Operating under the alias Tiree, Tay Vanis served as an operative for Alliance Intelligence during the Galactic Civil War. Stationed on the refitted freighter Home under the command of General Lens Reekeene in the early years of the conflict, Vanis found himself in repeated confrontations with Imperial Security Bureau agent Mar Barezz, who relentlessly pursued the capture of the elusive "Tiree." Despite having surpassed the mission limit before mandatory retirement, Vanis continued his service to the Alliance in an unofficial capacity. He played a pivotal role in recruiting numerous future members of the Alliance around the time of the Battle of Yavin.
Notwithstanding his distinguished service, Vanis later deserted his post to address personal family matters, prompting the Alliance to initiate two separate search operations. Vanis was contacted by his sister, Tyerle, from Questal, whose husband had suffered greatly at the hands of Moff Bandor. While investigating this incident, Bandor captured Vanis and exposed him to the effects of the Hurlothrumbic Generator. A team of Rebels later rescued him, but he disappeared again in 3 ABY. In his home Iskalon system, the Empire was developing a mysterious superweapon, and Vanis sought to uncover its purpose. By inciting rebellion on Gamandar, Iskalon, and his native [Telfrey](/article/telfrey], Vanis' actions quickly led to severe reprisals from Darth Vader against the Iskalonian system.
The Telfrey Holocaust claimed the lives of his family, but Vanis had little time to grieve, as Bothan spies soon provided him with data tapes containing crucial information about the superweapon. He dispatched his ally Yom Argo to request assistance from the Alliance, but possessing the tapes made Vanis a prime target for Lord Vader, who captured and subjected him to brutal torture. Before his capture, however, he entrusted the tapes to his droid, LE-914, hoping that Alliance members would retrieve them. Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa did indeed come to his aid, but it was too late. Vader had deliberately kept Vanis alive as a vegetable as a form of punishment, and LE-914, understanding her master's condition, initiated her self-destruct sequence, killing Vanis in the process.
During the Imperial Period, Vanis, with his loyal droid, R2-D0, served the Alliance to Restore the Republic under the code name "Tiree." He was stationed aboard the modified freighter Home, commanded by General Lens Reekeene, and functioned as an operative for Alliance Intelligence. His successful espionage missions against the Galactic Empire were so damaging that the Imperial Security Bureau deployed Mar Barezz to neutralize him. The relentless pursuit of "Tiree" by Barezz became a renowned cat-and-mouse game within the intelligence community. On his twentieth mission, Vanis was nearly outmaneuvered by Barezz. While en route to meet a group seeking to join the Alliance, Vanis' T-65 X-wing starfighter was ambushed by the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Aggressor.
The Aggressor destroyed the shuttle carrying the six prospective Rebels, leaving Vanis with no option but to escape. He narrowly avoided being shot down by the Aggressor, managing to jump to hyperspace and reach Home in time. Upon arrival, Vanis reported to General Lens Reekeene and her advisors, Mikka Reekeene, Lieutenant Am Serro, and Santhou Lazith'chika. During the debriefing, General Reekeene suspected that an Imperial agent had infiltrated the recruits, potentially compromising the operation. However, Serro argued that the Imperials likely had more valuable information than the location of a recruitment rendezvous. Seeking to compensate for the loss, Vanis proposed four candidates for recruitment: Raleigh Dawn, Raal Yorta, bounty hunter Sammie Staable, and Smileredon-Verdont.
Reekeene approved the candidates but noted that Vanis had reached his mission limit before mandatory retirement. To Vanis's relief, she decided to keep his new mission "off the record." Since all candidates were on Ord Mantell, arranging a meeting was easier. He directly contacted Staable, who represented Yorta and Smileredon-Verdont. For Dawn, he contacted Skivvers, a Ho'Din slicer known for being discreet, and arranged a meeting. Dawn met with Vanis, who provided instructions to acquire a ship and a datapad with coordinates for the rendezvous.
