Orman Tagge

"Getting even is one of the great fossil fuels of life, brother Silas."

- Orman Tagge

Orman Tagge, Baron Tagge was the head of the House of Tagge from 20 BBY until his death in 1 ABY, and elder brother to Cassio, Silas, Ulric, and Domina Tagge. Tagge was also the head of the Tagge Company, a massive conglomerate that encompassed many of the galaxy's most successful franchises. Tagge himself became so famous that his likeness was used as the logo for the fast food chain Biscuit Baron.

But beneath the public façade, Tagge's life was rife with problems. In trying to curry favor with Galactic Emperor Palpatine, Tagge earned the ire of Lord Vader, and in turn, Vader blinded the Baron for life. From that moment on, Tagge swore revenge, leading him into a personal vendetta that would get him involved with Alliance figureheads such as Luke Skywalker. The vendetta came to a close after 20 years, ending unresolved, when Skywalker was forced to strike down the Baron in combat.

The Clone Wars
"TaggeCo has dominated inter-planetary commerce for generations."

- Orman Tagge



Orman Tagge succeeded to leadership of the House of Tagge during the Clone Wars, after the apparent death of Sanya Tagge. Wasting no time, the new Baron, still only in his late teens, re-affirmed the family's support for the ailing Republic, and spearheaded several new scientific projects.

One of these projects was the prototype battle droid L8-L9, which Tagge hoped to use in unsafe environments where the Republic's clone troopers could not operate. Due to restrictions placed on droid technology in the aftermath of the Invasion of Naboo, the project was kept secret. Unfortunately the prototype was destroyed while being tested on the backwater world of Rattatak. Further development was called off and the project was abandoned, though elements did appear in the much later Z-X3 product.

The dark times
"For the time being, you have value to the Empire. But your eyes, Baron, are looking too far past your station."

- Darth Vader



Tagge was an ambitious man with old-fashioned values: he held family honor in high esteem, he preferred real meat to synthetic food paste, and he protected his young sister Domina from the corruption of the political machinations in which he was involved. With the rise of the new Empire, Tagge attempted to bring his family, and himself into high favor with the Emperor, and attempted to take Darth Vader's place at his side. Through Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne, Prince Xizor brought this relationship to the attention of Lord Vader, who, in turn, set out to Tepasi with all due haste. There, he confronted Tagge, choked him, and blinded him.

As a result, Tagge was able to see only with the aid of cyber-vision goggles, which humiliated the proud leader. His desire for revenge was so strong that he practiced the techniques of dueling with a lightsaber so he could defeat Vader at his own game.

Although the baron was not a member of the Imperial military, as head of the House of Tagge he worked closely with the Empire on several military projects, and Lieutenant Shanks often served as military liaison on these projects. One such project was the development of the Achtnak Turbine Station, which acted as a launch base for Imperial TIE Fighters from within the thick, turbulent atmosphere of the planet Yavin, where they could attack the Rebel base on Yavin 4 with ease. However, the plan was discovered by Luke Skywalker, who attacked and destroyed the station while Tagge and Shanks were on board observing the operation. They managed to escaped in their Mining Explorer but were unable to find their way out of the atmosphere of Yavin without the inadvertent help of Skywalker. The destruction of the project, coupled with the humiliation at having to rely on an enemy to survive the aftermath, fueled Tagge's anger toward Skywalker and he swore revenge against the young Rebel.



The failure of such a high-profile project caused the Emperor to doubt the reliability of the Tagge clan; this forced the baron to personally check each project they produced for the Empire. This included the weapon-detection system located on the Imperial factory planet known as Metalorn, under the direction of Governor Corwyth. As it happened, while Tagge was making his check, the Rebel leader Princess Leia Organa infiltrated the Imperial installation, and although the detection system worked as designed, the Rebel still eluded the security forces. Tagge anticipated this and confronted Leia himself, but he was prevented from capturing her by the interference of a resident of Metalorn, Arn Horada.

Duels with Luke Skywalker
"Pick up your lightsaber, Skywalker. I'll end this swiftly. Even for vengeance&hellip; there's no sport in tormenting a novice."

