Gideon

Gideon, a male human, joined the ranks of the Galactic Empire sometime after the Clone Wars, where he oversaw multiple initiatives aimed at producing exceptionally effective [soldiers](/article/soldier], encompassing both stormtroopers and battle droids. He spearheaded the development of the death troopers, a specialized commando force operating under the Stormtrooper Corps and Imperial Intelligence within their own divison. Death troopers became a favored unit in Gideon's operations.

During or before the Galactic Civil War, Gideon became an officer within the Imperial Security Bureau, serving as a member of the ISB's Advanced Weapons Research division and committing numerous war crimes. Towards the war's conclusion, he played a brutal and active role in the Great Purge of Mandalore. Gideon was responsible for ordering the deaths of millions of Mandalorians. The Empire's massacre during the Night of a Thousand Tears ultimately broke Bo-Katan Kryze's will to resist, leading her to negotiate surrender terms with Gideon as the leader of Mandalore.

Gideon pledged to spare all remaining Mandalorian warriors and cities in exchange for their surrender and the Darksaber, the legendary weapon and significant symbol of House Vizsla. However, Gideon betrayed her trust: with Kryze agreeing to a ceasefire, the Imperial forces were free to slaughter all remaining factions in the rest of the Great Purge of Mandalore. After the Purge, Gideon was promoted to the rank of Moff, but the Empire crumbled after the Battle of Jakku.

Gideon maintained his prestigious position and authority by feigning his execution for war crimes and fleeing to the Outer Rim, where he joined forces with other Imperial loyalists. Gideon and his allies regrouped, establishing an Imperial remnant under his control and setting up a base of operations on Mandalore for himself and his remnant. Gideon's remnant was a substantial force, comprising remnants of the Imperial Army, Imperial Navy, and allied Imperial remnants. With the demise of both Emperor Sheev Palpatine and his lieutenant, the Empire's informal Commander-in-Chief Darth Vader, Gideon sought to gain control within the restructured galactic community and plotted to restore order to the galaxy through a powerful army. He also became a prominent member of the Shadow Council, a loose militaristic coalition of warlords, some of whom hoped to be led by Grand Admiral Thrawn, with whom he was in tacit competition. Concurrently, Kryze hunted Gideon, seeking to reclaim the symbol of Mandalorian leadership.

By 9 ABY, Gideon desired to acquire a valuable asset from Arvala-7, tasking "the Client" and Doctor Penn Pershing with capturing it alive at all costs. This asset was a Force-sensitive infant named Grogu, whom Gideon intended to use as a sample in his attempts to create a perfect supersoldier, combining the best attributes of Mandalorians, Jedi, and Kaminoan clones. The Client, in turn, enlisted the local Bounty Hunters' Guild office, led by Greef Karga, and hired the most skilled bounty hunter available—as Karga claimed—for the assignment: the Mandalorian Child of the Watch Din Djarin.

Despite Djarin's success in acquiring the asset and completing the job, numerous other hunters had also received tracking fobs for Grogu - a standard practice among bounty hunting guilds at the time due to the galactic recession. Following several encounters with hunters and pirates, Djarin ultimately returned the infant to the Client, who delivered it to Pershing to begin experiments; a short-lived success as Djarin soon had a change of heart and attacked the remnant warehouse, escaping the planet with Grogu.

Enraged by Djarin's betrayal, the Client unleashed Gideon's remnant upon Nevarro City, imposing a despotic rule. Karga contacted the Mandalorian and desperately pleaded for him to return the infant to the Imperials, or risk execution by the Remnant. Djarin and his new allies, ex-Rebel Cara Dune, Ugnaught Kuiil, and assassin droid IG-11 - now reprogrammed to protect Grogu - reluctantly returned to the planet, intending to feign delivery of the infant while eliminating the Remnant and the Guild. Despite Karga's initial plan to kill them and deliver the infant to the Client himself, an attack by a Nevarro reptavian and the child's use of the Force to heal him led to a change of heart, and he joined Djarin's force to assist with their plan. They ultimately sent Grogu back to Djarin's ship, the Razor Crest along with Kuiil, and the rest of the force arrived to the cantina with the empty pram as a distraction.

