A Human male with pale skin served the Galactic Empire as an Imperial Advisor during the Galactic Civil War. He was one of a small group of Imperial dignitaries who had the privilege of conferring privately with Galactic Emperor Palpatine.
He was also one of a mere few hundred, out of several thousand advisors who ran the Emperor's bureaucracy, who demonstrated genuine loyalty to the Emperor and his New Order. Those individuals were appointed to the Imperial Ruling Council, also known as the Emperor's Inner Circle, which operated on the galactic capital world of Coruscant. They managed the Empire and carried out the Emperor's will. Palpatine encouraged competition between his Advisors by tasking them with overseeing both their home star systems and the systems of rival Advisors as well. By doing so, Palpatine kept them loyal to him while discouraging internal cooperation and alliances between them. To promote further suspicion, he doted on only a select few at any given time.
High-ranking advisors often wore lavish robes indicative of their status, and the Human male wore a headdress and a purple robe. In 4 ABY, the purple-robed Advisor was one of six Inner Circle members who accompanied Palpatine to the second Death Star battlestation in the Endor system. After arriving aboard the station in the Emperor's private shuttle, the group, flanked by Palpatine's Royal Guard, emerged into a hangar and were greeted by a welcoming assembly of Imperial officers and stormtroopers. The Emperor's Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, personally greeted Palpatine, and as the two walked from the shuttle, the six advisors silently followed in their wake. A short time later, the station was destroyed during an attack by the Rebel Alliance's starfleet, and all six Advisors were killed, alongside both Vader and the Emperor.
A continuity polaroid of the sixth advisor
In 2013, the 2013 Topps Star Wars Galactic Files Series 2 trading card set confirmed a longstanding fan suspicion that there were six, and not five, Imperial Advisors who followed Emperor Palpatine onto the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi. A promotional photo of the other five advisors had been used in several official Star Wars sources, but despite his omission from it, the sixth advisor and the unique black shawl worn over his shoulders is in fact clearly visible on the far left of another common image, this one a shot of the group departing the Emperor's shuttle. A continuity polaroid from the film of the sixth advisor, as well as polaroids of fellow advisors Sim Aloo, a tall-hatted fellow, and a black-robed one, can be found at the website starwarsarchives.com.
All of the advisors' outfits were inspired by Catholic bishops, whom the film's assistant art director, Nilo Rodis-Jamero, looked to when designing the robes and elaborate headgear of all of the Advisors. Several advisors appear in concept art of the arrival scene by artist Ralph McQuarrie.
The arrival scene was also described in James Kahn's novelization of Return of the Jedi, in which the group is called "the Emperor's courtiers." The sixth advisor has never been individually mentioned in a source, but information about his role on the Ruling Council and the Inner Circle has been revealed by sources that give blanket information for all six of the movie's advisors.
- Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays
- Star Wars Customizable Card Game — Death Star II Limited
- "Star Wars Q&A" — Star Wars Insider 96
- Star Wars: The Official Starships & Vehicles Collection 22
- Star Wars Character Encyclopedia