Characters / Star Wars - Imperial Remnant

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Imperial Remnant

After the Empire's defeat at Endor and later Jakku, most of the Imperial military either surrendered or fled to the Unknown Regions to found the First Order. However, a number of die-hard fanatics remained in the known regions of the galaxy and held out on various worlds, determined to see the Empire rise again. Most of them answered to the enigmatic and ruthless former Imperial Security Bureau officer turned Moff Gideon.

Leadership

Gideon

Moff Gideon

"Long live the Empire."

Species: Human

Portrayed by: Giancarlo Esposito

Appearances: The Mandalorian

"The assurance I give is this: I will act in my own self-interest. Which at this time, involves your own cooperation and benefit."

Once an ISB agent tasked with putting down the rebellion on Mandalore, later an Imperial governor, and now a warlord on the outer rim. Gideon has a vested interest in acquiring a certain alien child, putting him at odds with the Mandalorian bounty hunter who rescued it.

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• Always a Bigger Fish: He so desperately wants to be the new Darth Vader and/or Grand Moff Tarkin, but for all his combat prowess, cunning and resources, he's never quite a direct match for Din. In the second season finale he is outmatched by Din in a straight-up fight, even with the Darksaber and the element of surprise, and his Dark Troopers are gradually hacked to pieces by Luke Skywalker.
• The Anticipator: When Djarin shows up on the cruiser to rescue Grogu, Gideon reveals that he not only knew that Djarin was coming, but also that he was with Bo-Katan and that she was after the Darksaber. The one thing he didn't see coming was Luke Skywalker, who made short work of the Dark Troopers.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • To Din Djarin. Gideon is the one who's after the child that Din is trying to protect, and was a known participant in the subjugation of Mandalore, which forced him and his fellow Mandalorians to go into hiding.
  • To Bo-Katan Kryze. Gideon's actions during the Great Purge forced her and the Nite Owls to go into hiding like the rest of her kind. But to add salt to the wound, Gideon was also able to claim ownership of the Darksaber, which Bo-Katan is bent on reacquiring.
• As the Good Book Says...: Gideon's name is an allusion to the Israelite military leader from the Book of Judges whom God commanded to reduce his army to 300 men. Moff Gideon likewise has a much smaller force at his command since the Imperial days, but he's still able to pull off some significant achievements.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: The highest-ranking Imperial on the show, who calmly walks into a firefight that already killed dozens of his men and takes out the Mandalorian who was armed with an E-Web with just two shots. He also displays decent skills as a fighter pilot during his midair scuffle with Din Djarin. In the Season 2 finale, he proves quite adept with the Darksaber in his one-on-one duel with Din.
• Bad Boss:
  • He kills the Client and a fireteam of Stormtroopers just because he realised that the Client had been tricked and it was a useful way to kill the Mandalorian in the same stroke. Lampshaded in the following episode, where two Scout Troopers who left to retrieve the Child are freaked out about that (and that he apparently killed an officer for interrupting him just then too) and don't want to get in trouble with him.
  • When a squad of Mandalorians infiltrate a ship under his command and take everything but the bridge, the captain calls Gideon for reinforcements. Gideon, recognizing that the Mandalorians will seize the ship before help ever arrives, orders the captain to scuttle the ship and himself along with it to kill the Mandalorians. The captain is so terrified of Gideon's wrath that he does as ordered and triggers a Suicide Pill after being stopped.
  • After kidnapping Grogu, Gideon lets Grogu have at it on the Stormtroopers guarding him, all so Gideon can admire Grogu's abilities in the Force, and to tire him out so he can be approached safely.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: In a kill two birds with one stone move, he orders his Death Troopers to shoot up the bar Din and the Client are using for negotiations, killing the latter.
• Badass Cape: He has nice intimidating black one, similar to the one Vader wore, draped over his armor.
• Battle Trophy: Like Kallus he is a veteran of one of the Empire's genocidal military campaigns and he kept a unique weapon as a souvenir of the campaign, the Darksaber.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Once his defeat is assured, Gideon opts to take his own life than let himself be captured by the New Republic, as he will likely be tried and executed as a war criminal, but Cara quickly thwarts this attempt and knocks him out.
• Big Bad: For the first and second seasons of The Mandalorian. He's the one after the Child, with the Client merely acting on his behalf. When Din absconds with his quarry, all of the bounty hunters that go after him can be traced back to Gideon's initial bounty. When Din returns to Nevarro, Gideon takes direct action in the final two episodes of the first season and claims the Big Bad mantle fulltime in the second.
• Break Them by Talking: He demoralized Cara, Greef, and Din by talking about the destructive power of the BFG his troops were in the process of setting up outside the bar the heroes are held up in, and also by revealing that he did his intel work on the three.
• Cold Ham: Rarely raises his voice, but he still has a flair for the dramatic.
• Combat Pragmatist: In the shootout with the Mandalorian and his allies, he just shoots the fuel tank of the E-Webb that the Mandalorian was turning on his troops. Doing this brings the Mandalorian closer to death than small armies have managed.
• Composite Character: Gideon was intentionally designed as a combination of Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin, having the rank, command of stormtroopers, and general personality of the latter as well as the outfit (minus the helmet), combat skills, personal TIE fighter and lightsaber of the former.
