Pol Treidum

Pol Treidum
Biographical information
Died	0 BBY, Death Star
Descriptive information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Brown
Skin color	Light
Chronological and political information
Affiliation(s)	Galactic Empire Imperial Officer Corps

"TK-421, why aren't you at your post? TK-421, do you copy?"

―Pol Treidum

Pol Treidum was a a male human who served as an officer in the Galactic Empire's military. In 0 BBY, he held the rank of lieutenant and was stationed aboard the first Death Star. A gantry officer, he helmed the command office that overlooked Docking Bay 327 alongside an aide. One day, he noticed that two stormtroopers were missing from their stations at the landing ramp of the captured starship Millennium Falcon.

After an unsuccessful attempt to hail TK-421 via comlink, Treidum saw a stormtrooper coming down the ramp of the Falcon and waving to the control room window, tapping at the side of his helmet. Taking this to mean there was a faulty transmitter, the lieutenant asked his aide to take over while he went to check on the problem. But when the door slid open, Treidum was knocked back into the room by the fist of the Wookiee Chewbacca, who was part of the Falcon's crew. Almost at the same time, the lieutenant's aide was blasted by the Wookiee's colleague Han Solo, disguised as a stormtrooper.

Biography

327 problems, and a Wookiee is one

"Take over. We've got a bad transmitter. I'll see what I can do."

―Pol Treidum to his aide

Pol Treidum was a human male who served in the Imperial Officer Corps of the Galactic Empire. In 0 BBY, he held the rank of lieutenant and served as a gantry officer on board the first Death Star superweapon, working in a command office that overlooked Docking Bay 327. Shortly after the destruction of the planet Alderaan, a YT-1300 light freighter was pulled into the docking bay by tractor beam after it neared the Death Star in the Alderaan system. Captain Edmos Khurgee, the security officer in charge of Docking Bay 327, waited as Treidum carried out the best exterior scan of the vessel he could with the limited equipment available to him. The scan information was cross referenced with registry searches and images of the captured vessel, allowing the Imperials to identify it as the Millennium Falcon, a vessel that had recently fled from Imperial forces on the planet Tatooine.

Khurgee then had men enter the vessel and search it, after which the Sith Lord Darth Vader arrived in the hangar; however, Khurgee reported that the Falcon's crew had a abandoned ship and that the vessel was empty. Vader, Khurgee, and the majority of stormtroopers in the hangar then left, leaving only Scanning crew BT-445 to scan the ship's interior and two stormtroopers to guard the entry ramp: TK-421 and TK-710. The ship's crew had not in fact abandoned ship, subduing the scanning crew and then luring in the two guards and knocking them out to steal their armor. From up in the command office, Treidum noted the stormtroopers' absence, and attempted to reach TK-421 over comms. When there was no response he frowned and moved to the office's forward bay window, where he witnessed Luke Skywalker, one of the Falcon's crew disguised as TK-421, emerge from the vessel.

Skywalker tapped his helmet, which Treidum took to mean that the stormtrooper's transmitter was faulty. He reported as such to his aide, another Imperial officer also in the command office, and told him to take over while the lieutenant went to try and help out with the transmitter. However, upon opening the office door to leave and take a turbolift down to the hangar, Treidum discovered the rest of the Falcon's crew including the Wookiee Chewbacca, who struck the officer, smashing him into several nearby barrel-shaped containers and killing him.

Laying among the barrels

"Take over. See to him."

―TD-787 orders one of his men to see to Treidum's corpse

Chewbacca's partner, Han Solo, then shot Treidum's aide, giving the Falcon's crew control of the office. The crew left the two Imperials' corpses where they had fallen, and after all but the intruders' droids had left the office, a squad of stormtroopers commanded by TD-110 arrived to search the office and discovered the dead. The trooper TD-787, who was on point, gave the order for one of his men to see to Treidum, before discovering the droids hiding in the room's utility closet. The droid C-3PO claimed that those responsible for attacking the office had headed to the prison level, prompting all the stormtroopers to rush off bar TD-110, who remained to stand guard but let the droids leave.

Personality and traits

Treidum had light skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. A testy individual, his career was ultimately ended by the very type of infiltrators he had always feared.

Equipment

Treidum wore a black Imperial officer's uniform which included a cap with an officer's disk. His uniform also include a black belt with another officer's disk and a holster for his blaster pistol, black boots, a rank insignia plaque with four blue squares, and a code cylinder on each breast.

Behind the scenes

"Well hello there, what can I do for you tod… Waaaahhh!"

―Pol Tredium's dialogue in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Peter Sumner portrayed Pol Treidum in the 1977 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In the current Star Wars canon, the character's surname was first provided in the 2017 reference book Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z. The character's forename was then used in the English release of "The Rise of the Rebellion and the Battle of Yavin," an entry in De Agostini's Star Wars Encyclopedia series that was originally released in Spanish on March 9, 2021. The name originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first used on a card in the 1996 A New Hope Limited set of cards for the Star Wars Customizable Card Game made by Decipher, Inc.

Geektionary describes Treidum as seeing both troopers return to their posts, whereas the film shows him seeing only the disguised Skywalker. The 2018 Star Wars: A New Hope Graphic Novel Adaptation depicts Treidum wearing a gray Imperial officers' uniform rather than black. The Rise of a Hero, a 2017 adaptation of the original trilogy by Louise Simonson, describes the crew of the Falcon as entering an empty office rather than encountering Treidum. A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy, a 2015 adaptation of A New Hope by Alexandra Bracken, describes Skywalker as accompanying the rest of the Falcon's crew up to the office immediately rather than tricking Treidum. The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem, a 2021 adaptation of the original trilogy, calls the unnamed Treidum a captain.

In the 2022 non-canon video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Tredium and his aide are watching a video of a nexu playing piano when they hear doorbell for the control room ring. Tredium opens the door and greets Chewbacca, Skywalker and Solo in a friendly manner but is cut off when Chewbacca forces a stormtrooper helmet over the officer's head. The Wookiee then punches Tredium in the face, causing the helmet to spin round on his head as he collapses.

Appearances

• The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem
• Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (First appearance)
• A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy (and audiobook)
• Star Wars: A New Hope junior novelization
• A New Hope - The Film Novel
• Star Wars: A New Hope Graphic Novel Adaptation
• Star Wars: A New Hope Cinestory Comic
• "Bump" — From a Certain Point of View (and audiobook) (Indirect mention only)

Non-canon appearances

• William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (and audiobook)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Sources

• Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z (First identified as Treidum)
• "The Rise of the Rebellion and the Battle of Yavin" — Star Wars Encyclopedia (First identified as Pol in English version only)

Notes and references

In other languages

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