Barion Raner was a human from the planet Ord Mantell who joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic as a pilot. Flying as Blue Four in the Alliance's Blue Squadron, Raner was second-in-command to General Antoc Merrick. He wrote the X-wing Flight Manual, which was used by many rebel pilots and purposefully leaked on to the Imperial HoloNet by Alliance Intelligence.
Raner was scrambled with the rest of Blue Squadron in 1 BBY in order to support rebel forces on the planet Scarif; however, once in the Scarif system, he did not make it through the Empire's Shield Gate before it closed, narrowly avoiding crashing into it like his squadmate Vangos Grek. Separated from Merrick, Raner instead joined the fight against the Imperial forces above Scarif.
Making a lone run at the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Persecutor, Raner managed to destroy one of its deflector shield generators. This proved an important moment of the battle, as it allowed the rebel Gold Squadron to then disable the Star Destroyer so that it could be pushed into the Shield Gate. With the gate and the planetary shield around Scarif gone, the rebels on the ground transmitted the plans to the Death Star superweapon to the Rebel fleet. Raner was then among those that escaped the star system and survived to fight another day.
Barion Raner included manuvers such as the Split S in the X-wing Flight Manual.
Born on the planet Ord Mantell, the human Barion Raner flew as a pilot for the Alliance to Restore the Republic. From about 4 BBY, he served under General Antoc Merrick, the leader of the mixed starfighter unit Blue Squadron within the Massassi Group of rebels based in the Great Temple on the moon Yavin 4. Raner eventually came to serve as Merrick's second-in-command with the callsign Blue Four.
A specialist on T-65 X-wing starfighters, Raner wrote the X-wing Flight Manual, a remarkable and definitive combat basics manual for starfighters, which was used as a primer for new pilots within the Rebellion and proved vital to many of them. The document included information on how to escape confrontation and ship-to-ship combat manuvers such as the Split S, the Offensive Split, the Defensive Split, the Crossturn, and the Lag Pursuit. It was also purposefully leaked by Alliance Intelligence onto the Imperial HoloNet, where it was accessed by many aspiring pilots and young fliers hoping to join the rebellion. The document became a successful recruitment tool for the rebellion.
Barion Raner flew for the Rebel Alliance as Blue Four.
Shortly after Blue Squadron had been partially scrambled for a mission to destroy an Imperial laboratory on the planet Eadu in 1 BBY, the entire squadron was scrambled for the first time when the Massassi Group learned that a group of rebels was attempting to steal the plans for the Galactic Empire's Death Star superweapon on the planet Scarif. Arriving in the Scarif system with an Alliance fleet, Blue Squadron was ordered to get to the planet's surface and support the rebels there by the fleet commander, Admiral Raddus.
The Empire had established a planetary shield around Scarif, leaving a Shield Gate as the only entry point, so Merrick called for Blue Squadron to follow his lead in diving through the gate. Raner, flying with the astromech droid R3-S1, acknowledged the order but lagged behind with Blue Six, the pilot Vangos Grek, as part of a second wave of fighters as the squadron began passing through the gate. Both Raner and Grek were determined to make it through, with Grek shouting at the pair's engine's to speed up, but by the time Raner reached it, the gate was almost closed.
Raner only just managed to pull away in time to avoid crashing into the Shield Gate, forcing him to join the fight above Scarif instead.
Realizing that they would not make it, he hauled back on his flight stick to peel away from the gate just in time and cried out to the other pilots who had not passed through yet to do the same and pull up; however, Grek and two other Blue Squadron pilots were not fast enough, perishing as they crashed into the gate. Having failed to follow Merrick through, Raner joined other Blue Squadron pilots, including Jaldine Gerams and Heff Tobber, in instead joining the other rebels fighting the Imperial fleet outside the shield.
As the fighting continued above Scarif, Raner made a lone run against the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Persecutor while pursued by a trio of TIE/ln space superiority starfighters. After destroying one of the Star Destroyer's deflector shield generators, he performed a Split S, driving his craft into a spiral over the Destroyer's conning tower and down below the engines to avoid the enemy fighters. Raner's destruction of the Persecutors shields proved a far more important achievement for the Alliance than if he had made it through the Shield Gate, as it instead acted as the first in a series of blows that resulted in the destruction of the gate.
Barion Raner struck a vital blow at Scarif when he destroyed the Persecutor's shield generator, the first step in destroying the Shield Gate.
Next, the rebel Y-wing bombers of Gold Squadron immobilized the Star Destroyer with ion torpedoes, which in turn allowed the Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette Lightmaker to ram the Persecutor through both the Star Destroyer Intimidator and the gate, destroying both and incapacitating the planetary shield. With the shield down, the rebels on Scarif transmitted the Death Star plans to the fleet. Some of the rebel fleet then escaped into hyperspace, as the Death Star itself arrived and fired on Scarif, killing all rebel forces on the surface.
All remaining members of Blue Squadron that had passed through the gate also perished, but parts of the fleet managed to escape from the Scarif system, with Raner among those who lived to fight another day. However, between Eadu and Scarif, Blue and Red Squadron had lost a total of nineteen pilots, meaning that there were so few Blue Squadron pilots left that the Alliance was unsure if they could even deploy the squadron when the Death Star attacked the rebel base on Yavin in 0 BBY. Ultimately, they only fielded Red Squadron, Green Squadron, and Gold Squadron in the battle.
Poe Dameron learned from Barion Raner's X-Wing Flight Manual.
Raner's X-wing manual secured his legacy even before the Battle of Scarif, with a portion of it included in the collection of rebel documentation known as The Rebel Files. Poe Dameron, who was not born until 2 ABY and went on to become an ace pilot, learned Raner's rules from the manual as a child and later annotated the copy in The Rebel Files to record this during the reign of the New Republic. He also commented that the version in the collection must have been an early draft as it differed from what he remembered reading.
Raner had slightly above average intelligence and strength, average speed, diplomatic skills, and fighting skills, and was not Force-sensitive. Raner was an X-wing specialist but could also pilot UT-60D U-wing starfighter/support craft.
Raner's K-22995 light flight helmet was primarily red and white and was decorated with modified Wren Crests.
Raner wore a blue flight suit with a white flak vest, a gray flight harness, and a gray Novaldex Diagnostech life support unit as well as white gloves and black boots. Blue Four's K-22995 light flight helmet was primarily white with a red edging to the helmet's ridge and additional red areas on the rear and by the cheeks. The ridge also had a striped yellow and black line running down its center.
The helmet's sides were decorated with a black icon consisting of a circle with several lines through it, an emblem that could be found on several other rebel pilots' helmets including fellow Blue Squadron members Gerams and Torius Chord. Above the emblems, Raner had three black "v"s each in a yellow circle, marks used to represent twenty kills by the pilot Wion Dillems. Above the visor, the helmet had a modified red version of the Wren Phoenix crest on each side.
Barion Raner was portrayed by Ariyon Bakare in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Barion Raner was portrayed by Ariyon Bakare in the Anthology Series film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was released on December 16, 2016. This first appearance of the character was shared with the film's junior novelization, which was written by Matt Forbeck and released on the same day.
Bakare was directly offered a part in either Rogue One or the following film, 2017's Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, but chose to take part in the franchise as soon as possible, choosing Rogue One and then watching all the Star Wars films for the first time as preparation to play Raner. Bakare filmed his close-ups in a moving cockpit and was coached by the film's aviation expert, Benjamin Hartley, to ensure his reactions looked authentic.
Prior to the release of the film, footage of Raner's X-wing in action was first revealed in the "Dream" TV spot for Rogue One on November 20, 2016. Credited as Blue Four in the film, the character's name was first given in Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, a reference book written by Pablo Hidalgo and released on the same day as the film.
- Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- Star Wars: Rogue One: Ultimate Sticker Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z
- Star Wars: The Rebel Files
- Star Wars Helmet Collection 71
- Star Wars: Build Your Own X-Wing 10
- Star Wars: Build Your Own X-Wing 24
- Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy
- Star Wars 100 Objects