Laddinare Torbin

Laddinare Torbin first gained recognition as a member of the Galactic Republic's Judicial Department. Despite being Force-sensitive, Torbin chose not to join the Jedi Order, instead serving as the Department's Director of Information under the Jedi. He frequently spoke for both the Order and the Judicial Department, providing information to HoloNet News during interviews. Around the start of the Clone Wars, he addressed the public regarding a dispute between the Order and Coruscant's People's Inquest, an anti-Jedi group. The People's Inquest demanded the release of the Order's financial records for public scrutiny, arguing that the Order was funded by Coruscant's taxpayers. Torbin and the Jedi recognized the potential danger of releasing such information, fearing it could be used against them by enemies of the Republic. He informed the public that, due to security concerns, the Jedi's budgetary figures would remain confidential. The People's Inquest refused to yield, establishing a protest camp outside the Jedi Temple.

As the Clone Wars concluded and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire, Torbin became one of the Galactic Emperor's Inquisitors. Their mission was to cleanse the galaxy of any remaining artifacts and memories of the Old Republic, as well as to hunt down the surviving Jedi of Order 66 during the Great Jedi Purge, individuals Torbin had once served alongside. After years of service to Palpatine's Empire, Torbin became one of the most influential Inquisitors.

Following the deaths of Grand Inquisitors Malorum and Hydra around 18 BBY, Torbin assumed leadership of the Inquisitorius, adopting the title "Lord." As Grand Inquisitor, he reported only to the Emperor, Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, and the highest-ranking members of the Empire. He also commanded all the lesser Inquisitors, numbering at least several dozen. His role included interrogating and torturing those suspected of being enemies of the Empire. He frequently used IT-O Interrogator droids; their mere presence was often enough to frighten suspects into confessing. Torbin greatly admired this and documented his observations in his book, Stratagems of the Inquisitorius.

During a mission in 4 BBY, Grand Inquisitor Torbin, along with fellow Inquisitors Antinnis Tremayne and Ameesa Darys, traveled to a remote planet in search of fugitive Jedi. Instead, they encountered Arden Lyn, a Human female who had been in stasis since the First Great Schism in 24,500 BBY, where she fought as a member of the Legions of Lettow, a group devoted to the dark side of the Force. The Inquisitors inadvertently awakened Lyn and attacked her. Underestimating her abilities, they suffered as she killed Darys and severely injured Tremayne. However, Torbin managed to subdue the dangerous Dark Jedi and severed her arm with his lightsaber. While Tremayne wanted to kill her immediately, Torbin recognized her potential value to Emperor Palpatine. They took her to Coruscant—renamed Imperial Center—where Palpatine made her an Emperor's Hand and provided her with a cybernetic arm to replace the one Torbin had cut off. In another mission, Torbin single-handedly drove the Church of the First Frequency cult from the planet Otranto.

Unbeknownst to Torbin and his subordinates, the Inquisitorius was deeply unpopular within the Empire. Within a year or two of their formation, they had largely fulfilled their purpose and were nearly obsolete, yet they were not disbanded. Torbin, in particular, was one of the most disliked Inquisitors, with many seeking his blood.

Several years after joining the Inquisitorius, Torbin traveled to the Corporate Sector on what appeared to be a routine inspection tour—though many suspected he had ulterior motives. The Corporate Sector Authority prioritized Torbin's safety, as he had been the target of numerous attacks and they did not want to be responsible for the death of someone so highly regarded by Palpatine. Surviving members of the Church of the First Frequency, seeking revenge for Torbin's actions on Otranto, planned to strike during a cotillion he was attending with Corporate Sector officials. While speaking with several officials, Torbin was lured to a variable-gravity pool by an attractive woman—actually a member of the Church. The pool area was nearly deserted, providing the cultists with an opportunity to eliminate Grand Inquisitor Torbin. The woman pushed him and several other guests into the pool, while others altered the force field holding the pool aloft, sealing it airtight. Simultaneously, other cultists staged a false radiation leak drill to cover their escape, hoping Torbin's absence would go unnoticed during the panic. Torbin and the others began to drown.

