Unidentified stormtrooper commander (Tantive IV)

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"The Death Star plans are not in the main computer."
―The stormtrooper commander, to Darth Vader — 20?cb=20250116042720 ▶️ (file info)[3]

A Human stormtrooper commander served as an officer in the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps's elite 501st Legion during the Galactic Civil War. He served on the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator under the command of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. In 0 BBY, during a battle over the planet Tatooine, the Commander led a squad of Imperial troops to besiege the CR90 corvette Tantive IV, the consular ship of Senator Leia Organa. Once the Rebel starship had been secured, the Commander discovered that the stolen plans to the Imperial Death Star battle station, for which the Empire was searching, were not in the ship's main computer and reported this to Vader. Vader ordered the Commander to continue searching for the plans and to bring him the ship's passengers alive.

Biography

"Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the passengers, I want them alive!"
―Darth Vader, to the Commander[3]

A Human[1] commander served as an officer of the Galactic Empire's Stormtrooper Corps during the Galactic Civil War.[3] He[2] was assigned to the 501st Legion, an elite stormtrooper unit unofficially known as "Vader's Fist," under the direct command of the Dark Lord Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine's enforcer.[4] The Commander was part of the troop complement of[3] the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator, Vader's flagship.[5] At some point by 0 BBY,[6] he acquired a facial scar from an energy beam that penetrated the shielding of his helmet.[2]

The Commander reports to Vader that the stolen plans are not in the main computer.

The Commander reports to Vader that the stolen plans are not in the main computer.

In 0 BBY,[6] after Rebel Alliance agents transmitted the stolen plans of the first Death Star superweapon to the CR90 corvette Tantive IV, consular ship of the Rebel-affiliated Senator Leia Organa, the Devastator pursued and captured the Rebel vessel over the planet Tatooine.[3] This stormtrooper helped lead the 501st Legion as the assault commander[7] during the boarding and securing of the Rebel starship.[4] He reported the ongoing attempt to breach the Tantive IV's entry locks to Vader and escorted him to the main hangar of the Star Destroyer to board the captured vessel.[7]

Stormtroopers forcibly boarded the Tantive and captured Rebel Captain Raymus Antilles.[3] Vader then came aboard and the Dark Lord proceeded to the corridor where the prisoners were being held.[7] The assault commander meanwhile led a team to the ship's control room to check its main computer for the Death Star plans.[2]

As Vader held Captain Antilles by the throat to interrogate him, the assault leader rushed over from the control room and reported that the plans could not be found.[2] Antilles denied Vader's accusation that he had intercepted illegal transmissions before dying by the Sith Lord's hand. The enraged Vader ordered the assault commander to search for the plans more thoroughly and to bring him the vessel's passengers alive. Although Organa was captured by stormtroopers just minutes later, the troopers were unaware that the stolen plans were already on their way to Tatooine in an escape pod with Organa's droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO.[3]

Personality and traits

The commander had a scar under his helmet where an energy weapon had penetrated his armor. He feared his commanding officer, Darth Vader. After killing Antilles, Vader whirled around, and the nearby Imperial officers, including this stormtrooper commander, shrank under his stare. Both officers and troops scurried away to carry out the Dark Lord's orders—and to retreat from his malevolent presence.[2]

Equipment

The commander wore stormtrooper armor and was armed with an E-11 blaster rifle.[3]

Behind the scenes

"The ship's information retrieval system has been wiped clean!"
―The commander, to Darth Vader, in the Marvel comic Star Wars 1[8]
Another commander ordered this stormtrooper commander to report to Vader—a scene that appeared only in the Manga comic.

Another commander ordered this stormtrooper commander to report to Vader—a scene that appeared only in the Manga comic.

The character of the stormtrooper commander first appeared in the December 1976 novelization of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,[2] ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster.[9] In the novel, the Commander is described as an officer whose "armored helmet [was] shoved back to reveal a recent scar, where an energy beam had penetrated his shielding," and he speaks a different line than his dialogue in the film.[2]

The character's first live-action appearance occurred in the film A New Hope itself, in which he was portrayed by an uncredited extra.[3] His scene was one of the last few of principal photography, filmed sometime between June 29 and July 16, 1976 in the United Kingdom.[10] The character's line was performed by disc jockey Terence McGovern,[11] said over a walkie-talkie and recorded by sound designer Ben Burtt.[12] In the revised fourth draft script of A New Hope, as presented in Star Wars: Behind the Magic, the Commander is identified as "Imperial Officer."[5]

In the third episode of the Star Wars radio drama, the stormtrooper commander's line is given by an unmasked Imperial officer,[13] identified in the script as "Commander,"[14] as part of a longer scene where a commander with the same voice actor accepts Antilles' surrender before Vader arrives. The same actor also voices the Imperial commanders Daine Jir and Nahdonnis Praji elsewhere in the episode,[13] and this article makes no assertion whether it is Jir, Praji, or this article's subject who accepts Antilles' surrender and also treats it as unclear if the article's subject is the character with the corresponding film line, given the unmasked voice.

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Star Wars: Battlefront II
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Star Wars: Behind the Magic
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The New Essential Chronology dates the Battle of Tatooine to 0 BBY.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Death Star
  8. ↑ Star Wars (1977) 1
  9. ↑ Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization, Special Edition foreword by George Lucas
  10. ↑ The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
  11. ↑ Premium-Era-real Terry McGovern Home Page on Terry McGovern (backup link archived on December 17, 2017)
  12. ↑ The Sounds of Star Wars
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Star Wars radio drama — "Black Knight, White Princess, and Pawns"
  14. ↑ Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization
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