| “ | I'm not a terrorist. I'm a patriot. And resistance is not terrorism. | „ |
| ~ Saw on Geonosis |
Saw Gerrera is a major recurring character throughout the Star Wars franchise. He first appears in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as one of the main characters of the Onderon Arc and later shows up as an anti-hero character in Star Wars: Rebels and makes his first live action appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story where he serves as a major anti-villain protagonist. He was originally the second-in-command of the Onderon Rebels during the Clone Wars where he and his sister, Steela, lead the rebels in their armed resistance against King Sanjay Rash and the Separatist occupation of Onderon throughout the war and was an ally to the Galactic Republic.
Following the end of the war and the rise of the Galactic Empire in its place, Saw reformed the rebels into his own resistance cell known as the Partisans and lead them in a series of terrorist attacks and military campaigns against the empire all across the galaxy. Since the Partisans were one of the very first rebel cells formed, Saw joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic and was a key member, before he and his Partisans went too far and eventually defected from the Rebellion due to their extremist views and tactics.
He was portrayed by Forest Whitaker in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Rebels and voiced by Andrew Kishino in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Biography
Early Life and Career
Saw Gerrera and his sister, Steela, were born on the jungle-world of Onderon in the Inner Rim during the final years of the Galactic Republic. During that time, he and his sister grew up in the capital city of Iziz and grew to respect the planet's monarch and king, Ramsis Dendup. In 24 BBY, the Clone Wars began which saw thousands of star systems break away to join the newly formed Confederacy of Independent Systems and the two governments ended up going to war two years later in 22 BBY. King Dendup, not wanting to drag his planet and people into the war, ended up taking a neutral stance and refused to side with either side, but that wouldn't last for long as the war spread out across nearly every corner of the galaxy following the First Battle of Geonosis and the Separatist Head of State, Count Dooku, took an interest in Onderon and had the Separatist Droid Army invade and occupy Onderon not too long into the conflict. Dendup was overthrown and imprisoned during the invasion and was succeeded by King Sanjay Rash who sided with the Separatists and acted as the puppet leader of the planet. The Gerrera siblings, distraut by the invasion, escpaed from Iziz and joined up with other people with similiar views to their own and formed the Onderon Rebels with the intent on liberating Onderon from the Separatist occupation.
Resisting the Separatists
Aid from the Jedi Order
Two years later in 20 BBY, Saw was the vice-commander and self-proclaimed leader of the Onderon Rebels and he continued his resistance against the Separatist-backed regime lead by King Rash along with his sister, but he and the other rebels remained trapped in the jungles of Onderon and sought aid from the Galactic Republic. During this time, he was fighting alongside Lux Bonteri, the son of the late Separatist senator Mina Bonteri who went rogue to avenge his mother's death, was part of the rebels serving as a commanding officer. He joined the Gerrera siblings where the three of them pleaded to the Jedi Order to convince the Republic to send aid to them in their fight against the Separatists on Onderon with their main goal of liberating the capital city of Iziz, but it became a disputed issue as Onderon was in a civil war and the Republic stayed out of it due to the planet's alignment with the Confederacy. Despite this however, the Jedi Council permitted a small brief time with training the rebels as a means of supporting them without drawing the attention of the Republic or the Separatists and causing a major incident.
After the Jedi finally arrived, Saw and the other Onderon Rebels were trained and armed by their Republic military advisors where they were taught how to handle the battle droids and what to do in the event that they attack. During training, Saw was revealed to be at odds with Lux and had a hard time being able to deal with Separatist hardware such as the Armored Assault Tank and how to take it out when it's deployed against them. During training, a probe droid found out where the rebel camp was and a Separatist force was sent in and attacked the camp while the other rebels were still in training. During the battle, Saw was able to hold his ground and even worked together with Lux Bonteri where they held their ground and after a second wave came in, they successfully took out an AAT that was sent to destroy the camp. After the battle, Saw and other rebels snuck into Iziz and found a secret place to act as their headquarters.
