Admiral Piett

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Star Wars character
Firmus Piett
Admiral piett.jpg
Although he was from the Outer Rim, Firmus Piett became one of the most flawless officers in the Imperial Navy.
Position Admiral of the Imperial Fleet
Homeworld Axxila
Species Human
Gender Male
Height 1.65 meters
Affiliation Galactic Empire
Portrayed by Kenneth Colley

Fleet Admiral Firmus Piett is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe, played by Kenneth Colley in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He was one of the few Imperial officers to appear in two Star Wars films, the only one to have been played by the same actor twice, and was perhaps the only character in the entire trilogy to benefit from Darth Vader's propensity to summarily execute his officers for failures great and small.

Piett was born on the Outer Rim world of Axxila. When he joined the Imperial Academy, Piett was the best in his class, and was already a lieutenant by his graduation at age 26. After Piett was drafted into the Imperial Starfleet, he commanded an anti-pirate fleet that patrolled his home sector, which eventually became one of the most pirate-free sectors in the Outer Rim. Vader later assigned Captain Piett to command the Star Destroyer Accuser, under Admiral Griff. When Griff died at Yavin 4 during the Rebel Alliance's evacuation, Piett became captain of the Super Star Destroyer [1] Executor to replace its current commander, Captain Ozzel, who was promoted to admiral. This gave Piett command of Vader's flagship.

Three years after the Battle of Yavin, Captain Piett and his command staff received a transmission from a probe droid in the Hoth system that revealed the hidden Rebel Alliance headquarters, Echo Base. Piett made sure that Darth Vader was on the bridge before informing his superiors of this find; as he expected, Admiral Ozzel dismissed it as something other than the Rebel base, only to be overruled by Vader. The dark lord wasted no time in dispatching his fleet, the Death Squadron, to the Hoth system.

"You are in command now, Admiral Piett!"
"You are in command now, Admiral Piett!"

The fleet's exit point from hyperspace was close enough to the planet that the Rebels were able to detect it immediately, giving them time to raise an energy shield that would stop any orbital bombardment. Ozzel was swiftly killed by Vader for his incompetence and Piett was instantly promoted to admiral (crew members then started to bet on how long Piett had to live). While General Veers successfully captured the Rebel base, the Millennium Falcon escaped. Vader ordered the fleet to pursue, even though the Falcon had entered a nearby asteroid field.

During the search for the Falcon, the Star Destroyer Avenger found it, but it strangely vanished. The bounty hunter Boba Fett, commissioned by Vader, realized that the Falcon was in fact secretly docked on the Avenger's sensor globe, followed and reported its movements as it disengaged and limped over to Bespin. While Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Chewbacca were being given a tour by Lando Calrissian, Piett's engineers deactivated the hyperdrive on the Falcon. As the Falcon fled, it was almost captured by the Executor's tractor beam, but R2-D2 was able to reactivate the hyperdrive and the Falcon again escaped Imperial custody. Despite his failure Piett was inexplicably spared Vader's wrath. Vader's duel with Skywalker and his son's subsequent self-sacrifice had left him deeply troubled; in addition to the fact that the Falcon's escape was not Piett's fault, this conflict left Vader with enough mercy to spare the admiral's life.

Piett's last stand on the Executor.
Piett's last stand on the Executor.

One year later, in Return of the Jedi Piett is in command of the Imperial fleet at the Battle of Endor. If Piett had been allowed to engage the Rebel fleet, his ships could have easily destroyed them. Instead, he is ordered by Palpatine to hold position and just keep the Rebels from escaping so they could be vaporized one by one by the second Death Star's superlaser. The plan is disrupted when the Rebels move to attack the Star Destroyers at point-blank range, increasing the risk to themselves but leaving the Death Star unable to fire without destroying their own fleet.

Under Admiral Ackbar's orders, the Rebel fleet concentrates their fire on the Executor, knocking out the shields protecting its bridge. Piett gives what turn out to be his final orders, ordering the turbolaser batteries to increase their firepower to keep anything from reaching the bridge, when a disabled A-wing piloted by Arvel Crynyd makes a kamikaze maneuver into the bridge. Admiral Piett and Commander Gherant are seen diving into the lower command deck in an attempt to save their lives while the Executor falls into the Death Star's gravity well and collides, resulting in the ship's destruction.

  • The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7
  • The Hutt Gambit, 1st paperback printing, 1997. A. C. Crispin, ISBN 0-553-57416-7
  • Inside the Worlds of the Star Wars Trilogy.
  1. ^ George Lucas provided an alternate explanation for Vader's uncharacteristic mercy toward Piett after the Millennium Falcon escaped Bespin. On the commentary track for the 2004 DVD of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas says that Vader's encounter with his son Luke had apparently left him deeply conflicted. As such, he was able to find enough mercy within himself to spare Piett's life.


 v  d  e 
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Characters: 2-1B | 4-LOM | Wedge Antilles | Bossk | C-3PO | Lando Calrissian | Chewbacca | Dengar | Boba Fett | IG-88 | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Lobot | Princess Leia Organa | Palpatine | Admiral Firmus Piett | R2-D2 | General Carlist Rieekan | Han Solo | Luke Skywalker | Stormtrooper | Darth Vader | Wampa | Yoda | Zuckuss
Events: Battle of Hoth | Luke Skywalker's Jedi Training | Capture of Han Solo | Luke Skywalker v. Darth Vader I
Planets: Hoth | Dagobah | Bespin
Cities: Cloud City
Starships: Escort Frigate | Imperial Lambda-class Shuttle | Imperial Star Destroyer | Millennium Falcon | Rebel Medium Transport | Slave I | Super Star Destroyer | TIE Bomber | TIE Fighter | TIE Shuttle | X-Wing | Y-Wing
Vehicles: AT-AT | AT-ST | Snowspeeder | Twin-Pod Cloud Car


 v  d  e 
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Characters: 8D8 | Admiral Ackbar | Wedge Antilles | C-3PO | Lando Calrissian | Chewbacca | Chief Chirpa | Salacious Crumb | EV-9D9 | Ewok | Boba Fett | Bib Fortuna | Gamorrean Guard | Jabba the Hutt | Moff Jerjerrod | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Logray | General Crix Madine | Max Rebo Band | Mon Mothma | Nien Nunb | Oola | Princess Leia Organa | Palpatine | Admiral Firmus Piett | R2-D2 | Rancor | Sarlacc | Han Solo | Anakin Skywalker | Luke Skywalker | Stormtrooper | Darth Vader | Wicket W. Warrick | Yoda

Events: Skirmish at Carkoon | Death of Yoda | Battle of Endor | Luke Skywalker v. Darth Vader II | Fall of the Galactic Empire

Planets: Tatooine | Dagobah | Forest Moon of Endor | Bespin | Coruscant | Naboo

Cities: Death Star II | Ewok Village | Cloud City | Coruscant | Mos Eisley | Theed

Starships: A-Wing | B-Wing | Escort Frigate | Imperial Lambda-class Shuttle | Imperial Star Destroyer | Millennium Falcon | Mon Calamari Star Cruiser | Naboo N-1 Starfighter | Rebel Medium Transport | Super Star Destroyer | Tantive IV | TIE Bomber | TIE Fighter | TIE Interceptor | X-Wing | Y-Wing

Vehicles: AT-AT | AT-ST | Coruscant Air Taxi | Imperial Speeder Bike | Sail Barge | Skiff | T-16 Skyhopper | Twin-Pod Cloud Car

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