Wullf Yularen

"Of all the Jedi, why did I have to end up with Skywalker?"

- Wullf Yularen, on his assignment to Anakin Skywalker's fleet during the Clone Wars

Wullf Yularen was a male human who served as an admiral in the Galactic Republic Navy during the Clone Wars and later a colonel in the Galactic Empire's Imperial Security Bureau. Yularen was eventually promoted to Deputy Director of the Naval Intelligence Agency and was one of the officers assigned to the Death Star where during the Battle of Yavin, he was killed when the battle station was destroyed.

Early Career
Prior to the start of the Clone Wars, Wullf Yularen served as an officer in the Republic Navy. He participated in the Battle of Malastare Narrows, a conflict in which a fleet organized by the Corporate Alliance blockaded the planet Malastare. Despite his best efforts, the enemy fleet, lead by the brilliant Harch tactician Admiral Trench, proved impossible to break, and Yularen lost many of his own forces. Eventually, a dispatched Jedi task force turned the tide of the battle, defeating the Corporate fleet, vaporizing Trench's flagship, and seemingly killing him in the process. Despite the victory, Yularen left the battle with a lasting fear of the Admiral's tactical capabilities.

The Clone Wars
Following the eruption of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY and the formation of the Grand Army of the Republic, a war bargain struck between the Jedi Order and Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine ensured that the new Jedi Generals would be paired with veteran naval officers, such as now-Admiral Yularen, who would be assigned to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. Initially in command of a Venator-class Star Destroyer, this starship heavily damaged in the Battle of Teth, after which he would be posted to the cruiser Resolute, the flagship of General Skywalker.

Christophis and Teth
During the Battle of Christophsis, Yularen initially failed to break through the Separatist blockade of the planet with supplies for Senator Bail Organa's force trapped on the planet. Recognizing his insignia on the Separatist flagship, the dreadnaught Invincible, Yularen concluded that Trench had survived at Malastare and was facing him once again. Fearing his capabilities, Yularen regrouped on the far side of Christophsis's moon. Reinforced by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's Negotiator, Yularen personally participated in a mercy mission aboard a new model of stealth ship to provide relief to the planet below.

The ship, fitted with an experimental cloaking device, easily slipped past the blockade. However, Trench, emboldened by the lull in the fighting, ordered a flight of Hyena bombers to attack Organa's position on the planet's surface in an attempt to draw out the Republic force and destroy it. Despite Kenobi's preparations, Yularen recognized that any counterattack would result in heavy casualties for their fleet. The Jedi, Skywalker, was able to outmaneuver Trench's attacks and destroy the Invincible. Despite his initial skepticism and friction with the Jedi, the Admiral was impressed with Skywalker's unorthodoxy, who commented that they made a good team. Yularen was later forced to withdraw due to a renewed Separatist blockade in orbit, but the destruction of the Separatist shield generator and ensuing surrender of General Whorm Loathsom allowed him to return with Master Yoda's reinforcements and secure a Republic victory.

Yularen then assisted General Kenobi in rescuing what was left of Captain Rex's troops holed up at Teth's B'omarr Monastery. He tried to allow Skywalker, his padawan Ahsoka Tano and Jabba the Hutt's son, Rotta to land on his ship but were unable to due to Vulture droids attacking the ship's hangar.

Hunt for Grievous
Yularen played a pivotal role in the search and destruction of General Grievous's secret weapon, the warship Malevolence . After it was revealed Grievous planned to attack the undefended Kaliida Shoals Medical Center, Yularen briefed the pilots of Shadow Squadron, flying BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bombers, for their strike on the ship. With the destruction of the Malevolence's massive ion cannons and the disabling of its hyperdrive, Yularen pursued after the ship with three Venator destroyers, including the Resolute, trying to stop it from fleeing to Separatist space, until the ship finally was destroyed on impact with a nearby moon.

Admiral Yularen continued to assist Kenobi and Skywalker in their search for Grievous. Yularen then informed them that the Rishi Station had stopped transmitting and then had the fleet alerted to this problem, which turned out to be an attack orchestrated by Grievous. After discovering that Grievous planned to attack Kamino, the homeworld and production center for the Republic's clone army, Yularen was placed in charge of the planet's blockade fleet. The vigorous orbital defense was successful in damaging much of Grievous' fleet, only to discover the space battle was a Separatist ruse in order to launch a ground attack. Despite this, the planet was successfully defended from the attack.

Later battles
Yularen was involved in multiple other engagements as well throughout the war. He participated in the Battle of Quell, arriving to reinforce the beleaguered fleet of General Aayla Secura, but to no avail. After the Jedi's cruiser inadvertently disappeared into hyperspace, with Secura, Skywalker, Tano, and several clones onboard, Yularen was left to fight on until the battle was lost.

As the Republic moved to liberate Ryloth from the Confederacy, Yularen led the Republic fleet in engaging the blockade, commanded by Neimoidian captain Mar Tuuk onboard a modified Droid Control Ship. The initial engagement saw the loss of the Redeemer while both the Resolute and the Defender were severely damaged, however, he authorized Skywalker's plan to ram the crippled Defender into the Tuuk's flagship, allowing Kenobi's troops to land on the planet. The admiral also coordinated the aerial support for the three-pronged ground assault in the Second Battle of Geonosis, as well as being given command of a task force of Star Destroyers, Consular and Arquitens-class cruisers during the Battle of Saleucami, while the Jedi attempted to rescue the general Eeth Koth, as well as capture Grievous. He commanded the Republic fleet during the Battle of Sullust, where the Resolute was lost to heavy enemy fire. Yularen, however, was able to evacuate before its destruction.

