Davin Felth Davin Felth was a member of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps during the early years of the Galactic Civil War . A graduate of the elite Imperial Army training program at the Academy of Carida , Felth exposed a potentially critical weakness in the All Terrain Armored Transport design . Rather than rewarding the cadet for his brilliance , Colonel Maximilian Veers buried Felth in the Imperial Army ' s infantry division to mask the design flaw . Under the designation 1023 , Sergeant Felth was assigned to the desert planet Tatooine as part of the Desert Sands sandtrooper detachment , tasked with the recovery of the stolen plans to the first Death Star . Felth discovered in the sands of the Dune Sea the escape pod used to effect the escape of the droids C - 3PO and R2 - D2 from Imperial forces , the latter of which was attempting to deliver the plans to the Alliance to Restore the Republic . Felth later killed his commanding officer , Captain Mod Terrik , after tracking the droids to the Mos Eisley spaceport as part of a reawakening process in which he came to believe the Empire he lived to serve was evil . Biography . Early life and indoctrination . Davin Felth was born sometime around the founding of the Galactic Empire . He was raised to believe in the integrity and honor of the New Order , so much so that he was inspired to enlist in the Imperial Army as an eighteen - year - old not long prior to the Battle of Yavin . On his homeworld , Felth believed joining the ranks of the Imperial Military was all fun and games . Becoming a part of the Emperor ' s elite forces invoked in him a sensation of adolescent pride . Felth was shipped to the Imperial training world of Carida for basic training at the Academy of Carida , the toughest training facility in the galaxy , along with an induction class of 120 other wide - eyed eighteen - year - olds . As soon as he departed his transport shuttle , however , his romantic ideas of a career in the military were quickly dashed . The impression created by rumors of a seemingly wonderful life on Carida ' s multi - climate world was soon destroyed with the harsh introduction to what a life in the Imperial Military truly entailed . Felth and his fellow recruits were hammered with an incomprehensible barrage of shouting and orders from a welcoming committee of superiors meant to intimidate the youths . It was all Felth could do to simply scream back in response , adding to the confusion , a ploy that succeeded in diverting attention from himself . To Felth , his initial experience with military life was a rude awakening to what the next six months of his life would hold in store . With only a blue duffel bag of belongings from home and an assortment of freshly administered personal supplies , Felth was assigned to a barracks room with two other cadets , Geoff f ' Tuhns and Mychael Ologat . No sooner had Felth chosen his cot and introduced himself to his new roommates than an intimidatingly large drill instructor wearing the helmet of a stormtrooper entered their barracks . F ' Tuhns had previously been casually munching on smuggled - in snacks , a violation of the program ' s carefully monitored caloric intake . When the instructor demanded to know to whom the bag belonged , Felth took it upon himself to vouch for his new friend , claiming it was in fact his food . Only his status as a first - day recruit saved Felth from further punishment other than a strict warning . Basic training . Felth ' s sixth - month training regimen was an endless grind of breakneck physical and mental conditioning preparing him for Imperial Military service . After a relentless day of physical training and environmental conditioning in Carida ' s many planetary climates , consisting of fitness runs , winter training in Carida ' s southern ice fields , a week - long expedition of survival training in the planet ' s Forgofshar Desert , and a three - day battle against nature in the equatorial rain forest , Felth would get no more than five hours of sleep before having to wake up and do it all over again . Awakening once to a stormtrooper sergeant ' s sonic whistle at reveille , Felth soon learned to get up a half - hour before wake - up call and dress himself before climbing back into bed . He and his roommates would not dare be caught out of bed before reveille after witnessing firsthand the punishments handed down to such violators . After a few months of this routine , Felth had lost fifteen pounds , but was considerably stronger . Displaying a unique prowess and aptitude during his training and typically finishing at the top of his class , Felth was suddenly selected one day to report to the academy ' s All Terrain Armored Transport detachment . He and several other fellow cadets , whom Felth also recognized as top - tier achievers , learned from a personal holo - recording from Colonel Maximilian Veers , head of the Imperial Army ' s AT - AT forces , that they had been chosen as candidates for Imperial Army pilot duty in the cockpit of one of the assault walkers . Veers instructed them that they were about to embark on a six - week intensive training program of