TK-710

"You think these guys ever heard of bathing? Mine smells like the guy slept in it."

―Han Solo complains about TK-710's armor —

TK-710 was the designation of a human male stormtrooper who served the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. In the year 0 BBY, he was stationed aboard the first Death Star battle station when the YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon was pulled in by the station's tractor beams. TK-710 and fellow stormtrooper TK-421 were posted to guard the ship's entrance in Docking Bay 327 while a scanning crew checked the interior of the vessel. The Falcon's crew ambushed the scanning crew and then impersonated them in order to lure TK-710 and TK-421 inside, incapacitating the stormtroopers and taking their armor.

Biography[]

Tricked aboard the Falcon[]

"Hey, down there! Could you give us a hand with this?"

―Han Solo lures TK-710 and TK-421 onto the Millennium Falcon —

Listen (file info)^[3]

TK-710 was the designation^[5] of an Imperial stormtrooper during the Galactic Civil War.^[3] In the year 0 BBY,^[6] TK-710 served aboard the Empire's first Death Star battle station^[3] with a security level of Zeta^[5] while it was in the Alderaan system to destroy the rebel-affiliated planet Alderaan as a display of Imperial might. Shortly after the planet's destruction,^[3] the YT-1300 light freighter^[7] known as the Millennium Falcon was pulled into Docking Bay 327 aboard the Death Star by tractor beams. After stormtroopers searched the freighter,^[3] Captain Edmos Khurgee, commander of the hangar, pulled back the remaining search teams and left TK-710 and TK-421 as a minimal guard^[8] at the entry ramp.^[3]

TK421ScanningCrew-ANH — The stormtrooper TK-710 (right) stood guard outside the *Millennium Falcon*.

A scanning crew was sent aboard with a large box of equipment to scan the entire vessel for lifeforms; however, before they could begin, they were ambushed^[3] and stunned^[9] by Chewbacca and Han Solo,^[2] creating a loud crash that the troopers did not investigate^[3] as they assumed the scanning crew had dropped their box.^[10] Solo then impersonated one of the crew and called down to TK-710 and TK-421, asking them for help with the equipment. The two troopers glanced at each other,^[3] but unaware of what had happened to the scanning crew,^[10] were unsurprised that the scanning crew needed help after dropping their equipment^[11] and made their way up the freighter's boarding ramp,^[3] walking into a trap set by Solo and his ally Luke Skywalker.^[12]

Once the pair was on board, Chewbacca, Solo, and Skywalker jumped them.^[11] TK-710 and TK-421 were quick in reaching for their guns, but Solo outdrew them^[2] and fired his blaster pistol twice.^[10] The struggle was brief,^[11] and with no idea what had hit them,^[10] the incapacitated stormtroopers fell just as hard as the scanning crew.^[2] Solo and Skywalker stripped the two troopers of their armor after Solo gave Skywalker the choice of which armor he wanted.^[3] The troopers' unconscious bodies were stowed safely in the Falcon's smuggling compartments.^[13]

An impersonated Imperial[]

Han luke stormarmor — Han Solo used TK-710's armor as a disguise aboard the Death Star.

With the two troopers knocked out,^[14] Solo took TK-710's stormtrooper armor while Skywalker took TK-421's. Their disguises allowed the pair to sneak through the Death Star in a successful effort to rescue the imprisoned Princess Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance.^[3]

The repair droid MSE-6-G735Y encountered the disguised pair during their journey through the Death Star and recognized the two troopers' armor, noting to itself that someone other than TK-421 was wearing his armor, but Chewbacca scared the droid away before it could act on the discovery. The Empire later became aware of what had happened to TK-710 and TK-421 after TK-421's corpse was discovered hidden in a crawl space.^[5]

Personality and traits[]

TK-710 was a human^[1] male. Han Solo was impressed by how quickly TK-710 reached for his gun on board the Millennium Falcon, although the trooper was still not fast enough to save himself. Upon donning TK-710's armor, Solo discovered that the helmet had an odor of bad breath, and he complained that it smelled as though the trooper had slept in it.^[2]

Equipment[]

TK-710 wore stormtrooper armor and carried an E-11 medium blaster rifle and an N-20 Baradium-core thermal detonator.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

Filming and name[]

TK-710 first appeared in the 1977 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The character was played by an uncredited extra^[3] in a scene filmed at some point between May 19 and June 1, 1976 on sound stage 3 at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, England.^[15] Stephen Bayley, who played TK-421, has said that he never knew the name of the extra playing TK-710 but described him as an older gentleman whom he suspected had passed away by 2016.^[16]

The stormtrooper's canon designation was revealed as TK-710 by the short story "Of MSE-6 and Men," which was written by Glen Weldon as part of the anthology book From a Certain Point of View,^[5] published on October 3, 2017.^[17] In the Star Wars LINE Webtoon, written by Hong Jac Ga, which began publishing on April 10, 2015,^[18] TK-710 is referred to as "TX-4120";^[19] however, LucasBooks executive editor Jennifer Heddle has stated that the comic series is ambiguously canon, so this article assumes that the designation used in From a Certain Point of View is correct.^[20]

For Star Wars Legends, the character first appeared in the^[21] November 12, 1976^[22] novelization of A New Hope by Alan Dean Foster.^[21] The stormtrooper eventually received the designation TK-422 in Legends as part of the 1998 Special Edition Limited expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game.^[23] This designation was also used in canon in the English release of "The Rise of the Rebellion and the Battle of Yavin," an entry in De Agostini's Star Wars Encyclopedia^[24] series that was originally released in Spanish on March 9, 2021.^[25] This article treats the narrative source "Of MSE-6 and Men" as accurate^[5] over the non-narrative "The Rise of the Rebellion and the Battle of Yavin."^[24]

Continuity[]

The February 10, 2015^[26] Episode IV: A New Hope Read-Along Storybook and CD by Randy Thornton describes Solo, Skywalker and Chewbacca as knocking out guards and stealing their uniforms after agreeing to rescue Organa,^[14] contradicting the film.^[3] The Skywalker Saga, a 2019 adaptation of the films by Delilah S. Dawson, describes Solo and Chewbacca knocking out two stormtroopers who come aboard the Falcon for inspection while the ship is seemingly empty,^[27] which also contradicts the film.^[3]

Jack Mitchell's The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem,^[13] released September 28, 2021,^[28] states that Solo fires three shots at the troopers,^[13] whereas the film has only two audible,^[3] and then has Chewbacca strip them of their armor,^[13] contradicting the description of Solo and Skywalker stripping the armor in A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy,^[2] a September 22, 2015^[29] adaptation of A New Hope by Alexandra Bracken.^[2] Due to the extensive artistic license taken in adapting A New Hope for The Odyssey of Star Wars,^[13] this article assumes that the closer adaptation in The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy is accurate.^[2]

TheFollyOfTK421 — Chris Trevas's "The Folly of TK-421"

The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, Tony DiTerlizzi's 2014 adaptation of the original trilogy, states that the stormtroopers knocked out by Skywalker and Solo had remained on the Millennium Falcon after it was searched^[30] rather than being called up by Solo as they are in the film.^[3] Chris Trevas's illustration "The Folly of TK-421" shows one of the blaster bolts heard in A New Hope coming from the weapon of TK-421 while TK-710 is grabbed by Chewbacca;^[31] however, this contradicts^[2] the May 4, 2017,^[32] Star Wars: A New Hope junior novelization by Ryder Windham and The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy, both of which state Solo fired twice to take out the troopers. This article assumes the narrative sources to be correct.^[10]^[2] The LINE Webtoon depicts TK-421 and a second trooper referred to as TX-4120 searching the ship rather than standing guard, with Solo grabbing one of their legs from within a smuggling compartment before Obi-Wan Kenobi activates his lightsaber. Pol Treidum's aide then attempts to contact both stormtroopers over comms and fails instead of Treidum seeing the disguised Skywalker.^[19]

LEGO[]

TK-710 appears in the 2022 non-canon video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga in a cutscene adapting the events of the film. In the scene, he and TK-421 carry the scanning crew's crate on board the Falcon while Vader is still speaking with Khurgee. The officer reacts in shock while Vader remains oblivious to the sound of blaster fire from within the ship, followed by one of the troopers being thrown onto the boarding ramp before being dragged back inside by Chewbacca. Solo then begins to disembark in TK-710's armor, but is rapidly pulled back on board before Vader sees him. Still none the wiser, Vader leaves with a confused Khurgee.^[33]