- Orman Tagge to Luke Skywalker



Eager to regain the confidence of the Emperor, Tagge launched another ambitious project to cripple the Rebellion, and at the same time have his revenge against Luke Skywalker. The baron enlisted his brother Silas to design a weapon that could destroy the Alliance Fleet, the project was called Omega Frost. He decided to test the project on a small scale on the planet Tatooine hoping to lure Skywalker out of hiding, and as it happened the young Rebel was on the desert planet on another mission.

While the tests of the Omega Frost technology were successful, Tagge failed to capture the Rebels, and that frustrated Orman but he was not finished with Skywalker yet. He managed to lure the Rebels into spying on the transfer of the Omega Frost conductor towers from the Tagges' Mining Explorer to Ulric Tagge's battlecruiser. Luke disguised himself as part of the transfer crew and overheard talk that they planned to use the weapon on the Rebel supply planet Feriae Junction, and he passed the information on to Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon. But Luke was captured by the Imperials, and it was revealed that the information he passed on was deliberately planted by the baron to lure the Rebel Fleet into a trap as they actually planned to use the Omega Frost on the fleet as it passed through the Junction asteroid corridor. This prompted Luke to attempt to escape, but this was again part of the baron's plan as he wanted to test his lightsaber dueling technique against someone with a comparable skill level.

When the duel began, it appeared as though the older, more experienced Tagge would easily defeat Skywalker, but, after receiving advice from the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke gained the advantage and subdued his opponent by destroying his cyber-vision and escaped capture. The loss to the young Rebel put Orman into a state of shock, a condition that was preserved by Silas who didn't care for Orman's personal vendettas and wanted to keep him out of the way while the Omega Frost plan was put into effect. However, Skywalker had disabled one of the conducting towers before it could be used against the Rebel fleet; and the fleet tracked the spacecraft where the Tagge brothers were stationed and destroyed it and apparently Silas and Orman as well.



Although it was presumed that Orman died in battle with the Rebel fleet, in fact both he and Silas were rescued by Orman's rival Darth Vader, although he kept them both unconscious. Vader used their condition to persuade Ulric Tagge, who had now inherited the barony due to Orman's apparent death, to help him in arranging a confrontation with Luke Skywalker. The Sith Lord's plan was to have Ulric persuade his sister, Domina Tagge, to arrange a meeting between Skywalker and Vader on the planet Monastery. But Orman escaped from Vader's custody and rushed to Monastery to confront Vader in the Crystal Valley.

Tagge was quickly subdued by Vader who revealed that Domina was not as innocent as Orman had wanted to believe. Vader then used Orman to duel Skywalker in his stead, he created an illusion convincing Luke that it was actually the dark lord rather than Tagge, but Luke bested Tagge in combat again and this time was forced to kill him. Skywalker escaped the Crystal Valley but received a warning from Domina Tagge that she would be looking for revenge against him for killing her brother.

Personality and traits


Judging purely by his attire, it can be assumed that Tagge was a shameless exhibitionist. He was never seen without some sort of gaudy clothing item or accessory, be it a massive belt or collar, or even a ceremonial cane. He was arrogant, and had the utmost faith in his abilities, but he was not a coward – he talked down to Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, on several occasions, sometimes with devastating consequences. His pride was shattered when Vader blinded him on Tepasi, and he was frequently embarrassed by the fact that he had to wear goggles in order to see.

Behind the scenes
Orman Tagge was created by Archie Goodwin, and first appeared in Marvel Star Wars 25: Siege at Yavin. He would appear in several more issues after that, as a foil to both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Apart from mentions in reference books, however, Tagge would go unused in the EU until Pablo Hidalgo wrote him into HoloNet News, 24 years after his last appearance. Paul Ens then used him as a major player in Evasive Action: End Game, the final installment of the Evasive Action series. In End Game, Ens also displayed the blinding of Tagge, an event that had been alluded to since 1979.

Appearances

 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 15:2:22
 * Evasive Action: End Game
 * Marvel Star Wars 25: Siege at Yavin
 * Marvel Star Wars 26: Doom Mission
 * Marvel Star Wars 30: A Princess Alone
 * Marvel Star Wars 31: Return to Tatooine
 * Marvel Star Wars 32: The Jawa Express
 * Marvel Star Wars 33: Saber Clash
 * Marvel Star Wars 34: Thunder in the Stars
 * Marvel Star Wars 35: Dark Lord's Gambit
 * Marvel Star Wars 36: Red Queen Rising
 * Marvel Star Wars 37: In Mortal Combat