virtual reality simulations and , for those who succeeded , actual hands - on training with an AT - AT . Those who passed the training ' s initial qualifying stages would then be selected for a role in Veers ' s own elite AT - AT squadron . However , he left them with the warning that fewer than one in ten would successfully complete the arduous training . AT - AT scenario . Felth advanced far enough in the elite training program to be able to tour the cockpit of an AT - AT . After taking a moment to marvel at the majesty of the walker ' s inner mechanisms , he was surprised when a training instructor suddenly appeared behind him , asking if Felth wished to take the AT - AT on a test drive , to which he eagerly agreed . While Felth sat in the co - pilot ' s seat , his instructor operated the machine from the pilot ' s seat beside him , slowly allowing Felth to assume control as he settled in . The instructor soon told Felth that he wanted to check on the AT - AT ' s weapon cache in the body of the walker , leaving the recruit alone in the cockpit . As soon as his instructor had departed , Felth noted four fighter craft approaching the AT - AT on an attack vector . He called frantically to his superior for help but received no answer . Left as the sole operator of the massive war machine , the untrained recruit frantically found himself under fire by enemy targets . At first , Felth sat in his command seat frozen with fear as the attacking craft make several strafing runs on the AT - AT . Throughout his career at the Caridan Academy , Felth had been instructed to follow procedure . Independent thought was not encouraged . Yet he found himself in a situation not covered in any textbook or training sequence . Felth surmised that it was none other than Rebel Alliance forces that had infiltrated Carida and were firing on him . Angrily , he took control of the AT - AT ' s offensive systems , vowing not to go down without a fight . Felth noted to himself , surprisingly , that none of the Rebel craft showed up on the cockpit sensor systems . In response , forced to track the fighter craft manually , Felth decided to put himself in the greatest strategic position possible by setting the AT - AT to " kneel " to the ground with the walker ' s command head hunkered flat with the body . With the AT - AT in this unique position , the fighters were unable to fly underneath the walker , and were forced to come to him from angles advantageous for defensive targeting . Felth was able to destroy each of the enemy craft using this maneuver . Sitting in dazed silence in the cockpit , Felth struggled to comprehend what had just transpired . His instructor soon rematerialized from the rear of the walker and informed the cadet that a command party had landed and was waiting for him outside . Once outside , Felth was shocked that no wreckage from the battle was visible on the surrounding terrain . As his instructor noted , the skirmish Felth had just been through was nothing but a premeditated training exercise to test the recruit ' s abilities , and he had excelled beyond expectations . Adding to Felth ' s awe - filled morning was the presence of another vessel swooping in from the horizon . When the craft ' s boarding ramp extended , Maximilian Veers himself disembarked . He questioned Felth on the ingenious kneeling maneuver he had executed , eager to learn from the trainee what advantages he felt the move entailed — as well as the disadvantages of allowing enemy craft access to the walker ' s underbelly . Felth hesitantly speculated that an enemy could use cables to tie up and trip the AT - AT . Captivated by Felth ' s resourcefulness , Veers ordered the recruit to keep this information classified , promising Felth that his staff would find him an assignment in the Imperial Army worthy of his talents . The young Felth could only marvel at the career that awaited him under the elite command of Veers . Assignment to Tatooine . The hush - hush orders handed down from Veers had done nothing but confuse Felth . Rather than receiving a career promotion to the crux of the Imperial Army , Veers instead assigned Felth to the Stormtrooper Corps , burying the recruit and his incredible discovery of the AT - AT ' s glaring weakness into anonymity . With this move , Felth ' s discovery effectively died with Veers , who kept the AT - AT design flaw a secret rather than allowing it to threaten his career . Felth had in fact received assignment to the Desert Sands sandtrooper detachment aboard an Imperial troop transport under the command of one Captain Mod Terrik . Terrik ' s unit had been ordered to relieve the 37th Detachment in the spaceport city of Mos Eisley on the Outer Rim Territories planet Tatooine . Felth ' s new position on the remote desert world would be about as far as he could have possibly imagined himself being while back on Carida . Although Felth argued with Terrik that he belonged in a more prestigious position , his captain only replied that he had followed Veers ' s orders precisely as directed and threateningly remarked that he would have a month before they arrived on Tatooine to personally mold Felth into a proper " foot