Gunnery captain/Legends
- "There goes another one."
"Hold your fire." - ―Chief gunnery officer Lieutenant Hija and Gunnery Captain Bolvan
Gunnery captain was an assignment on the Star Destroyers of the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War fought against the Alliance to Restore the Republic. The gunnery captain was tasked with overseeing the chief gunnery officer, who managed the main weaponry of the vessel. Only one chief gunnery officer could serve under the command of a gunnery captain.[3] The gunnery captain wore a black Imperial Navy crewman's uniform.[2]
The Human male Bolvan[2] served the Imperial Navy as a gunnery captain[1] aboard the Star Destroyer Devastator during the Battle of Tatooine[3] in 0 BBY.[4] Prior to that, Bolvan served in a more senior position of captain of the Devastator.[5] While Imperial stormtroopers boarded an Alliance CR90 corvette, the Tantive IV, Bolvan's chief gunnery officer, Lieutenant Hija, spotted an escape pod jettisoned from the vessel. Bolvan ordered his subordinate not to fire on the pod, as the Star Destroyer's sensors detected no lifeforms within.[3]
Behind the scenes
A gunnery captain, Bolvan, first appeared in the 1976 novelization of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,[3] ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster.[6] One year later, in 1977, Bolvan's scene also appeared in the released version of A New Hope.[2] The character in question was identified as the captain of the Devastator in the novel,[3] and the twenty-first issue of Marvel Comics's Star Wars series, released March 21, 1979, established an individual named Wermis in that role.[7] However, West End Games' 1996 Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook gave the name Bolvan to the individual identified as the Devastator's captain.[5]
In 2007 StarWars.com's Visual Guides identified these two as separate persons—Bolvan as the black-uniformed officer who ordered Hija not to fire on the escape pod,[8] and Wermis as the captain of the Devastator.[9] The term "gunnery captain" was introduced in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, establishing that Bolvan served in that role by the time of the events of A New Hope.[1]
Appearances
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization (First appearance)
- Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope junior novelization
- Star Wars: A New Hope - The Special Edition 1 (Voice only)
- Star Wars Manga: A New Hope 1
Non-canon appearances
Sources
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 10 (HUN1, The Hunt for the Droids) (Picture only)
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 11 (STA4, Imperial Star Destroyer)
Visual Guide -- Chapter 4: Artoo's Mission on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (Picture only)- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I ("Bolvan, Captain") (First identified as gunnery captain)
- The Official Star Wars Fact File Part 44 (STA4, Imperial Star Destroyer)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 84 ("Bolvan, Captain")
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
- ↑ The New Essential Chronology dates the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which include Bolvan's onscreen presence in the Battle of Tatooine, to 0 BBY.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1
"The Lesser Evil" – Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
- ↑ Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization, Special Edition foreword by George Lucas
- ↑ Star Wars (1977) 21
- ↑ Visual Guide -- Chapter 4: Artoo's Mission on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (image)
- ↑ Visual Guide -- Chapter 3: Imperial Boarding Party on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (image)