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Ric Olié

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Ric Olié

Biographical information

Homeworld

Naboo^[1]

Descriptive information

Species

Human^[1]

Gender

Male^[1]

Pronouns

He/him^[1]

Height

1.83meters^[2]

Hair color

Light brown^[1]

Eye color

Bluish green^[3]

Chronological & political information

Affiliation(s)

Royal House of Naboo^[3]
- Bravo Squadron^[3]

"Fighters straight ahead!"

―Ric Olié^[3]

Ric Olié was aHuman male starfighter andstarship pilot who served in theRoyal Naboo Security Forces. He was the commander of theNaboo Royal Space Fighter Corps, and the leader ofEcho Flight,Alpha Flight andBravo Squadron. An expert pilot, he was qualified to fly any vessel that was a part of Naboo's fleet.

Olié's talents also landed him the job of thequeen's personal pilot, often flying theRoyal starship in the service ofPadmé Amidala. Due to Naboo's pacifism, Olié's skills were rarely in use, although he saw military action during theInvasion of Naboo. He was also slightly superstitious, and thought of hisastromech droid R2-A6 as a good-luck charm.

Biography[]

Early life[]

In his youth, Olié's enthusiastic flying earned him the nickname "Reckless Ric." He flew short flights for civilians in hisSandtek Skyflipper around the land surrounding his smallvillage. Oneday, he crashed his Skyflipper into one of Naboo's many grassy hills, a disaster that would discourage most from the dangerous profession of flying. Olié, however, was far from discouraged. He built a new craft from the broken parts of the old ship and continued piloting.^[1] Eventually, he tempered his reckless behavior after seeing too many pilotsdie in crashes.^[2]

Early career[]

Olié in his with astromech droid — Olié in hisN-1 starfighter with astromech droidR2-A6

After graduating from public school, Olié enrolled in theChommell sector's academy, hoping to land a career as a home guard pilot. Because of his loyalty to Naboo, he refrained from joining theRepublic Defense Academy, instead joining theNaboo Royal Space Fighter Corps.^[4] Because he was unique among Naboo's fighter pilots in that he had actually seen combat, Olié was promoted to captain and placed in command of Theed's main fighter squadron, Bravo. Although some of his peers scoffed at his service in the Chommell sector, claiming that the enemypirates were prone to flying into one another,Ars Veruna held the utmost faith in his abilities, and as a result, Olié was one of the first pilots to field-test theN-1 starfighter.^[5]

Intime, he became head of the Space Fighter Corps, which put him in charge ofEcho andAlpha Flights,^[1] as well asBravo Squadron^[6]—Naboo's entire starfighter navy.^[1] Since Bravo Flight was the most prominent of the three, Olié's call sign was Bravo Leader.^[1] In his role, he flew his personal N-1 starfighter, the control configuration of which he had modified.^[7] His only superior in the Royal Naboo Security Forces wasCaptain Quarsh Panaka,^[1] who had handpicked him for his position over the starfighter corps.^[2]

Olié disliked paperwork, and would often leave administrative chores to his second-in-command,Essara Till, who would willingly accept the extra responsibility.^[8] Olié was able to recognize skilled volunteers, such asPorro Dolphe, and acknowledged their abilities.^[9] Most of the pilots in Olié's care, however, were simple barge drivers or transport pilots, with very little combat experience, leaving them, like the rest of the Security Forces, ill-prepared for the coming threat.^[1]

Invasion of Naboo (32 BBY)[]

"Shield generator's been hit!"

―Ric Olié^[3]

The Space Fighter Corps was not given much chance to defend Naboo when theTrade Federation blockaded theplanet as a protest against theRepublic's new trade route taxation. Instead, Olié, along with the rest of his pilots, were captured and arrested by Federation forces when they swept intoTheed. Their queen was also arrested, and Naboo was subjugated swiftly by the forces ofOOM-9. However, they did not anticipate the intervention of twoJedi,Qui-Gon Jinn andObi-Wan Kenobi, who rescued the queen, her entourage, Olié, and his pilots. Olié had no time to comprehend what was going on, as he was quickly ushered into the Queen's Royal Starship, and ordered to set a heading forCoruscant.^[3]

