Wat Tambor

"Wat Tambor spoils for others what he cannot possess."

- Cham Syndulla

Wat Tambor was a male Skakoan from the planet Skako and the foreman of the Techno Union. He pledged its resources to the Confederacy of Independent Systems, earning himself a seat on the Separatist Council during the Clone Wars. During the Clone Wars, Tambor commanded a Separatist invasion of Ryloth. His occupation of Ryloth was fiercely resisted by the indigenous Twi'leks, who remained loyal to the Galactic Republic. Following the battle, he was arrested by Jedi Master Mace Windu, and taken into Republic custody. However, Wat Tambor managed to escape Republic custody at an unknown date and resumed his position as foreman of the Techno Union.

As the Clone Wars escalated, Wat Tambor took an interest in the captive ARC trooper Echo, who had been captured during a battle on The Citadel but was presumed to be dead by the Republic. Tambor kept an unconscious Echo in a stasis chamber and managed to extract information from Echo's mind about a strategy algorithm devised by the Clone Captain CT-7567. While officially professing the Techno Union's neutrality, Tambor secretly sold the algorithm to the Separatist Admiral Trench, who used it to great effect during a campaign to invade the Republic world of Anaxes. Tambor's dealings with the Separatists were exposed by a Republic infiltration team consisting of Rex, Clone Force 99, and the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

During the last days of the Clone Wars, Wat Tambor and the rest of the Separatist Council relocated from the planet Utapau to Mustafar. Tambo and the other Separatist leaders were slaughtered on Mustafar by Darth Vader during his Mission to Mustafar. Following his death, the Galactic Empire, the successor government to the Galactic Republic, assumed control of the Techno Union's assets.

The Separatist Crisis
"The Techno Union Army&hellip;is at your disposal, count."

- Wat Tambor during the secret Separatist meeting on Geonosis

A male Skakoan from Skako, Wat Tambor served as foreman of the Techno Union during the last years of the Galactic Republic and supported the Secessionist Movement, which eventually developed into the Confederacy of Independent Systems. During the Separatist Crisis, Wat Tambor and several other pro-Separatist corporate leaders including the Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray, the InterGalactic Banking Clan Chairman San Hill, and the Commerce Guild president Shu Mai attended a secret conference on the planet Geonosis that was hosted by the Separatist leader Count Dooku and the Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser. At the meeting, Tambor pledged the Techno Union's resources to the Separatist cause. During the ensuing Battle of Geonosis, Wat Tambor and other Separatist delegates fled Geonosis in order to escape the advance of the Grand Army of the Republic. Despite the Techno Union's support for the Separatist cause, the company still declared neutrality and was even represented in the Galactic Senate by by Senator Gume Saam.

Occupation of Ryloth
At the start of the Clone Wars, Emir Wat Tambor oversaw the Separatist invasion and occupation of Ryloth, the homeworld of the Twi'lek species. As the Separatist commander, Tambor and his tactical droid TA-175 ruled the planet with an iron fist and many Twi'leks starved as a result of the Separatist occupation. He set up his command base at the capital of Lessu. Ryloth was also blockaded by a large Separatist war fleet to deter any Republic attempts to retake Ryloth. When the Galactic Senate dispatched reinforcements to retake Ryloth, Tambor ordered the Neimoidian Captain Mar Tuuk to prevent a Republic invasion of the planet.

Shortly later, three Republic Navy Venator-class Star Destroyers under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and Admiral Wullf Yularen emerged from hyperspace. However, Tuuk trapped the Star Destroyers by sending four Munificent-class star frigates to interdict them. As a result of this counter-attack, the Venator Star Destroyer Redeemer was crippled while another ship, the Defender, was badly damaged. Via hologram, Tambor congratulated Tuuk on his success but warned him not to under-estimate the Jedi General Skywalker. Despite the initial setback, General Skywalker used the crippled Defender to ram into Tuuk's flagship, a Droid Control Ship.

Republic reinforcements under the Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu then exited hyperspace with three Acclamator-class assault ships carrying substantial ground forces to liberate Ryloth. In response to the planned Republic landings at the Ryloth city of Nabat, Tambor ordered his Tactical droid commander TX-20 to use captive Twi'leks as 'living shields' to deter the Republic's clone troopers and their Jedi commanders from launching a heavy attack. As the Republic's Ghost Company advanced into Nabat, TX-20 unleashed several starved gutkurrs but the Jedi and clones managed to foil this attack. The capture of Nabat enabled the clone army to advance on the Ryloth capital of Lessu.