The coordinates led to an abandoned Clan Alya Bothan relay station above Bothawui, which would receive transmissions from R2-D0 guiding the recruits to Mesa 291 on the planet's surface. However, upon arrival, they were followed by a small Imperial force led by Barezz. Vanis attempted to draw the Imperials away from his recruits in his X-wing, leading several agents away from Mesa 291. Upon returning to the hangar, an AT-AT shot him down, and without R2-D0's assistance, he was forced to crash land into the shuttle intended to transport his recruits back to the Home. Gravely wounded, he had to wait for the recruits to reach him. The group escaped Mesa 291 in a pair of spare BTL Y-wing starfighters, and Yorta eliminated the Imperials with a thermal detonator, ensuring a relatively smooth escape.
During the successful attack run on the Death Star, Vanis was present on Yavin 4. There, he encountered the Heroes of Yavin, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo, whom he would later speak highly of.
Following the Battle of Yavin, Vanis traveled to the Imperial world of Questal without Alliance High Command authorization. He had received a message from his sister, Tyerle, whose husband, Rogan, had tried to establish a Rebel cell on Questal. Rogan was captured and brought before Moff Bandor, who forced him into the Game Chambers, an intricate labyrinth where victims were hunted by other captives and Bandor himself. After Bandor tortured him into insanity, Rogan was released onto the streets of Questal's capital, Gralleenya, where Tyerle found him.
After consulting with his sister, Vanis concluded that something in Bandor's palace could drive sane men mad. He decided to investigate Bandor's activities, contacting Questal's Rebel cell and inquiring about Bandor's palace in Gralleenya. After questioning Tan Shilley at the cantina Shilley's, Vanis proceeded to the mansion of Turf Boss Mosh Pelkan. However, Ref Mawber, a spy for Bandor and an acquaintance of Mar Barezz, discovered his presence. Mawber alerted the Imperial palace, and when Vanis attempted to break in, he was captured by troopers and imprisoned.
Vanis was then thrown into Bandor's Game Chambers and relentlessly hunted by the Moff. During the hunt, he discovered the Hurlothrumbic Generator, which induced fear in its victims. The device had driven Rogan insane, and despite his efforts to stop it, Vanis also succumbed to its power. Left unconscious and starving in the generator chamber, a group of Rebels eventually rescued him, deactivating the generator and defeating Bandor. With the sadistic Moff gone and the planet's resources depleted, the Empire abandoned Questal. Vanis, freed from the generator's influence, made a full recovery. Following the Questal incident, Vanis operated in the Arkanis and Tharin sectors, gathering extensive intelligence on the Empire.
Vanis nearly encountered Imperial authorities again in the Lorn system, where Moff Murquan relentlessly pursued him. Thanks to Intel's Sandwind Team on Tatooine, Vanis was quickly directed to a safe house on Vuzsa, allowing him to evade capture. Vanis later sent a report commending the Sandwind Team, who were now in danger due to the "Jundland Banshee," a Tusken Raider with a deep hatred of Humans. Vanis recommended sending aid to protect a vital Alliance facility.
After the Empire's subjugation of Firro, Vanis traveled there disguised as an aide to the new Imperial governor, Cuvir. From Firro, he reported on the Imperial Navy's movements in the Tandell system. One night, Cuvir discovered his investigations and attempted to arrest him. With no other choice, Vanis shot Cuvir, but 2-1B, Cuvir's personal physician droid, caught him in the act. As 2-1B tried to revive Cuvir, Vanis asked if he could trust the droid to keep the murder a secret. 2-1B believed Vanis had not intended to harm Cuvir and decided to join the Alliance, serving alongside him on several missions. 2-1B later became the chief of surgery at the Alliance's Hoth facility, Echo Base.
In 3 ABY, following the Battle of Hoth, Vanis acquired LE-914, who became his closest companion. LE-914 accompanied Vanis on numerous missions against the Empire, during which the agent constantly modified the droid, installing blaster-resistant armor, large hidden compartments, and a self-destruct mechanism using a proton bomb.
Later that year, Vanis traveled to the Imperial-held Iskalon system with Yom Argo. Both natives of the system, they had heard reports of increased Imperial presence and rumors of a superweapon being constructed. They began inciting rebellion, hoping the inhabitants would join the Alliance. When Lord Darth Vader, in charge of the Imperial presence, discovered this, he reacted by subjugating Gamandar, imprisoning its inhabitants, destroying the native foliage, and building the Gamandar Citadel as an Imperial center of operations. The natives of Telfrey rebelled outright, resulting in a far worse punishment from Vader: the Empire burned the planet's surface, killing everyone on it.