Upon their arrival, the Client contacted Gideon, informing him that they had Grogu in their custody. Gideon, however, instructed him to recheck Grogu's pram; unbeknownst to the Client, his death troopers had already begun amassing outside. As soon as the Client tried to check the pram as instructed, Gideon's squad of death troopers opened fire on the Client and the forces accompanying him, killing them and pinning down Djarin's party. Moments later, a K79-S80 Imperial Troop Transport arrived, deploying stormtroopers to supplement the death troopers and secure the area outside the cantina. Shortly after, Gideon landed in Nevarro himself on board his Outland TIE fighter, behind the mass of troopers. As he climbed out from his ship and approached the broken cantina window, he confronted the mercenaries inside, claiming that they did not understand Grogu at all and describing how much he needed him. At the same time, two of Gideon's scout troopers intercepted and killed the Kuiil before he was able to reach the Razor Crest with Grogu.

As the scout troopers were making their way back to Nevarro, they were informed that they would have to wait, as Gideon had wiped out a dozen of his own men. The troopers became impatient and asked for an update, only to be informed by the same person that he had an officer killed for interrupting him before they were subdued by IG-11, who rescued Grogu and headed back to Nevarro City to rescue the others. Gideon's men set up an E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon outside the cantina to blast the mercenaries out, prompting them to desperately try to escape through the vents, to no avail. Upon hearing the commotion inside, Gideon began to speak to the group,introducing his E-Web turret as the weapon that had mowed down many of Dune's ranks as well as many Mandalorian recruits at the Night of a Thousand Tears during the Great Purge of Mandalore. Gideon revealed both their full names in the process—Carasynthia Dune and Din Djarin- prompting a shocked reaction from the group who finally realized who their opponent was. Lastly, Gideon called out Karga as a disgraced magistrate and asked him to lay down his weapon and come outside.

After hearing this, Karga called out to Gideon to ask the Moff what he was proposing. Gideon answered by offering reasonable negotiation, to which Karga responded by questioning what assurance he offered. Gideon merely admitted that the mercenaries couldn't trust him. Gideon continued by remarking how Karga broke their earlier arrangement and stated how he would gladly break any promise he made to them, would happily watch the former magistrate die, and that all he could offer was that he would act in his self-interest. After he had finished, Gideon left his troopers to watch over the cantina, warning Djarin and his crew that they had until nightfall to cooperate otherwise, he would order the E-Web to open fire.

Before Gideon could depart, IG-11 arrived at the square and attacked the amassed troopers, giving Djarin, Karga, and Dune a chance to escape. A battle ensued, and amongst all of the chaos, Gideon watched Djarin in shock while the Mandalorian utilized the E-Web to mow down the Imperial forces and kill his death trooper escort, exploiting the lapse to his attention by raising his blaster and shooting Djarin in the back of the head. Before the Mandalorian could fire back, Gideon took his time to adjust his aim and fire at the E-Web's power pack, causing it to explode and send Djarin flying backward. His injuries forced him and the others to fall back into the cantina, with Dune dragging Djarin inside. Frustrated with the lack of progress, Gideon ordered an incinerator trooper to burn them out and bring Grogu to him. The trooper set the building alight but was overpowered and killed when Grogu used the Force to push back the flames, blowing the trooper's backpack canister and exploding him through the door.

Amidst the chaos, IG-11 successfully used his plasma torch to slice through the vent grates, allowing Djarin and his team to escape through the sewers. Gideon sent in more stormtroopers to stop them, but when their efforts failed, he instead dispatched another platoon to wait at the end of the lava river. Anticipating his troops' failure, Gideon hopped into his Outland TIE fighter to deal with Djarin himself. Realizing the trap the Imperials had set at the exit of the sewers, IG-11 came outside first, detonating his self-destruct mechanism and killing off the entire platoon. Before the mercenaries could escape with Grogu, Gideon swooped in and began to fire at the team. In response, the Mandalorian flew up into the air on his new jetpack and grappled onto the back of Gideon's TIE fighter. Gideon tried his best to shake him off but was unsuccessful. After climbing on top of the TIE fighter, Djarin tried to shoot Gideon from the roof of the cockpit, but the Moff was protected by the blast-proof glass, allowing him to continue shaking off the Mandalorian.