• Cool Starship: His flagship is a pretty sweet-looking Imperial Light Cruiser.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments, especially when he goes to talk to Grogu in his cruiser's brig.
• Didn't See That Coming: Gideon's greatest strength comes from his knowledge on others and preparing accordingly. Naturally, his greatest weakness is when something completely unexpected throws a wrench into his plans.
  • In "Redemption", he has Din and crew surrounded, trapped, and effectively dead to rights, but even he didn't expect IG-11 to come zooming to the rescue on a speeder bike, which breaks his troops' formation enough for the Mandalorian to mount a counterattack and ultimately escape with the Child in the end.
  • Twice in "The Rescue". The first is when Din doesn't kill him after winning their duel and he expresses intrigued surprise. The second time is when Luke Skywalker arrives on his ship and starts making scrap of his Dark Troopers, kicking off his Villainous Breakdown.
• The Dreaded:
  • His underlings fear him, and the moment the heroes realize who he is, they realize that they're screwed even more than they thought they were.
  • On the flipside, the one he considers The Dreaded is Luke Skywalker.
• Establishing Character Moment: When the Client contacts him via hologram, he already deduces that the Child isn't with him, sends a pair of Scout Troopers towards the Razor Crest's location to retrieve it, has his Death Troopers blast the bar where the Client was to pick up the Child (Din, Cara, and Greef just barely manage to survive because of their quick reflexes), and then has a legion of Stormtroopers surround the location. This firmly establishes Gideon as an intelligent and ruthless enemy who is not to be trifled with.
• Evil Gloating: Of the Faux Affably Evil variety, once he has the Child in his clutches. Even after Din defeats and captures him, he gleefully boasts how his Dark Troopers will storm the bridge and cut down his captors.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • He apparently killed one of his own officers for interrupting him.
  • In The Tragedy after capturing Grogu and exhausting him by using his Stormtroopers as canon fodder against Grogu's Force powers, Gideon actually takes the time to smugly gloat over the little guy as he passes out. He gloats... to a baby.
• Faux Affably Evil: As per Imperial tradition, Gideon is well spoken and polite, and acts downright grandfatherly towards Grogu when he takes him hostage. But under all his charisma and gentlemanly demeanor is a sense of smug superiority and sociopathic disdain for everyone he deems beneath him.
• Frontline General: Though he may be a Bad Boss, he is right there in the battle on Navarro. His marksmanship on the power pack for the E-web heavy blaster that Din commandeers effectively ends the heroes' onslaught, and his air power in the form of his personal TIE fighter is the last threat that the heroes have to overcome to win the day. Before blowing up the ammo pack he actually shoots Din to get his attention, and doesn't even flinch when the latter trains the E-Web on him. He might be a monster but his balls are beskar-grade.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: He wears black armor almost identical to that of the Death Troopers, only that he doesn't wear a helmet to go with it.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: He's willing to go through heaps of trouble to get the Child, even offering "a king's ransom" for its capture. He tells Din that the Child "means more to [him] than [Din] will ever know" and says he doesn't "truly know what he's in posession of". It is initially left a mystery as to why he wants the Child so much. The episode "The Siege" eventually partially answers that question as he wants the Child's genetic material for his Super Soldier project... though how it relates to the Dark Troopers or any others remains unclear.
• I Lied: After Din insists he just wants to take Grogu and leave, Gideon seemingly allows it, saying he has everything he wants from the child. But as soon as Din moves to take Grogu, he reactivates the Darksaber and immediately tries to kill him. Were it not for Din's lightsaber-resistant beskar armor, that would have been the end of him.
• Insufferable Genius: Gideon is definitely smarter then the average Imperial officer and typically plans for virtually every contingency. He even sarcastically tells Din to "Assume that I know everything."
• Interrupted Suicide: When Luke's arrival results in his well-laid plans being destroyed, Gideon tries to shoot himself in a panic. Unfortunately for him, Cara Dune knocks him out cold before he can go through with it.
• It's Personal: Din recognizes him as a well-known ISB officer that participated in Mandalore's subjugation.
• Kill It with Fire: After the heroes really piss him off, he orders his men to bring in flamethrowers to burn them out of the bar they are hiding in.
• Knight of Cerebus: Not that the show wasn't serious, but his first appearance kicks off the Darkest Hour of the first season.
• Large Ham: He manages to ham without even talking when he makes his entrance by dramatically landing his TIE Fighter. It only goes up when he starts talking.
• The Man Behind the Man: Gideon's intervention reveals that the Client was nothing more than his mouthpiece and puppet, with Gideon himself boasting far more manpower and influence than his subordinate.
• Manipulative Bastard: He sets up his own underling, the Client, to be killed and lures Din in with the Child and very nearly succeeds in capturing the baby.
• Mr. Exposition: He provides an info dump in his first appearance while gloating to the heroes. Specifically, he informs the audience what the Mandalorian's real name is, what Cara Dune's full name is and the fact she is from Alderaan, identifies Greef as a disgraced magistrate, provides some background info on what the Empire did to the Mandalorians, gives them some technical info about the weapon his troops are setting up, etc. Even then, all his gloating tells the heroes almost no useful information that they don't already know anyway.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Subverted. He takes a backseat for most of the first season, but proves himself in the final episode to be competent with a blaster and an expert TIE Fighter pilot. Not only that, but he is also the current wielder of the Darksaber.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: He's powerful enough to act as the main antagonist of two seasons of television, but in the context of the greater universe, Gideon is really a nobody. He's a former sector governor who managed to scrape together a handful of out-of-work Imperial troops (a tiny fraction of the resources he commanded in his prime, and there were dozens of people on par with or above him), and is mostly a threat because he terrorizes scantly-peopled Outer Rim worlds with little ability to resist him. He doesn't even have a single Star Destroyer to his name, his flagship instead being an Arquitens-class light cruiser.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Gideon seems to have read the Evil Overlord List and taken to it much better than many of his contemporaries in the Empire, including Tarkin and the Emperor himself. Probably why he's still around long after the Empire itself fell at Jakku.
• No One Could Survive That!: His TIE Fighter crashes, and he cuts his way out of it with the Darksaber as though nothing happened.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Just how he came into possession of the Darksaber has yet to be revealed. Bo-Katan, its previous wielder, wasn't even sure he had it until getting confirmation.
• Oh, Crap!: Gideon remains confident that his Dark Troopers will effortlessly rescue him from Din and Bo-Katan's custody. His tune changes really quick when Luke Skywalker turns up and starts cutting through the Dark Troopers with ease.
• Orbital Bombardment: He does this in Chapter 14 when he has his cruiser destroy the Razor Crest.
• Outside-Context Villain: The Mandalorian and company were expecting to deal with the Client and a handful of Stormtroopers... then this guy shows up with Death Troopers and a company of Stormtroopers. Cara even lampshades how out of left field this was.
  Cara: Who the hell is this guy?!
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Towards the Client before his men fill him full of laser holes.
• Putting on the Reich: Sports a Hitler-stache. Probably doesn't have the same connotations in-universe as it does in the real world, but given how Nazi imagery has been laced into depictions of the Empire from the very beginning, it fits right in.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: He wears black armor with red highlights, along with a black and red cape.
• Remember the New Guy?: Cara and Mando have both heard of him before the audience has, indicating he is an infamous war criminal.
• The Remnant: He is leading a fairly large group of Imperial soldiers in the Outer Rim several years after the Battle of Endor and Jakku; after the war is officially over and the Empire is supposed to be no more.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Cara Dune specifically mentions that he was supposed to have been captured by the New Republic and executed for war crimes.
• Scary Black Man: If gunning down the Client and his men didn't tip you off that this guy is bad news, maybe the Death Troopers and company of Stormtroopers, along with being a Moff, will. And if that still did nothing for you, the fact that he's in possession of the Darksaber will remove any lingering doubt.
• Smug Snake: Being a former ISB agent turned Moff, Gideon carries himself with unbridled pride and someone who knows how smart he is and will make sure you know it, too. As such, it's immensely cathartic to see this smugness evaporate into fear when he realizes that a Jedi (and not just any Jedi, but Luke Skywalker) is headed their way and that his Dark Troopers stand no chance against him.
• State Sec: Gideon was an ISB officer before being promoted to Moff.
• Super Soldier: Gideon seems to be overly fond of this concept.
  • He introduces himself in Season 1 finale by bringing in a squad of Death Troopers to lay waste to the cantina Din and his crew were in.
  • Season 2 has him break out the Dark Troopers.
  • The episode The Siege not only shows that Gideon is trying to build a new breed of Force-sensitive Imperial soldiers and he wants the Child's genetic material for the project but also ends with a Wham Shot of him in a cruiser's hold inspecting a battalion of Dark Troopers.
• There Is No Kill like Overkill: He brings in a squad of Death Troopers along with a company of stormtroopers packing flamethrowers and heavy weapons along with armor and air support to take out three people. As is standard, it is not enough.
• Unskilled, but Strong: While wielding the Darksaber, Gideon lacks any finesse or lightsaber forms, but considering his main opponents are Badass Normals like Din Djarin, he hardly needs skill to be a threat with a weapon that cuts through anything. Except beskar.
• Villainous Breakdown: Gideon, quite rightly, becomes terrified when Luke Skywalker starts making his way to the bridge and cutting through his Dark Troopers. He even tries to shoot Grogu to deny him to the Jedi out of fear and spite.
• The Warlord: He is one of several Imperial warlords that emerged after the fall of the Empire. He has forces loyal to him on several worlds and was building up his power in the Outer Rim.
• Would Hurt a Child: He's after the Child for some nasty Force-related science experiments. He also tried to shoot Grogu in "the rescue"
• Xanatos Gambit: Gideon had a pretty solid one in place near the end of "The Rescue". Realizing Bo-Katan is coming for him and the Darksaber, Gideon opts to duel Din instead. If he wins, he escapes with Grogu before Bo-Katan ever realizes it. If Din wins, a rift is created between him and Bo-Katan over the right to the Darksaber, and all of Mandalore by extension as the Darksaber can only be earned through combat. And if that didn't work, the Dark Troopers would simply storm the bridge and kill everyone to rescue him. It likely would have worked, if not for the timely intervention of Luke Skywalker, who wasted no turning the Dark Troopers into scrap metal.

The Client

The Client

"It is good to restore the natural order of things after a period of such disarray."

Species: Human

Portrayed by: Werner Herzog

Appearances: The Mandalorian

"The Empire improves every system it touches. Judge by any metric: safety, prosperity, trade, opportunity, peace. Compare Imperial rule... to what is happening now. Look outside. Is the world more peaceful since the revolution? I see nothing but death and chaos."

The leader of an Imperial holdout in Nevarro who contracts the Mandalorian for an off the books bounty five years after the fall of the Empire.

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• All There in the Script: He is credited as the Client, but his name is otherwise unmentioned within the show itself.
• Crazy-Prepared: He hires the bounty hunting guild to go after his prize, which leads to all of them going after the Mandalorian when he absconds with it.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Hires the Mandalorian for the initial job and poses as the primary antagonist force after it goes off the rails, until Moff Gideon makes it clear that he's the true Big Bad of the story.
• The Dragon: For Moff Gideon. He's not the leader of the Remnant cell Din comes into conflict with, but is a high-ranking agent trusted with the delivery of the asset and held enough authority to conduct the hunt for it on his own accord.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: He's abruptly gunned down by Gideon's Death Troopers at the end of Chapter 7.
• Establishing Character Moment: His negotiation with the Mandalorian gives him a strong authority vibe despite his age. Most notably, during the standoff between Mando and the stormtroopers, the Client does not immediately order his side to stand down, but defuses Mando first by playing on his Consummate Professionalism. The scene shows that the Client is very much in control, unflappable and somewhat manipulative.
• Faux Affably Evil: He speaks very calmly and somewhat pleasantly to the Mandalorian during their meeting, but is still a brutal Imperial officer who has in no way given up on the Empire's authoritarian ideology. What tips him over into this from being genuinely Affably Evil is The Reveal of whom he hired Mando to retrieve and his indifference about whether or not they die — an infant of Yoda's species, meaning he was perfectly fine with Mando killing a baby.
• I Want Them Alive!: Subverted. Although he and Pershing had agreed together earlier that the Mandalorian should bring their target in alive, he tells the Mandalorian that he will accept proof of termination if capturing the target alive isn't feasible, though at a reduced fee. He justifies this to Pershing as pragmatism, as they can't reasonably expect the Mandalorian to bring the target in alive no matter what. As the Mandalorian later discovers there are probably multiple bounties on the target's head, this appears to be a case of the client hedging his bets so that if he doesn't get the target, at least nobody else does either.
• Motive Rant: The page quote. Even with Mando shackled and at gunpoint, he tries to convince him to join forces, hoping that he'll understand the importance that Imperial order held in the Outer Rim.
• Mouth of Sauron: He's just the middle man acting on Moff Gideon's orders, hiring bounty hunters to acquire the Child.
• No Name Given: His real name is never given in the story, and he is only credited as the Client.
• Order Versus Chaos: He has no idea why anyone wouldn't want to obey Imperial law, and believes that the only thing that has come from the collapse of the Galactic Empire has been suffering and chaos.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He makes his first payment with a Beskar ingot, a highly revered cultural artifact of Mandalore, saying it's right that it's with someone from that world. Then again, he may have just been taunting him.
  • His monologue in Episode 7 seems to indicate that his respect for our protagonist and Mandalorians in general is one hundred percent genuine. What his role, if he had any, during the Great Purge was is a mystery and will likely remain that way.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He has a tendency for overly poetic turns of phrase. Perhaps best exemplified by his line: "Can I offer you a libation to celebrate the closing of our shared narrative?"^note "How about a drink, now that our business is finished?"
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Seems to thoroughly believe that the Empire was good for the galaxy at large.
  The Client: "The Empire improves every system it touches. Judge by any metric. Safety, prosperity, trade, opportunity, peace. Compare Imperial rule to what is happening now. Look outside. Is the world more peaceful since the revolution? I see nothing but death and chaos."
• Would Hurt a Child: In Chapter 1, he tells the Mandalorian that it'll be fine if he has to kill the Asset, although he'll pay him less for that. In Chapter 3, the Mandalorian overhears him telling Pershing to extract whatever he needs to extract from the Asset by any means necessary because their superior needs it soon. According to Pershing, the Client would have had the Asset dead by now if it weren't for him.
• You Have Failed Me: Moff Gideon has the Client and his Stormtroopers killed, since he had been tricked and it was a useful way to kill the Mandalorian in the same stroke.

Officers and Scientists

Penn Pershing

Dr. Penn Pershing

"He has explicitly ordered us to bring it back alive."

Species: Human

Portrayed by: Omid Abtahi

Appearances: The Mandalorian

"I highly doubt we’ll find a donor with a higher M-count."

A medical researcher who joined the Empire in the hopes of developing new techniques for cloning artificial organ replacements, he soon found himself assigned to mysterious and unethical experiments on force-sensitive test subjects.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He begs to the Mandalorian not to hurt him or the Asset.
• Alliterative Name: Penn Pershing.
• Ambiguously Evil: Works for the Empire, or at least a remnant of it, so one would assume him to be amoral. However, when the Mando comes to rescue the Asset, he begs for the infant's life, mistakenly under the impression the bounty hunter was there to kill him. He also insists that he was protecting the baby, and that he would be dead without his help. When he returns in the second season finale, he continues in his moral ambiguity, quickly and unhesitatingly cooperating with Din and his rescue crew after being captured, providing schematic details about Gideon’s cruiser, and briefing them on the Darktroopers. Season 3 confirms that he's not evil, as he visibly regrets his role in the Empire and genuinely wanted to use his research to make the galaxy a better place.
• Aerith and Bob: "Pershing" is one of the few Earth-like names found in the Star Wars universe.
• Ear Ache: He loses a chunk of his right ear during "The Rescue" when Cara shoots the Imperial pilot using him as a human shield.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's Ambiguously Evil at best, but he would prefer the Asset to be kept alive for practical and moral reasons.
• For Science!: A rare positive example. While he is clearly thrilled by the scientific progress and potential applications of what is implied to be the replication of the baby's force abilities, he also is equally motivated by his conscience. He wants the child alive for the sake of morality and ethics and would protect it with his life.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: He has the Kamino logo on part of his outfit, the cloning organization that made the clone army. It is later confirmed that he indeed specializes in cloning and genetic engineering.
• I Want Them Alive!: He insists to the Mandalorian that his target must be brought in alive, but his employer overrules him out of pragmatism, offering a lower fee if the Mandalorian brings proof of termination. Pershing is surprised by this and seems to be displeased by it, as that wasn't what they agreed to earlier and it'll be harder to do whatever they need to do with the target if it is dead. Episode 3 reveals that it's not because it's For Science! (primarily, at least), but because he has genuine moral objections to harming the Child.
• Momma's Boy: Seemingly of the positive variety; Pershing cared very deeply for his mother and her death of a heart attack, a death that a cloned organ transplant could have prevented, motivated him to become a geneticist in hopes of creating cloned organs to save lives. She was a doctor, and this inspired him to follow her into medicine even before she'd died of her condition.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Subverted. Episode 1 implies he's only concerned about getting the Asset back alive For Science!, and is exceedingly pleased when the Mandalorian returns with it alive. However, when the Mandalorian has a change of heart and rescues the Child, Pershing misinterprets it as him coming to kill it. He begs the Mandalorian for its life, and is even prepared to shield it with his own body.
• Nerd Glasses: Though when was the last time you saw anyone in Star Wars wearing completely normal glasses?
• Punny Name: His full name, as revealed in "The Convert", sounds a lot like "pen-pushing", meaning a tedious job handling paperwork — which is exactly the kind of job the New Republic assigns him to in the same episode.
• Token Good Teammate: In comparison to Moff Gideon, the Client or their groups of stormtroopers, Pershing shows more than a basic degree of humanity in wanting the child to be brought back alive, arguing with the client that they shouldn't kill the child when they have him in their possession, and shielding him with his own body when the Mandalorian shows up, unaware that Din was there to retrieve the child and not to kill him. His refusal to harm the child saves him from Din's wrath, save from a brief angry questioning, which is better than what the stormtroopers got. In "The Rescue", he volunteers a significant amount of information in the briefing without being interrogated, or even asked. Without his guidance, the heroes wouldn't have even known about the Dark Troopers. It seems that his service to the Empire wasn't exactly willing and he was more than willing to sell them out.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: After he returns as part of an amnesty program in The Mandalorian's third season, this is likely the worst that can be said about him. He doesn't seem to have an evil bone in his body, but his scientific trade has many moral ambiguities, which he struggles with in regards to wanting to do the right thing for the New Republic.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He's not happy when the Client decides on a whim that the Asset can be brought in dead, and his objections were the only thing that kept the Remnant from vivisecting the child before the Mandalorian could rescue him.

