| “ | Look here, clone. You speak to me with respect. | „ |
| ~ Nolan hypocritically demanding Mayday for respect despite not giving him respect first. |
| “ | Perhaps you didn’t hear me. He is expendable, as are you. And if you speak to me again with such disrespect, I'll see to it you meet a similar fate, clone. Now leave him and get back to work, while you're still useful. | „ |
| ~ Nolan to Crosshair, revealing his irredeemable nature - also his last words. |
Lieutenant Nolan is the main antagonist of the Star Wars: The Bad Batch episode "The Outpost".
He is an Imperial Army lieutenant who was assigned to oversee failing operations on the planet Barton-4 and repeatedly demonstrated xenophobic disgust and hatred towards the clone troopers. His wrathful contempt towards the clones would ultimately cost him his life, as after blatantly letting Commander Mayday die right in front of Crosshair, Crosshair would finally snap and immediately killed him in retribution.
He was voiced by Crispin Freeman who also voice Jeremiah Gottwald in Code Geass
Biography[]
Lieutenant Nolan introduced himself to Crosshair and briefed him on his assignment to the ice planet Barton-4 to defend an outpost against a group of insurgents, before he immediate rolled his eyes and scoffed "More clones" upon noticing some clone troopers chatting about the assignment. When Crosshair questioned his problem, Nolan answered that he doesn't like "used equipment" in a condescending tone before they board the shuttle that would transport them to the outpost.
Upon arriving at the outpost, Nolan angrily ordered a clone trooper that bumped into him to guard the ship in the middle of a blizzard. He and Crosshair met Commander Mayday, who had been stationed on the outpost for a long time waiting for 36 rotations to be supplied by the Empire with new equipment for him and his men, all of whom had worn out armor proven useless against the frigid climate.
Nolan callously claimed the Empire operated on a tight schedule and disrespectfully addressed Mayday as a soldier instead of commander, in which Mayday reminded Nolan respect was something to be earned, slightly offending the lieutenant, before Mayday ordered his men, Hexx and Veetch, to give Nolan a tour of the base.
After Mayday and Crosshair tracked the raiders and discovered Hexx and Veetch were killed following an ensuing attack on the base, they took the time to mourn their lost, which Nolan belittled them for and ordered the pair to chase after the raiders, who have stolen an unidentified shipment the clones were tasked to guard. Crosshair and Mayday managed to drive away the raiders and recover the shipment, but to their disbelief, they realized the shipment Nolan ordered them to bring back contained stormtrooper armor for their non-clone successors that had also taken over their outpost, slowly erasing any traces of clones within Imperial ranks.
Unfortunately, the clones faced an avalanche, in which Mayday was mortally wounded by the falling snow trying to protect Crosshair. The next morning, Crosshair, albeit injured, carried Mayday back to base with little strength he had, leaving behind the shipment. Nolan noticed the crippled pair and rudely ordered his troops to step aside when they stopped loading equipment into the base and were alerted by the clones arrival. Nolan was quick to scold the clones for failing to recover the shipment, until Crosshair begged the lieutenant to get medical attention for Mayday. The lieutenant immediately rejected Crosshair's plea—dismissing it as "a waste of resource", leaving him to watch Mayday die from hypothermia. Crosshair snarled that Nolan could have saved his comrade's life, but the lieutenant repeated that Mayday was just as expendable as him and threatened Crosshair to suffer Mayday's fate if he refuses to respect him.
After Nolan ordered him to leave Mayday's corpse behind and get back to work, Crosshair—having understood just how cruel and xenophobic Nolan and the Empire were towards him and his clone brothers—called out to him one last time. By the time he turned around, the lieutenant could only gasp in horror when he noticed Crosshair pointing his blaster at him and firing it, killing him. The stormtroopers noticed this and quickly apprehended Crosshair as he loses consciousness from the frigid temperature. Crosshair would eventually wake up and learn he was imprisoned in a facility on Mount Tantiss on the planet Weyland to be experimented on by Dr. Royce Hemlock.
Nolan was later mentioned in a talk between Crosshair and Hunter while they were on Barton-4 to gather intel regarding the location of the Tantiss base. When questioned by Hunter—skeptical of his desertion from the Empire, Crosshair vaguely admitted to killing Nolan after he refused to help Mayday.
Personality[]
Nolan was an exceptionally arrogant and racist man with potential for immense cruelty. His loyalty to the Galactic Empire was rivaled only by his sheer hatred towards the clones that served it, not even seeing them as human beings and instead treating them like pawns who were to be disposed of the second their usefulness ran out. To Nolan, the end always justifies the means, and his vileness would extend to intentionally screwing over the clones if it meant their presence was lessened in order to make way for the new standard soldiers. Despite his antipathy towards the clones, Nolan additionally lacks respect for the new stormtroopers under his command, who serve as an extension to his belief that all Imperial soldiers, clone or otherwise, are equally expendable to the Empire.
He cared absolutely nothing for the devastating toll the troopers on Barton-4 had taken operating on such a hostile world without adequate supplies and manpower, and personally blamed them for all the failings despite doing nothing to assist them and in turn, only making things worse, showing an extreme level of hypocrisy. This is exemplified when Nolan blamed Commander Mayday for letting his own men die, despite the commander's request to the Imperial high command to send adequate equipment that would have benefited him and his troops greatly against the planet's cold environment. To add insult to injury, Nolan scolded both Crosshair and Mayday for failing to prevent the raiders from stealing a valuable cargo before ordering them to recover said cargo alone without providing extra troops nor proper gear to aid the pair on their perilous mission.
At his worst, Nolan refused to get Mayday badly-needed medical aid, letting him die despite the extreme effort Crosshair made to get him back to base safely. Regarding the Commander as nothing more than a broken tool whose usefulness had come to an end, he was quick to threaten Crosshair with the same fate when the latter criticized him for not providing said assistance, demonstrating his supremacist views once more despite the fact that Crosshair was a genetically-modified super soldier and well-respected by his own brothers. In the end, Lieutenant Nolan's contempt towards the clones and absolute lack of empathy would ultimately culminate in his own undoing when a furious Crosshair—disgusted by Nolan's indifference regarding Mayday's passing—pulled the trigger and ended his life, giving the lieutenant the karmic "respect" he deserved.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Galactic Empire - Affiliation
- Stormtroopers - Subordinates
Enemies[]
- Clone Troopers - Subordinates
- CT-9904/Crosshair - Killer
- Mayday's Squad
- Commander Mayday † - Indirect Victim
- Hexx †
- Veetch †
Gallery[]
.jpg "Lieutenant Nolan is defeated (S2E12).jpg (758 KB)")
Trivia[]
- His point of view of clones is vastly similar to Pong Krell's. Differently, however, he never directly killed a bunch of them. He did leave Mayday to die, though.
- Many fans consider Nolan's death to be one of the most satisfying moments in the Star Wars franchise, due to the massive amount of hatred the character received for his cruelty towards the clones, not dissimilar to Krell.
- Despite only appearing in one episode, he serves as the final straw leading to Crosshair's redemption by leaving his best friend Mayday to freeze to death, thus making him snap and realize that his superiors truly do not care about him.
- According to Hemlock, Crosshair wasn't being punished for killing Nolan as he revealed that he admired his initiative towards his inept commanding officer, ironically solidifying that the Empire even considers it's own loyalists expendable and that no one cared for Nolan as well.
- Nolan greatly resembles his voice actor, Crispin Freeman.
External Links[]
- Lieutenant Nolan on the Star Wars Wiki