Gideon spun his TIE fighter and darted in multiple directions to lose Djarin, but the latter managed to plant a grav charge on the TIE. By the time Gideon discovered it, the charge exploded, causing the left wing to blow off as a fire started inside of the cockpit. After he crashed, the Mandalorian and the rest of his crew assumed he was dead and Djarin parted ways with his comrades to fly off-world with Grogu. Sometime later, a group of Jawas attempted to salvage the wreckage of Gideon's TIE fighter, only to discover Gideon, alive and still sitting in the rubble. The Moff carved his way out of the TIE using the Darksaber, scaring the Jawas off before he stepped out and climbed on top of the TIE fighter, scanning his surroundings. Despite the Nevarro remnant being wiped out, Gideon's forces were still at large in the rest of the galaxy, allowing Gideon to rendezvous with them and continue his efforts to recover Grogu from his cruiser.

At some point, just as he headed work on the death trooper project, Gideon headed another program designed to create effective troops in the form of the Dark Trooper project as it shifted into its third-generation design. A program that had lasted decades and was originally designed to supply human soldiers with combat suits, the project started out by applying cybernetics to clone troopers before moving into the Phase II Dark Trooper suit, which was field tested during the Galactic Civil War.

By the time of Gideon's involvement as project head, it had been decided that the human pilot was the last weakness in the Dark Trooper design. As such, the third-generation design Dark Trooper was created as a droid. Indeed, Gideon was not satisfied with the human factor seen within death trooper operations, with such personality leading to unpredictability and freewill, despite their many successes. The new phase of Dark Trooper was created as advanced third-generation battle droids that would serve a similar role to the death trooper. They visibly resembled the death troopers as well. Gideon was an active member of the project who pushed for improvements to the design. He would even use his authority to secure local resources for experimental Dark Trooper models. Dark Troopers, like death troopers, were a favored unit for Gideon. Dark Troopers were assigned to be Gideon's personal bodyguards as well.

Following his successful escape from Nevarro, Djarin was wandering the galaxy in search of Grogu's people, the mysterious faction of the Jedi the Armorer had described to him as an ancient order of wizards. Eventually, he met Lady Kryze on the estuary moon of Trask, who, following the defeat of the Empire, was gathering Mandalorian survivors from around the galaxy to attempt and retake their homeworld. Kryze agreed to reveal to him the location of a Jedi if he assisted her with the heist for weapons she had planned on an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser leaving Trask. Unbeknownst to the Mandalorians, the cruiser belonged to Gideon's remnant, leading to the Moff discovering Djarin's whereabouts months after their last meeting.

Kryze worked with Djarin to infiltrate the ship, along with two other Mandalorians, Axe Woves and Koska Reeves. As they were successful in taking much of the ship, the vessel's captain contacted Gideon in need of reinforcements. Gideon asked the captain how far the Mandalorians had breached, but when the captain told him they had taken most of the ship, Gideon stated that it was too late to send reinforcements and cryptically told him he knew what to do. Only the captain was aware of his meaning, upon which he shut off the hologram and killed both pilots, pushing the ship straight into the waters of Trask. He was unsuccessful however, and was stopped by Djarin to be interrogated by Kryze for the Darksaber's location. Knowing that Gideon would kill him for his failure, the captain chose to commit suicide by biting a suicide shocker in his mouth.

Following the infiltration on Trask, Dr. Pershing recorded a message for Gideon, updating him of his progress on their project, whilst also stating that he had used up as much of their supply of Grogu's blood samples as possible, and that he required more genetic material from the donor in order to continue his work with the Strand-Casts. Some time later, Djarin, Dune, Karga and a Mythrol infiltrated Gideon's laboratory on Nevarro, and ended up finding the message. It was here where they first learned of Gideon's cloning project, as well as his survival following their previous battle on Nevarro.

Three days after the heist on Trask, Djarin went back to Nevarro in need of repairs for his ship; there, he was recruited by Karga, Dune, and a Mythrol to join them on their own mission first to destroy the sole remaining Imperial base on the planet. As the four of them went on this mission, a Mimbanese worker started working on Djarin's ship, secretly installing a tracking device on it. Djarin and the others viewed the hologram Dr. Pershing had sent to Gideon, and realized that the Imperials were performing cloning experiments. Meanwhile, one of Gideon's deck officers, Elia Kane informed Gideon that the worker had installed the device on the Razor Crest, and the Moff smiled to himself as he continued to supervise the work of his scientists on his dark troopers.

Due to the tracking beacon, Gideon's forces were able to locate Djarin's vessel on Tython. This was the planet where the Mandalorian brought Grogu to attempt communication with the Jedi, following the advice of Ahsoka Tano, who Jedi Kryze had told him about. Descending from the upper atmosphere, a pair of Imperial transports, filled with stormtroopers, departed from Gideon's light cruiser to engage in combat with Djarin and his new allies, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand. The goal was to create a diversion and draw them away from Grogu. After the stormtroopers were defeated by the trio, Gideon's cruiser targeted and destroyed the Razor Crest. Subsequently, four Dark Troopers were deployed from the cruiser, landing near the seeing stone where Grogu was meditating. They successfully captured the child and returned to the cruiser, while Fett pursued them in his ship. Upon observing the cruiser, Fett expressed his disbelief at the Empire's resurgence and ceased his pursuit. This allowed the cruiser to enter hyperspace once the trooper droids were back on board with Grogu. While in hyperspace, Gideon briefly interacted with Grogu in his holding cell, discovering the child in the midst of an attack on two stormtroopers. Gideon then presented Grogu with the Darksaber, before ordering his stormtroopers to stun the child and restrain him with stuncuffs to prevent the use of his powers. Following this, Gideon instructed Elia Kane to transmit an encrypted message to Pershing, informing him that the donor was ready for his experiments upon exiting hyperspace.

After Gideon successfully regained custody of Grogu, Din Djarin gathered a team that included Dune, former bounty hunter Boba Fett, mercenary Fennec Shand, and ex-Imperial Migs Mayfeld. The crew infiltrated an Imperial refinery located on Morak, where they managed to extract the location of Gideon's cruiser from a terminal within the rhydonium refinery. Despite a delay caused by officer Valin Hess, they successfully escaped the refinery, eliminating the pursuing troopers. Mayfeld then detonated the refinery to confront his past trauma. Upon returning to Slave I, Djarin, driven by his desire to rescue Grogu, contacted Gideon directly on his cruiser. He conveyed that Gideon did not comprehend the significance of Grogu to him and that he would soon be reunited with the child. After receiving the message, Kane suggested to Gideon that he should review it, before playing it on the table. Gideon listened as Djarin repeated the same words that Gideon had used during their initial encounter.

To rescue Grogu, Din Djarin formed a team that included himself, Fett, Shand, Dune, Reeves, and Kryze. Kryze and Reeves joined the mission because Kryze wanted to reclaim the Darksaber from Gideon, while the others were indebted to Djarin due to their shared history. Initially, Djarin and his team captured a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle carrying Pershing, killing the pilots and sending the scientist to the New Republic's Amnesty Program. Subsequently, they utilized the shuttle to infiltrate Gideon's cruiser, disguising their entry as an attack by Fett's gunship.

Once aboard, the team separated, with Bo-Katan and her forces searching for Gideon, while Djarin looked for Grogu. Gideon seemed to have anticipated this and was waiting in Grogu's cell when Djarin confronted him, claiming that Grogu was no longer needed. As Djarin approached Grogu, Gideon attempted a surprise attack from behind, leading to a battle with the Mandalorian, who defended himself with his beskar spear. Despite Gideon's efforts, Djarin ultimately triumphed and took both Gideon and the Darksaber to the bridge. When Djarin tried to hand over the Darksaber to Bo-Katan, she declined, and Gideon mocked them, stating that she had to defeat him in combat to rightfully claim it.

