Maximillian Veers

"General, prepare your troops for a surface attack."

- Darth Vader, preparing Veers for the Battle of Hoth

Maximillian Veers was a human male who served as a general in the Galactic Empire's army. In that capacity, he fought in the Galactic Civil War, which pitted the Empire against the Rebel Alliance. General Veers was famous for his leadership at the assault on Hoth, during which he led a squadron of AT-AT walkers across the planet's icy surface and personally destroyed the shield generator powering Rebel base's deflector shield. His actions allowed the Imperials to invade the base. The general survived the battle and went on to be known as a glorified veteran of Hoth.

Biography
"General Veers, prepare your men."

- Darth Vader, preparing Veers for the Battle of Hoth

A human male, Maximillian Veers was born on the planet of Denon. In time, he came to serve as an army officer of the Galactic Empire, an authoritarian regime that governed most of the galaxy. As such, he was involved the Empire's struggle against the Rebel Alliance, which contested the rule of Emperor Palpatine. Rising in the ranks through cunning and courage, Veers took part in many battles, including on Zaloriis and Culroon III. Aside from being a brilliant army officer, Veers was also a husband and a father.

Following the Battle of Yavin, during which the Rebels destroyed the Empire's planet-killing Death Star battle station, Veers already served as a general. At that time, he was tasked with locating the former senator Johhar Kessen. The Empire thought that Johhar would play a key role in finding the location of the Rebel Alliance's new headquarters. For the duration of that mission, the general was assisted by Kosh, an officer stationed on Tatooine.

Some time later, Veers was posted to the Death Squadron, a flotilla of vessels commanded by the Emperor's dark enforcer, a Sith Lord named Darth Vader. The Death Squadron's commanding officer, Admiral Kendal Ozzel, was charged to oversee the Empire's search for the Rebel headquarters, and thousands of probe droids were dispatched throughout the galaxy to that effect.

One of the probes ended up discovering signs of an occupied settlement on the frigid planet of Hoth. On the Executor, the flagship of the Death Squadron, Veers joined the panel of officers who reviewed the probe droid's data, along with Ozzel and his subordinate, Captain Firmus Piett. While Ozzel dismissed the information as lacking definitive proof of any Rebel presence, Lord Vader chose to disregard his opinion. The Sith Lord ordered the fleet to make haste to the Hoth system and commanded that Veers prepare his men.

Imperial hero of Hoth
"Yes, Lord Vader. I've reached the main power generator. The shield will be down in moments. You may start your landing."

- Veers, to Vader

However, Admiral Ozzel came out of lightspeed too close to the system, thinking he would take the Rebels by surprise. As a consequence, the Rebels were alerted to the Empire's presence. General Veers brought the ill news to Vader, in his meditation chamber. Since the Rebels had activated a powerful energy shield, an orbital bombardment was impossible. Vader thus ordered Veers to prepare a squadron of five AT-AT walkers for a surface assault. Then he choked Ozzel to death and replaced him with Captain Piett, whom Vader ordered to prepare the troops for landing beyond the energy field as soon as Veers disabled it.

The general, who had always kept a low profile in front of Vader, had been offered a chance to correct Ozzel's mistake. He lived up to the Sith Lord's expectations by quickly deploying his armored regiment beyond the perimeter of the Hoth base's protective energy shield. After doing so, Veers led his AT-AT walkers into the Echo Base mountain valley, heading straight for the shield generators that were his primary target. The general led his troops from the front, in the cockpit of the lead walker, as the Rebels prepared to evacuate their headquarters. A group of snowspeeders led by the Rebel Commander Luke Skywalker tried to delay Veers' force. One made a strafing run at the lead walker, but caused little damage to its armor. Veers used his AT-AT's rangefinder to line up Echo Base's shield generator. The generator's destruction marked the end of the Rebel defense, allowing Vader and his men to land on Hoth and break into the base.

Personality and traits
"Target. Maximum fire power."

- Veers, ordering the destruction of Echo Base's shield generator

General Veers was a powerfully built man with brown hair and eyes. Standing 1.93 meters, he was ten centimeters taller than the average stormtroopers, the Empire's white-armored shock troops.

A cool and efficient officer, he did not hesitate to put himself in harm's way on the front line, wearing the AT-AT pilot armor. Cunning and capable, he was also devoted to his family. Because of those qualities, he was viewed as a model Imperial officer.

Although he always seemed very sure of himself when talking to Vader, Veers had learned to tread lightly around the Sith Lord, fearing both the mysterious power he wielded and his volatile temperament. For example, when the general went to see Vader in his quarters, he was not bold enough to interrupt the meditating Sith, but stood quietly at attention until he spoke.

Equipment
On the battlefield, Veers wore a grey-green chest armor over his duty uniform, and a matching open face helmet with an ample rear skirt and a black chin strap.

Portrayal
"This man is a general. You don't get to be a general if you're a wimp."

- Actor Julian Glover, to George Lucas

General Veers first appeared in the 1980 movie Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, the second installment in the original trilogy of Star Wars, in which he was played by the English actor Julian Glover. Robert Watts, an associate producer on The Empire Strikes Back, invited Glover in, as the two were next-door neighbors at the time. Glover worked on the movie for five days, which he later described as "five days of complete and total bewilderment."

Despite having a relatively small part in the movie, Glover discussed Veers' relationship to Vader with Star Wars creator George Lucas. In Glover's opinion, Veers should not be sycophantic toward Vader, since a proper general would not lack confidence. Lucas approved the actor's vision of the character, allowing Veers to stand up to Vader a little.

The armored breastplate worn by Veers in The Empire Strikes Back was the same design seen on the snowtroopers and the bounty hunter Dengar.

In the following movie installment, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, co-producer Robert Watts played an unidentified AT-ST pilot. On one occasion, Watts said that his character was General Veers. However, that identification was refuted on the official StarWars.com website, on the grounds that Veers' demotion to a simple pilot was unlikely. Since then, Watt's character has been identified as Lieutenant Blanaid in the canon reference book Star Wars in 100 Scenes.

Alternate fate
In the script of The Empire Strikes Back, Veers died when the Rebel snowspeeder pilot Derek Klivian flew his damaged vessel directly into the cockpit of the general's walker. That scene, however, never made it into the final cut of the film, although it did appear in the novelization, written by Donald F. Glut.

Veers' background and fate were expanded upon in a number of reference books and comic books, although those stories are part of the Star Wars Legends, formerly known as the Expanded Universe, and are therefore not canon.

Non-canon material
Maximillian Veers appears as the main antagonist in the 2015 LEGO animated television series LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales. Following the Battle of Endor, General Veers and a renegade group of stormtroopers attempted to restart the droid foundries on Geonosis in order to restore the Galactic Empire. His plot involved tricking Lando Calrissian and his partner R2-D2 into gathering old droids and reusing their parts to build battle droids. Veer's scheme was defeated by the combined efforts of R2-D2, Lando, C-3PO, Chewbacca, Nien Nunb, and Admiral Ackbar.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Star Wars: Commander
 * Battlefront: Twilight Company
 * Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back