Elia Kane

Elia Kane

Portrayed by: Katy O'Brian

Appearances: The Mandalorian

A communications officer aboard Moff Gideon's Light Cruiser and his second-in-command. After Gideon's capture she joined the New Republic's Imperial amnesty program, although whether she has truly rehabilitated becomes suspect.

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• Amazonian Beauty: Of the bad guy variety. Her actress Katy O'Brian is a professional martial artist and bodybuilder, so Kane has a muscular build while also being quite attractive.
• Ascended Extra: She was unnamed in Season 2 and had only a handful of lines, mostly incidental dialogue with more important characters. Season 3 gives her a name and a major role as a Fake Defector infiltrating the New Republic.
• Boyish Short Hair: She's a sturdily built, muscular and rather butch female officer in Gideon's Imperial remnant with a very short haircut.
• The Dragon: She was second-in-command to Moff Gideon, the main villain of the show's first and second seasons.
• Fake Defector: Participates in the New Republic's amnesty program following Gideon's defeat, but it quickly becomes apparent that she is far from rehabilitated.
• False Friend: Towards Pershing. She presents herself as The Atoner and shares in his ideals about the benefits of cloning tech. She seems very friendly and trusting towards him (with a teensy trace of Ship Tease in there for good measure), but it's all an act to make Pershing trust her enough to break the rules so she can have him arrested.
• Faux Affably Evil: As a member of the amnesty program she presents herself as a well-intentioned atoner frustrated by how little the New Republic trusts her and her fellow defectors. Then she sets Pershing up as a patsy for a conspiracy to steal former Imperial equipment and uses a Heel–Face Brainwashing machine to torture him.
• Name of Cain: It's likely no coincidence that when her name's revealed, her surname's based on that of the original Biblical Bad Guy Cain, since she turns out to be a sadistic Fake Defector from Gideon's Imperial Remnant who's still doing evil.
• Sadist: Exhibited when she tortures Pershing, casually chewing on an Imperial ration bar while watching him suffer.
• Villain with Good Publicity: She's managed to make New Republic officials believe that her defection to their side is the result of a genuine change in her values. However, she's actually still an evil person who deceives, manipulates, and torments others for her own wicked purposes, as seen by what she does to Pershing.

Valin Hess

General Valin Hess

Species: Human

Played by: Richard Brake

Appearances: The Mandalorian

"You see, boys, everybody thinks they want freedom, but what they really want is order."

An Imperial officer who carried out Operation: Cinder on Burnin Konn, and Miggs Mayfeld's former superior officer.

