Emperor's Shadow Guard

The Emperor's Shadow Guard was an organization of elite soldiers who served the Galactic Empire during the Great Jedi Purge.

Characteristics


Few Imperials knew the true origins of the mysterious and powerful Shadow Guard. They were silent and enigmatic warriors that received orders directly from Emperor Palpatine himself and were often sent to eliminate suspected Jedi and other Force users.

These guardsmen demonstrated Force powers of their own which led many to suspect that they were in fact former Jedi that had been captured, tortured and brainwashed by Palpatine, but this was a rumor that was never to be proven. It was known, however, that this cadre was an elite special operations unit within the Emperor's Royal Guard.

Regardless of the truth, the Shadow Guards commanded a great level of respect within the Empire's ranks and often led elite Imperial commandos into battle against the Emperor's most hated foes. They often called upon the services of the Shadow Stormtroopers during their battle engagements.

They were capable of using a range of Force abilities such as Force lightning, Force Repulse, Force Push, Force Choke and Force Maelstrom.

History
In about 19 BBY, two members of the Shadow Guard were sent to a Golan space defense platform in orbit of the planet Byss, to serve Inquisitor Valin Draco as part of a training mission. The station was attacked by the Alderaanian Resistance during the Battle of Byss and the Shadow Guards fought against a number of Resistance agents that had boarded the station.

The Shadow Guard were used during operations in 2 BBY, to silence rogue Dark Jedi Galen Marek. A lone shadow guard was sent to Cloud City with a squad of stormtroopers to assassinate both Marek and Jedi Rahm Kota, but was paralyzed with a round of force lightning and silenced with a lightsaber. At least one was stationed on Kashyyyk and tried to prevent Marek from getting near the skyhook.

A final Shadow Guard led the last line of defense of Palpatine's watchtower on the Death Star I, the guard grappled with Marek and had his neck snapped.

Equipment
Their appearance was identical to the Royal Guard, except that their armor and visor colors were inverted, with the full body armor and robe being black and the visor red. The armor provided them a great deal of protection making it both functional as well as ceremonial in purpose.

Their primary weapon was a Lightsaber pike with a red beam extending from the tip of the weapon. In addition to this, their equipment included a heavy blaster pistol as well as a utility belt which included a medpac. Furthermore, they possessed a comlink which was long range, encrypted and miniaturised as well as including holo capability.

Appearances

 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic