Grand Vizier

"I am the head of the Galactic Empire. I am its pinnacle!"

- Grand Vizier Mas Amedda, attempting to assert his authority in the wake of Emperor Palpatine's death

The Grand Vizier was the chief deputy of Emperor Sheev Palpatine, the absolute ruler of the Galactic Empire. In addition to serving as an intermediary between the Emperor and high-ranking officials such as for military officers and political dignitaries, the grand vizier chaired a bureaucratic committee known as the Imperial Ruling Council.

Approximately five years after the proclamation of the New Order, the title of grand vizier was held by Mas Amedda, a Chagrian government official who previously served as vice chair of the Galactic Senate during Palpatine's tenure as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. During the Emperor's absence on Coruscant, the galactic capital, Vizier Amedda administrated the Empire as a proxy emperor.

In the aftermath of the Emperor's death at Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, Amedda made an unsuccessful attempt to unite the Empire under his leadership. Having failed to consolidate his authority over Coruscant and the Empire at large, the grand vizier became a prisoner in the Imperial Palace on the order of Counselor Gallius Rax, who effectively usurped control of the Empire during the final months of the Galactic Civil War.

Following Rax's defeat on Jakku, Vizier Amedda signed the Galactic Concordance in 5 ABY, an act that marked the end of both the Empire and its war with the New Republic. In return, Amedda was allowed to continue his rule on Coruscant. As well, Republic overseers were sent to ensure that the grand vizier became little more than the figurehead of a powerless, provisional government.

Role and powers
"Must I attend to every trivial matter, Vizier?''" "''I apologize, my lord. But I believe you will want to attend to this one."

- Emperor Palpatine and Vizier Amedda

During the era of the Galactic Empire, the grand vizier was a position of high prestige. Mas Amedda, formerly the vice chair of the Galactic Senate, bore the title during his time as one of Emperor Sheev Palpatine's most influential servants. However, the office's authority was curtailed as a result of the Empire's decline and subsequent fall in 5 ABY. Consequently, the role of grand vizier was reduced to a figurehead.

As Palpatine's chief deputy, the grand vizier acted as an intermediary between the Emperor and his subordinates. His authority and duties included the right to summon high-ranking military officials; to receive visiting dignitaries such as governors; and to oversee the Empire's bureaucratic system as head of the Imperial Ruling Council. Additionally, the post wielded influence over the Imperial Security Bureau to the extent that ISB agents deviated from their routine on Vizier Amedda's recommendation. The vizier's office was located in the Imperial Palace, the Emperor's headquarters on Coruscant.

History
"Normally ISB would have pursued an investigation on its own, but on Vizier Amedda's recommendation we are opening it up to discussion, in the hope of resolving how best to proceed."

- Harus Ison

Prior to the Age of the Empire, Mas Amedda served as vice chair of the Senate during the final years of the Galactic Republic. By the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine anointed himself Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Amedda would continue to serve Palpatine in the New Order, supplanting his title of vice chair with that of grand vizier.

One of Amedda's earliest actions as Grand Vizier was to give a public demonstration on Coruscant, during which he trumpeted the end of the so-called tyranny of the Jedi Order and burned a collection of lightsabers from fallen Jedi.

In 14 BBY, Vizier Amedda informed Moff Wilhuff Tarkin that he would undertake a mission to Murkhana alongside the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Around the same time, a group of insurgents stole the Carrion Spike, Tarkin's personal starship, and used it to attack Galidraan Station. Believing that the Empire could anot afford to risk leaving acts of dissidence unpunished, the grand vizier rejected the Imperial Security Bureau's recommendation to let the Carrion Spike escape.

Prior to the Galactic Civil War, Governor Arihnda Pryce of Lothal traveled to Coruscant, the galactic capital, to discuss her homeworld's industrial and mining sectors. Her arrival on the city-wide planet was greeted by the Emperor's grand vizier.

By 4 ABY the reign of Emperor Palpatine ended with his death at the Battle of Endor. In the Emperor's absence, Vizier Amedda tried to hold the Empire together as a proxy emperor. However, the resultant succession crisis and simultaneous rise of the New Republic served to further destabilize the Empire, causing multiple remnants and rump states to emerge while Coruscant descended into rioting and civil war under Amedda's leadership.

Within a year of the Emperor's death, the grand vizier was all but powerless while Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax consolidated the Empire's military remnants under his leadership as Counselor to the Empire. At Counselor Rax's command, Amedda was imprisoned in the Imperial Palace and forced to broadcast propaganda speeches in support of his captor. Following Rax's death at the Battle of Jakku, the vizier was free to sign the Galactic Concordance. For his part in ending the war, the Republic allowed Amedda to resume his rule on Coruscant as the leader of a provisional government. However, to ensure that neither Amedda or his government posed a threat to the new democracy, Republic overseers were stationed on the former galactic capital.

Appearances

 * Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
 * Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith: The Chosen One, Part I
 * Tarkin
 * Lost Stars
 * Battlefront: Twilight Company
 * Lando, Part I
 * Aftermath: Life Debt
 * Aftermath: Empire's End
 * Aftermath: Empire's End