Ri-Lee Howell was a Jedi Master and historian of the Jedi Order. Howell collected many early accounts of explorations and codifications of the Force in the two volumes of the Aionomica—Aionomicum I and Aionomicum II—carefully preserving the original texts. The Aionomica was part of the sacred Jedi texts which dated to the dawn of the Jedi Order, and was a combination of codex, correspondence, and scrapbook that also held passages written by the original sages that were carefully preserved by Howell. Both volumes of the Aionomica eventually came into the possession of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, and were later acquired by his Jedi apprentice Rey[1] in 34 ABY.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
- "Riley's courage and selflessness brings out the Jedi in all of us. […] As a small tribute, our Story Group has incorporated a re-imagining of Riley's name as a character in the Star Wars galaxy. We can't reveal the specific details at this time, but the character's name will appear in a forthcoming book publication later this year."
- ―Lucasfilm Fan Relations Team's Lucas O. Seastrom, in a letter to the Howell family
The letter received by the Howell family from Lucasfilm
Ri-Lee Howell was first mentioned in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary, a 2019 reference book written by Pablo Hidalgo that accompanied the film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.[1] The character was named after Riley Howell, a University of North Carolina at Charlotte student and long-time Star Wars fan who lost his life during the UNC Charlotte shooting on April 30, 2019 when he bravely stopped the perpetrator.[4][5]
Following Riley's death, Lucasfilm Ltd. sent a letter to the Howell family informing them that the Lucasfilm Story Group had decided to create a character based on Riley as a small tribute, but they could not share the details until The Visual Dictionary was released.[4] Once the book was released, Howell's girlfriend created a TikTok video that went viral and resulted in significant press coverage. News sites shared the circumstances of the story as well as recognizing that Riley had been canonized in Star Wars and that he had received his own entry on the free-to-edit, unofficial online Star Wars encyclopedia known as Wookieepedia.[6]
Sources[]
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary (First mentioned)
- Star Wars: Fascinating Facts
- Star Wars 100 Objects
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑ Riley Howell, the student who tackled the UNC-Greensboro gunman and lost his life, is now a canon Jedi Master and historian in the Star Wars universe by MatthewWestmoreland on Imgur (December 23, 2019) (archived from the original on March 21, 2023)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 'Star Wars' fan Riley Howell, who died a hero at UNCC, is enshrined as a Jedi now by Janes, Théoden on The Charlotte Observer (December 23, 2019) (archived from the original on November 20, 2022)
- ↑ Star Wars: Fascinating Facts
- ↑ Hero Killed In UNC-Charlotte Shooting Immortalized As 'Star Wars' Jedi by Brown, Tanya Ballard on NPR (December 25, 2019) (archived from the original on November 10, 2023)