Praji

"Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship and no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting but no life forms were aboard."

―Commander Praji, to Darth Vader^[1]

Praji was a male human who served as a commander in the Imperial Military.^[3] In 0 BBY,^[4] he served on the Devastator, Darth Vader's flagship, where he was tasked with capturing R2-D2 and C-3PO on Tatooine.

Biography[]

Imperial commander[]

Praji grew up in wealth and privilege, just like many of his rivals. After distinguishing himself both academically and as an officer, he became an honored commander in the Officer Corps of the Galactic Empire.^[5] In 0 BBY,^[6] he was stationed on board the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator as key aide to the Sith Lord Darth Vader^[5] when the Star Destroyer pursued the rebel CR90 corvette Tantive IV following the Battle of Scarif. During the battle, the plans to the Imperial Death Star superweapon had been stolen and transferred onto the Tantive IV, and Vader aimed to retrieve them. The Devastator disabled the corvette above the planet Tatooine and had soon captured and successfully boarded the ship.^[2]

Once on board, Praji was tasked with quickly making his way to the corvette's main computer room to search for the Death Star plans and any other useful information stored in the computer banks before the rebels had the chance to destroy it. To achieve this task he used the modified R4 astromech droid R4-M9,^[2] who was escorted through the ship by stormtroopers with^[1] fellow Imperial droid R2-Q2.^[7] However, the plans had already been removed from the computer by rebel Princess Leia Organa,^[8] who then had the droid R2-D2 carry them off ship in an escape pod. Once it became clear that the plans were not in the main computer, a report was sent to Vader.^[1]

Praji later stopped Vader^[9] and Commander Daine Jir^[2] in one of the Tantive IV's corridors and reported that the plans were no where to be found on the corvette. He also informed the Sith that no transmissions had been made by the rebels, but that one escape pod with no life forms aboard had been launched and made it to the surface of Tatooine below.^[1] Correctly deducing that the plans must have been in the pod, Vader dispatched Praji to Tatooine,^[2] ordering that he personally see to it that a detachment of troops was sent to the planet to recover the plans.^[1] The commander then supervised the preparation of^[10] a squad of desert stormtroopers that were then dispatched in a Sentinel-class landing craft^[2] from one of the Devastator's hangars.^[10] After failing to pick up the plans with their scanners, the team landed in Mos Eisley spaceport.^[11] Praji ordered the troopers to begin searching for the plans at once, but ultimately they failed to stop the plans leaving Tatooine in rebel hands.^[2]

Personality and traits[]

Praji was a light-skinned human with brown hair and blue eyes.^[1]

Equipment[]

Praji was equipped with a black military uniform including a kepi with an officer's disc. He also wore two code cylinders and an Imperial rank insignia plaque with four blue tiles and two amber tiles.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

"Do you remember your initial impressions of the movie?"
"Absolutely. "What is this all about?" I don't think anyone knew [what Star Wars was], except maybe George Lucas, and I'm not sure he knew all the time!"

―Scott Chernoff and George Roubicek on Celebration IV^[12]

Praji was played uncredited by George Roubicek in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the first installment of the Star Wars original trilogy.^[1] Praji's lines, however, were dubbed by an American actor, so Praji's voice didn't at all resemble Roubicek's.^[13] In Star Wars Legends, the character's first name was established as "Nahdonnis."^[14]

Praji's appearance was in the Tantive IV sequence shot over three days in July 1976 at the virtual end of Episode IV's principal photography, on the Tantive IV main corridor set erected on Stage 9 of Elstree Studios, just at the north of London.^[12] Praji was addressed as "Second Officer" in the revised fourth draft script of A New Hope, in which Vader orders fellow officer Daine Jir rather than Praji to "send a detachment down", as shown in the Star Wars: Behind the Magic and Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays.^[15]^[16]