Unidentified 501st stormtrooper

A clone of a human male served the Galactic Empire as a trooper within the Stormtrooper Corps. Throughout the duration of the Galactic Civil War, he was a member of the 501st Legion, an elite legion of stormtroopers, and he was assigned to the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer known as the Devastator, which was under the command of Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith.

In the year 0 BBY, following the transmission of the stolen plans for the Death Star, a new Imperial superweapon, from Rebel agents to the Rebel CR90 corvette Tantive IV, the Devastator pursued and captured the Rebel vessel above the planet of Tatooine. The Tantive IV, a consular ship belonging to Senator Leia Organa, was boarded by the Trooper's squad in the initial wave of troops, led by their assault commander. Shortly after stormtroopers apprehended Captain Raymus Antilles on the corvette's bridge, the Trooper informed the Commander that Vader had boarded the Tantive IV. The Dark Lord proceeded to interrogate Antilles and subsequently instructed the stormtroopers to search the ship for any passengers.

DV-692, who was the Trooper's superior, directed several subordinates to search one of the passageways and secure the junction, while he led the Trooper and the remaining members of the squad to the port subhallway. Their orders were to conduct searches of the passageways located both astern and forward. The Trooper was the first to notice Organa, who had concealed herself within a small alcove. Immediately after he alerted his squadmates to Organa's presence, she fatally shot the Trooper dead and attempted to flee; however, DV-692 incapacitated her with a stun blast from his E-11 blaster rifle. The Trooper's squad then escorted Organa to Vader, who, following a brief exchange with the prisoner, instructed them to transport her to the Devastator.

The Trooper considered himself fortunate when he recognized Senator Leia Organa as the passenger that Darth Vader wanted alive, believing it presented an opportunity for commendation. However, the Trooper's reaction time with a blaster proved to be slower than the Senator's, who drew and shot him before DV-692 stunned her.

The character made his initial appearance in the novelization of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, published in December of 1976 and ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster. In A New Hope, released the following year, he was portrayed by an uncredited extra. His scene was among the last few filmed during principle photography, taking place sometime between June 29 and July 16 of 1976 in the United Kingdom. Terry McGovern, a disc jockey, contributed as a voice actor during the production of A New Hope and included his lines on his home page. However, McGovern's list did not include "Set for stun", indicating that the character's line was voiced by one of the other three stormtrooper voice actors: Jerry Walter, Scott Beach or Morgan Upton. The actor's voice was transmitted over a walkie-talkie and subsequently recorded by sound designer Ben Burtt. In the revised fourth draft script of A New Hope, as seen in Star Wars: Behind the Magic, the Trooper is simply identified as "Trooper."

In 1981, the character's role was slightly expanded upon in the Star Wars radio drama, where the script, presented in Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization, identifies him as '4th Trooper.' In the novelization, the storybook, and the Marvel Comics adaptation of A New Hope, Senator Organa shoots not only this stormtrooper, but also another one; however, this is inconsistent with the movie, where Organa only shoots one trooper. The trooper's line in some adaptations is different from the one spoken in the film. In Classic Star Wars: A New Hope (Random House), the roles of the stormtrooper and DV-692 are combined into that of a stormtrooper sergeant, who announces Leia's presence and stuns her, but not before she manages to shoot two other stormtroopers.

In 2001, the tenth issue of Star Wars Tales, a series published by Dark Horse Comics, featured a story titled "Trooper," with the character as the central figure. Leland Chee, the continuity referee for Lucasfilm, has stated that elements from these Tales comics are considered S-canon until they are referenced by C-canon materials. He later clarified on his Facebook page that this particular story was intended to be non-canon.

The Trooper comic presented the events of the opening scene of A New Hope from the character's perspective, starting with the preparations for the boarding and ending with his death. The story included flashbacks to the character's life and training, some of which have been contradicted by more recent sources, thus rendering the story non-canon. The comic stated that the character was born on the previously unmentioned planet of Greater Marianas, where he lived with his father, an old-time yaggie man, and spent his days hunting yaggies for meat and hide, while listening to his father talk about the equality and freedom of all men—ideas that the character disliked. His life changed when an Imperial landing party arrived at a settlement on Greater Marianas, announcing that the planet was now under Imperial protection. When the character's father protested, the officer in command of the Imperials ordered a stormtrooper to shoot him dead as an example to the locals. Seeing the end of his old life, the character begged the Imperial officer to take him with them. To prove his willingness to follow orders, the officer instructed him to execute a random member of the crowd, an eyepatched man. The character took the SE-14r light repeating blaster offered by the officer and shot the fellow yaggie man in cold blood. He did not see it as evil, but as common sense: his way off Greater Marianas.

The character then underwent brutal training to become a stormtrooper. The first test involved killing his fellow recruits. The training officer gave a single standard issue E-11 blaster rifle to a group of recruits, announcing that the first to kill five others would be accepted into stormtrooper training. The character was the third to complete the task, and thus had to kill ten fellow recruits. After the exercise, the officer ordered the survivors to clean up the training ground and report to the quartermaster. Subsequent panels of the comic depicted further training exercises that required the Recruit to risk his own life and the lives of his fellow recruits. He participated in climbing, shooting exercises, and swamp and melee combat training, all designed to strip him of his humanity and individuality, instill complete obedience to orders, and value victory above all else, including his own life. As a trooper, he became almost indifferent to the deaths of his comrades and the atrocities he was ordered to commit. The next flashback showed the character's life after completing the training: the Trooper was able to leave Greater Marianas and was provided with food, lodging, and equipment. He traveled the galaxy, saw worlds he had never imagined, and did things he was not proud of, such as burning villages and killing innocents. Later, two fellow stormtroopers brought a dreadlocked Human prisoner before the Trooper. The Human insulted the troopers, and his words reminded the Trooper of his father, so he shot him dead and told the others to find another prisoner instead. This was the final flashback, and the story returned to the events of the film just before the breaking of the Tantive IV's hatch.

During his career, he participated in numerous boarding missions and witnessed many others go in first and die. When the Devastator captured the Tantive IV, the Trooper and the rest of the boarding party gathered in one of the Star Destroyer's hangars, where Lord Vader inspected them and instructed the Sergeant, who was in command of the boarding party, to take the mission seriously. The Trooper noticed that a fellow stormtrooper behind him was frightened by Vader's appearance and angry outburst, while he cursed the day he ever joined the Empire. As he had done every time he was part of a boarding party, the Trooper silently prayed not to be chosen to go in first, as the first one was usually the first to die. However, his luck ran out, as the Sergeant selected him to go in first. The Trooper vowed to himself that he would defect from the Empire if he survived the mission. He placed a charge on the hatch of the Tantive IV and detonated it to startle the Rebels inside the ship. The plan worked, and he entered alive, but the Sergeant was shot by the Rebels just behind him. As they moved deeper into the enemy ship, the character noticed that two droids—a clear reference to protocol droid C-3PO and astromech droid R2-D2—ruined the Trooper's aim at a Rebel when they moved through an ongoing firefight. After the ship was secured, Vader ordered the stormtroopers to search for the passengers. While searching for Organa, the character was thinking about a TIE pilot who deserted after being ordered to kill thousands of innocents, and he was also contemplating his own upcoming desertion. The character's final moments played out somewhat differently in the comic compared to the film. In the comic, the thoughts of desertion distracted the Trooper, who became aware of Organa, whom he found the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, only moments before she shot him in the face—instead of hitting him on the chestplate, as in the film. As he lay dying, the Trooper heard DV-692's shot that hit Organa, and in his final moments, after hearing his superior say that Organa would be all right, the Trooper realized that he, however, would not.