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• Asshole Victim: Given how utterly detestable he acts, it's safe to say absolutely no one would shed tears over his sudden death at Mayfeld's hands. Even Din can't be mad at him, despite the act blowing their cover.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: His lack of recognition for Mayfeld and casual dismissal of soldiers dead on his watch just scream that atrocities like Burnin Konn really doesn't mean much to him.
• Colonel Kilgore: "Honoring" his fallen men by referring to them as heroes all, rather than truly reckon with sacrificing them for the sake of carnage while he still lives? Waxing philosophical, even nostalgic, about the chaos he's unleashed on the battlefield? Revealing plans for an even greater war crime with sheer rapturous delight in his voice? It's amazing he lasted as long as he did without getting fragged by someone else instead.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Rather than The Queen's Latin accent most Imperial characters have, Valin has a distinctive Southern drawl, which combined with his grey uniform and kepi makes him very evocative of a Confederate officer.
• Dramatic Irony: He believes an atrocity against the New Republic that makes Burnin Konn look like a distant memory would be achieved with Rhydonium and bring the galaxy back to Imperial prosperity, though it fails. Anyone who's watched The Force Awakens knows that would be achieved with a certain former Jedi planet turned into a Death Star-like weapon by the Empire's successor state...
• Fatal Flaw: Lack of Empathy and Evil Gloating leads to his death. He apparently sees no reason why Mayfeld who survived Operation Cinder would have any issue with it and gets so giddy and carried with his speech about wanting to continue it on a larger scale that he fails to notice Mayfeld's increasingly pissed-off face before getting shot by him.
• Faux Affably Evil: He conducts himself like a classy Southern gentleman, even when he gladly recalls the atrocities he committed during Operation Cinder.
• Hate Sink: Hess is everything that made the Empire so awful: a ruthless, fanatical man who takes pleasure in outliving the soldiers whose deaths he ordered, and who is planning to cause widespread death and destruction in order to make the galaxy come back to the Empire.
• Knight Templar: He expresses a distaste for the concept of "freedom" and claims that what people really crave is order, which only the Empire can give them.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Hess's arrogance and cruel indifference to ordering the deaths of thousands of citizens and Imperials, as well his intentions to do it again on a grander scale, earns him a blaster bolt to the chest by one of his own former subordinates who survived Operation: Cinder.
• Lack of Empathy: Even with one of the survivors of Operation: Cinder sitting right across from him and visibly upset over the deaths of his comrades, Hess still regards them with smug indifference. Then he admits his plans to commit an even worse atrocity that would make Cinder pale in comparison. He also seems completely unaware of Mayfeld's rising anger, as if Hess is interpreting it as fear. This flaw costs him his life.
• Nightmare Face: He may not be a freaky alien or heavily scarred, but his googly eyes and the constant fake, empty smile on his face are seriously unnerving.
• Omnicidal Maniac: He is giddy at the prospect of making Burnin Konn pale in comparison to whatever he has planned with the rhydonium he was stocking.
• Smug Smiler: Bears an unsettling smirk throughout most of his scene.
• Smug Snake: He's so self-assured in his belief that his actions were glorious that he doesn't notice Mayfeld's obvious resentment and is caught off-guard when Mayfeld shoots him.
• The Sociopath: One of the biggest examples in the Imperial Army. Whether it's his seemingly charming attitude, the casual way he dismisses the deaths of his own men, or the sadistic glee he takes in wanting to crush the New Republic into dust, Hess hits every criteria and then some.
• Sociopathic Soldier: He's all too proud of the war crimes he's committed, and doesn't give a damn about anyone who died on his watch, loyal soldier and innocent civilian alike.
• Too Dumb to Live: He wasn't the spitting image of intelligence to begin with, but vocally dismissing the lives of his own soldiers to a clearly traumatized survivor's face was lethal apathy at its finest.
• We Have Reserves: Was willing to wipe out his own division in order to destroy a city as part of Operation: Cinder.

Captain

"Captain"

Species: Human

Played by: Titus Welliver

Appearances: The Mandalorian

"Long live the Empire."

The captain of an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser transporting supplies for the Imperial remnant.

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• Better to Die than Be Killed: After being captured by Bo-Katan, he refuses to tell her where the Darksaber is, and promptly kills himself using an electric Suicide Pill rather than face Gideon's anger at failing.
• Evil Old Folks: Is clearly an older veteran with a craggy face and white hair.
• No Name Given: Neither the credits or dialogue give him a name.
• Surrounded by Idiots: He doesn't actually say it, but the look on his face clearly shows that he considers his officers to be less than competent.
• Team Killer: Kills his pilots by shooting them In the Back in the hopes of crashing the ship before the boarding party gets to the bridge.
• Villainous Valor: No matter how bad his situation gets, he remains unflinchingly calm and collected, contrasting with the Oh, Crap! faces his two pilots keep sharing.

Deck Officer

"Deck Officer"

Species: Human

Played by: Kevin Dorff

Appearances: The Mandalorian

"Close all of them! Close all the doors!"

An officer aboard the Gozanti-class cruiser that the Mandalorians board.

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• Disney Villain Death: He and all of his Stormtroopers get sucked out of the airlock while the ship is still in the planet's atmosphere and fall screaming to their deaths miles below.
• Dirty Coward: While Bo-Katan and her crew were shooting up the Stormtroopers, the deck officer instead cowers behind a control panel until the doors close.
• Evil Old Folks: Like the captain, he is an older man with white hair.
• Mook Lieutenant: Commands the Stormtroopers during the firefight against the Mandalorians.
• No Name Given: Like the captain and security officer, he isn't identified by name.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: Dies when the Mandalorians open the ship's boarding ramp, and the depressurization of the interior blows him and all of his Stormtroopers out into the upper atmosphere of the planet.

Infantry and Crewmen

JS-1975 and AP-1982

JS-1975 and AP-1982

Species: Human

Portrayed by: Jason Sudeikis (JS-1975) and Adam Pally (AP-1982)

Appearances: The Mandalorian

Two Scout Troopers stationed in Imperial holdout in Nevarro.