Suddenly, the dark troopers, who Djarin had ejected, reactivated their rocket boosters and returned to Gideon's cruiser, heading towards the bridge. Given Djarin's struggle against a single trooper, Gideon was confident that everyone except himself and Grogu would be killed, and he would regain possession of the child. As the droids broke through the blast doors, they abruptly stopped, causing confusion. An X-wing starfighter had landed on the cruiser, and a hooded figure emerged from the fighter. Gideon could only watch in horror as the man, the Jedi Luke Skywalker, who had been contacted by Grogu from the Tython temple, effortlessly destroyed the dark troopers as he made his way to the bridge. Realizing his defeat, Gideon managed to grab a blaster from his distracted captors and attempted to shoot Bo-Katan, but her armor protected her.

However, this was enough to move her aside, giving Gideon a clear shot at Grogu, only for Djarin to shield the child. Gideon's other captors then aimed their blasters at him, demanding his surrender. He attempted suicide, but Dune disarmed him and knocked him unconscious. Following this, Skywalker defeated all of Gideon's Dark Troopers and took Grogu to be trained in the ways of the Force as a member of the New Jedi Order. After the assault on his cruiser, Dune took Gideon into custody of the New Republic.

After Gideon's capture, Dune was promoted to special forces, relinquishing her role as Marshall of Nevarro. Djarin's covert members Paz Vizsla and the Armorer, considering Gideon a sworn enemy of the Mandalorians, believed that death was the only fitting justice for his atrocities. Din Djarin believed it was likely that he would be executed for his crimes by the New Republic Tribunal, although the Armorer doubted this. His transportation to the tribunal was scheduled via a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle.

Despite his arrest by the New Republic, Gideon never faced trial. While en route to the tribunal, his beskar-plated commandos attacked the shuttle. The crew was killed, and Gideon escaped New Republic custody as a result of the attack. This news was concealed from the galaxy, but rumors about Gideon's fate spread. Some, including Carson Teva and Amnesty Officer G27, believed the escape rumors, while others, including Amnesty Officer M40, thought it was a cover story to hide the possibility that he was connected to a Mind Flayer.

Gideon was secretly hiding in his base on Mandalore, where he continued his cloning experiments. He successfully created Force-sensitive clones for his army and designed the Dark Trooper phase 4 armor, which he wore in battle. He also commanded a TIE/IN interceptor squadron and a TIE/sa bomber squadron. Elia Kane, who had infiltrated the New Republic Amnesty Program on Coruscant as a spy, regularly communicated with Gideon, serving as his contact with the outside world. He also hired Pirate King Gorian Shard and his pirate gang to create chaos in the outer rim without specifically alerting the New Republic, particularly in Nevarro's sector.

As Bo-Katan Kryze and Din Djarin returned to Kryze Castle on Kalevala after a mission at the living Waters, Gideon deployed TIE interceptors and bombers to destroy the castle, forcing Djarin and Kryze to retreat. He then sent Elia Kane to erase Penn Pershing's memory, fearing that his former scientist would reveal his project's secrets. Kane successfully framed Pershing as a criminal while advancing through New Republic ranks. Later, he sent Shard and his pirates to besiege Nevarro, seeking revenge for his forces being driven off the planet. However, Mandalorians led by Djarin and Kryze thwarted their efforts. Carson Teva and Lieutenant Reed then discovered the wreckage of Gideon's prison shuttle.

Elia Kane quickly learned of the pirate defeat on Nevarro and contacted Gideon urgently. The Moff answered the call, instructing his spy not to waste his time as he was scheduled to attend a meeting with the Shadow Council. Kane informed Gideon of the pirates' defeat and the alliance between Kryze and Djarin. The warlord questioned the validity of this news, recalling the rivalry between Mandalorian clans. Kane emphasized that this was why she contacted him urgently. Gideon assured her that he would handle them before ending the call and preparing for his meeting.

Gideon walked through corridors, past shield barriers and his cloning laboratory, to his meeting with the Shadow Council. He listened silently as the other members spoke. Annoyed by Captain Gilad Pellaeon's devotion to Grand Admiral Thrawn, Moff Gideon mocked the Chiss commander's absence and doubted his "imminent return." He then stressed the need for new leadership, hinting at his own ambition. Commandant Brendol Hux suggested that Project Necromancer would solve that matter, before questioning Moff Gideon on Doctor Pershing's situation. The warlord denied using the scientist for his own experiments and shifted the focus to the Mandalorian threat. Hux and Pellaeon agreed to provide Gideon with additional resources and three Imperial Praetorian Guards for protection. With his request approved, Gideon concluded the meeting with a patriotic chant, which the other warlords joined.

As Gideon had predicted, the united Mandalorian resistance, including both the Children of the Watch and a Mandalorian fleet of loyalists under Bo-Katan Kryze, arrived on Mandalore to resettle the world, encountering Mandalorian survivors who joined their cause. As the Mandalorians advanced towards the Great Forge, near Gideon's base, the Moff dispatched commandos to engage them. The commandos ambushed the Mandalorians, and Axe Woves left to request reinforcements, luring them to the blast doors of Gideon's base.

After sealing the doors, the commandos separated the Mandalorians into two groups. As the commandos neutralized and captured Djarin, Gideon arrived in his Dark Trooper suit and ordered his men to take Djarin to the debriefing room. Upon hearing Kryze's voice, the Moff mocked the former Mandalorian ruler and demanded the Darksaber again. However, Kryze refused, attempting to breach the blast doors while the other Mandalorians fired towards Gideon's position, and the commandos opened fire. After all the Mandalorians escaped, Paz Vizla killed several commandos and was confronted by Gideon's Praetorian Guards, who killed him. Meanwhile, Gideon sent his TIE interceptor and bomber squadron to destroy the Mandalorian fleet. Woves evacuated all the Mandalorians from the light cruiser, staying behind to steer it into the Imperial base.

Eventually, Djarin escaped his captors with Grogu's help. Knowing that Djarin would come for him, Gideon decided to confront him. In the process, Djarin and Grogu discovered and destroyed his Force-sensitive clones just outside the command room, enraging Gideon. Sealing the door behind them, Gideon unleashed his rage on Djarin as the Praetorian Guards pursued Grogu.

In a brutal duel, Gideon, aided by his suit, gained the upper hand over Djarin and would have killed him if Kryze hadn't intervened. Switching his focus to Kryze as she drew the Darksaber, he drew an electrostaff, and they began to duel as Djarin rescued Grogu. Gideon crushed the Darksaber with his suit's augmented strength, breaking Kryze's hand and taunting her that Mandalorians were weak without their weapons. As Djarin and Grogu arrived, Kryze declared Mandalorians were stronger together, and the three quickly overwhelmed him as Woves crashed the light cruiser into the base. In a final fit of rage, Gideon screamed before being disintegrated by the resulting inferno, while Grogu redirected the flames around himself, Djarin, and Kryze.

After the conflict on Mandalore, Carson Teva cited Gideon's battle as evidence of coordination among the scattered Imperial remnants during General Hera Syndulla's reprimanding session at Coruscant for disobeying the New Republic Senate's orders to ignore Morgan Elsbeth's forces' attempts to retrieve Grand Admiral Thrawn from another galaxy. However, Senator Hamato Xiono dismissed Teva's intervention, claiming it was not proof of a larger conspiracy posing an immediate threat to the Republic, naively suggesting that Gideon was a lone warlord.

A sharp and powerful figure within the Galactic Empire, Gideon placed great importance on knowledge and authority. He was particularly determined to capture Grogu, an infant of Yoda's species. He believed that the infant was more crucial to his plans than Din Djarin, the Mandalorian caretaker, and his allies could ever understand. Gideon was a dedicated patriot of the Galactic Empire, viewing his cause as righteous and willing to rebuild it from the ground up. He desired order in the galaxy, seeing Grogu's power as the key to replicating the Force through cloning. However, he also selfishly sought control of the Imperial Remnant for himself, even declaring himself the greatest aspect of the fourth-generation Dark Trooper design.

He was imposing and ruthless, willing to kill fellow Imperials to achieve his aims, as demonstrated by his execution of the Client and his stormtroopers, as well as an officer who interrupted him. He was also a skilled tactician, proficient in psychological warfare and personal combat. He willingly revealed information to infuriate and destabilize his enemies. He ordered an officer to commit suicide to prevent capture. His confidence in his army, particularly the dark troopers, was shattered when he witnessed Luke Skywalker's easy defeat of them. Desperate, he attempted to shoot both Bo-Katan Kryze and Grogu, and when this failed, he tried to kill himself rather than be captured by the Republic. Before his capture, he attempted to kill Grogu before Djarin saved him, demonstrating a complete lack of moral principles.

Gideon lied and attempted to deceive Djarin before attacking him during Grogu's rescue. During the Imperial Era, he betrayed Bo-Katan Kryze, tricking her into surrendering to massacre her people. While Gideon valued Mandalorian culture, he considered it outdated. He saw potential in various cultures and aimed to combine their strengths into new forms of warfare, culminating in his attempt to create a clone army. Gideon showed genuine concern for his cloned army, expressing sadness and anger at their deaths. Gideon was a human male with dark eyes, skin, and black hair that was greying during the New Republic Era. Before Cara Dune arrested him, Gideon had a mustache, but he shaved it before returning to the Shadow Council after escaping from his planned conviction by the New Republic.

As a high-rank Imperial officer, Gideon wore an outfit resembling an Imperial uniform with dark-colored battle armor and a cape. Gideon was a seasoned warrior who had participated in numerous battles. He carried a blaster pistol and piloted an Outland TIE fighter. He also possessed the Darksaber, which he used to duel Din Djarin until he was disarmed. He used the weapon to escape his TIE fighter when it crashed on Nevarro.

Later, he wore a full suit of armor that enhanced his strength and was based on his third-generation Dark Troopers made of beskar. The armor's left vambrace had a rocket launcher and a whipcord launcher, while the right vambrace had a blaster and a flamethrower. He wore a crowned Mandalorian-style helmet and a jetpack. He also used a collapsible electrostaff during his final fight against Kryze and Djarin.

Gideon's first appearance was in Chapter 7 of Jon Favreau's 2019 Disney+ television series The Mandalorian, directed by Deborah Chow, which aired on December 18, 2019. He was first indirectly mentioned in the show in Chapter 3: The Sin, which aired on November 22, 2019. He was portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito.

As a longtime Star Wars fan, particularly of the early movies, Esposito was excited when Favreau asked him to appear in the show, having always been fascinated with the Darth Vader character. Favreau told Esposito that he had written the role of Gideon specifically for him. After explaining that all the money would go into the Volume, Favreau detailed the show's story and technical aspects. Esposito told Favreau that he wanted to work with people he liked. He loved the idea and only requested to wear a cape, which Favreau agreed to. Esposito, strongly influenced by Peter Cushing's performance as Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, tried to research the role.

Esposito believes that Gideon genuinely wants to bring order and security to the universe. He sees him as the galaxy's "top warden," ensuring that people don't overrun or destroy each other. In an interview with Star Wars Insider, Esposito stated that Gideon considers himself the master of his universe and is willing to do anything because he believes he is the best candidate to run the galaxy. Esposito compared Gideon and other villains he has played to heroes, believing they think they missed their chance at being heroes and want to exert their presence in another way.

Gideon's costume was designed by Brian Matyas, designer of various characters in the series. The costume was created by Joseph Porro and [Frank Ippolito], as part of Ippolito's company Thingergy Inc. Esposito felt powerful the first time he wore his costume. On his first day of shooting, he landed in a TIE fighter and was ushered into a standoff with around 300 stormtroopers. During filming, he thought about how Gideon does not need to do or say much to get what he wants because he believes he will get it. Esposito said the scene helped him find the balance of who Gideon is. For playing Gideon in the show, Esposito was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

When Esposito saw his stunt double during filming for "Chapter 16: The Rescue," he thought that his body was too different for the fight scene between Gideon and Din Djarin. He then told Favreau that he would do the fight scene. He then worked with stunt double Lateef Crowder to prepare for the fight scene, which he thought went phenomenal. Esposito worked with different kinds of lightsaber props of varying sizes. During filming, he broke six lightsaber props, and after the fifth lightsaber broke, the prop master told him to be careful because there was only one more.