In response to Master Windu's advance on Lessu, Emir Tambor conferred with the Tactical droid TA-175. Despite the odds stacked against him, he refused to order a retreat and claimed that Windu did not have sufficient troops to retake the city. Tambor also ordered that all droids be brought into Lessu in order to secure his stronghold and the strategically important plasma bridge. By this stage, Republic starfighters under General Skywalker had secured the space around Ryloth. The Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi had taken the Jixuan desert while the planet's southern hemisphere was also in Republic hands. In response to Tambor's military presence in Lessu, Mace Windu decided to enlist the help of the Twi'lek Resistance under Cham Syndulla.

Later, Wat Tambor and TA-175 conferred with Count Dooku, who ordered the Techno Union foreman to retreat with whatever valuables he could and destroy everything else. While Tambor was alarmed by Dooku's order, the Count explained that he wanted to use Ryloth to demonstrate the cost of a "Republic victory" to the galaxy. As Republic forces closed in on Lessu, Tambor ordered TA-175 to prepare his shuttle for departure. Tambor refused to leave until the last of Ryloth's treasures had been loaded onto his shuttle. This infuriated Count Dooku who wanted him out of the city before Republic reinforcements arrived. The Separatist leader intended to use several Hyena-class bombers to bomb Lessu as part of a "scorched earth" tactic and did not want the Republic to gain a valuable prisoner.

In a desperate attempt to slow down Windu and Cham's advance, Tambor attempted to use Twi'lek civilians as living shields. Despite his best efforts, the Republic and their Twi'lek allies managed to secure control of the plasma bridge and liberate the city. Before Tambor could reach his shuttle, TA-175 departed on the ship with his looted treasures; leaving Tambor to be capture by Master Windu and Cham's forces. Despite Tambor's capture, Count Dooku gave the order for the Hyena bombers to raze Lessu to the ground. When confronted by Windu, the captive Tambor told him that they would perish for the glory of the Separatist cause. However, Dooku's Hyena bombers were knocked out of the sky by Anakin and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano's starfighters. Defeated, Tambor surrendered unconditionally to the clone troopers and Cham's Twi'lek Resistance forces.

Dealing with the "Bad Batch"
Following the events on Ryloth, Wat Tambor managed to escape Republic custody and rejoined the Separatist cause. He retreated to the Techno Union's headquarters on Purkell, a city on the planet Skako Minor. At some unknown point, Tambor obtained a captured Republic ARC trooper named Echo, who had been presumed dead during a mission to the Citadel. Tambor learned that Echo was aware of a strategy algorithm that developed by the Clone Captain Rex. Holding Echo within a stasis chamber, Tambor used the unconscious clone trooper to feed the Separatist Admiral Trench with information on the Republic's tactics during the Separatist invasion of Anaxes.

Using the strategy algorithm mined from Echo's mind, Admiral Trench won several victories on Anaxes and seemed poised to conquer the planet. In response, Rex and a group of clone troopers known as the "Bad Batch" infiltrated a Separatist cyber center. During the mission, they discovered a signal originating from Skako Minor, a world that had declared itself neutral during the Wars. They also recognized Echo's voice and deduced he was still alive. Following the clone troopers' attack on the cyber center, Admiral Trench contacted Tambor to warn him that the Republic had traced the algorithm's signal to Skako Minor. Trench warned the Techno Union foreman to be ready and Wat resolved to stop the clone rescuers.

As expected, Rex, the Bad Batch and the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker infiltrated Skako Minor. After landing on the planet and making contact with the native Poletec, the Republic infiltrators managed to trace Echo's signal to a towering Techno Union facility. Inside the facility, they fought and overpowered several of Tambor's D-wing droid sentries and managed to find Echo in the Core Systems room. Before they could access the chamber, the clones were contacted via hologram by a gloating Wat Tambor, who informed them that they had stumbled into a trap. He told them that he had used Rex's strategy algorithm to predict every move they had made since their arrival on Skako Minor. When Tambo accused the clones of violating Skako Minor's neutrality, Rex responded that the Techno Union had already violated the planet's neutrality by bringing a Republic prisoner. Before departing, Tambor praised the clones for doing their part and ordered several D-wing droids to execute the intruders.

