Blount

Blount was a Human male who fought in the Galactic Civil War. Originally a member of the Galactic Empire's Imperial Security Bureau, he defected to the Rebel Alliance before 4 ABY and joined Alliance Intelligence. As a lieutenant, he also served the Rebels as a pilot, spy, and scout, and by 4 ABY, he was considered a seasoned combat veteran. When the Alliance launched an assault on the Empire's unfinished Death Star II battlestation in that year, Blount joined the crew of the YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon, whose pilot, Lando Calrissian, led the Alliance Fleet's starfighter contingent during the attack.

The Empire anticipated the strike, however, and when the Rebel fleet arrived at their target in the Endor system, they found the station protected by a deflector shield. As they fended off attacking Imperial fighters, Blount served in a post aboard the Millennium Falcon. The freighter squared off against Imperial Star Destroyers during the battle, and eventually entered the incomplete Death Star when a Rebel strike team on the Forest Moon of Endor below was able to blow up the station's shield generator. Calrissian destroyed the Death Star's reactor core; the station soon after exploded and the Rebels won the day.

Biography[]

The Human male Blount served the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War as a member of the Imperial Security Bureau.^[1] Prior to 4 ABY,^[3]^[4] he defected to the Rebel Alliance, wherein he lent his skills to Alliance Intelligence and achieved the rank of lieutenant. Blount also served as a spy and a scout,^[1] and occasionally piloted a modified Z-95t Headhunter designated Tala 2 for the Alliance's Tala Squadron. The reconnaissance starfighter was used to monitor Imperial activity during Rebel commando operations. When piloting Tala 2,^[5] Blount was the wingman of Colonel Airen Cracken,^[1] who flew in Tala 1. Cracken's fighter was operationally assigned to support Rebel commandos serving under Crix Madine,^[6] an Alliance general.^[3]

At some point during his career, Blount visited Cloud City,^[1] a tibanna gas mining colony that floated above the gas giant Bespin.^[7] By 4 ABY, he had been involved in enough combat situations to be considered a seasoned veteran.^[1] In that year,^[4] he was with the Alliance Fleet in the Sullust system while an assault was planned on the Empire's Death Star II battlestation, a superweapon under construction in orbit above the Forest Moon of Endor. General Lando Calrissian was selected to lead the starfighter contingent of the naval strike on the station from the YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon, and Blount joined the freighter's crew as preparations were made throughout the fleet. He stood in the cockpit with Calrissian, co-pilot Nien Nunb, Airen Cracken, and another individual as the fleet entered hyperspace en route to Endor.^[3]

Blountincockpit — Lieutenant Blount stands in the cockpit of the *Millennium Falcon* just prior to the Battle of Endor.

The Rebels expected the deflector shield protecting the Death Star to be deactivated due to the efforts of a strike team that had been dispatched to the moon and tasked with destroying the groundside deflector shield generator, but upon the fleet's arrival in the Endor system, Calrissian discovered that the shield was still functional. The Empire had anticipated their arrival, and the fleet could do little save fend off attacking Imperial starfighters. Although Blount left the Millennium Falcon's cockpit before the dogfighting began,^[3] he continued to actively crew the freighter during the space battle.^[8] When the Death Star's superlaser—thought by the Alliance to be not yet operational—began to destroy Rebel capital ships, the Millennium Falcon led the Rebels toward a nearby fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers to avoid the battlestation's powerful weapon.^[3]

The Alliance ships attacked the Destroyers at point-blank range,^[3] and Calrissian at one point took the Millennium Falcon into an enemy vessel's hangar bay in an effort to dodge its turbolasers. Explosions resulting from concussion missiles fired by Nunb eventually covered the freighter's escape from the Destroyer's guns.^[9] The Millennium Falcon also aided in the destruction of the Empire's main communications ship, which neutralized the Empire's jamming of the Alliance fleet. As a result,^[10] the Alliance was able to detect when the Rebel strike team finally destroyed the shield generator. Immediately thereafter, the Millennium Falcon and several other Rebel fighters entered the incomplete battlestation and made their way to its reactor core.^[3] Blount was aboard the freighter^[8] when its guns destroyed the core; Red Leader Wedge Antilles also took out the station's power regulator from his X-wing starfighter, and the two ships were able to escape from the Death Star mere seconds before it was destroyed in a powerful explosion.^[3] The Alliance won the battle and delivered a crippling blow to the Empire.^[4]

Personality and traits[]

Lieutenant Blount XWM — Lieutenant Blount pilots a Z-95 Headhunter.

