via Walt Disney Pictures

8 Minor Characters From Star Wars: The Force Awakens With Insane Origin Stories

When watching a Star Wars film, we get the sense that every seemingly insignificant cantina patron or X-Wing pilot is carrying with them untold stories, and that’s exactly what makes the franchise’s universe so rich. It’s also why the Expanded Universe is appealing to passionate fans; we get to learn more about ridiculously minor elements of the movies that are only tangentially connected to the main characters. For example, a random dude running by during the Cloud City escape in The Empire Strikes Back receives a full name (Willrow Hood), an elaborate personal history and plenty of devotees at every convention.

Brendan Morrow

Published: May 22, 2016 02:53 pm

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2) Korr Sella

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korrsella

Speaking of new female characters, we also have Korr Sella, someone who has basically no role in The Force Awakens but is still crucial to the story. Sella can briefly be seen on Hosnian Prime before it’s destroyed by Starkiller Base; the camera pans into her specifically, and she’s emphasized so much that some may wonder if they’re meant to recognize her.

For those that don’t know, she’s actually General Leia’s envoy to the Republic, and she has been serving under Leia since the age of 16. As explained in Star Wars: Bloodline, Sella’s job was to review hollos so that Leia could recognize delegates at events. Basically, she was the Gary Walsh to Leia’s Selina Meyer. When Leia left the Republic to form the Resistance, Sella remained loyal to her boss and mentor.

She was frequently sent to the Republic to make the case for action against the First Order, and she successfully negotiated some limited support for the Resistance. If you were wondering why the heck the Republic allowed the First Order to become so powerful, this was precisely what Leia Organa and Korr Sella had been saying. Leia did not appear in person to make the argument because, as she explains in Bloodline, she felt that there were members of the senate who would try to kill her if she showed her face.

After the Resistance learned of the First Order’s plan to use the Starkiller Base against the Republic, Sella was sent to Hosnian Prime with this grave warning, hoping it would be enough to finally convince the Republic to take action directly rather than secretly providing very minor funding to the Resistance. That brings us to her scene in the movie, where she and the other members of the government are killed in Hosnian Prime’s obliteration.

At its best, the Star Wars Expanded Universe enhances the experience of watching the films, and reading Bloodline makes that sequence in The Force Awakens so much more devastating; rather than witnessing the destruction of some random planets, we are seeing Leia’s loyal aid and friend killed while doing all she can to fight for peace in the galaxy.

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