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| “ | You were always scum! | „ |
| ~ Captain Phasma's last words to Finn before her death as she falls into the fire. |
| “ | You're making a big mistake. You can't be so stupid as to think this would be easy. My troops will storm this block and kill you both. | „ |
| ~ Captain Phasma taunts Han and Finn after they force her to deactivate the shields of the Starkiller Base. |
Captain Phasma is a major antagonist in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. She was the Supreme Commander of the First Order Stormtrooper Corps under General Hux's command. She was the commanding officer of the FN Corps, the Stormtrooper unit of which FN-2187, later known as Finn, deserts. She is Finn's nemesis. She appears as a major antagonist in both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, and as the main antagonist of the animated television series Star Wars Resistance.
She was portrayed by Gwendoline Christie, who is best known for her role as the much more noble Brienne of Tarth on HBO's hit series Game of Thrones.
History
Star Wars: Resistance
When the First Order wants to conquer the Castilon fueling station Colossus to transform it into a military base, Phasma is sent for this mission where she is helped by Commander Pyre and Major Baron Elrik Vonreg. Later, she leaves for a mission on Jakku with Kylo Ren leaving them in charge of operations. But The Resistance succeed to free the Colossus, Elrik Vonreg is killed in the Battle of Castilon, the Colossus Resistance escapes with it and Pyre and Agent Tierny who are the only commanders of Colossus Garrison survivings flee before with their new recruit Tamara Ryvora.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
In a village on Jakku, Captain Phasma leads the Stormtrooper attack on a mission to locate the rebel pilot Poe Dameron and obtain information on the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker. Under the orders of Kylo Ren, Phasma has her Stormtroopers execute the entire village and take Poe prisoner for information. Onboard the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Finalizer following the battle, she finds that one of her Stormtrooper cadets, FN-2187, is suffering trauma over the massacre so much that he takes his helmet off from the stress. Phasma is displeased over his gesture of fear and orders him to put his helmet back on and return to duty.
When FN-2187 (now calling himself Finn) helps Poe escape, Phasma informs Kylo Ren and General Hux that it was most likely Finn who helped him since Finn failed to report to his re-conditioning that she had ordered him to attend, as she suspected he was having second thoughts about his loyalty to the First Order. She was present at General Hux's speech at Starkiller Base, where she bears witness to the destruction of the Hosnian system. Later, she is ambushed by Chewbacca and interrogated by Finn and Han Solo. While irritated towards Finn's betrayal, she does not panic over her capture, but is threatened and eventually forced to shut down Starkiller's shields for them. After this is done, the trio dump her down a chute into Starkiller's sewage system. But Phasma succeeds to exit it and escape before Starkiller's destruction, offscreen.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
Phasma appears when DJ betrays Finn and Rose to her for money as they try to hack the hyperspace tracking systems aboard the Mega-class Star Dreadnought Supremacy. Taking them to the hangar, Phasma intends to execute Finn, and has her Executioner Stormtroopers ready to behead Finn and Rose, as she believes death by blaster was too "painless". However, as they are about to strike the killing blow, Vice Admiral Holdo sacrifices herself and the Resistance's flagship Raddus by jumping into hyperspace in a fatal collision with the Supremacy, causing massive casualities within the First Order, including Phasma's Executioner Stormtroopers. As the ship begins to break apart, Finn grabs a First Order riot trooper's baton and battles Phasma, who wields a command staff against him and calls her former cadet a "bug in the system". In a short and tense duel, Finn manages to defeat Phasma, who falls to the floor. Looking at him through her damaged helmet with her one visible eye, Phasma declares that Finn was and always will be scum to her, with Finn proudly and defiantly replied to her that he was a "rebel scum", before the floor beneath her collapses, sending her falling into a fiery death within the flames.
Personality
| “ | You really are a First Order commander through and through, Phasma. You threaten, and whine, and wail, but you never do anything. | „ |
| ~ First Order Agent Terex to Phasma. |
A First Order fanatic through and through, Phasma is extremely loyal and steadfast to the First Order, and trains her Stormtroopers to be the same. She takes dark pride in how her troopers turn out, believing like Hux that her men are superior to their Palpatine-era predecessors despite evidence to the contrary. With her fascist mindset, cold detachment, and utter dedication to the First Order cause (not to mention having once come from an undeveloped planet and been "uplifted" by the First Order), Phasma seems in every way the model member of the organization, embodying its so-called strengths and stated values.
However, Phasma also embodies the First Order's brutality, treachery and venality, being fiercely position-conscious, killing so-called "allies" who knew information that could damage and threaten her standing, and being exceptionally vicious and merciless in her dealings with others, even her own men (as she chastised FN-2187 for trying to look after FN-2003, and then forbade him from continuing to do so).
And, while usually emotionless, cold-blooded and unsympathetic, she did occasionally showcase sadism, such as when deciding to use Executioner Stormtroopers on Finn and Rose because she wanted it to hurt, as opposed to a quicker death by blasters. In a further display of her inherently manipulative and treacherous nature, after being defeated by Finn, Phasma claimed that the rogue stormtrooper "was always scum", even though she had earlier acknowledged that, prior to his defection, his record had been perfect, with no signs of trouble or disobedience.
Trivia
- Phasma was touted as the first major Star Wars villain to be female. However, this claim is in fact in error, as even granting that many of the preceding female Star Wars villains were not part of Disney's Canon, there are a few who were (Mother Talzin, Asajj Ventress, and Zam Wessel).
- Her chrome armor was based on concept armor for Kylo Ren and was an outfit originally intended for him.
- The Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy claimed that Captain Phasma would return for The Last Jedi and that she has "big plans" for the character. "She's an important character, a baddie in the best sense of the word". However, she appears only for 10 minutes of the film.
- According to Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, Phasma's armor is constructed from the chromium remains of a Naboo yacht once owned by Emperor Palpatine. This explains why it was able to shrug off direct blaster bolts (as a ship's hull would be able to), when the same direct hits from blaster bolts punch holes in most other Star Wars armors.
- Her name is derived from the horror film series Phantasm; her silvery armor is a reference to the deadly silver spheres which are the weapons of the series main antagonist, the Tall Man. Phasma's armor's polished finish helped reflect harmful radiation.
- Just as Snoke, Kylo Ren, and Hux are, respectively, analogous to Original Trilogy villains Palpatine, Darth Vader, and Tarkin, so too could Phasma be seen as vaguely analogous to Boba Fett.
- It was unknown if Phasma survived and will return in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. However, director Rian Johnson, Gwendoline Christie, Mark Hamill and costume designer Michael Kaplan had implied that she survived the events of the film. Johnson even joked that she is the "Kenny" of the Star Wars sequel saga. But John Boyega has confirmed that Phasma indeed died in The Last Jedi during the Star Wars Celebration 2019, having been immolated after her fall.