In 19 BBY, Yularen, as one of the higher-ranking Republic naval officers, attended the Republic strategy conference at the starbase Valor over Carida, where he almost perished due to a Separatist plot to ram the station with a captured Star Destroyer. He returned to Coruscant to attend the memorial service for the victims of the Jedi Temple hangar bombing. He was a member of the prosecution, headed by lead prosecutor Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin, in the military trial of Ahsoka Tano, now exempt from prosecutorial immunity after being expelled from the Jedi Order, who was accused of orchestrating the bombing. However, moments before the Supreme Chancellor read the final verdict, the true perpetrator, fallen Jedi Barriss Offee, was brought before the court by Skywalker, and Tano was allowed to go free.

Around this time, Yularen would take an interest in Count Dooku and his new right-hand man "Admiral Enigma", who was actually the former Jedi Master Quinlan Vos. After receiving intelligence that Dooku and Admiral Enigma had been sighted on a Providence-class dreadnought that was planning to attack Taris, Yularen informed the Jedi High Council, which had been engrossed in a meeting to discuss rescuing Vos. Using Admiral Yularen's information, the Council decided to rescue Vos and agreed to pardon the former Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress if she agreed to take part in the rescue mission. While the rescue mission was successful, Vos had secretly turned to the Dark Side and become Dooku's newest Sith apprentice.

Near the end of the Clone Wars, Yularen participated in the Battle of Ringo Vinda, directing Skywalker and his team towards the remains of the destroyed Nu-class transport that had been transporting CT-5385 to Coruscant.

Under the Galactic Empire
Following the conclusion of the war, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine transitioned the Republic into the Galactic Empire, with himself as Galactic Emperor. With this New Order, Yularen resigned his admiral's commission in favor of pursuing a career with the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order's Imperial Security Bureau (or ISB) with the rank of colonel. His first assignment was heading a division whose purpose was to expose instances of sedition in the Imperial Senate.

By 14 BBY, the fifth year of the Empire's reign, Yularen had been appointed the head liaison between the ISB and its main rival, the Naval Intelligence Agency, and was responsible for ensuring cooperation between the Empire's different intelligence agencies. During this time, he personally reviewed the reports of Naval Intelligence operative Commander Gallius Rax, bypassing NIA Vice Admirals Dodd Rancit and Terrinald Screed. Along with his direct superior, Harus Ison, he represented the ISB on Coruscant when Moff Wilhuff Tarkin arrived to give his report about the attack on Sentinel Base. As the Berch Teller campaign progressed, he continued to play an active role in the Imperial response from Coruscant, conferring with both Tarkin and the Joint Chiefs.

After the death of Vice Admiral Rancit at Carida, the Emperor promoted Yularen to replace his rival's former role as head of the NIA when it was folded under Imperial Intelligence, with the position of Deputy Director. In this role, he continued to receive Gallius Rax's top-secret intelligence reports, which were marked "eyes only" for himself.

Yularen remained in a high command position in the ISB as late as 4 BBY. Agent Kallus, who was after a crew of insurgents known as the Spectres, answered to Yularen.

Galactic Civil War
Because of his lengthy service record and mix of military and intelligence experience, Yularen was considered one of the more important members of the Imperial hierarchy by 0 BBY. He was present for a meeting of the Joint Chiefs aboard the first Death Star battle station, which concerned the security of the station in view of the recent theft of its technical readout by agents of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He remained quiet throughout the meeting, even when Grand Moff Tarkin announced that the Emperor had dissolved the Imperial Senate.

Along with another officer, he later passed by makeshift rebels Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Chewbacca, the former two disguised as stormtroopers in an attempt to rescue the imprisoned Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. Yularen remained onboard the battle station during the Battle of Yavin, where he perished along with thousands of other Imperials when it was destroyed.

Personality and Traits
Even by the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Yularen was regarded by his peers as a crisp, efficient veteran naval officer. Despite his disagreements with the brash and reckless General Skywalker, he held a sacred respect for the chain of command, a trait which made him assist his Jedi General in any way he could.

Behind the scenes
Wullf Yularen first appeared as an unnamed background character in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, played by Robert Clarke, and he was given the name Wullf Yularen by the Star Wars Legends card game Star Wars Customizable Card Game. Yularen would later be adopted by the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series as a recurring character. In that animated series, he was voiced by Tom Kane, who also served as the series' narrator.

In the StarWars.com Encyclopedia and the Databank, Yularen's first name was spelled Wulff, rather than Wullf as spelled in the Star Wars Customizable Card Game, thus making the new spelling part of the official Star Wars canon. However, Tarkin, a 2014 novel by James Luceno, and Ultimate Star Wars, a 2015 sourcebook published by Dorling Kindersley, use the original Star Wars Legends spelling of his name. This issue was later remedied, with Yularen's Databank page being updated with the "Wullf" spelling.

In 2008's Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series, Yularen is voiced by veteran Star Wars voice actor Tom Kane. Kane compared Yularen in Imperial times to General Erwin Rommel, a German commander in World War II. Rommel's opposite number on the battlefield, Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, respected the German commander and said that even though Rommel wore the Nazi uniform, he wasn't a Nazi. Kane believed that Yularen, a strict military officer, was simply following orders when the Republic transitioned into the Empire.