Vanis's family was among those lost in the Telfrey Holocaust. Distraught, he was comforted by Mone and his wife Kendle from Iskalon. He spent time on the water world Iskalon, exploring the grottoes and ocean while residing in Pavillion. He recorded all intelligence on Imperial activities into LE-914, and then Vanis and Argo set off for the new Imperial fortress on Gamandar.
Soon after, Bothan spies smuggled tapes to Vanis and Argo concerning a new Imperial superweapon. After retrieving the tapes in the Bothawui system, Vanis, realizing their importance, decided to flee from the inevitable Imperial pursuit, while Argo returned to the Rebel fleet for aid. With Vader in pursuit, Vanis left a lead in a suite on Kabray Station, hoping Rebel agents would find it. Admiral Griggor Tower, commander of the Gamandar garrison, attempted a search, but Vanis had already left the Iskalonian system.
Vanis, more concerned about Vader, headed for Dennaskar posing as a trader. After crashing in the planet's forest, he left another message for Rebel eyes and fled into the woods, awaiting rescue. He entrusted the data tapes to LE-914, with orders to destroy them within two days if he was not heard from. Vader soon tracked and captured Vanis, holding him in a nearby castle used as the Imperial command center.
The Dark Lord of the Sith brutally tortured Vanis, effectively reducing him to a vegetable. Vader considered leaving him alive a more effective punishment than death. Eventually, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and C-3PO, who had been tracking Vanis for weeks, found him a shell of a man in his cell. Before they could rescue him, LE-914 entered, handing over the data tapes.
Although ordered to destroy them, LE-914 overrode the command, believing someone would retrieve them. She explained that Vanis could not live in his current state and that death was his only option. She cradled her master briefly before self-destructing, killing Vanis. Before leaving, the Rebels destroyed the castle as a monument to LE-914 and "The Great Tay Vanis," as Vader had called him.
The data tapes contained vital information about the Empire's new Death Star II superweapon. Although Luke Skywalker and Koth Melan had already retrieved plans from the Suprosa, the Alliance sought confirmation, which they received in the tapes that cost Vanis his life. This data allowed the Alliance to destroy the battle station at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY.
Vanis joined the Alliance on principle, earning his sister's disapproval for abandoning his family for the Rebel cause. His elusiveness made him infamous within Imperial Intelligence and the Imperial Security Bureau, earning him the enmity of influential figures. By the end of his career, he had earned both the animosity and respect of Darth Vader. Despite being captured several times, Vanis cost the Empire significant time and resources.
Despite initially turning his back on his family, Vanis aided them on several occasions, inadvertently costing them their lives. His attempts to incite rebellion in the Iskalonian system led to Imperial acts of genocide, causing Iskalon to sever diplomatic ties with other worlds.
Vanis also formed attachments to droids, particularly R2-D0 and LE-914. Both droids understood his methods, and LE-914 fully respected him. Vanis also freed 2-1B from Imperial servitude because the droid trusted him.
Mary Jo Duffy created Tay Vanis as the central character in an arc of Marvel Comics' Star Wars series. First mentioned in Star Wars (1977) 74, the series' protagonists gradually learned more about Vanis until Star Wars 80, where he was revealed to be alive but mentally destroyed. The arc concluded with Vanis being killed by his droid.
In 1987, West End Games published the first edition of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, introducing a character with the codename "Tiree." This character was alluded to in several sourcebooks and featured as a target for the protagonists in The Game Chambers of Questal. While both were Alliance agents with a sense of duty to their families, there was no connection between them, although some, such as Pablo Hidalgo, speculated about a retroactive consolidation.
In 2000, Rich Handley and Joseph Bongiorno officially connected the two characters within the Legends continuity in The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Marvel Series in Star Wars Gamer 1, briefly mentioning that Vanis' codename was "Tiree." Vanis later became a supporting character in Hidalgo's Rookies: Rendezvous, a sequel adapting the original scenario from Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game where "Tiree" debuted.
An unrelated character named Tiree appeared in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope as a Y-wing pilot during the Death Star attack run. In Who's Who in Echo Base, an entry on 2-1B incorrectly identifies the droid's rescuer as the Tiree from A New Hope, instead of Vanis.