the planet Hoth, named Echo Base, and headed its construction before being selected as General Carlist Rieekan's second-in-command.

In 3 ABY, the Galactic Empire discovered the Alliance's presence on Hoth and deployed forces to attack Echo Base. McQuarrie was instrumental in coordinating a defensive action against the Empire that allowed the vast majority of the base's personnel and equipment to be evacuated to a rallying point.

Biography[]

Building Echo Base[]

Echo-Base-cutaway-SWCL — Pharl McQuarrie played a vital role in the construction of Echo Base.

A native of the planet Ralltiir, Pharl McQuarrie fought in the Clone Wars as a prominent military advisor^[1] and later came to serve as a general in the army of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire.^[4] It was in part through his efforts for the Alliance that the Death Star plans were retrieved by Princess Leia Organa^[1] following their recovery on the planet Scarif following the Battle of Scarif^[5] in 1 BBY.^[6]

After the plans were used to destroy the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin,^[7] he^[1] played an integral part in the planning and establishment of Echo Base,^[3] the Alliance's headquarters on the icy planet Hoth,^[4] and was personally selected to head up its construction, in which he proved instrumental,^[3] overseeing everything from the fundamental structure to the equipment installation.^[8] It took eighteen months to construct the base, two of which were simply installing the equipment.^[9] After the base's completion,^[3] the commander of Echo Base,^[4] General Carlist Rieekan, selected McQuarrie to be his second-in-command^[3] based on his contribution to the base.^[8]

The Battle of Hoth[]

PharlMcQuarrie-ESB — McQuarrie was instrumental in the construction and defense of Echo Base.

In 3 ABY,^[6] less than a month after the Alliance had begun using Echo Base,^[10] an Imperial Viper probe droid discovered it and alerted the Empire. After locating and destroying the droid, the Alliance began to evacuate immediately. During the preparations, McQuarrie strode across one of the base's hangars past several other base personnel.^[2]

Before the evacuation could begin, an Imperial fleet arrived in the Hoth system and deployed ground forces to attack Echo Base.^[2] McQuarrie played a key role in coordinating a delaying defensive action against the Imperial forces and bought the Alliance time to evacuate the vast majority of the base's personnel and equipment to a rallying point,^[3] including all members of Alliance High Command who were present.^[10]

Personality and traits[]

McQuarrie's knowledge of planning and logistics made him integral during the planning and establishment of Echo Base. He was a human with fair skin, white hair, and green eyes.^[3]

Equipment[]

While stationed at Echo Base, McQuarrie wore a brown cold-weather issue command parka, white command gauntlets, a brown belt, and a white insulated watch cap with a com unit, a face wrap,^[3] cap warmers,^[11] and green anti-glare goggles.^[3] He also carried a clipboard.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

McQuarrie-Ellenshaw-Pangrazio — Ralph McQuarrie, Harrison Ellenshaw, and Michael Pangrazio all had cameos in *The Empire Strikes Back*.

Pharl McQuarrie was created as an on-screen cameo for concept artist Ralph McQuarrie^[12] in the 1980 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.^[2] McQuarrie appears carrying his sketch clipboard^[12] in front of a matte painting that he created in a scene that also includes several other concept artists who worked on the film cameoing as rebel personnel, including Joe Johnston, Harrison Ellenshaw, and Michael Pangrazio.^[13] While Johnson was given a brief line of dialogue,^[14] McQuarrie claimed the crew did not trust him with lines as they knew he would "flub" them.^[13] The scene was filmed as part of pickups at Industrial Light & Magic in California on February 9, 1980 and took ten takes to complete.^[14]

The name Pharl McQuarrie was first used in the new Star Wars canon during the release of a bust of the character sold as a convention exclusive at Celebration Anaheim in 2015.^[3] The name originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where the character was first identified as simply General McQuarrie on a card in the 1998 Special Edition Limited set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game.^[15] The first name "Pharl," an anagram of Ralph, was then introduced in the 2004 article "Who's Who in Echo Base," which was written by Josh Radke and published in Star Wars Insider 74.^[16]