Kendal Ozzel was a male human officer who, one after the other, gave his service to both the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire. He was born on the planet Carida into a prosperous family. This occurred before the rise of the Empire. During the Clone Wars, a civil war that took place in the galaxy during the last years of the Republic, he was a commissioned officer in the Republic Navy. Following the war, his career in the military continued under the new regime that Emperor Sheev Palpatine had put in place. Ozzel sacrificed everything for the Empire, including the chance to live a simple life with his fiancée.
At the time of the Galactic Civil War, Ozzel held the rank of fleet admiral and was in command of the Executor, which was an Executor-class Star Dreadnought belonging to the Imperial Navy. It also served as the flagship for the Sith Lord Darth Vader. In 3 ABY, he oversaw the initial attack on Hoth after the Empire learned the location of the Rebel Alliance's secret base. However, due to Vader's extreme displeasure with the admiral's fundamentally inept strategies, he was summarily executed through the use of the Force. As he was being choked, Ozzel came to the realization that he had devoted his life to authoritarians, but it was too late for him to undo what he had done. After Ozzel's death, the Dark Lord gave his rank and command to his captain, Firmus Piett.
Kendal Ozzel was a male human who was born into a wealthy family on Carida. During his youth, he went to several institutions in the Core World. Eventually, he graduated and became a Captain of the Line. However, his superiors did not believe he was suitable to be an effective field commander, so he was assigned to teaching positions at the Academy of Carida for a period of time.
Ozzel had a military career that spanned decades. During the Clone Wars, he served in the Republic Navy for a time. When Ozzel was still young, he made the decision to serve in the Galactic Empire, which was the successor state to the Republic. He also became engaged to a woman. As a result, Ozzel had the option of living a simpler life and marrying on his homeworld of Carida, surrounded by his friends and family. However, one night, his fiancée gave him the opportunity to join the rebellion against the Empire. Ozzel, having already decided to be loyal to the Empire, spent the night crying and holding his would-be wife before they parted ways forever the next morning. Ozzel then served in the Imperial Navy. In 14 BBY, he held the rank of Rear Admiral and was a member of the Joint Chiefs.
After the First Death Star was destroyed, he was promoted to Admiral. He personally sent a message to the Imperial Starfleet, instructing them to prepare for battle. Following this, the Hijacking of the Executor took place, during which the Sith Lord Darth Vader sent the scientist Cylo, who had attempted to steal the Executor, which was an Executor-class Star Dreadnought. The SSD was originally intended for Grand General Cassio Tagge, but Emperor Sheev Palpatine demoted him to General and gave the Executor to Vader because Tagge trusted Cylo. On his new command ship's bridge, Vader used the Force to choke Tagge in front of Ozzel. Ozzel felt a secret thrill as he watched the incident. Vader inquired as to when the Executor would be ready, giving him two weeks, after Ozzel said he needed a month. After Captain Magna Tolvan failed to capture Chelli Lona Aphra, who was investigating the Great Temple, Ozzel contacted the captain and warned her that Vader would be less forgiving of failure than Cassio Tagge, her former commanding officer.
Some time later, Ozzel and General Veers met with Vader at his castle on Mustafar. As the Sith Lord gazed out over the world's landscape, the admiral informed him that the destruction of the Death Star had energized the rebellion. Resources for the Empire's construction projects were being delayed, and the Rebel forces were too scattered and well-hidden to be effectively countered. Ozzel suggested that a fleet carrying out a world-by-world bombardment would serve as a suitable deterrent, and he told Vader that the Death Squadron should be the force applying the bombardment. Just as he was saying it was absurd not to use the fleet, Vader stopped him and questioned his use of the word "ludicrous."
After apologizing, Ozzel went on to ask how they could eliminate the Rebels, comparing them to vermin. Veers then spoke up and contradicted the Admiral, comparing them to weeds instead. Angered, Ozzel kept his gaze on Veers as the general explained how weeds survive storms and how the Rebellion would continue to survive Imperial attacks because they were flexible and not as sturdy as a tree. Turning his attention back to Vader, Ozzel spoke to the Sith Lord after he showed interest in what Veers had said.
Ozzel eventually rose to the rank of Fleet Admiral and became the commanding officer of the Death Squadron, an armada of Imperial vessels tasked with finding the Alliance's hidden main base after the Battle of Yavin, although the fleet was under Vader's de facto control. As admiral of the fleet, Ozzel led Death Squadron from Vader's flagship, the Executor. Because he had been chosen to oversee the Empire's search for the Rebel headquarters, Ozzel believed he was the ideal person to command the massive warship during the hunt. During his time as the senior officer aboard the Executor, Ozzel made time to personally congratulate Lieutenant Commander Ciena Ree, a young officer who had performed exceptionally well over the previous two years. After praising Ree for her dedication, the admiral hinted that she might soon be promoted to the rank of Commander.
The Empire sent out thousands of probe droids throughout the galaxy to help find the Rebel base. One of these droids discovered signs of an occupied settlement on the ice planet Hoth. Before Rebel Captain Han Solo destroyed it, the droid sent its data to the Executor in the Juris sector, where Admiral Ozzel, his subordinate Captain Firmus Piett, and General Veers of the Imperial Army reviewed it. Piett said the data was their best lead in the search, but Ozzel dismissed it, saying it lacked definitive proof of any Rebel presence. Nevertheless, Vader overruled him and ordered the fleet to quickly go to the Hoth system to deal with the Rebels stationed there.
As Vader went to his private quarters, Ozzel took command of the fleet's maneuvering and pre-battle strategy. Believing he could surprise and overwhelm the Rebels, Ozzel decided to have the Star Destroyers of Death Squadron emerge from hyperspace directly above Hoth. The Alliance detected their arrival immediately, but the tactic did not shock them as Ozzel had planned, because the presence of the probe droid had made them suspect that the Empire had discovered their base. Before Death Squadron could begin an orbital bombardment, the Rebels activated the base's shield, which was strong enough to deflect any laser barrage from the Imperial warships; even the Executor's full firepower would not be able to breach it.
General Veers informed Vader of this development, and Vader expressed his disapproval of the admiral's tactical error, as they would now be forced to deploy troops and equipment into a costly ground battle instead of simply destroying the Rebels with an orbital bombardment from the fleet. The Sith Lord opened a channel to Ozzel on the Executor's bridge and, before Ozzel could report on the situation, began telekinetically strangling the admiral in front of Captain Piett and others. While Ozzel initially believed that Vader was teaching him a well-deserved lesson, Vader cited the tactical decision as Ozzel's final failure and executed the officer. At the same time, he ordered a blockade around Hoth and promoted Piett to take his place as admiral, bestowing the title at the precise moment Ozzel's still-twitching corpse hit the floor.
As he was dying, Ozzel reflected on his life and realized that he had willingly given his entire life to authoritarians. He regretted his choices and wished he had been a rebel spy and shared a life with his fiancée. His last thoughts were of a childhood memory of running up a mountain to come home for dinner.
Despite Ozzel's actions, the Empire went on to win the Battle of Hoth. While the battle was considered the Alliance's worst defeat, it was not a crushing one. Ozzel had inadvertently given the rebels time to evacuate when he brought the fleet out of hyperspace too close to Hoth. Historians of the Galactic Civil War concluded that if it hadn't been for their defeat on Hoth, the Rebel Alliance might not have risked everything the following year in the decisive Battle of Endor.
Admiral Kendal Ozzel, who stood 1.75 meters tall, was a smug and arrogant man who thought he was the obvious choice to command the Executor. As the ranking officer of Darth Vader's Death Squadron, he frequently tested the Sith Lord's patience by questioning his orders and making foolish tactical decisions, as his personal opinions always differed from those of Vader. Ozzel's subordinate, the ambitious Captain Piett, had nothing but contempt for the admiral, whom he considered incompetent. In the end, Ozzel's personality, combined with his mistake in the opening stages of the Battle of Hoth, convinced Vader to immediately and permanently remove him from command and replace him with Piett.
Ozzel, a man of science and warfare, did not think much of Darth Vader's use of the Force, which he considered vulgar hocus-pocus. Despite this, Ozzel was still terrified of Vader, as were most other officers. Even so, he respected Vader, viewing the Force chokes the Sith Lord used as a way to teach him and other subordinates lessons. He was annoyed by ambitious young captains like Firmus Piett; in particular, Ozzel thought Piett was far too enthusiastic, as if everything he said might have been enough to get him promoted. In his final moments, Ozzel regretted his life and wished he had joined the rebellion with his fiancée.
Admiral Ozzel appeared in the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, the second film in the Star Wars original trilogy. He was played by Scottish actor Michael Sheard.
Sheard had seen the original 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope with his eldest son at its premiere and enjoyed it, so he did not audition for the role of Ozzel. Instead, the casting director sent him the Empire script. By the time he finished working on the 1979 film Escape to Athena, his name was on the casting board for the role of Ozzel. Irvin Kershner directed all of Ozzel's scenes, assuring Sheard that his death scene was perfect in just one take.
In 2004, a Lucasfilm producer erroneously reported that a young Ozzel would appear in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, the final film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, when asked on television. However, the executive actually refused to confirm or deny Ozzel's potential appearance. Sheard, who was already not a fan of the prequels, debunked the report in an interview, saying that he was old enough to play Ozzel's father instead. The finished film did not include Ozzel in any way.
In the reference book Ultimate Star Wars, Ozzel's first name was mistakenly spelled "Kendel" instead of "Kendal."