Unidentified stormtrooper commander (Tantive IV)

"The Death Star plans are not in the main computer."

- The stormtrooper Commander, to Darth Vader

A Human male stormtrooper commander served as an officer in the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps's 501st elite legion during the Galactic Civil War. He served on the Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator, under the command of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. In 0 BBY, during the Battle of Tatooine, the Commander led a squad of Imperial troops to besiege the Tantive IV, the consular ship of Senator Leia Organa. Once the Rebel starship had been secured, the Commander found that the stolen plans of the Death Star battlestation were not in the ship's main computer and reported this to Vader. Vader ordered the Commander to search for the plans further and to bring him the passengers alive.

Biography
"Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the passengers, I want them alive!"

- Darth Vader, to the Commander

A Human male Commander served as an officer of the Galactic Empire's Stormtrooper Corps during the Galactic Civil War. He was assigned to the 501st Legion, an elite stormtrooper unit unofficially known as "Vader's Fist," under the direct command of Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine's enforcer. The Commander was assigned to the troop complement of the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator. He acquired a facial scar from an energy beam that penetrated the shielding of his helmet.

In 0 BBY, after Rebel agents transmitted the stolen plans of the Death Star superweapon to the CR90 corvette Tantive IV, which belonged to the Rebel-affiliated Senator Leia Organa, the Devastator pursued and captured the Rebel vessel over the planet Tatooine. After reporting to Vader the capture of the Tantive IV and the ongoing attempt to compromise the ship's locks, the Commander led the first wave of 501st Legion stormtroopers aboard the vessel as the group's assault commander. Commanders Praji and Jir also participated in the assault and accompanied Vader in the second wave.

Stormtroopers captured Rebel Captain Raymus Antilles and took him to the Assault Commander, who introduced him to Vader when the Dark Lord arrived in the corridor where the prisoners were being held. After consulting with one of the other commanders, the Assault Commander returned quickly to Vader, who was interrogating Antilles, and reported that the Death Star plans were not in the Tantive IV main computer. Antilles denied Vader's accusations of intercepting illegal transmissions and died by the Sith Lord's hand. The enraged Sith Lord ordered the Commander to search for the plans more thoroughly and to bring him the passengers alive. Although Organa was captured by stormtroopers just minutes later, the stormtroopers were unaware that the stolen plans were already on their way to Tatooine in an escape pod with Organa's droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO.

Personality and traits
When the stormtroopers took Antilles to the Assault Commander, he abused his captivity by giving the Captain a blow and flouting at his unarmedness. After finishing Antilles, Vader whirled unexpectedly, and the nearby Imperial officers, including the Assault Commander, shrank under his baleful sculptured stare. The officers hastened to carry out Vader's orders&mdash;and to retreat from the Sith Lord's malevolent presence.

Behind the scenes
"The ship's information retrieval system has been wiped clean!"

- The Commander, to Darth Vader, in the comic book Star Wars 1

The character of the stormtrooper commander first appeared in the December 1976 novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster. In the novel, the Commander is described as an officer whose "armored helmet [was] shoved back to reveal a recent scar, where an energy beam had penetrated his shielding," and he speaks a different line than his dialogue in the film. In the revised fourth draft script of A New Hope, as presented in Star Wars: Behind the Magic and Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, the commander is identified as "Imperial Officer."

In the third episode of the film's radio drama, a character addressed as "Commander" can be heard in three scenes: first, hailing the Tantive IV from aboard the Devastator, in place of the character of Nahdonnis Praji; second, aboard the Tantive IV, presenting Antilles to Vader and reporting on the Death Star plans; and third, arguing with Vader about Senator Organa, an act that is performed by Daine Jir. However, in the radio drama, the "Commander" boards the Tantive IV before Vader, and in Star Wars Manga: A New Hope 1, Jir and Praji enter after Vader, revealing that the person who captured Antilles cannot be these two, and is in fact the character of the unidentified stormtrooper commander.

Appearances

 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Death Star
 * Star Wars 1
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars book-and-record
 * Star Wars radio drama
 * Star Wars Manga: A New Hope 1
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope PhotoComic