General Valin Hess was a human male general who originated on the planet Coruscant and served the Galactic Empire within the Imperial Army. He took part in executing Operation: Cinder on Burnin Konn in 4 ABY, where he made the decision to give up a division under his command to eliminate a city. Following the Empire's collapse, Hess was stationed with Imperial remnants at the rhydonium refinery on Morak in 9 ABY. He encountered Migs Mayfeld and Din Djarin, who were undercover, one day.
Djarin was questioned by Hess, and Mayfeld provided their supposed IDs as well as additional made-up information about Djarin. The general then stopped them from leaving and invited them for a beverage. While seated with the two "troopers," Hess desired a fresh subject for a salute, and Mayfeld brought up Operation: Cinder, revealing that he was a survivor of Burnin Konn. The general celebrated that they had survived the victims after the infiltrator questioned whether the outcome was advantageous for those who had perished. Hess suggested a toast to the Empire, but Mayfeld instead shot the officer in the chest, resulting in his death.
Valin Hess came from Coruscant, a planet in the Core Worlds. During the era of the Galactic Empire, this Coruscanti was among the highest-ranking generals within the [Imperial Army](/article/imperial_army]. Following the demise of Emperor Palpatine in 4 ABY, the Imperial plan referred to as Operation: Cinder was put into effect, and Hess commanded his division in an assault on the volcanic planet known as Burnin Konn.
During this assault, Hess's forces placed explosives on the geothermal reactors located inside the cities that used the planet's magma shifts to generate power. At Chakonnis, one of the cities, the city's civilians defended their homes against the Imperial division stationed there. The division, which numbered between 5,000 and 10,000 soldiers, had their escape route cut off before Hess gave the order to detonate the explosives. The explosions caused Burnin Konn's plate tectonics to become unstable, and a series of volcanic eruptions immediately destroyed Chakonnis and the Imperial division that was stationed there. Other cities also fell, collapsing as lava flooded their streets.
The Rebel Alliance maintained a file on the events of Burnin Konn within a section dedicated to Operation Cinder in the Rebel Alliance Archives. Hess played a crucial role in several attacks during the Empire's final days of war with the Alliance and its successor, the New Republic, which resulted in significant destruction. However, in 5 ABY, the war came to an end with the defeat of the Empire's loyalist forces above Jakku.
Hess served with remnants of the old Galactic Empire in 9 ABY, during the period of the New Republic. These remnants operated from a rhydonium refinery managed by former Imperial Security Bureau officers on Morak. One day, a group of Shydopp pirates attacked the HCVw A9.2 juggernaut transports that were carrying rhydonium to the refinery. Juggernaut Five was the only transport that successfully reached the base and was celebrated by the personnel there. At that moment, Hess was in the officers' mess, talking with another officer. His attention was quickly drawn when one of the Juggernaut Pilots from Juggernaut Five entered the room and immediately turned around. The pilot was Migs Mayfeld, a former member of Hess's division and a survivor of Burnin Konn who was disguised in armor taken from a pilot.
Mayfeld, afraid of being recognized by his former commander, Hess, instructed his accomplice Din Djarin to enter the room and use the terminal as part of their mission. Hess, who had been watching them talk outside the mess, noticed Djarin enter and salute before approaching the terminal. The general continued to observe and saw Djarin attempt to scan his face while wearing his helmet. However, because the terminal could not register his face with the helmet on, Djarin had to remove it to complete the scan. Hess called out to Djarin, who was still posing as a Juggernaut Pilot, but Djarin did not respond. As a result, the general stood up and approached Djarin, scolding him for not paying attention and asking for his TK number.
Djarin hesitated and did not provide a TK number, which prompted Mayfeld to join the conversation, introducing Djarin as TK-593 and himself as Lieutenant TK-111. Mayfeld further claimed that Hess had to speak loudly to Djarin because the latter's hearing had been damaged when his starship supposedly lost pressure at Taanab. Raising his voice, the general asked for Djarin's name, but the apparent pilot hesitated again before Mayfeld said that the "trooper" was called "Brown Eyes." Mayfeld then tried to leave with Djarin, claiming that they needed to complete TPS reports, but Hess insisted that they were not dismissed. After confirming that the pair had driven Juggernaut Five, the general invited them to have a drink with him.
