Conan Antonio Motti/Legends

"Don't try and frighten us with sorceror's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fortr&hellip;" "I find your lack of faith disturbing."

- Conan Motti and Darth Vader in the Death Star conference room

Conan Antonio Motti was an Imperial admiral who was in charge of station operations aboard the first Death Star, and had a rivalry with General Cassio Tagge. Motti was related to Grand Moff Tarkin by marriage: Tarkin had married Motti's relative, Lady Tarkin.

Biography
"You are close to treason, Motti." "Is it treason to point out that you could demand a position of authority second only to that of the Emperor?" "I would not care to have the Emperor as my enemy."

- Wilhuff Tarkin and Conan Motti, shortly before the beginning of the Battle of Yavin



An arrogant man, Admiral Motti believed that the Death Star was the "ultimate power in the universe", and that even the mighty Imperial Navy would not stand a chance against it, much less the rag-tag Rebel Alliance. So confident he was in the power of the Death Star, he openly insulted Darth Vader and his adherence to the dark side of the Force during a meeting in the Death Star's conference room.

Motti reasoned that Vader's failure to find the missing technical readouts of the battlestation and inability to divine the location of the Rebels' secret base was evidence that the Force was truly insignificant. Vader was quick to punish Motti for his ignorance, using the Force to telekinetically strangle him. Luckily for Motti, Tarkin intervened and ordered Vader to spare the jaded admiral. Vader obeyed, though he sounded reluctant to keep Motti alive.

Motti, however, did not learn the lesson that the Dark Lord was trying to teach him. He believed that once the Rebellion was destroyed, the Death Star would be the very source of the Empire's power. As such, he tried to convince Tarkin that command of the battlestation made him Emperor Palpatine's equal. Motti, of course, would serve at Tarkin's right hand.



However, one obstacle remained, and that would be the Emperor's emissary. Motti felt that though Vader's powers were considerable, they were not an insurmountable challenge for the Death Star's personnel. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Motti made his case to Tarkin and Tarkin hinted to Motti that his visions of grandeur smelled of treason. However, Tarkin told Motti that he would like to hear the admiral further expound upon his ideas after the Rebels were crushed. Motti did not live to see his vision come to fruition, dying when the Death Star was destroyed.

Behind the scenes
Motti was played by Richard LeParmentier and was credited as "General Motti." LeParmentier was one of the few non-English actors cast as Imperial officers in A New Hope and, as such, did not speak with an English accent. He said, "...I suggested a mid-Atlantic accent to George and he thought it was a good idea. I was doing a light mid-Atlantic accent for the role..." As such, he is one of the few Imperial officers in the original trilogy to speak without an English accent, with Gherant, Dyer, Praji, and Daine Jir being among the others.

Early scripts of A New Hope shuffled the names of Admiral Motti and General Tagge. He is curiously absent from the Death Star meeting scene in the novelization of A New Hope, and there it's General Tagge who is the victim of Vader's telekinetic stranglehold while Motti himself is replaced by a new Imperial officer named Romodi. Motti does appear later on in the novel, proving that he and Romodi are different characters. Many wrongfully believe that Romodi is Motti's first name, however.

Motti was one of the last Imperial characters from the original trilogy to receive a full name. Tarkin, Tagge, Ozzel, Piett, Veers, and Needa all have had first names given to them by the Expanded Universe in the decades following their appearances (as seen in their respective articles). However, Motti's full name was finally given by George Lucas; on the May 1, 2007 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Lucas was challenged to a trivia question by a "fan" as to the name of this Imperial officer who Darth Vader Force chokes in A New Hope, to which Lucas jokingly replied "Conan Antonio Motti". Although the character had previously been known only as "Motti", Lucas's statement may have finally given a full canon name to this character. On the day after the episode aired, Late Night posted a blog entry on the NBC website about their surprise at Wookieepedia's quick response in adopting the new name for the character, and their appreciation for Lucas in naming a Star Wars character after him. . With Motti named, even if only ambiguous, the last major Imperial commander without a first name is Jerjerrod.

"Conan" is an actual Celtic name meaning "little dog".

When asked at Celebration IV to confirm the canon status of Motti's first name, Leland Chee said that "It'll be revealed eventually", which is presumably a directive for fans to wait until Motti's appearance in the StarWars.com Visual Guide or the release of the Death Star novel.

Appearances



 * Death Star
 * Tag & Bink Are Dead
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novel
 * Star Wars radio dramatization
 * Darksaber