soldier . " Felth ' s training under Terrik put him in the best shape of his life . A three - month regimen had been compacted into a never - ending hell of disciplining , schooling , and physical fitness . The other twenty stormtroopers in the detachment had each made sure to properly welcome Felth into their ranks as well . They were not about to admit an AT - AT operator and graduate of the Academy of Carida as one of their own without a period of ritualistic hazing . As part of his indoctrination into Terrik ' s detachment , Felth , by then a Sergeant , was assigned identification number 1023 , finalizing his absorption into the beast that was the Imperial Army . With his individualism all but stricken from him , Felth became just another nameless servant of the Emperor ' s will . Desert droid search . By the time Felth ' s troop transport reached Tatooine , his detachment ' s orders had been changed . Rather than assuming guard duty over Mos Eisley as they had originally been assigned , Felth , as part of scout unit Zeta Squadron , would instead be combing the endless deserts of Tatooine in search of a rogue escape pod that had jettisoned from a fugitive starship captured by the Lord Darth Vader . Unknown to Felth , the escape pod had launched from the CR90 corvette " Tantive IV " — Princess Leia Organa ' s consular vessel — carrying the droids C - 3PO and R2 - D2 , the latter of which had escaped from Vader ' s forces carrying the stolen plans to the first Death Star . When Felth spoke up and inquired why the escape pod was so important , Terrik snapped that he should perform his duties without questioning orders . Felth ' s unit searched the desolate sands of the Dune Sea for hours without success . At one point , Felth reported to Terrik that he believed he had found the pod but was disappointed to unearth a rock . Later , however , a glint of sunlight reflecting off something in the sand caught Felth ' s eye . Rushing over to the source , he saw that he had indeed discovered the escape pod buried in the sand , recognizable by familiar Imperial markings . Leading away from the pod , Terrik also discovered , was a set of tracks , which Felth soon attributed to an R2 - series astromech droid after fishing a mechanism out of the sand that could only belong to an R2 unit . Terrik and Zeta Squadron followed the tracks in the sand until they came upon a group of Jawa traders . The stormtroopers were able to discern from them that the scavengers had picked up an R2 unit and a protocol droid near the escape pod crash site . Terrik ordered a comprehensive sweep of the Jawas ' giant sandcrawler in search of the droids — with Felth searching through the droid repair bay — without success . After questioning one particular Jawa , Terrik learned that its group had sold the two droids to a moisture farmer only the day before . As Zeta Squadron began to depart for the moisture farm , Terrik ordered the sandcrawler destroyed and the Jawas slaughtered , and instructed it to be done in a manner as to appear as if the deed had been committed by a group of Tusken Raiders , notoriously known for their savagery , much to the dismay of Felth . While his fellow stormtroopers cheered the annihilation of the Jawas , Felth could only turn away in silence . Tracking the droids to the Lars homestead , Zeta Squadron again discovered that they had once more just missed the droids . While the stormtroopers ransacked the interior of the homestead , Felth , still shaken by the Jawa slaughter , lingered behind his group rather than joining in the raid , careful not to draw attention to himself . Terrik discovered from the moisture farmer Owen Lars that his nephew had taken the droids away from the farm , to which Terrik surmised could have meant only one location — Mos Eisley , where the boy could smuggle the droids off - planet . Preparing to depart the farm , Terrik once again ordered its destruction and the death of Lars and his wife , Beru Lars , as a reminder of what happens to those who give quarter to Rebels . Once again , Felth could only avert his gaze from what he perceived as further senseless murder . Subversion at Mos Eisley . Hot on the tracks of the two rogue droids , Felth and his unit arrived at the port city of Mos Eisley , where they immediately began digging through records , interrogating charter pilots , and rummaging through repair shops . At one point , after questioning a passing Talz named Muftak if he had seen the droids , Felth reported his progress to a Lieutenant Alima , informing him that all had been quiet in the city . Alima instructed Felth to interrogate everyone he saw and to make sure he kept a wary eye on those around him , for they would not hesitate to kill him . After their search uncovered nothing a day later , Terrik resorted to sending Zeta Squadron on a methodical door - to - door sweep , simultaneously setting up roadblocks at every entrance point to the city . When Felth heard a sudden scream emanate from a blockhouse not far from his position , he took the opportunity to break away from the sweep to investigate the source of the disturbance . A citizen named Garouf Lafoe informed Felth and his partner , 1047 , of a skirmish inside a nearby cantina . Despite the protests of his fellow stormtrooper , Felth continued his search into the dimly lit building . After running a quick scan through the bar , noting the array of aliens and other unsavory characters , Felth determined there was nothing to be found . Little did he know that he had actually caught a brief glimpse of the very beings who were trying to sneak the droids off - planet , an old man and a young farmboy — Obi - Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker — talking to an athletic - looking Human — Han Solo . As he and his partner exited the cantina to rejoin the search , Zeta Squadron came marching determinedly around a corner toward Felth . At the same time , a maddened Jawa jumped out from behind the cover of a long - wrecked starship , the " Dowager Queen " . The robed creature — Het Nkik , a Jawa seeking vengeance for the death of his slain brother , Jek Nkik , killed during Zeta Squadron ' s sandcrawler slaughter — aimed a DL - 44 heavy blaster pistol at the stormtrooper squad and pulled the trigger several times , though nothing happened . The Jawa was unaware that his weapon had been stripped of its power cell and was otherwise useless . Felth ' s partner casually flipped off a shot at the creature with his own blaster rifle , killing the Jawa and sending him crashing back against the wreckage . Once more , Felth was left aghast . He had almost grown to forget the killing of the Jawas and the moisture farmers in the desert , but this latest round of indiscriminate murder led him to one fundamental reality — the belief that the Empire he had worked so hard to serve was basically evil . Just as Felth joined Zeta Squadron ' s march , the group was alerted of a disturbance at Docking Bay 94 . The droids had been found , and a group of Rebels were trying to whisk them away from Imperial clutches . Felth and his companions converged on the docking bay , where a man — the same athletic - looking Human Felth had noted back in the cantina — was defending a modified YT - 1300 light freighter , holding off the entire contingent of stormtroopers at twenty - to - one odds . Feeling a strange twinge of solidarity , an empathetical respect for this single man who braved to defy the Empire , Felth refrained from joining in the firefight . At that point , Felth noticed Terrik just ahead of him , crouched down on one knee and taking careful aim at the Rebel . Without hesitation , Felth took the opportunity to shoot Terrik in the back , his first kill in the Imperial service . Felth ' s killing of his superior officer allowed the man the time needed to board his ship and escape from Tatooine with the droids in tow . Although the rest of his squad was disheartened and angry at the loss of their leader , Felth felt renewed and shared a sense of kinship with the fugitive Rebels . Secretly yearning to join their cause against the tyrannical Empire , Felth knew he could not just abandon his Imperial duties . Instead , he reasoned , he could aid the Rebellion by staying in the Imperial ranks and acting as a spy , perhaps even passing on his knowledge of the AT - AT ' s vulnerability . At some point during his service in Mos Eisley , Felth helped to save a male Rodian from the physical advances of five full - grown , excited male rontos , who mistook the Rodian ' s scent for one given off by a female ronto in heat . Seeing the Rodian surrounded by the five creatures , who were butting and rubbing up against him as a sign of biological attraction , Felth was able to frighten the rontos away by firing several shots at their feet . Felth and his comrades had to wake the unconscious Rodian using smelling salt s . Personality and traits . When Davin Felth entered the Academy of Carida at age eighteen , he possessed a romantic view of Imperial Military life , left completely unprepared for the harsh rigors that awaited him . He looked forward to the new experiences of government service , gaining usable skills , and hopefully working toward a command position , unaware of the Empire ' s oppressive nature . Basic training destroyed his youthful enthusiasm , however , and he soon came to regret his decision to enlist . He learned to adapt to his discomforts by doing whatever was necessary to survive and appease his superiors , all in the name of becoming a stormtrooper . While at the academy , Felth was an exceptional student , consistently performing at a level above his fellow cadets , earning him the opportunity to compete for a position in Maximilian Veers ' s elite AT - AT squadron . He took to this rare chance with determination , promising himself that he would not be denied such a prestigious position . Felth ' s first dry run in an AT - AT cockpit proved to be a groundbreaking achievement for the young trainee . During the exercise , he ingeniously utilized an impromptu tactic that destroyed each enemy target , something his drill instructor had never before seen , and concurrently succeeded in exposing a vital weakness of the AT - AT design . After graduating from the academy , Felth was left in peak physical shape and was trained in survival on any livable planetary surface . Upon assignment to Tatooine among Captain Mod Terrik ' s Desert Sands stormtrooper detachment , Felth was assigned the designation 1023 , signifying the elimination of his individualism and the complete assimilation into the unquestioning service of the Emperor . While his fellow troopers eagerly reveled in the mystery that surrounded the indistinguishable nature of the Stormtrooper Corps , Felth was unwilling to make such a commitment . He was left feeling miserable and alone , often turning to thoughts of his family . When Terrik ordered Zeta Squadron to destroy the Jawa sandcrawler , Felth did not erupt into celebratory cheers as his comrades did . His thoughts , instead , rested on the hapless Jawas , sympathizing with the creatures who were indiscriminately murdered . After the subsequent massacre of Owen and Beru Lars , Felth began to truly question what was happening before his eyes . The butchering of innocents over two droids did not make sense to him . He had not joined the Imperial ranks to kill innocent beings , and he could only wonder what he would do if he was personally ordered to kill someone . Only during his search through Mos Eisley , when his partner killed another Jawa who posed no immediate threat , did Felth finally come to the shattering belief that the Empire he had lived to serve was basically an evil institution . During the firefight in Docking Bay 94 , the sight of one man deftly holding off an entire stormtrooper squad resonated with Felth . He felt empathy toward the Rebels whom his captain had decried as being the enemy . Feelings of solidarity washed through Felth , who had fallen into the mindless monotony of stormtrooper service , emotions he had not felt since his days back on Carida . After killing Terrik and landing on the idea of serving the Rebellion as a spy , Felth felt rejuvenated , once again finding something in which he could believe and for which he could live . Behind the scenes . Notable appearances . The character of Davin Felth was created by author Doug Beason for the short story " " , as part of the 1995 anthology book " Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina " . The story provides an identity for the stormtrooper who discovers that droids had in fact been inside the escape pod that landed on Tatooine in the film . Additionally , Beason identifies the stormtrooper who makes a sweep through the Mos Eisley cantina and pauses to glare at Han Solo in the film as Felth , as well as establishing that one of the fallen stormtroopers seen during the Docking Bay 94 firefight is Captain Mod Terrik . According to the 2010 reference book " The Sounds of Star Wars " , all stormtroopers appearing in " A New Hope " were voiced by Terence McGovern , Jerry Walters , Scott Beach , and Morgan Upton while speaking over a . The voices were then recorded by " Star Wars " sound designer Ben Burtt . McGovern maintains a personal Web site that seemingly lists all of his spoken dialogue from the film , which does not include the Davin Felth line , therefore apparently ruling him out as the Felth voice actor . Inconsistencies . The exact nature by which Felth determines that droids were in the escape pod differs between sources . The " A New Hope " film and depict Felth as retrieving the piece of droid plating directly from the sand some distance from the downed pod . The " A New Hope " radio drama and script , published in " " , describe the droid piece as being discovered next to the pod , while Felth fishes the mechanism directly out of the pod itself in " The Stormtrooper ' s Tale " . Additionally , each source provides slightly different dialogue for Felth as he reports his discovery to his superior , save for " The Stormtrooper ' s Tale " , which precisely mirrors the spoken dialogue from the film . Rather than finding droid plating belonging to an R2 unit , " " indicates the part discovered by Felth is a metallic ring from one of the knee joints of C - 3PO . The " Look Sir , Droids " card from the " Premiere Limited " base set of the " Star Wars " Customizable Card Game identifies Felth as Trooper 1124 , rather than 1023 . The stormtrooper who is identified as Felth in " The Stormtrooper ' s Tale " while searching for the droids near the escape pod in the Dune Sea wears a white shoulder pauldron in " A New Hope " , indicative of the rank of sergeant . However , the stormtrooper who enters the Mos Eisley cantina in the film , also identified as Felth , wears an orange shoulder pauldron , indicating a squad leader . In the 2007 " Look Sir , Droids " action figure set made by Sideshow Collectibles , Davin Felth is identified as a sandtrooper sergeant . Nyrox connection . The AT - AT kneeling tactic employed by Felth is strikingly similar to a maneuver executed by a cadet named Nyrox while at the Raithal Academy , as described in the second edition of the West End Games sourcebook . Whereas Maximilian Veers assigns Felth to the Stormtrooper Corps to mask an exposed weakness that would threaten his career , Nyrox is promoted for his stratagem and receives a position in Veers ' s Thundering Herd AT - AT squadron .