Rogue One: Donnie Yen As Chirrut Imwe Revealed

We finally have the name of Donnie Yen’s blind, staff-wielding character in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

It may look hard to pronounce, but thankfully Entertainment Weekly, who first revealed the names and brief backgrounds of the main Rogue One characters, has provided a helpful guide: chi-RUT. So it’s Chirrut (either chee-rut or chigh-rut) Imwe, which looks like it’s pronounced im-way.

But the name isn’t as important as his story, which we got a little of in EW’s exclusive article. Chirrut is a warrior who believes and follows the ways of the Jedi, even though he isn’t one. This means he’s not Force sensitive, but even without that special sixth sense he’s trained himself to be a formidable warrior in spite of his sightlessness.

via Entertainment Weekly

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The fact Chirrut can’t feel the Force, but believes in it, is exciting for a couple of reasons. First of all, we get to see someone who isn’t Force sensitive believe in the energy field that binds the universe. Most of the time, the characters we run into who aren’t Jedi or Sith either think the idea of the Force is ridiculous or, at best, are skeptical of its existence. We do know there are regular people who actually believe in it, however, from The Force Awakens, and now from Rogue One. Unlike in The Force Awakens, though, in which Lor San Tekka and the other members of the Church of the Force on Jakku were slaughtered by the First Order, we’ll get to see Chirrut put that belief into practice in Rogue One, and find out what exactly that practice entails.

A second reason is it reinforces director Gareth Edwards’s policy of having only non-Force sensitive characters in Rogue One. Edwards told EW, “This idea that magical beings are going to come and save us is going away, and it’s up to normal, everyday people to take a stand to stop evil from dominating the world.”

Even everyday people who believe in magical beings and an unseen Force.

Next: Rogue One: Forest Whitaker's Clone Wars-Inspired Character Revealed

Keep checking Dork Side for more updates on the characters from Rogue One.