However, one of those trapped with Torbin, a Tynnan tourist named Odumin, was a CSA agent. He managed to manually adjust the pool's breathing tubes so that Torbin could breathe, though the limited air was barely enough to keep him alive. Odumin, an excellent swimmer, escaped and called for help. Meanwhile, Torbin grabbed the air tubes from several others, including his own bodyguard, in an effort to save himself. Eventually, CSA engineers disabled the pool and freed Torbin and the few whose air-tubes he had not yet taken. The Empire and the Corporate Sector Authority collaborated to conceal the incident. Torbin was extremely grateful to Odumin for his heroism, offering him various rewards and promotions. Odumin, content to remain in the background, declined most offers, eventually accepting a staff position in the CSA.

While Torbin narrowly escaped the cultists' assassination attempt, he was not so fortunate one month later. Torbin was staying at an Imperial palace on the Core World of Weerden when an assassin droid hijacked the shuttle Sark-I, killing the crew and crashing it into the palace. Torbin died in the resulting explosion. Although Torbin was unpopular, his death prompted the Empire to ban assassin droids, while concealing the true cause of his death from the public. Years later, after the Alliance to Restore the Republic killed Palpatine and overthrew the Empire, New Republic officials believed Torbin had died in an accident and were unaware of the assassin droid. The New Republic also believed Torbin to be the last Grand Inquisitor—even though the Inquisitorius was never officially disbanded—though the Emperor did appoint a new Grand Inquisitor, the Zabrak Ja'ce Yiaso.

Laddinare Torbin possessed minimal loyalty, prioritizing only his own well-being. Despite once serving the Jedi, he played a significant role in their destruction just years later. While capable in combat, Torbin was not as inherently violent as some of his colleagues. When he saw value in keeping someone alive, he suppressed any thoughts of revenge and acted in his best interest. After discovering Arden Lyn, Torbin chose to spare the Dark Jedi, unlike Tremayne, who wanted to kill her.

Torbin was widely disliked by both Imperials and non-Imperials, though he remained oblivious to his unpopularity. He disregarded others and prioritized his own survival, even at the expense of those loyal to him. During the Church of the First Frequency's failed assassination attempt, Torbin seized the air-tubes of those trapped with him, condemning them to death to increase his own chances of survival, including his own bodyguard. However, despite his unpleasant nature, he was genuinely grateful to Odumin for saving his life and did not seek to take credit for it, offering the Tynnan numerous rewards. Odumin modestly declined the offer, partly due to foresight into the potential troubles it could cause him later on.

Like most Inquisitors, Torbin was Force-sensitive and wielded a lightsaber. His Force abilities were sufficient to be chosen as Hydra's replacement as Grand Inquisitor and to defeat Arden Lyn when others, such as Tremayne and Ameesa Darys, failed. He was also skilled at interrogation, torturing many suspected of crimes against the Empire during his tenure as Grand Inquisitor.

Torbin was first mentioned by Bill Slavicsek and Curtis Smith in the first edition of The Star Wars Sourcebook in 1987. He and his death were only briefly mentioned as "Torbin, the Grand Inquisitor," without any explanation of what a Grand Inquisitor was. He remained unmentioned for several years until Michael Allen Horne's Dark Empire Sourcebook in 1993, which provided a brief overview of the Inquisitorius and stated that there were no Grand Inquisitors after Torbin's death. This fact was later contradicted by Star Wars Galaxies, which featured a Grand Inquisitor more than a decade after Torbin's death. Since the Dark Empire Sourcebook is an in-universe document written by the New Republic, it can be assumed that they were simply unaware of Ja'ce Yiaso's existence. Torbin also appeared in Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook, also written by Michael Allen Horn and published the same month as the Dark Empire Sourcebook, which provided more detail on the character. Abel G. Peña's The Emperor's Pawns also featured him, as did Paul Ens and Pablo Hidalgo in HoloNet News Vol. 531 48, which provided his first name. Since then, he has only been mentioned briefly in The New Essential Guide to Droids, The New Essential Chronology, and Book Of Sith, all by Daniel Wallace.

Odumin's entry in the Databank mistakenly refers to Torbin as a High Inquisitor. Sources both prior and after this entry refer to Torbin as a Grand Inquisitor.