During the Galactic Civil War, Blount defected from the Galactic Empire and joined the Rebel Alliance. He worked as an Intelligence agent in both organizations, and also served as a pilot, spy, and scout in the Alliance. He was skilled at flying and was considered to be a seasoned combat veteran. Blount had green eyes, fair skin,^[1] and dark-blond hair.^[2]

Equipment[]

During the Battle of Endor, Blount wore standard-issue Alliance battledress, which included a protective helmet, a thornproof jerkin, and an identity panel.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

"He can be seen when the Falcon prepares itself to go make the jump to lightspeed. After this appearance he is not seen anymore, so I'd say we could presume he took place in the other quad gun, just like Cracken."

―Tim Veekhoven, speculating on Lieutenant Blount's role during the Battle of Endor^[11]

Fabulous80sHair-BluRay — Blount mans one of the *Millennium Falcon*'s quad laser turrets in unused footage shot for *Return of the Jedi*.

Lieutenant Blount first appeared in Richard Marquand's 1983 film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, as a nameless background character standing in the Millennium Falcon's cockpit during a single scene immediately prior to the Battle of Endor.^[3] He was played by Trevor Butterfield, who also played numerous other roles in both Return of the Jedi and in 1980's The Empire Strike Back.^[12] Additional footage was shot of both Blount and Airen Cracken rushing through the Millennium Falcon's corridors alongside other Rebel crewmembers, and of the two of them manning the freighter's quad laser cannons.^[13] These scenes went unused in the film's final cut,^[3] but the rough, unedited footage was later included in the 2011 Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray release.^[13]

The presence of two gunners in the quad turrets during the battle was nevertheless canonized by Gambler's Run, a short story originally published in the 1990 sourcebook Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi,^[9] and Cracken has since been confirmed to be one of them.^[14]^[15] Although Star Wars author Tim Veekhoven surmised that Blount was likely the second gunner in a 2006 blog,^[11] the maintenance droid MK-09 had in fact been named the other gunner in 1999.^[16] Therefore, Blount's specific role during the battle in Star Wars Legends continuity remains unknown.

The character was neither named nor given a backstory until 2000, for the Death Star II Limited expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game.^[1] A promotional photo of Blount and Cracken was later included in 2002's Issue 30 of The Official Star Wars Fact File, in an article discussing Rebel troopers present on Endor's surface during the Battle of Endor;^[2] however, Blount's presence aboard the Millennium Falcon during the battle has been confirmed by 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.^[8]

Neither Blount, Cracken, nor the Rebel navigator are present in the Millennium Falcon's cockpit in the^[17] December 1, 1983^[18] third issue of Marvel Comics' adaptation of the film,^[17] the September 1, 1999^[19] third issue of Dark Horse Comics' Manga adaptation,^[20] or in LucasArts' 2006 non-canon LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.^[21] An alternate version of the battle occurs in the third and fourth issues of the comic book miniseries Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi, in which the Millennium Falcon is crewed only by Calrissian, General Han Solo, and the Wookiee Chewbacca.^[22]^[23] Those issues were respectively released March 3, 2004^[24] and March 31 of the same year.^[25]

In 1998, Kenner Products released an "Endor Rebel Soldier" figure for their Power of the Force toy line. A variation of the packaging shows an image of Blount on Endor, conflicting with his in-universe role on the Millennium Falcon during the Battle of Endor. This article treats that image as an error. As Blount is not pictured in all versions of the figure's packaging, this article also avoids considering that figure as a confirmed representation of Blount.^[26]