Gorin was a human who served as an admiral in the naval forces of the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War against the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He commanded the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Intimidator and served as Orbital Command for the Imperial forces stationed above the planet Scarif, including the Shield Gate that allowed access to the world.
In 1 BBY, the Alliance Fleet attacked Gorin's forces in order to aid rebel forces that had already infiltrated the surface of Scarif. In the ensuing battle, the Star Destroyer Persecutor was disabled by rebel ion charges and then rammed toward the Intimidator by the Alliance Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette Lightmaker. Although Gorin ordered his Star Destroyer to evade the Persecutor, the two ships collided, and the Intimidator was sheared in two. Gorin later ceded control of his forces to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin when the latter arrived on the scene aboard the Death Star battle station.
Following the Imperial failure at Scarif, there was contentious debate within the Imperial Military as to whether Gorin's leadership and lack of aggression or faults with the resources that he had available to him were to blame. The historian Beaumont Kin discussed these arguments and gave his own opinions on Gorin in his book, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire in 35 ABY.
Gorin's forces protected the Shield Gate above Scarif.
Gorin was a human admiral in the officer corps of the Galactic Empire's Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War. From aboard the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Intimidator, he served as commander of the space above the planet Scarif in the Scarif system. Gorin acted as Orbital Command of the Scarif fleet while General Sotorus Ramda was Surface Command, controlling the Imperial Army's Scarif Deployment at the Citadel Tower on the planet below.
An Imperial transmission concerning the Empire's Shield Gate above Scarif and mentioning Gorin was intercepted by the Alliance to Restore the Republic and included in the collection of documents known as The Rebel Files. The Shield Gate was the sole point of access through a planetary shield to the planet's surface and was defended by the Intimidator and the Persecutor, the second Imperial-class Star Destroyer under Gorin's command. In 1 BBY, a rebel squad slipped past Gorin's forces above Scarif using a stolen Imperial cargo shuttle, passing through the Shield Gate and reaching the planet's surface.
The arrival of the rebel fleet at Scarif caught Gorin by surprise.
Aiming to steal the plans to the Imperial Death Star superweapon from the Citadel Tower, the rebel team engaged Ramda's garrison while some of its members infiltrated the tower. After Imperial transmissions concerning the conflict on the surface began to be sent, part of the Alliance Fleet under the command of Admiral Raddus on board the flagship Profundity arrived above Scarif to support its ground forces. Upon the arrival of the enemy fleet, Lieutenant Casido ordered from the bridge of the Intimidator for someone to inform Gorin.
With the shield gate closed, Gold Squadron targeted the Persecutor.
As the battle above Scarif began, Gorin positioned his ships over the Shield Gate to prevent the unlikely possibility of the rebels blasting their way through the weak point it presented in the shield. He then contacted Ramda and alerted him and Director Orson Krennic to the arrival of the rebel fleet but claimed that it should not pose a threat to the ground forces. On Krennic's orders, the Shield Gate above Scarif was closed, separating the rebel and Imperial fleets from their respective ground forces.
Gorin's forces, including TIE/ln space superiority starfighters deployed on his orders, then battled those of Raddus above the planet until the rebel admiral ordered the Y-wings of Gold Squadron to launch ion charges at the Persecutor, disabling the vessel. Needing to take the down the Shield Gate, Raddus ordered the rebel Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette Lightmaker to ram into the side of the Persecutor and push the powerless vessel off course toward the Intimidator. Attempting to maneuver his ship to avoid the collision, Gorin ordered the Intimidator to reverse at full power but failed to evade the incoming Star Destroyer. Gorin watched helplessly as the Persecutor smashed into the Intimidator, shearing the admiral's Star Destroyer in two and destroying the bridge. The Persecutor then continued on into the Shield Gate, destroying it and allowing the rebels on the planet's surface to transmit the Death Star plans to the fleet.
Gorin's Star Destroyer was sheared in two during the Battle of Scarif.
After the rebel fleet received the transmission, the Death Star arrived above Scarif, and Gorin ceded his authority over the engagement to the battle station's commander, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. Ultimately, a portion of the rebels escaped with the plans after their forces sustained heavy losses, including the Profundity once the Sith Lord Darth Vader and Captain Shaef Corssin arrived on the Star Destroyer Devastator.
Some argued that Gorin's leadership was at fault for the loss at Scarif, while others blamed the weaponary at his disposal, including the Intimidator (pictured).
In the days and weeks following Gorin's defeat at Scarif, the subject of what had caused the Imperial failure became a highly contentious topic of debate within the Imperial Military. Some argued that command ineptitude had been the cause, and that Gorin had failed to use his forces in an effective manner. Others instead argued that Gorin had lacked the necessary resources to deal with the rebels, despite the Imperial forces heavily outgunning their foes.
Those blaming Gorin pointed to the fact that the Devastator was able to disable the Profundity where Gorin had failed to and suggested Imperials utilize heavier and more concentrated fire power in future. Those who disagreed believed that increased aggression was not a real strategy and that although the Intimidator should have been able to breach the shields of the Profundity, its weapons were not adequate for combating enemy starfighters, with those rebel fighters they did destroy being the result of luck more than technical skill.
Beaumont Kin believed Gorin was slow to deploy TIEs at Scarif.
In 35 ABY, the historian Beaumont Kin included analysis of Gorin's actions at Scarif in his book, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. Kin discussed both arguments concerning Gorin's culpability in the Imperial loss and made his own observations that the admiral had failed to ever concentrate his weaponry and so allowed his attacks to be spread across the rebel fleet, also calling Gorin's deployment of TIE fighters at the battle incredibly slow and reasoning that this was why rebel fighters had made it through the shield gate.
When the rebel fleet first attacked above Scarif, Gorin was caught completely by surprise and incorrectly believed that they posed no threat to the Imperial forces on the planet's surface. Other Imperials would later claim that the admiral had not been nearly aggressive enough in the utilizing his weaponry against the rebels. Gorin had light skin, gray hair, and blue eyes.
Beaumont Kin believed Gorin to have been a greatly inferior military commander compared to Raddus and others in the Imperial Military also believed Corssin to have possessed greater military skill then the admiral.
Gorin wore a standard gray Imperial officer's uniform with three code cylinders and a rank insignia plaque showing six blue squares during the Battle of Scarif.
Gorin was portrayed by Michael Gould in the 2016 Anthology film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Gould filmed additional scenes as Gorin for the film that did not make the final cut. They also involved Casido's actor Rufus Wright and included lines about the Intimidator being under repair and so unable to move. They were blocked out by director Gareth Edwards before being filmed on a gimble on a sound stage set by the film's second unit.
- Star Wars: On the Front Lines
- Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z
- Star Wars: The Rebel Files
- Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy
- Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire