Who is Rebel Friend?

Question

I was playing LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga recently (don't judge me), and while doing the first level for A New Hope, there is a character you can play as named "Rebel Friend." He doesn't seem to be based on any existing character that I know of. My questions are who is he and where did he come from?

Answer 1

I took that "Rebel Friend" to be the strikingly-blue-eyed rebel* (played by accomplished British stunt performer Eddie Eddon) who features prominently in the first shipboard scenes of A New Hope. I don't have any basis for this, except that that guy feels like the first viewpoint character the movie has, even though he dies without having a single line (except his death yell). Although his appearance is brief, he was the first character in Star Wars that any audience could relate to.

*In later media, apparently given the name Pello Scrambas.

Answer 2

Rebel Friend isn't meant to be anyone in particular. Evidence of this:

• He's given a generic name, while unique characters in Lego Star Wars II and The Complete Saga tend to use their canonical names.
• There aren't any Rebel Fleet troopers in A New Hope, or anywhere else in the Expanded Universe that I can find, who wear a red shirt. This seems to have been a creative decision on the part of the game's developers, whether to pay tribute to the "redshirt" trope or just to visually distinguish the character from the many non-playable blue-shirted Rebel troopers in the level. _{Source: "LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga Walkthrough Part 14 - Secret Plans (Episode IV)" by packattack04082 on YouTube with labels added}
• His role in the level doesn't correspond to any specific existing character. In the film, C-3PO and R2-D2 head directly to the escape pods after receiving the Death Star plans from Princess Leia, while in the game, there's an expanded sequence where Captain Antilles escorts the droids and joins forces with Rebel Friend along the way. Wookieepedia speculates that he was added so a splitscreen playthrough of the level would let both players fight stormtroopers, rather than one player being stuck as one of the droids, who mostly solve puzzles and are unable to fight.

In the 2022 Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, the character reappears, again named "Rebel Friend" rather than having any canonical name.

_{Source: "LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga Rebel Friend Unlock and Gameplay" by Jay Shockblast on YouTube}

Never has there been such a stalwart Rebel Trooper. A perennial figure in the Rebellion's efforts to stop the Empire, Rebel Friend is a constant reminder of how noble, and friendly, the Rebels can be.