Hess and the two fake pilots sat at a private table, where the general poured wine into each of their glasses. As he poured, Hess inquired about what they should toast, expressing a desire to toast something other than the usual health or success. He then asked "Brown Eyes" where the alleged trooper was from, but Mayfeld interrupted again, suggesting a toast to Operation: Cinder and revealing that he had been at Burnin Konn. Hess claimed that he had made "unpleasant decisions" that day, and Mayfeld recounted the events and his fallen comrades, whom the general referred to as heroes of the Empire.
After Hess described his decisions at Burnin Konn as being for the "greater good," Mayfeld stated that it depended on who was asked. The general asked Mayfeld to elaborate, and the "trooper" questioned whether the sacrifice was good for those who had died at Burnin Konn and their families. Hess responded that they had outlived those who had died and that the Imperial remnant was growing stronger in the face of a New Republic that was "in disarray." He also mentioned the possibility of using the rhydonium that Juggernaut Five had delivered to create more havoc than had been made at Burnin Konn, hoping that people would realize as a result that they wanted order.
Hess raised his cup to the Empire, but Mayfeld instead raised his SE-14r light repeating blaster and shot the general in the chest. As Hess fell dead to the floor, the rest of the room froze, and Mayfeld proceeded to shoot down the other personnel in the officers' mess. Djarin retrieved Hess's own repeating blaster to assist his accomplice. The pair then escaped the base with the help of their allies, and Mayfeld detonated one of the rhydonium transports, damaging a portion of the refinery. The Alliance file on Burnin Konn was eventually examined by the historian Beaumont Kin, who provided an analysis of the events there, along with other actions of Operation Cinder, in his book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire in 35 ABY.
Valin Hess was a human male who was 1.88 meters (6 feet and 4 inches) tall with light skin, brown hair, and blue eyes. He was a firm believer in the Empire's mission to bring order to the galaxy, regardless of who was harmed in the process, even if it meant sacrificing his own troops, whom he considered expendable. Hess made the decision to wipe out an entire city on Burnin Konn at the cost of his division, viewing it as a small sacrifice for the greater good. The general believed that while some people longed for freedom, they would eventually realize that they wanted order and return to the Empire.
Hess curiously watched Migs Mayfeld and Din Djarin when he first saw them. After watching Djarin struggle at a terminal, he pressed him on his identity, scolding him for not paying attention to him, as if he was unaccustomed to being ignored. When Mayfeld reminded him of Burnin Konn, the general smiled and reflected on his decisions during the attack as unpleasant. Although Mayfeld argued that the decision had not been good for those who had died as a result, Hess, unfazed by Mayfeld's challenges, celebrated that they had outlived the victims and that the New Republic was in disarray and destroying itself. After finishing his speech, the officer grinned broadly as he raised his glass for a toast.
Valin Hess wore a gray-green Imperial officer's uniform, which included an Imperial kepi with an officer's disk, black Imperial-issue boots and black gloves, a brown communications belt with a silver buckle and compartments, and a code cylinder attached below his left shoulder. He also wore a rank insignia plaque on his left breast with four red bars above four blue. Hess carried a SE-14r light repeating blaster, which he kept holstered on his right hip.
Valin Hess made his debut in "Chapter 15: The Believer," which is the seventh episode of the second season of the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian. Rick Famuyiwa directed the episode, which was released on December 11, 2020. Richard Brake played the character, and Dane Farwell served as his stunt double.
When filming the conversation between Hess, Djarin, and Mayfeld, Famuyiwa aimed to create a more subdued scene to contrast the frequent action scenes typically seen in Star Wars. He also wanted to present a tense exchange between individuals with conflicting agendas who are trying to "figure each other out." The director's main objective for the episode was to explore a moral gray area in the use and transfers of power.
In "Chapter 15: The Believer," Hess personally pours drinks for Mayfeld and Djarin, while in Joe Schreiber's 2022 junior novelization of The Mandalorian Season Two, another officer pours the drinks for them. This article relies on the information presented in Chapter 15.