Emperor's Shadow Guard

The Emperor's Shadow Guard were an elite squad of force sensitives fiercely loyal to the Emperor and they were only used for very secret missions. They were the remnants of the Sun Guard. They served the Galactic Empire during the Great Jedi Purge.

Characteristics


Few Imperials knew the true origins of the mysterious and powerful Shadow Guard. They were silent and enigmatic warriors that received orders directly from Emperor Palpatine himself and were often sent to eliminate suspected Jedi and other Force users. When necessary they would also be put under the supervision of Lord Darth Vader.

These guardsmen demonstrated Force powers of their own which led many to suspect that they were in fact former Jedi that had been captured, tortured and brainwashed by Palpatine, but this was a rumor that was never to be proven. It was true, however, that this cadre was actually an elite special operations unit within the Emperor's Royal Guard.

The Shadow Guards commanded a great level of respect within the Empire's ranks and often led quartets of Imperial Stormtroopers into battle against the Emperor's most hated foes. The shadow guards would also work briefly with the imperial shadow corps, of which the troopers would ride black speeder bikes.

They were capable of using a range of Force abilities such as Force lightning, Force Repulse, Force Push, Force Choke and Force Maelstrom. Due to Palpatine's wariness of Force users, however, the members of the Shadow Guard were not especially strong in the Force.

History
Near the end of the Clone Wars conflict, the apprentice Count Dooku ordered his minion Asajj Ventress to execute most of the Sun Guard organization. Several of the more devoted Sun Guards, however, were placed in Palpatine's Red Guard, later to join his Royal Guard. Those who were Force-sensitive were selected as candidates for the Emperor's Shadow Guard.

In about 17 BBY, two members of the Shadow Guard were sent to a Golan space defense platform in orbit of the planet Byss, to serve Inquisitor Valin Draco as part of a training mission. The station was attacked by the Alderaanian Resistance during the Battle of Byss and the Shadow Guards fought against a number of Resistance agents that had boarded the station.

The Shadow Guard were used during operations in 2 BBY, in attempts to silence rogue Dark Jedi Galen Marek.

A lone Shadow Guard, along with several Imperial Navy commandos was sent to Nar Shaddaa when Darth Vader's apprentice Galen Marek tried to find Jedi Master Rahm Kota at a local bar called the Undertow, where he had caused a commotion in searching for information as to Kota's whereabouts. The Shadow Guard was killed when Marek used a Force Maelstrom to blow him out of the bar. Having extinguished this threat, Marek headed to Cloud City.

Another Shadow Guard was sent to Cloud City with a squad of stormtroopers to assassinate both Marek and Jedi Rahm Kota, but Marek grabbed him by the neck before spinning him into the air and electrocuting him with Force lightning.

At least one was stationed on Kashyyyk and tried to prevent Marek from getting near the skyhook, but he was subdued and killed by the Force-sensitive, who ran him through with his own lightsaber pike.

At least one was found on Raxus Prime in the Imperial Ore Facility, though this was actually PROXY using a program based on a Shadow Guard to try to kill Marek. Later, Marek actually encountered a real Shadow Guard at the Ore Cannon Control. He met his end when Marek Force Gripped him and threw him into the ore cannon, and he was incinerated.

A final known Shadow Guard led the last line of defense of Palpatine's watchtower on the Death Star I. The guard was grappled by Marek, who broke his neck and killed him.

Shadow Guard members were always guarded by their own "detail" made up of Imperial Navy Commandos or Stormtroopers. During Starkiller's battle with each one, the latter had their own detail but no matter how impressive they were they were of little use to one of Vader's apprentices.

Equipment
Their appearance was identical to the Royal Guard, except that their armor and visor colors were inverted, with the full body armor and robe being black and the visor red. The armor provided them a great deal of protection making it both functional as well as ceremonial in purpose.

Their primary weapon was a lightsaber pike with a red beam extending from the tip of the weapon. In addition to this, their equipment included a heavy blaster pistol as well as a utility belt which included a medpac. Furthermore, they possessed a comlink which was long range, encrypted and miniaturized as well as including holo capability.

Behind the scenes
In the Wii and PS2 versions of The Force Unleashed, because PROXY fighting against Galen Marek was omitted from the Raxus Prime mission, Marek fought against an actual Shadow Guard. Upon being defeated, Marek telekinetically threw him into the ore cannon, incinerating him.

Appearances

 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic