Here’s what happened to Saw Gerrera’s Partisans after Rogue One:
After the events of Rogue One, most of the Partisans were wiped out, and they didn’t have a lot left to do in the primary storylines.
They regrouped and formed a new cell that was infiltrated by Imperial forces and wiped out.
The few survivors returned to Jedha and prevented the Empire from mining kyber crystals.
So if you want to learn all about what Saw Gerrera’s Partisans were up to after Rogue One, then you’re in the right place.
Let’s get right into it!
Who Is Saw Gerrera?
If you’re a super Star Wars fan, you might know a lot of this already.
Feel free to skip sections and read the parts that hold information that might be new for you.
If you’re not deep in the Star Wars weeds, then you might not recognize this name at a glance.
Saw Gerrera is a character that was introduced in The Clone Wars (the animated series).
He was a rather minor character in the series, but he had a more prominent role in Rogue One.
If you have seen the movie, he is played by Forest Whitaker, and he is the person who helps Jyn Erso on the desert moon of Jedha.
For a little more information regarding this character, Saw Gerrera came to prominence during the Onderon civil war.
This took place during the clone wars.
While the separatist movement was fighting the Galactic Republic, they sent a droid army to take over Onderon.
The people of Onderon weren’t too thrilled about that and tried to fight back, but they were outmatched.
The Jedi sent Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to assist the rebels by training them.
That is where fans met Saw for the first time.
He was a prominent figure among the rebel faction and worked alongside the dispatched Jedi.
Ultimately, Saw was able to establish his own fighting force on Onderon.
After the Republic fell and was replaced by the Empire, Saw led his people against the Empire on a number of campaigns.
What Are Saw Gerrera’s Partisans ? (3 Events)
When the Republic fell, Gerrera was instantly determined to fight against the Empire.
He quickly reformed his rebel group into the Partisans, with the sole goal being resistance against the Empire.
In fact, the Partisans represented the very first rebel cell in the entire alliance against the Empire.
Eventually, they worked alongside the rest of the alliance, and later, they were censured and ejected from the alliance.
The Partisans fought hard against long odds for many years, and a quick journey through some of their most significant events will help paint a picture.
All of the events immediately below happened before the events of Rogue One.
As you read through their exploits, you’re going to notice a theme.
The Partisans were not the shiny heroes of the rebellion.
They often resorted to brutal tactics, and they rarely scored lasting victories against the Empire.
They were a mix of scrappy underdog fighters and dark-minded antiheroes.
They may have fought against an evil empire, but they were never shy about blurring the lines between good and bad in the name of that fight.
#1 Salient System
The Salient system was where many of the Partisans actually fought against the Empire for the very first time.
The system was overtaken by the Empire, so the Partisans worked to free the area from that scourge.
While they had initial success, the Empire took note of a rebellion and sent many more forces to squash it.
After several weeks of intense fighting, the Partisans were driven from the system.
They fought hard, but it was a decisive loss, and the first of many.
The finer details of these events are not well known.
The battles in the Salient system are not a major plot point in any of the main Star Wars storylines.
All we know is that the Partisans fought ferociously, killed many members of the Empire, and ultimately lost.
But, they were not completely defeated.
Many Partisans were able to escape the system, and they regrouped under Saw Gererra’s determined leadership.
This would hardly be the last fight taken on by the Partisans.
#2 Kashyyyk
The next major campaign took place on Kashyyyk.
There, the Empire established a refinery that was important for supplying forces in that region of the Galaxy.
Saw recognized the refinery for its strategic value, and so the Partisans fought to remove Imperial forces from the area.
Once again, their surprise tactics afforded them early success, but also repeating history, the Empire proved that it could simply throw more resources at the fight to overwhelm the Partisans.
The Partisans were overrun, and they suffered heavy losses as a result.
They were not completely broken, but they were beginning a long story of defeat that would eventually see most of the Partisans killed by the Empire.
Despite the losses, the fighting on Kashyyyk helped the Partisans find their identity as rebels.
They realized that they would never be able to break the Empire on their own.
That wasn’t their purpose.
Instead, they could focus on specific strategic objectives and be a scrappy, hard-fighting cell that disrupted Imperial plans.
The Rebel Alliance seemed to think along similar lines, and after Kashyyyk, the Partisans were frequently given mission of their own that didn’t intersect with the main forces of the Alliance.
#3 Festival Massacre
Perhaps the most notable Partisan event that took place before Rogue One was the massacre at the Sakool blossom festival.
Rebel leaders sent the Partisans to the festival to gather intelligence.
Things went south, and the Partisans ended up massacring everyone at the festival.
There were Imperial forces who were defeated there, but the Partisans also annihilated civilians, branding them as Imperial sympathizers.
While the campaign was technically a victory for the Partisans, the bad optics turned it into a strategic defeat.
Many members left the group, dubbing them as too extreme.
The rest of the Rebel Alliance censured the Partisans and ultimately kicked them out of the Alliance because of this event (and other moments of brutality).
What probably sealed the deal for the Alliance is how the Empire leveraged the brutality of the massacre.
Imperial propaganda branded the entire Alliance as terrorists, largely because of what the Partisans alone did at the festival.
Many leaders in the Alliance, including Bail Organa and Mon Mothma refused to work with them anymore.
Eventually, the Alliance as a whole took their side, and the Partisans were on their own.
From this moment on, the Partisans were in decline, and they never fully recovered.
What Happened in Rogue One?
That sets the stage, but I’m going to walk you through a quick recap of the events of Rogue One.
It’s safe to pause for a moment.
I need to issue a spoiler warning.
I’m about to discuss major plot points in the film Rogue One.
If you haven’t seen the film and want to avoid spoilers, you need to stop reading here.
With that covered, let’s get back to the story.
At the beginning of Rogue One, Jyn Erso (the main protagonist) is separated from her parents by the Empire.
Saw Gerrera and the Partisans actually rescue her, and Saw raises Jyn as his own daughter.
Eventually, Jyn goes her own way until the events of the movie bring them back together again.
At this point, Saw and the Partisans are on Jedha.
This is a desert moon where kyber crystals are naturally found.
Kyber crystals are the power source for lightsabers.
They are also used by the Empire to power the planet-destroying weapon on the Death Star.
When Saw learned that the Empire was harvesting kyber crystals, he took the Partisans to Jedha to try to stop the mining and harvesting.
They fought the Empire for some time in this endeavor, and that is when Jyn stumbled back into their midst.
Ultimately, the Partisans help Jyn, but as a consequence of many moving parts in the story, the Death Star test fires its main weapon against Jedha.
Saw Gerrera is killed along with the majority of the Partisans.
Since the blast didn’t destroy the whole planet, some Partisans survived, and that allows us to explore what happened next.
What Happened After Rogue One? (2 Incidents)
So, at this point, the Partisans are in rough shape.
Their leader is dead.
Most of the faction is dead.
They’ve been dropped by the Rebel Alliance.
Those who survived have been branded as terrorists.
They aren’t just hunted by the Empire.
Most regular citizens want nothing to do with them either.
What is a Partisan to do?
Keep fighting the Empire, of course.
After the events of Rogue One, the remaining Partisans were active in two other major Star Wars moments.
They fought off an Imperial massacre, and they eventually returned to Jedha to prevent kyber crystal mining.
I’ll cover each event in full detail below, but I need to gloss over some things.
Aside from the events below, a handful of Partisans rejoined the Alliance and fought with them until the end of the Empire.
While that is something worth mentioning, the details of those efforts have not been fleshed out in any Star Wars media to date.
So, I can only tell you that they kept fighting, not what they specifically did.
That aside, I can give you all of the details of the major events that took place after Rogue One.
#1 Imperial Massacre
Unfortunately for the Partisans, things did not immediately look up after the destruction of Jedha.
Those who did survive banded together and formed a new rebel cell.
They called themselves the Dreamers, and they continued to try to thwart the Empire.
The Empire was having none of it and worked swiftly to try to eliminate the nuisance.
They formed a special task force known as the Inferno squad.
The mission was to infiltrate and eliminate the Dreamers.
The Empire’s plan largely succeeded.
Most of this took place off screen, but here’s what we do know.
The Inferno squad was able to work their way into the Dreamers.
Once they did, they attacked, and they were able to kill all but a few members.
By the end of this massacre, very few of the original Partisans remained.
Among those who were still around, two were held prisoner by the Empire.
Their names were Ubin Des and Chulco Gi.
#2 Return to Jedah
Things are not going well for our Partisan heroes, but this is the point in the story where things finally turn around.
While the Partisans were busy losing again and again to the Empire, the events of Star Wars were taking place.
The battle of Yavin 4 happened.
While the Rebel Alliance managed to destroy the Death Star, their base was revealed, and they had to relocate.
It was during this time that surviving Partisans were approached by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Chewbacca.
The Partisans told the heroes that if they helped free captured Partisans, then they would work with the main characters to fight the empire.
Luke agreed, and they were able to free Ubin Des and Chulco Gi.
Once this was done, the Partisans made it clear that they wanted to continue to protect the kyber crystals on Jedha.
Despite the destruction from the Death Star, the moon was intact, and the Empire had resumed mining the crystals.
The Partisans formed a strategy with Luke and the others, and they attacked the mine to stop the empire.
Finally, the Partisans had good fortune on their side.
Des and Gi were able to take the Millenium Falcon to Jedha where they linked up with other rebels.
They helped Skywalker plan an assault on the drill citadel.
Ultimately, he and his partner, Benthic, were able to lower the shields on the citadel, and the Falcon attacked.
They successfully stopped all mining on Jedha.
It was a success.
The Partisans then agreed that they would remain in the system to prevent any further mining.
Since Jedha was largely uninhabited, they remained on NaJedha (the planet that Jedha orbits).
They guarded the mines until the fall of the Empire.
Once the Empire fell, the Partisans retired to Salobea, their work completed.
