Unidentified 501st stormtrooper

"There's one. Set for stun."

- The Trooper, to his squad mates, referring to Leia Organa

A Human male clone stormtrooper of the Galactic Empire served in the 501st Legion during the Galactic Civil War. In 0 BBY, he was stationed aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator, under the command of Lord Darth Vader. The Star Destroyer pursued and captured the Rebel CR90 corvette Tantive IV, which transported the stolen plans of the Death Star battlestation. The Trooper participated in the following seige of the Tantive IV, and after the starship was secured, he was ordered to search for passengers. He found Senator Leia Organa, but she outdrew him and shot him dead.

Biography
"Lord Vader is coming aboard."

- The Trooper, to his commander and squad mates

A Human male clone of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett served as a trooper in the Galactic Empire's Stormtrooper Corps. During the Galactic Civil War, he was a member of the 501st Legion, an elite stormtrooper legion and was assigned to the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator, commanded by Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader.

In 0 BBY, after Rebel agents transmitted the stolen plans of the first Death Star, a new Imperial superweapon, to the Rebel CR90 corvette Tantive IV, Senator Leia Organa's consular ship, the Devastator pursued and captured the Rebel vessel over the planet Tatooine. Led by the assault commander, the Trooper's squad boarded the Tantive IV in the first wave of troops. Just after stormtroopers captured the Rebel Captain Raymus Antilles on the corvette's bridge, the Trooper reported to the Commander that Vader was coming aboard the Tantive IV. The Dark Lord interrogated Antilles and ordered his troops to search for the passengers of the ship.

DV-692, a superior of the Trooper, ordered some of the men under his command to search one of the passageways and secure the junction, while he led the Trooper and the rest to the port subhallway. Their orders were to search the passageways astern and forward. The Trooper was the first to spot Organa, who was hiding in a small alcove. Just after he informed his squadmates of the presence Organa, she shot the Trooper dead and tried to escape, but DV-692 stunned her with his E-11 blaster rifle. The Trooper's squad escorted Organa to Vader who, after a brief conversation with the prisoner, ordered them to take her to the Devastator.

Personality and traits
The Trooper felt himself lucky when he recognized Senator Leia Organa as the passenger Darth Vader wanted alive, and he saw a chance for a commendation. However, the Trooper was not as quick with the blaster as the Senator, who outdrew and shot him shortly before she was stunned by DV-692.

Behind the scenes
The character first appeared in the December 1976 novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster. He was played by an uncredited extra in A New Hope. In 1981, the character's role was slightly expanded in the Star Wars radio drama, the script of which, as presented in Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization, addressed the stormtrooper as '4rd Trooper.' In the novelization, the storybook and the Marvel Comics adaptation of A New Hope, Senator Organa shot not only this particular stormtrooper but also another one, however it contradicts the movie, where only one trooper was gunned by Organa. The troopes's line in some adaptations did not match the one spoken in the movie.

Trooper comic
"Then the most beautiful girl I've ever seen shoots me in the face&mdash;"

- One of the last thoughts of this individual in Trooper, referring to Senator Organa

In 2001, the tenth issue of Dark Horse Comics's Star Wars Tales series presented a story entitled Trooper which featured this character as the protagonist. Leland Chee, continuity referee of Lucasfilm stated that elements of these Tales comics are considered S-canon until referenced by C-canon materials. He also later confirmed on his Facebook page that this particular story was intended to be non-continuity. The comic showed the Trooper as a recruit from Greater Marianas, but this was contradicted by the 2002 Stormtrooper Patrol card of Wizards' A New Hope set of its Trading Card Game, which identified the Trooper and his squadmates as clone stormtroopers. In 2005, the video game Star Wars: Battlefront II stated that all stormtroopers aboard the Tantive IV were clones of Jango Fett.

According to the Trooper comic, this individual was born on Outer Rim planet Greater Marianas, where he lived with his father, an old-time yaggie man. Their days were spent in hunting yaggies for meat and hide, and his father used to talk about every man being equal and free, but this individual didn't like to hear it. When an Imperial landing party appeared in a settlement on Greater Marianas, announcing that the planet was now under Imperial protection, the father of this individual protested. However, by the order of the officer in command of the Imperials, who wanted to show an example to the locals, a stormtrooper shot the man dead. Seeing the end of his old life, this individual appealed to the Imperial officer to take him with them. To demonstrate his ability to follow orders, no matter what, the officer ordered him to execute a random member of the crowd, an eyepatched man. This individual took the SE-14r light repeating blaster the officer had offered him and shot the fellow yaggie man in cold blood, and he didn't feel it to be evil but considered it common sense, the way off Greater Marianas.

The Human then had a brutal training that initiated him into the stormtrooper ranks. The first test required him to kill his fellow recruits. The training officer offered one single standard issue E-11 blaster rifle to a group of recruits and announced that the first who killed five others would be accepted to stormtrooper training. This individual was the third and had to kill ten fellow recruits. After the exercise was over, the officer ordered the survivors to clean up the training ground and to report to the quartermaster. The following training exercises required the Recruit to risk death of himself and of mates. He participated, among other things, in climbing, swamp, melee combat, and shooting exercises, all designed to drain him of his humanity and individuality, teach him complete obedience to orders, and to value victory over everything, including his own life. As a trooper, he became all but indifferent to the deaths of his comrades and the atrocities he was ordered to carry out. After he completed the training, the Trooper got away from Greater Marianas and was fed, quartered and equipped. He traveled the galaxy, saw worlds he never imagined and did things he was not proud of, such as burning villages and killing innicents. Later, two fellow stormtroopers brought a dreadlocked Human prisoner before the Trooper. The Human insulted the troopers and his speak reminded the Trooper of his father, so he shot him dead and instructed the others to find another prisoner instead.

During his career, he participated in dozens of boarding missions and saw many others go in first and die. When the Devastator captured the Tantive IV, the Trooper and the rest of the boarding party were assembled in one of the Star Destroyer's hangars, where Lord Vader inspected them and ordered the sergeant, who was in command of the boarding party, to take the mission seriously. The Trooper noticed that a fellow stormtrooper behind him got scared of Vader's appearance and angry outburst, while he himself cursed the day he ever joined the Empire. As he had done every single time when he was part of a boarding party, the Trooper prayed to himself not to be chosen to go first in, because the first one used to die first. However, he ran out of luck, as the Sergeant chose the Trooper to go first in. The Trooper swore to himself that he would defect if he survived the mission. He set a charge on the hatch of the Tantive IV and ignited it to force the Rebels inside the ship to flinch. The plan worked and he got in alive, but the Sergeant just behind him was shot by the Rebels. While they were moving deeper into the enemy ship, two droids, protocol droid C-3PO and astromech droid R2-D2, spoiled the Trooper's aim at a Rebel. After the ship was secured, Vader ordered the stormtroopers to search for the passengers. The Trooper spotted Senator Organa, but she was quicker and shot him dead before herself being stunned by another stormtrooper.

Appearances

 * Star Wars radio drama
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope junior novelization
 * Star Wars 1
 * The Star Wars Storybook
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope PhotoComic
 * Star Wars Manga: A New Hope 1
 * Star Wars: A New Hope - The Special Edition 1
 * Star Wars: A New Hope - The Special Edition 1

Notes and references
Szturmowiec (Wielkie Mariany)