A member of Palpatine's Dark Empire, who was the reborn Galactic Emperor, was a Guardsman of the Emperor's Royal Guard. The Guardsman went with the Emperor to the planet Onderon in 11 ABY, during an attempted abduction of the Force-sensitive infant Anakin Solo. The Guardsman remained at the Emperor's shuttle in Iziz, the capital city. When Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and his New Republic allies attacked the shuttle, the Guardsman fought Rayf Ysanna, a young Jedi trainee, but was defeated. He was wounded and then went to the Kira Fortress, where Palpatine had gone to kidnap the Solo child.
However, the Emperor had already been killed when the Guardsman got to the fortress. Instead, the Guardsman observed the New Republic interrogating the captive Emperor's physician. The physician confessed to his involvement in a conspiracy against the Emperor, orchestrated by Guardsman Carnor Jax, which led to Palpatine's death. The Guardsman fled Onderon and journeyed to the Imperial Royal Guard Academy on Yinchorr, where he revealed this information to fellow Royal Guards. Jax's forces then launched a surprise attack, resulting in the Guardsman's death and the deaths of almost all the other Guards, except for Kir Kanos, who vowed to avenge the Empire by killing all the traitors.
During the Galactic Civil War, a male Human was a member of the Emperor's Royal Guard, an elite corps, serving the incarnation of the Galactic Empire led by the clone Galactic Emperor Palpatine. In 11 ABY, the Guardsman went with Palpatine's ailing clone to the planet Onderon aboard the Emperor's flagship, the Eclipse II.
Because the Emperor was in his final clone body, with no other vessel available to transfer his spirit, he hoped to use Anakin, the newborn Force-sensitive son of Leia Organa Solo, a Jedi, as a new host. The Solos were at the Royal Kira Fortress with Modon Kira, the Onderonian King, so the Emperor decided to go there. Palpatine boarded a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle with his personal physician, two Dark Side Adepts, and some stormtroopers. The Guardsman, along with one other Royal Guard member, was chosen to join his master's entourage.
The Emperor traveled on foot to the Kira Fortress with his physician and the darksider T'iaz after the shuttle landed at the spaceport in Iziz, the capital city. The Guardsman and the rest of the entourage stayed at the shuttle to make it seem like the Emperor was still on board. Soon, New Republic reinforcements, led by Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Master, arrived on Onderon to capture the Emperor. They assaulted the Imperial forces, believing Palpatine was still on the shuttle.
The Guardsman and his comrade fought Skywalker and Rayf Ysanna, his young Jedi trainee. Skywalker killed the other Guard, but the Guardsman who fought Ysanna was only wounded by the young Jedi, who mistakenly thought he had killed him and left. After learning the Emperor was not on the shuttle, the Jedi went to the fortress to confront Palpatine and help Organa Solo.
After regaining consciousness, the Guardsman went to the fortress to help his master, but he was too late; the Emperor had been killed. T'iaz, one of the two companions who had gone with the Emperor to the fortress, had also been killed, but Skywalker and his allies had taken the Emperor's physician prisoner. The Guardsman hid and listened as Skywalker and Han Solo, his brother-in-law, interrogated the doctor.
The Guardsman was shocked to hear the physician confess that Carnor Jax, a Royal Guardsman, and members of the Imperial Ruling Council had bribed him to sabotage Palpatine's clone supply, causing them to deteriorate quickly, and to contaminate the DNA samples to prevent the production of new, stable clones. After learning about this treachery by Jax, one of his own, the Guardsman escaped the fortress and left Onderon. Imperial forces loyal to Jax pursued the Guardsman, who was determined to tell his brothers-in-arms the truth.
Ten days after the Emperor's death, the man arrived at the Imperial Royal Guard Academy on Yinchorr, where the surviving Royal Guard members had gathered to mourn Palpatine. The Guardsman, bruised and battered, told the others about Jax's treachery, and they all vowed revenge on the traitors. At that moment, Jax's loyalist stormtroopers assaulted the training center. The Royal Guard fought bravely, but almost all of them, including the Onderon survivor, were killed by the enemy. Kir Kanos was the only survivor who escaped and eventually avenged his betrayed brothers.
The Guardsman was extremely loyal to his Galactic Emperor, Palpatine. Even after being wounded in battle with Rayf Ysanna, the young Jedi novice, his first thought was to help Palpatine. After learning about the physician's treachery, he made it his personal goal to inform his fellow Royal Guard members about what he had heard at the Kira Fortress. The Guardsman risked his life to evade Carnor Jax's agents and successfully reached Yinchorr with his information.
As a member of the elite Royal Guard, he was one of the two Guardsmen chosen to accompany Palpatine on his final mission to Onderon. Despite his skills, he was outmatched by Rayf Ysanna, the Jedi trainee, in a duel. However, he later showed great skill in fighting the forces that hunted him after he escaped from Onderon.
The individual wore the standard crimson armor of the Emperor's Royal Guard. At the time of his death, he used a double vibroblade and a blaster pistol.
The Royal Guardsman first appeared in Empire's End 2, a comic book from 1995 written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Jim Baikie. The comic showed him and another Royal Guard fighting Luke Skywalker and Rayf Ysanna in a single panel. The Star Wars: Crimson Empire series from 1997–1998, written by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley and illustrated by Paul Gulacy, created a backstory for one of those Guardsmen, showing his escape from Onderon with important information about Carnor Jax's betrayal.
The audio dramatization of Crimson Empire from 1999 combined this Guardsman's story with that of Kile Hannad, another Guardsman from the comic-book version. During the stormtrooper attack on Yinchorr, Hannad and Kir Kanos are the last two Guardsmen alive, and Hannad sacrifices himself to allow Kanos to escape. However, the original comic book portrays Hannad as a separate character and shows that the survivor of Onderon had already been killed by the stormtroopers before Hannad's last stand. This article assumes the comic's depiction of events is correct.