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• All There in the Manual: Their trooper designations are given in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. The episode credits for The Mandalorian, they're just "Bike Scout Trooper #1" and "Bike Scout Trooper #2."
• Artistic License – Gun Safety: At one point after failing to shoot something on the ground, one of them shakes his pistol as if that's the problem, then almost looks into the barrel. The other gives an exasperated shrug, then smacks his live weapon into his speeder.
• Asshole Victim: They are people who hit a baby because it annoys them, though it's made fairly obvious that they probably aren't aware that it's a child or even sentient. They get little audience sympathy when IG-11 brutally beats them.
• Bantering Baddie Buddies: They have this kind of vibe. One of them really wants to get a good look at the Child, to the other's annoyance.
• The Cameo: "JS-1975" is played by Jason Sudeikis and "AP-1982" is played by Adam Pally.
• Chekhov's Gunman: They stand guard outside the town and turn out to be the ace up Moff Gideon's sleeve, as they are monitoring communications and overhear the Mandalorian's message to Kuiil, allowing them to intercept Kuiil and take the Child.
• Enemy Chatter: They shoot the shit (as well as idly attempting the Star Wars equivalent of shooting cans in the desert) while waiting for orders.
• Facepalm of Doom: The second trooper gets grabbed by the helmet faceplate by IG-11 and then brutally smashed by the head into his own speeder.
• Hero Killer: They killed Kuiil and took the Child from him in "The Reckoning".
• Hypocritical Humor: One of them keeps bopping the Child over the head whenever it starts to act up, to the point where the other asks with concern if the Child is even alive after being hit that hard, saying that it hasn't moved in a while. When he checks on it, and gets his finger bitten for poking it, he socks it in the face with a punch far harder than his partner ever delivered.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Zig-Zagged. When they kill time in "Redemption" by shooting at a small object a few feet away from their speeder bikes, neither of them hits it and all of their shots go wide. One of them even checks the sights on his pistol in disbelief before shrugging and putting it away. Yet somehow they managed to kill Kuiil and his Blurrg in the preceding episode "The Reckoning".
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: The second trooper shapes up to be the nicer of the pair, taking issue with his partner hitting the Child on the head. This is mostly out of Pragmatic Villainy (with a side of curiosity), since Gideon would probably kill them if they delivered the asset to him dead. The rest of it goes out the window when the Child bites his finger and he punches him in the face, though it's made fairly obvious that they probably aren't aware that it's a child or even sentient..
• Kick the Dog: They killed Kuiil and his Blurrg in "The Reckoning" and hit The Child in "Redemption". Let's just say those don't endear them to the audience.
• Laser-Guided Karma: They killed Kuiil, kidnapped the Child, then hit him for acting up before they are brutally beaten by IG-11 when he comes to rescue the baby.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: On the receiving end of this. When they refuse to return the Child to IG-11 he proceeds to disable them quite brutally, snapping the first one's wrist, then grabbing the second by his helmet and smashing him into his parked speeder bike with enough force to crush it.
  IG-11: [to the Child] That was unpleasant. I'm sorry you had to see that.
• No Name Given: They are unnamed and only credited as "Bike Scout Trooper #1" and "Bike Scout Trooper #2". Galaxy of Heroes gave them their trooper designations as JS-1975 and AP-1982, an in-joke combining their actors' initials with their birthdates.
• Rebel Relaxation: They are slouching on their speeder bikes on the town entry when Greef and Cara with the Mandalorian in handcuffs are about to enter the town. It's the Imperials who are the rebels now.
• Seen It All: They are more exasperated than shocked when their dispatcher tells them that Gideon killed an officer for interrupting him.
  AP-1982: Did he just say that Gideon killed his own men?
  JS-1975: Oh, who knows. These guys like to lay down the law when they first arrive into town.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: They have one at the beginning of the season finale.
• Uncertain Doom: It's unknown whether they were actually killed outright or just badly injured when IG-11 beat the absolute shit out of them.
• Would Hurt a Child: They each hit the Child, one because the Child was making noise, and the other because the Child bit him. Both troopers are brutally beaten by IG-11 soon after.

Co-Pilot

"Co-Pilot"

Species: Human

Played by: Thomas E. Sullivan

Appearances: The Mandalorian

"Destroying your planet was a small price to pay to rid the galaxy of terrorism."

The co-pilot of the Imperial shuttle transporting Dr. Pershing.

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• Boom, Headshot!: Cara Dune shoots him through the head when he takes Dr. Pershing hostage and mocks her about Alderaan's destruction.
• Bullying a Dragon: Oh yeah, callously insulting and mocking an Alderaan survivor who also happens to be an elite Republican trooper couldn't possibly backfire or get you killed. Oh and feel free to try and spin them as the real villains for blowing up the planet-killing superweapon responsible for Alderaan's destruction. Sure.
• Hostage Situation: When the heroes board the shuttle, he grabs Pershing and holds a gun to his head, threatening to kill him unless the boarders relent.
• Hypocrite: Aside from his below mentioned Moral Myopia, there is also the fact that despite claiming to feel sorry for his allies who were killed on the Death Stars, acting as if they were innocent, he himself shamelessly kills his fellow pilot, explicitly a Punch-Clock Villain, when he tries to surrender.
• Kick the Dog: Taunts Cara Dune about the destruction of Alderaan.
• Moral Myopia: He is outraged about the millions of Imperial lives lost when both Death Stars were destroyed in battle, but views the billions murdered on Alderaan ^note  Such as Bail Organa and his wife Brehna as justified.
• No Name Given: Just identified as "Co-Pilot" in the credits.
• Team Killer: Kills his fellow pilot when he tries to reason with the boarding party.
• Too Dumb to Live: Calling Alderaan's destruction justified to a bunch of Empire opposers armed with blasters is bad enough, but saying it to a survivor of the planet's destruction is downright idiotic.

Dark Troopers

Dark Troopers

Appearances: Commander | Darth Vader (2020) | The Mandalorian

A long-term Super Soldier project aimed at augmenting or replacing standard Stormtrooper units, the Dark Trooper program went through numerous phases throughout the Empire's history. The first two phases were an experimental armor platform with mounted weapons systems and a suite of combat enhancements, while the third phase, only completed after the Empire's collapse, were fully-autonomous battle droids with blaster-resistant plating.

