Naturally, there are organizations and characters and plots in the Star Wars movies that don't get the development that we would always like to see. After all, each passing moment on the screen is very precious. On the other hand, a sense of mystery and uncertainty does add to the fun, as it did with Boba Fett in the Original Trilogy.

First time seeing Return of the Jedi, when the Imperial Guards in their bloodred robes and elegant visored helmets marched out of the shuttle that carried the Emperor aboard the second Death Star was a mesmerizing scene. Sure I was eagerly anticipating setting eyes on the evil Emperor (in person, not in holographic image) for the first time, but the sight of the Imperial Guard really added to the sense of authority and power.

However, unlike Boba Fett, the Imperial Guards would not be fleshed out in much detail thru the Prequel Trilogy, and in fact, the resources for studying the creation and story behind the Imperial Guard are very limited. Thus far, all I have available to me is the limited scenes in Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith, the databank entry here on Hyperspace, and what I like to call my "Big Book of Star Wars Knowledge" (or more technically, Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels by Steve Sansweet and Pablo Hidalgo). I also noticed that the Imperial Guards saw some sustained action in Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno.

First off, the movies really don't help me out much except for the visual appearance of the Imperial Guard. They carry Force Pikes and wear armor beneath their robed uniforms, so they are certainly ready for a fight, although the encounter with Yoda in Palpatine's office can hardly be called a fight. More like a Force Punt, and down for the count. Nice going fellas, really on our toes there weren't we. Man, I remember sitting in the theatre thinking alright, I'm going to get to see the Red Rober dudes mix it up a bit, and I wonder what a Force Pike actually can do, and Yoda enters, and hey, what?, aw, man. Yeah, fight's over before it even gets started. Dang.

Did you see the look on Mas Amedda's face after Yoda did that to the two Guards? Ha, that was the look of a guy that really wanted to be somewhere else at that particular moment.

Return of the Jedi was even less helpful really. I mean, okay the Imperial Guards look great, real menacing, cool helmets and all that, but standing around doing nothing for two maybe three scenes and then when things get good, you're told to leave the room? Huh? Give me a break, couldn't one of them at least toss a few insults at Luke? Maybe flip Luke the bird? Something. No, they just wander away into the darkness behind the elevator. Gone forever.

So, I'm left with the databank and my Big Book of Prequel Knowledge and Labyrinth of Evil. Okay, fine, let's see what I got there. Well, the Big Book does state that the creation of the Imperial Guard was controversial, and actually remained "classified". Hmm, mysterious seems to be the intent. The Guards operate outside any military command structure, presumably answering only to the Emperor himself. I like that. Red Cell, above the law, that's how I see them. It is also clarified in my Big Book that they are not the Senate Guard (the blue armor sissies with the peacock feathers on their helmet crests), the Imperial Guard is installed in place of the Senate Guard that had previously protected the Chancellor. Yes, yes, can't have blue Senate wusses mingling with a Sithlord, we must have some Red Robers. I still wish my Big Book explained a little more, like the capabilities of a Force Pike, but that's not a big deal.

Next up, the databank entry provides a little info on the guys inside the red uniforms, what makes them tick. They are from the ranks of Stormtroopers, but it is not clear if they are clones. My opinion (just a guess really) is that they aren't clones, but fiercely loyal Imperial Academy graduates, much like the officers of the Empire's military. They are elite. Selected to the Imperial Guard for their strength, skill, and ambition, they aren't just recruited to stand around and look tough. Finally, the Imperial Guard (in the Labyrinth of Evil novel) saw plenty of action during the Separatist attack on Coruscant led by General Grievous. The Guards fought skillfully at 500 Republica and then on the transit as well as they rushed to the safe bunker to hide Palpatine, but ultimately (as we know) they were destined to fail in that instance. By design by the very man they fought to protect.

Beyond that, once the Empire was established, I'm wondering if they had assignments to carry out when they weren't detailed to guarding the Emperor. Did they ever get assigned any covert little tasks that the Empire needed taken care of? Maybe make someone go away, real quiet like? No way to know, but still interesting to wonder about. As we know, Palpatine could be a secretive guy, and he knew how to play dirty.

Did Palpatine ever sleep? I am being serious here, was he an insomniac of some sort, or just constantly driven by his Sithly ambitions? Because it really seems, at least thru the prequels anyway, that the guy must have been up plotting and manipulating pretty much 'round the clock. Well, no rest for the dastardly wicked I guess, so many lives to ruin and so many worlds to conquer, and yet so little time to do it all.

I would tend to believe that Palpatine had some "classified" missions for his little elite red troublemakers, because clearly they were capable of bringing down some doom on you if they were required to. What those missions might have been, I don't know, and quite frankly I think if I started getting too involved in guessing about it here it might develop into a fanfiction story of some sort so I won't go down that road.

But it is fun to let my imagination wander to what might have been. Let my imagination connect the dots, so to speak, connecting what little bits of info I can find into my envisioned background for the Imperial Guards. So really I don't mind the gaps left in the Star Wars saga, like the Imperial Guard or Darth Plagueis or Sifo Dyas. We need to have some mysteries go unanswered.


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(c) 2006 Rive Caedo Divider Lines, Inc. (used by permission)


The real Red Cell in the U.S. military was a group within the Navy Seals that were assigned to portray the bad guys. Their mission was to test the vulnerabilities of base installations, command and control facilities, operations centers, and naval assets. Their purpose was to actually try and infiltrate and assault our own military in mock "strikes" in order to find weaknesses. Richard Marcinko (in his book called Rogue Warrior) talks about his time in command of Red Cell and his years as a Navy Seal. It's a very interesting book, great info and stories about the Navy Seals. Whew, Navy Seals are some tough hombres.