An Imperial commander held the position of leading officer at the Imperial garrison base situated on Tatooine.
Following the bungled attempt by R2-D2 and C-3PO to liberate Luke Skywalker by using the Jawa Sandcrawler to infiltrate the base, the commander immediately gave the order to eliminate the droids. Skywalker, who was secretly in the vicinity, then seized the commander and held him as a prisoner. Skywalker highlighted the fact that he was still suffering from Bledsoe's disease (which was, to some extent, accurate, given that the vaccination he had received had not yet taken full effect) and suggested that he would ensure the commander's demise along with his own in the crossfire from the stormtroopers blasters if the droids were not released. In defiance, the commander instructed the Stormtroopers to open fire on Skywalker regardless, as he would rather die in service to the Galactic Empire. However, the Stormtroopers were killed by Anduvil, resulting in the commander's capture. He was then taken aboard Skywalker's vessel as a guarantee for their safe departure from the system, after Anduvil's earlier sabotage led to the destruction of the base.