The clones managed to free Echo from the stasis chamber but found themselves trapped in the tower. By that time, Wat Tambor and several aides had arrived on the facility's ground floor. Tambor ordered his droids to prepare the organic decimator, a spherical device capable of disintegrating organic lifeforms. When Skywalker contacted Tambor to bargain for Echo, the Techno Union foreman rejected his offer and instead executed a live Poletec prisoner via hologram. Tambor then issued his next ultimatum to the Jedi: that he surrender or be destroyed. Sywalker and the clones rejected Tambor's offer and managed to escape the Core Systems room through an exhaust tunnel before the organic decimator could breach the chamber. As a final "gift", the intruders planted several detonators which destroyed Tambor's machines and research. The foreman was enraged that his prisoner had escaped and at the loss of his machines and years of research.

Despite Tambor's best efforts to capture the intruders, Skywalker and the clones managed to tame several winged keeradak reptiles and escape to a Poletec village. In response, Wat sent a force of D-wing droids and Octuptarra combat tri-droids to destroy them. However, the clones and their Poletec allies managed to trap them in a valley and defeat them. The surviving D-wing droids retreated and informed Wat of the defeat. The foreman regarded the loss of Echo as a devastating blow to the Techno Union's profit margins and vowed to find a way to recoup on his company's losses. Meanwhile, Skywalker and the clones managed to return with Echo to Anaxes where the Republic devised a plan to defeat Admiral Trench's invasion.

Despite the serious breach of security on Skako Minor, Tambor decided not to inform Admiral Trench about the loss of Echo. He reasoned that admitting his failure would hurt the Techno Union's profit margins. This decision had a catastrophic effect on the Separatist war efforts on Anaxes. With the help of Skywalker, Rex and the "Bad Batch", Echo managed to fake a signal from Skako Minor and feed Trench with false strategies. The Separatist Admiral dispatched most of his forces to secure the main Republic assembly plant on Anaxes. This enabled Echo to deactivate them. The Republic and Jedi then managed to defuse one of Trench's bombs, kill the Admiral, and destroy his fleet. As a result, the Republic scored a victory on Anaxes, which continued to produce warships for the Republic's war effort.

Last Days
Following the Battle of Coruscant which saw the death of Count Dooku, Wat Tambor and the Separatist Council met with the Separatist military leader General Grievous on the sinkhole world of Utapau. Tambor and the Separatist Council later relocated to the volcanic planet Mustafar. Darth Sidious then informed the Separatist Council that his new apprentice Darth Vader would come and accept their surrender. However, Vader instead executed Tambor and the entire Separatist leadership. Following his death, the new Galactic Empire assumed control of the former Techno Union's assets.

Personality and traits
Wat Tambor was a major supporter of the Confederacy of Independent Systems who pledged the Techno Union's resources to the Separatist cause. Despite declaring his company's neutrality in the Clone Wars, Tambor was an active supporter of the Separatist cause who channeled substantial resources and information to the Separatist war effort. On one occasion, he used the drugged-up clone trooper Echo to provide the Separatist Admiral Trench with information about Rex's strategy algorithm, which greatly assisted the Separatist campaign to conquer the Republic world of Anaxes. As a businessman, he was concerned with protecting the Techno Union's profit margins and minimizing losses to his company by all means necessary. His concern with profits led him to hide news of Echo's escape, a catastrophic decision which led to the Republic victory on Anaxes.

As both a businessman and military commander, Tambor was known for his ruthlessness and disregard for the lives of other sentient beings. In an attempt to intimidate Anakin Skywalker and Clone Force 99, Tambor used an organic decimator to vaporize a captive Poletec, a native of Skako Minor. During the Separatist occupation of Ryloth, many Twi'leks starved under his rule. During a battle in Nabat, he gave orders for Twi'lek civilians to be used as "living shields" to deter the Republic and Jedi forces. Despite his disregard for sentient lives, Tambor was visibly upset when Skywalker and Clone Force 99 destroyed his laboratory along with its machines and years of research.

At the bidding of Count Dooku, Tambor exercised a "scorched earth" policy towards Ryloth by looting the planet's valuables in order to show the galaxy the "cost" of a Republic victory. However, his avarice cost him dearly when he refused to evacuate Ryloth until the last shipment of valuables had been shipped; a decision which contributed to his capture by Master Windu.

Behind the scenes
Wat Tambor was played by Ben Burtt in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. His backstory was subsequently explored in several Star Wars Legends literature including Paul Ens' and Pablo Hidalgo's HoloNet News web series and Michael Murnane's Wat Tambor and the Quest for the Sacred Eye of the Albino Cyclops, which was published as part of the 2005 Dark Horse Comics anthology Star Wars: Visionaries. In the Canon The Clone Wars TV series, Tambor was voiced by Matthew Wood, who also played General Grievous in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Defense
 * Star Wars Journeys: Beginnings
 * Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars film
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith