One of the few Imperial officers who never incurred Darth Vader’s wrath, and the able commander of the ominous Executor throughout much of the Galactic Civil War. Piett, who received several promotions after his predecessors enraged Vader, remained a confident and ruthless leader despite the demands of his position. His competence was rewarded shortly before the Battle of Endor, when he was given command of the entire Imperial fleet. He served with characteristic dedication until he met a grisly demise aboard the Executor.

Like many of his contemporaries, Admiral Piett worked his way up the Imperial ranks by carefully avoiding the ire of superiors. When he found himself under Vader’s command on the Executor, Piett became even more cautious, determined to avoid any errors. Admiral Ozzel, Piett’s direct supervisor, was not as wise. In fact, Ozzel continually displeased Lord Vader. First, the inept commander failed to recognize the Rebel presence on Hoth. Next, he botched the initial invasion of the ice planet and inadvertently allowed the Rebels time to raise their planetary defense shield. Enraged that he would be forced to deploy ground troops to destroy the Rebel base, Vader murdered Ozzel and appointed Piett to the post of admiral.

Admiral Piett only made two mistakes during his distinguished career. The first was allowing the Millennium Falcon to escape Cloud City. Curiously, Vader did not punish Piett for this shortcoming. Instead, Piett was given command of the entire Imperial fleet. Piett’s second error occurred at the Battle of Endor, when the admiral became convinced that the Rebel fighters posed no threat to his massive Super Star Destroyer. Yet a pair of A-wings managed to destroy the Executor’s deflector shield generators, and soon after a third A-wing smashed into the Super Star Destroyer’s bridge. The Executor spun wildly out of control and collided into the surface of the second Death Star, where it was consumed in a massive explosion and all hands aboard were lost.

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