Bolla Ropal

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Bolla Ropal was a male Rodian Jedi Master living during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. During the Clone Wars, Ropal acted as the keeper of the Kyber memory crystal, a device that contained the names of all known Force-sensitive children in the galaxy. Around the beginning of the war, the Rodian accompanied several other Jedi Masters and members of the Jedi High Council to a meeting with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine regarding the kidnapping of the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure's son by agents of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Later in the war, Ropal and his Padawan, Tyzen Xebec, oversaw the construction of a Republic base on Devaron.

During a meeting between Ropal and several Devaronian dignitaries, Devaron was invaded by Confederate forces under the command of the bounty hunter Cad Bane. Under the directive of his client, Darth Sidious, Bane was hunting down Ropal in order to retrieve the Kyber crystal and unlock the information it held. Ropal was defeated during the battle and taken to Bane's Munificent-class frigate, where he was imprisoned and tortured. Learning of Bane's plot, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker led a Republic fleet to Devaron to engage the bounty hunter and rescue Ropal before the Confederate forces fled the system. Short on time, Bane increased Ropal's torture while repeatedly trying to force the Jedi Master to unlock the secrets of the crystal. Ropal continually refused, and the torture eventually resulted in his death. The Jedi Master's body was discovered shortly thereafter by Republic forces and moved to the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Clone Wars 1.1.1 Death over Devaron 1.2 Legacy 2 Personality and traits 3 Powers and abilities 4 Behind the scenes 5 Appearances 6 Sources 7 Notes and references 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Clone Wars

Bolla Ropal was a male Rodian who served as a Jedi in the waning years of the Galactic Republic.^[2] Hailing from the Outer Rim world of Rodia,^[1] he eventually rose to the level of Jedi Master and took the Zabrak Tyzen Xebec as his apprentice.^[4] As a Master, Ropal was given the duty to protect and preserve the information within the Kyber memory crystal, a device that held the identities of all known Force-sensitive younglings in the galaxy. This information would then be used by the Jedi Order to find new children to initiate into their ranks.^[1] Ropal visited at least one of these younglings, Wee Dunn, in Rodia's Kay-Tap square. After witnessing the child's strong connection to the Force, Ropal confirmed that he would eventually be taken by the Jedi Order, but reassured the infant's mother, Mahtee Dunn, that this would not happen for quite some time.^[5]

With the outbreak of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, Ropal joined his fellow Jedi in becoming a general in the Grand Army of the Republic.^[4] Shortly after the beginning of the conflict, he accompanied Jedi Masters Mace Windu, Plo Koon, and Luminara Unduli to a meeting with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in the Chancellor's office in the Republic Executive Building of Coruscant's Senate District. The Chancellor had been contacted by the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure following the kidnapping of his son, Rotta, and had agreed to send Jedi to aid in the investigation, despite reservations voiced by Windu and Unduli. Rotta was eventually found and returned to Jabba by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.^[2]

Later in the war, Ropal and Xebec led a contingent of the Grand Army to Devaron, a world in the Colonies region that had recently consented to allow the Republic to build a base on their planet. Not wanting his men to sit idle within the base, Ropal put them to work on several non-combat tasks. Under his guidance, clone troopers serving with Clone Commander Ganch undertook good-will projects for the native Devaronians, including the construction of a dam and the ecological restoration of a once-verdant valley. Ropal took a special interest in the valley, believing it to be symbolic of Devaron's future.^[4]

[edit] Death over Devaron

Meanwhile, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious had hired Duros bounty hunter Cad Bane to retrieve the information stored within Ropal's Kyber crystal. After stealing a holocron from the Jedi Temple,^[1] Bane was loaned a fleet of Trade Federation warships to take to Devaron.^[3] Although the Jedi High Council had learned of Bane's plans, they were unable to contact Ropal and warn him, as he had become out-of-contact in the Devaron system.^[1] During a meeting between Ropal and two Devaronian ministers, one male and one female, concerning the progress of the Republic projects, Bane's armada invaded the planet. The bounty hunter's forces flooded into the valley that the Republic army was stationed within and quickly overpowered the Republic troops, despite the efforts of Commander Ganch and his troopers. Taken by surprise, Ropal understood that the battle was lost and ordered his Padawan, Tyzen Xebec, to stay out of the valley.^[4]

Bane dispatched fellow bounty hunter Aurra Sing to lead a squad of battle droids to locate Ropal and report his location to the Duros so he could move in and capture the Jedi. Sing's team sighted Ropal near the eastern wall of the valley and shot down a Republic gunship to distract him and his forces from Bane's arrival on the battlefield. Upon landing on the surface of the planet, Bane engaged the Jedi Master in combat, firing at him with cortosis bullets that shorted out Ropal's lightsaber. Bane then bound Ropal's legs with a fibercord whip and pulled him to the ground. After Bane revealed the stolen holocron and demanded that Ropal aid him in opening it, the Rodian refused and threw aside his lightsaber. However, Ropal was rendered unconscious by an electrical shock from a super battle droid and taken prisoner by Bane.^[4]

Stripped of the Kyber crystal, the unconscious Ropal was taken by a pair of super battle droids to a Sheathipede-class shuttle before being ferried up to Bane's Munificent-class frigate. Ropal was dragged to the ship's cell blocks and placed within a magnetic containment field. After being jabbed in the chest by a MagnaGuard's electrostaff, the battle droid overseeing Ropal's interrogation instructed the barely conscious Rodian that he was to remain awake until Bane had arrived. While waiting, Ropal's droid captors attached mind limiters and pain pulsers to his body and injected him with a full dose of X-C33.^[3]

As Bane's armada prepared to depart Devaron, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker led a fleet of Republic warships into the system in order to prevent Bane's escape. Skywalker's flagship, the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute, fired upon the hyperdrive engines of Bane's frigate, preventing it from fleeing to hyperspace. Recognizing that he had little time before Skywalker and his forces boarded the frigate, Bane demanded that Ropal assist him in opening the holocron he had stolen from the Jedi Temple. With the holocron open, Bane would be able to insert the Kyber crystal and access the information it stored. However, Ropal refused Bane's demands, and was electrocuted as a result. After one final refusal, Bane ordered the battle droid overseeing the torture to electrocute the Jedi at full power. Ropal died as a result, and his limp body was dropped to the floor. The body was later discovered by Skywalker and his apprentice Ahsoka Tano, and moved from the Confederate frigate to the Resolute.^[3]

[edit] Legacy

Because of Ropal's refusal to comply with his orders, Bane was forced to seek another Jedi to aid him in accessing the Kyber crystal's information. He was eventually able to trap Tano on the shielded spaceward side of an airlock. Under the threat of having his apprentice jettisoned into the vacuum of space, Skywalker opened the holocron for Bane—doing exactly what Ropal had sacrificed his life to avoid.^[3] Bane escaped with the holocron and, under the orders of Darth Sidious, began collecting children from the list on the Kyber crystal. Bane eventually traveled to Rodia to capture Wee Dunn. Although Bane was masquerading as a Jedi, Mahtee Dunn was hesitant to relinquish her son, citing her earlier visit from Master Ropal and his assurances that the young Rodian would not be inducted into the Jedi Order for quite some time. Despite this, Bane escaped with Wee Dunn and took him to Mustafar. The children were later rescued by Skywalker and Tano, and the holocron was recovered by Jedi Masters Windu and Kenobi.^[5]

On Devaron, Tyzen Xebec was left without a Master. The dam which Ropal had been working to construct was destroyed during Bane's assault on Devaron, flooding the valley that he had invested so much time on. Reflecting on his Master, Xebec surmised that Ropal was too focused on the future, and his unfinished work on the valley was representative of that flaw. The young Zabrak returned to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where he was informed of his Master's death at Bane's hands by Master Mace Windu. Xebec later ran into Ahsoka Tano, inquiring after her role in finding and rescuing Ropal. The distraught Xebec confided in Tano his anger with his Master's constant pacifism and what Xebec perceived to be an attitude of intellectual superiority. Xebec was later given a new Master, Keelyvine Reus, who had difficulties training her new Padawan.^[4]

