- "Let me see your identification."
"You don't need to see his identification."
"We don't need to see his identification." - ―TD-110 and Obi-Wan Kenobi
Wanten, designated TD-110 and DSS-0956, was a human male officer of the First Order and a former stormtrooper of the Galactic Empire. During the Galactic Civil War, TD-110 served on board the first Death Star in the days prior to the Battle of Yavin. He was also deployed to the Outer Rim world of Tatooine as a sandtrooper commander, attempting to reacquire the stolen Death Star plans from the rebel droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Like other Imperial officers and soldiers, Wanten supported the First Order after the Galactic Empire surrendered to the New Republic and ultimately became a commander in its military forces in the Unknown Regions. Stationed on Starkiller Base during the early days of the First Order-Resistance War, Wanten was killed by J-Squadron when the Resistance attacked the First Order superweapon.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Wanten[6] was born on Parsh[1] between 20 to 13 BBY,[2] where he was part of a clan that eked out a living on the harsh world. When the Galactic Empire arrived on the world, they put the clan to work in mines for them. At some point later, he became a stormtrooper in the Imperial Military and was designated TD-110.[1]
Hunt for the rebel droids[]
- "These aren't the droids you're looking for."
"These aren't the droids we're looking for."
"He can go about his business."
"You can go about your business."
"Move along."
"Move along. Move along." - ―Obi-Wan Kenobi and TD-110
In 0 BBY, he served as a sandtrooper commander[7] and captain,[9] and led Foot Patrol 7 based in Mos Eisley on Tatooine following the secret mission to Tatooine. While on patrol in the city, he and his unit stopped and questioned an old man, a teenager, a protocol droid, and an astromech droid on a speeder eventually letting the group pass after TD-110 was unknowingly mind tricked into doing so.[7] Foot Patrol 7 were later called to reinforce other units by Commander TD-4445 during a skirmish to prevent the Millennium Falcon from leaving one of the city's landing bays, but they did not reach the hangar in time.[7]
Serving aboard the Death Star[]
- "Oh! All this excitement has overrun the circuits of my counterpart here. If you don't mind, I'd like to take him down to maintenance."
"All right." - ―C-3PO and TD-110
Wanten eventually traveled to the Death Star around the time Princess Leia Organa was rescued. Wanten had gained an awful headache as an aftereffect of the mind trick, which meant he had to give command of his troops to one of his subordinates. During his time on the Death Star, he realized that the droids he encountered in Mos Eisley were the droids the Empire had been looking for, as they contained the Death Star plans.[1]
On the way to Control Room 327 to control a skirmish there, he hit his head on the doorway and was briefly incapacitated, sparing him the death that met the other stormtroopers assigned there. Coming to, he noticed the droids that had eluded him and tried to shoot them in an attempt to redeem himself. However, he was stopped by a Moff who escorted him away for discipline. As a result of his mistakes, he was removed from his post on the Death Star.[1] This allowed him to avoid its destruction in the Battle of Yavin that took the lives of his comrades.[8] However, this left Wanten on Tatooine, who would later be disappointed about having missed the "important" battles, such as Endor and Jakku.[6]
First Order service[]
Decades later, during the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance, Wanten[6][10] served as a commander in the First Order military and was stationed on Vodran, where he hoped to eventually be promoted to the Bittelari Cluster.[6] When the Resistance destroyed Starkiller Base, Wanten was rammed by a Griffin-class light shuttle by J-Squadron which killed him.[4]
Personality and traits[]
- "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded."
- ―Obi-Wan Kenobi
A human male, Wanten had a thick trunk, beady blue eyes, and a Corellian nose that made it difficult to wear a stormtrooper helmet comfortably. By 34 ABY, he was bald, and his once-athletic body had turned fat.[6]
Wanten was weak-willed, and therefore, easily susceptible to the influence of the Force.[8] According to his subordinate Sardis Ramsin, he often said everything twice.[7]
Behind the scenes[]
Wanten is a combination of multiple stormtrooper characters, and as such, multiple actors. The individual who played the mind-tricked sandtrooper on Tatooine was Anthony Forrest, who also portrayed the character Laze Loneozner in a scene cut from the same film, A New Hope.[11] For a great deal of time, Loneozner's role as the stormtrooper remained unknown to the Star Wars fandom until an image of him on set in costume, albeit with the helmet off, surfaced.[12]
The head-bumping trooper was played by an uncredited actor in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.[8] While entering his scene, the actor playing the stormtrooper inadvertently bumped his head on a door frame. Wanten was later identified in the short stories "Born in the Storm" and "Bump" from the 2017 anthology book From a Certain Point of View[7][1] as well as the novel Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran, both of which were released on the same day.
Laurie Goode once recalled bumping his head on set while playing a stormtrooper, leading many fans to believe that he may have portrayed the trooper.[13] Michael Leader recalled a similar event, and when the actor died in 2016, at least one media obituary identified him as the actor.[14]
In the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, director George Lucas paid homage to the "head-bumping stormtrooper" bump scene by having Jango Fett bump his head on the door of the Slave I.[15] In the 2004 DVD re-release of the Star Wars original trilogy, the scene was enhanced with a sound effect to draw more attention to it.[16] In the DVD commentary of Attack of the Clones, Lucas suggested that Jango Fett's "bumping-head trait" was cloned into all the stormtroopers, implying that Wanten was a clone.[17] However, this was contradicted by Wanten's backstory in From a Certain Point of View.[1]
Appearances[]
- The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem
- Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (First appearance)
- Star Wars Treasury: The Original Trilogy
- Star Wars: A New Hope junior novelization
- A New Hope - The Film Novel (Indirect mention only)
- Star Wars in Pictures: The Original Trilogy
- Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel
- "Born in the Storm" — From a Certain Point of View (and audiobook) (First identified as TD-110)
- "A Bad Feeling About This" — The Original Trilogy Stories (and audiobook)
- "Bump" — From a Certain Point of View (and audiobook)
- Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures — "R2-D2 and C3PO – Trash Compactor Rescue"
- Star Wars: Hunters (Sticker only)
- Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran (and audiobook) (First identified as Wanten)
- Join the Resistance: Attack on Starkiller Base (and audiobook)
Non-canon appearances[]
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Bump" — From a Certain Point of View
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran establishes that Wanten was a teenager during the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. According to Star Wars: Galactic Atlas, the events of A New Hope took place in 0 BBY/0 ABY. Using this information, it can be calculated that in order for him to be a teenager then, Wanten must have been born between 20 BBY and 13 BBY.
- ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Join the Resistance: Attack on Starkiller Base
- ↑ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 "Born in the Storm" — From a Certain Point of View
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- ↑ The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem
- ↑ NYCC 2017: Highlights from the From a Certain Point of View Author Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ Billy Dee Williams, Alan Tudyk Announced for Star Wars Celebration Chicago on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ "Let Me See Your Identification" — Star Wars Insider 216
- ↑ Star Wars Interviews — Laurie Goode interview on Blogspot (backup link)
- ↑ Stormtrooper who bonked head in original Star Wars movie has died by Fashingbauer Cooper, Gael on CNet (August 26, 2016) (archived from the original on September 11, 2020)
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
- ↑ Star Wars Trilogy DVD
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones DVD commentary