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: They will stop at nothing to complete an objective, such as trying to kill Din by punching him repeatedly in the face. Unfortunately, they don't understand that Beskar is resilient enough to withstand repeated blows from their durasteel fists with no mark to show for it.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Pershing notes that the Phase III Dark Troopers use huge amounts of energy, and thus are kept completely powered down unless necessary. It takes a bit of time before they come online, but once they do they are nearly unstoppable.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. While they are just as dangerous to non-Force sensitives in Canon as they were in Legends, they aren't quite as nigh-indestructible. In Legends, the Dark Troopers were made of phrik, which was later established to be a lightsaber-resistant alloy years after their debut in Dark Forces, retroactively giving Dark Troopers lightsaber resistance. While phrik and its lightsaber-resistant properties have been re-canonized, nothing's been said of the Dark Troopers having phrik in their armor (going hand-in-hand with lightsaber-resistant alloys being a lot rarer than in Legends, possibly to avoid Kryptonite Is Everywhere), and Luke Skywalker cuts through a platoon of them like paper, confirming that whatever the case, they are not invulnerable to lightsabers.
• Adaptation Species Change: Almost completely inverted from Legends. In Legends, Phase I and II Dark Troopers were droids, while Phase III Dark Troopers were designed to be used as Power Armor, but could still function autonomously.
  • Legends also had the Phase Zero Dark Trooper, which was an experimental program to rebuild crippled and aging clones left over from the Clone Wars and press them back into Imperial service. Fortunately, nothing like that currently exists in Canon. Well, except for poor Echo.
• Always a Bigger Fish: They're subjected to this by Luke Skywalker, who cuts through them like paper.
• Attack Its Weak Point: To anyone not packing a lightsaber, their weak points are their neck and torso joints.
• Boom, Headshot!: In an aversion of Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, the vast majority of their shots seem to be dead-on headshots. However, this is ineffective against a Mandalorian wearing a beskar helmet, or a Jedi who can deflect or dodge their blaster fire.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Just one is enough to trash and all but kill Mando.
• Canon Immigrant: They're first introduced in Star Wars Legends game Dark Forces. They're re-canonized in Commander, albeit as human Stormtroopers rather than droids. Dark Troooper droids made a comeback in The Mandalorian as Phase III models.
• Composite Character: The Phase II Dark Troopers actually look far more like the purge trooper battle droids from The Force Unleashed despite getting their name from the model introduced in Dark Forces. Granted both are considered part of the Dark Trooper Project from Legends.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Justified. One of them almost kills Din, highlighting the threat Dark Troopers pose to non-Force wielders. But Luke Skywalker is a seasoned Jedi Master and One-Man Army who easily cuts through their ranks with his lightsaber, the one weapon that can effortlessly cleave through their armor.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: It's heavily implied they would have inflicted this on Din and company, but they end up on the receiving end of one from none other than Luke Skywalker himself.
• Doom Troops: Everything about their design, from their red eyes, to their imposing frames and black armor, secretes intimidation.
• The Dreaded: They're widely feared among both the Empire and their enemies alike. When Din goes to rescue Grogu, he has to take the Dark Troopers out of commission first.
• Dumb Muscle: Phase III Dark Troopers are terrifyingly strong and resilient, but seemingly not that intelligent - the one that fights Din doesn't even attempt to open the door to free the other Dark Troopers, despite that being an Instant-Win Condition for it. The same one doesn't even think of trying to remove Din's helmet when the first few punches don't turn his head to mush.
• Elite Mooks: Moff Gideon's most advanced and deadly troops. When they finally see action in "The Rescue", they more than live up to that reputation as just one demonstrates how dangerous they are to the average person and it's only through the timely intervention of Luke Skywalker that Din and company survive.
• Expy: Deadly, persistent killer robots with red eyes that are incredibly hard to kill with conventional weapons? Sounds like the closest Star Wars ever got to Terminators (without the flesh cover).
• Faceless Goons: Phase II Dark Troopers have their faces concealed by intimidating black helmets with red headlights.
• Flight: They have built-in thrusters that allow them to fly around in atmosphere or space.
• Heavily Armored Mook: Phase II Dark Troopers are equipped with heavy armor and assault cannons that enable them to storm enemy defenses.
• Immune to Bullets: They're incredibly resistant to blaster rifle, taking multiple shots with hardly a scratch ( Luke is skilled enough to take out at least a couple of them by deflecting their blaster shots into their weak points). They're also unphased by Din's flamethrower, and his beskar whistling birds just stagger them slightly.
• Implacable Man: Just one of them was enough to give Din a hard time, tanking through his arsenal with no visible damage. It takes Din plunging his Beskar spear into its vulnerable joints to finally put it down.
• Leitmotif: They're accompanied by a dubstep track.
• Mecha-Mooks: Unlike the previous of phases of Dark Trooper, Moff Gideon's Phase III Troopers are droids instead of armored humans.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The one Dark Trooper Din scuffles with spends much of the fight pummeling him with its bare fists.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: The Dark Troopers are certainly a major threat to non-Force sensitives like Din, but they're little more than a nuisance to a seasoned Jedi Master like Luke Skywalker, whose lightsaber cleaves through them with no trouble.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their defining feature, through all phases, is jet-black armor with red highlights.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: They sport crimson optics to highlight their malevolent appearance.
• Shoulder Cannon: The Phase II Dark Trooper armor is equipped with an assault cannon on the shoulder.
• Stompy Mooks: The Phase III Dark Trooper battle droids walk in a synchronized laden-footed march.
• Super Strength: The Phase III Dark Troopers are strong enough to stop blast doors from closing, and bash them down if they do close all the way.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: Mando tries to get rid of them by blowing them into space, but because they're droids and don't need to breathe and also have jet thrusters in their legs, they quickly reboard the cruiser and resume their attack.
• The Worf Effect: Just one was dangerous enough to almost kill Din, so things look bad when the platoon makes their way to the bridge... until Luke Skywalker turns up and effortlessly shreds through their ranks, reaffirming no matter how advanced they may be, the Dark Troopers are no match for a Jedi Master.

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