[edit] Personality and traits

Bolla Ropal was highly concerned with the future welfare of the Republic and the Jedi Order.^[4] This made him an ideal keeper for the Kyber crystal, as the information on it represented future generations of Jedi Knights.^[1] As a general in the Grand Army of the Republic, Ropal used the troops under his command for goodwill projects that bolstered public opinion of the Republic. His belief that the Republic's military might could be good for something other than destruction and war manifested itself in his work on the valley on Devaron. Believing it to be representative of the future of the Devaronians, Ropal took its restoration as his personal pet project and spent much time working on it.^[4] Ropal's dedication to the future kept him from giving into Cad Bane, despite the torture he experienced at the hands of the bounty hunter.^[3]

Ropal cared deeply for his Padawan, Tyzen Xebec. During the invasion of Devaron, Ropal understood that the Republic base and valley were going to be overrun, and thus ordered Xebec to stay away in the interest of his safety. Although Xebec wished to aid his Master, he obeyed his orders and remained with Commander Ganch during Ropal's abduction. In the aftermath of the battle, Xebec believed that his Master had been too focused on the future and was unable to see the present, a flaw that had cost him his death. The young Zabrak also lamented that his Master had not lived to see the completion of his work on Devaron.^[4]

[edit] Powers and abilities

Bolla Ropal was strong enough in the Force to reach the status of Jedi Master.^[2] Although the Rodian lacked combat ability and prowess with a lightsaber, he was talented in predicting the future through the Force as a seer. His confidence in that power was shown to be misplaced when he was unable to foresee the invasion of Devaron.^[4]

When engaging Cad Bane, Ropal was quickly taken out.^[4] Despite his perceived weakness, the Jedi Master was able to withstand extended periods of torture that included electrocutions and poisoning.^[3] On a dossier acquired by Bane regarding Ropal, his abilities were stated to be "in question," and his threat potential was listed as "minimal."^[1]

[edit] Behind the scenes

The character of Bolla Ropal was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. Ropal's name was derived from an acronym of an assistant of Dave Filoni's, the supervising director for the series.^[6]

Bolla Ropal first appeared in Karen Traviss's novelization of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film. In the novel, Ropal was present during Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's meeting with members of the Jedi High Council to discuss the kidnapping of Rotta the Hutt. Ropal did not appear in the film, as the only Jedi present in Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's office were Mace Windu, Plo Koon, and Luminara Unduli. Ropal finally appeared in the The Clone Wars second season episode "Cargo of Doom," where he was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. The events surrounding the Rodian's death were revealed in the online The Clone Wars webcomic Act on Instinct.

Ropal's death in "Cargo of Doom" was intentionally morbid, according to Dave Filoni. The Jedi Master's death scene served to illustrate Cad Bane's ruthlessness, as the bounty hunter was to be the major villain of the initial Season Two story arc. In the episode's online commentary, Filoni also states that Ropal's defiance to Bane was needed in order to give more significance to the character's death, as the episode was the Rodian's first and so far only appearance in the television series.^[6]

[edit] Appearances

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars novelization (First appearance)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Holocron Heist" (Mentioned only)
• The Clone Wars: Act on Instinct
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Cargo of Doom"
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Children of the Force" (Mentioned only)

[edit] Sources

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Visual Guide Ultimate Battles (First pictured)
•  New Clone Wars Web Comic Tells Original Tale on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)
•  The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Holocron Heist on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)
•  The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Cargo of Doom on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)
•  Episode Commentary #2.2: Cargo of Doom on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)
•  The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Children of the Force on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

•  Ropal, Bolla in the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia