Derek "Hobbie" Klivian was a member of Rogue Squadron in the Rebel Alliance and New Republic.

A skilled pilot, Klivian had a reputation as a comedian, unlucky pilot and incredible survivor—so much so that several bacta and life-saving device corporations asked him to be their spokesman, including Bulior Repulsor Systems, an offer that he took. He was known to some of his squadronmates as "Bugbite", a name given to him by Iella Wessiri after their first meeting on Corellia where Klivian was stung by a local insect.

Early life (21 BBY/20 BBY–0 BBY)

Biggs Darklighter and Derek Klivian serving on the Rand Ecliptic.A Human from Ralltiir, Klivian studied at the Imperial Academy under Soontir Fel with Biggs Darklighter and Tycho Celchu. When he arrived at Carida, "Hobbie" was eager to become an Imperial fighter pilot and gain the status and celebrity that went with it. Soon, however, a group of friends, Biggs Darklighter among them, changed his opinions. He began to meet secretly with these men, who shared their rebellious ideals. Unfortunately, an informer among the group brought their meetings to an end. His friends were taken into custody during one of the group's meetings, a meeting from which Klivian and Darklighter were fortunately absent.

Hobbie lost Darklighter as a friend after the incident, but not his new ideals. After graduation, Klivian was assigned to the Rand Ecliptic under Darklighter. The two were members of different rebel cells aboard the ship. Klivian was able to lead the mutiny to success, taking over the ship, although he lost the majority of his left arm in the process.


Klivian lost his left arm during the mutiny of the Rand Ecliptic.The Rand Ecliptic continued on to Bestine, where Hobbie made contact with his old friend Lindy, who had Rebel contacts. From Lindy, he discovered that Captain Heliesk, who Hobbie had taken captive during the mutiny, was a Rebel agent known as "Starfire". With Heliesk's help, the Rand Ecliptic escaped Bestine.

After bringing Rand Ecliptic to the Massassi base on Yavin 4, Klivian and Darklighter formed Rogue Squadron and were given their first mission: to steal X-wings from an Imperial facility. Klivian's arm was replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. Darklighter and Klivian used hyperdrive-equipped TIE/ln starfighters to draw out an Imperial Security Bureau TIE squadron. The plan was to distract the Imperial squadron, eject and allow droid pilots to lead the fighters in a chase. After ejection, Klivian was clipped by a TIE fighter's wing and lost his right leg from the knee down. Despite his injuries, the Alliance team succeeded in acquiring the starfighters.

Galactic Civil War (0 BBY–19 ABY)

Derek Klivian lost his right leg during a TIE fighter ejection accident.When the time came for the strike against the first Death Star, Klivian was bed-ridden with a mysterious jungle infection that grew out of his wounded leg. Darklighter perished in the battle (being killed by Darth Vader), but a flower he discovered proved vital to Klivian's defeat of the virus. After his recovery, Klivian received a cybernetic leg replacement.

Klivian met with Wedge Antilles and Luke Skywalker at a ceremony honoring the pilots lost at the Battle of Yavin, where the pair explained their plans to reform Rogue Squadron. Luke also informed Hobbie of Darklighter's death during the fighting over the first Death Star. After a stint running guns in the Sullust system, Klivian was reassigned to Alliance Command and eagerly joined Rogue Group as Rogue Four. Hobbie aided them in their recruiting, and saved the ever-moving base group from numerous close calls. After the debacle at Derra IV, Klivian was left as one of the senior members of Rogue Squadron.


Derek "Hobbie" Klivian ready for battle.Assigned with his squadron to Echo Base, Klivian learned to pilot the T-47 airspeeder to avoid any further bacta baths. After the arrival of Death Squadron at Hoth, Klivian famously questioned the Alliance plan to escort each GR-75 Medium Transport with just two X-wings. During the Battle of Hoth, Klivian flew his speeder against the Imperial walkers as Luke's wingman. After receiving a glancing hit from General Maximilian Veers's AT-AT, Klivian lost control of his speeder and crashed into the AT-AT's head. Both Klivian and Veers survived the crash, but Klivian's reputation as an inevitable crash-pilot was set, along with his reliance on Bacta.

At the Battle of Endor, Klivian and Wes Janson, who had become fast friends, served to pull TIE fighters away from the Millennium Falcon and Antilles.


Klivian during Thrawn's campaign.Klivian continued to serve in Rogue Squadron in their campaigns at Bakura, Cilpar, Tatooine, Axxila, Brentaal, Eiattu, and Malrev before the squadron was disbanded. As a Lieutenant, he was restationed with Wes Janson to train new pilots when Rogue Squadron was reformed. His reputation as a minor Rebellion-era hero led New Republic leadership to temporarily promote him to captain, and tasked him to lead a morale-boosting public version of Rogue Squadron after its members resigned their commissions. He rejoined the unit as the executive officer after it reformed under the leadership of Tycho Celchu. At some point his call sign changed to Rogue Five. As with the rest of Rogue Squadron following the Thrawn Crisis, Hobbie was promoted again, this time to Major.

Post Galactic Civil War (19 ABY–)
After the peace accords between the New Republic and Imperial Remnant, Klivian retired from active duty. He was present at the wedding of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade.

Behind the scenes
Derek Klivian was portrayed by Richard Oldfield in The Empire Strikes Back.
A spelling error in the X-wing: Rogue Squadron comic series led to Aaron Allston using the spelling of "Klivan" for Klivian's surname in X-wing: Wraith Squadron. According to Allston [1], Lucas Licensing cleared up the issue by standardizing the spelling as Klivian. There is a reference made to the confusion in X-wing: Starfighters of Adumar when Klivian informs the mission documentarian "I'll get back with you on my last name. Lots of people misspell it."
Klivian dies in the novel of The Empire Strikes Back, as does Maximilian Veers. However, this event is non-canon. It is referenced in canon, however, that he crashed and nearly died, but bacta saved him. The The Empire Strikes Back novelization also states he crashed it deliberately into the AT-AT; however, this is not confirmed onscreen.
Hobbie's movie helmet is interesting in that has been used in all three OT movies: its first appearance was with Jon Vander in A New Hope, then Hobbie in The Empire Strikes Back, and finally Grizz Frix in Return of the Jedi.