Escape did not come easily, as the Federation's blockade significantly challenged Olié. He was flying an unarmed transport against a fleet of heavily armed capital ships. Although he tried his best, the ship sustained heavy damage during the escape, and lost its shield generator.R2-D2, one of the ship'sastromech droids, repaired the shields, which allowed Olié to pilot the ship through the blockade to safety.^[3]

During the escape, thehyperdrive suffered enough damage to prevent the ship from finishing the journey to Coruscant. Kenobi suggested that they land onTatooine, a desert planet, and purchase the parts needed to make repairs. Qui-Gon Jinn, the queen (in disguise), theGungan,Jar Jar Binks, and R2 set out to look for the parts. After a few days, they returned with both the parts and a new member of the group—nine-year-oldAnakin Skywalker, an aspiring pilot. Olié took to the boy and offered him a few short lessons in starship piloting. When the queen's pleas to theGalactic Senate to send aid to her besieged planet went unheeded, she decided to return and take matters into her own hands. Olié flew the group back to Naboo to confront their Trade Federation adversaries. Olié's skills, combined with a lessened Trade Federation space presence, allowed them to land on the planet with enough time for Amidala to contact the native Gungans to enlist their help.^[3]

The battle of Naboo[]

"We didn't hit it!"

―Ric Olié^[3]

The queen had a plan—theGungan Grand Army would assemble and draw OOM-9's forces out of Theed, she and Panaka would then sneak into the city and capture theTrade Federation Viceroy,Nute Gunray, and Olié and his pilots would attempt to knock out theLucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship. Destroying the ship was the key to deactivating all droid units and saving the outmatched Gungans.^[3]

When the queen and the Jedi liberated Theed's hangar, Olié and his pilots sprang into action, clambering into their N-1 starfighters and setting out for the Droid Control Ship.^[3] As soon as his craft was airborne, Olié transmitted rendezvous coordinates for the squadron, whence they would launch their attack against the command ship.^[10] The Federation launchedVulture droid starfighters in attempt to counter the Naboo offensive, and destroyed many of the N-1 fighters. Only upon reaching the enemy ship did Olié realize that thedeflector shield was too strong, and that the battle seemed hopeless. Just when it seemed as though the Naboo fighters would fail in their mission, Anakin Skywalker flew inside the ship and destroyed it. Bravo Flight jubilantly returned to their liberated homeworld.^[3]

Post invasion[]

Following the Federation's defeat, Olié attended thefuneral of Qui-Gon Jinn, who died in the battle, before participating in thecelebrations held in Theed.^[3] In theyears following Naboo's bloodiest conflict, he would accrue further fame with Bravo Flight.^[1] During theClone Wars, his one-time protégé, Anakin Skywalker, went on to become a skilled pilot.^[11]

Personality and traits[]

"Coruscant… the entire planet is one big city."

―Ric Olié^[3]

Olié was a vocally observant man, and had a reputation among his peers as the one most likely to point out the obvious.^[3] He was considerably brash in his youth, and instead of learning from his mistakes, he found only encouragement in failure. He was also extremely proud of his homeworld, and did not hesitate to "advertise" the skills of Bravo Squadron in front of foreigners.^[1]

He was a naturally gifted pilot and adapted to Naboo's military system quite easily. He was reverent towards his queen and always respected her decisions.^[3] However, he understood that Naboo was an imperfect world, and did not always agree that tradition was the safest thing for his planet's welfare.^[8] Olié was also superstitious, believing that his astromech droid, R2-A6, was a good-luck charm.^[12]

When in the company of foreign pilots, namely those who flew for the Republic, Olié was prone to being a bit of a show-off. He participated in many minor skirmishes with Chommell sector pirates and would often escort dignitaries to Coruscant and back. During such missions, he would attempt to demonstrate his considerable skills.

Behind the scenes[]

Ric Olié first appeared as a supporting character inStar Wars: Episode IThe Phantom Menace, where he was portrayed byRalph Brown. Olié was voiced byJess Harnell inStar Wars: Starfighter andClint Bajakian inStar Wars: Episode I: Battle for Naboo.

Ric Olié is referred to by some fans asCaptain Obvious due to dialogue that simply states well-observed facts, such as "There's the blockade!," "That's it… Tatooine," and "We didn't hit it!"^[13]^[14]^[15]