Sentinel ( Contingency ) Sentinels were a type of droid model used by the Galactic Empire and programmed to serve the will of Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine . The droids were manufactured in the Imperial base on the planet Vetine , and were capable of playing pre - recorded messages from their head . After the death of Palpatine during the Battle of Endor , multiple sentinel droids known as the Messengers carried the late Emperor ' s posthumous messages to Imperial commanders with instructions to initiate . Description and roles . Sentinels were humanoid in shape , and their bodies greatly resembled that of B1 battle droid s once used by the Trade Federation during the Invasion of Naboo and the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars . However , contrary to those battle droid s , sentinels were clothed in bright red robe s that resembled those once worn by the Emperor ' s Royal Guard . Over those robes , some of them wore red jacket s that had glove s built in . Others , however , had no such hand coverings . Also unlike battle droid s , sentinels had heads that resembled a helmet with a smooth glass dome . Their glass masks were in fact screens used to display lifelike images of the late Palpatine ' s face . Finally , sentinels had human - like five - fingered hands with a holoprojector built at the center of their palms , and a retractable needle that allowed them to verify the identity of a message ' s recipient by analyzing their blood . The sentinels were created as part of the Contingency . Most of them were merely messengers : they appeared , verified the identity of the message ' s recipient , gave commands , and left . The ones reserved for Gallius Rax , however , were much more independent and closer to actual sentience . They were also capable of pilot ing starship s and of killing intruders when protecting secret assets . History . Origins . The sentinels were first made in or prior to 20 BBY , when Palpatine was still the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic engulfed in the pan - galactic Clone Wars against the Confederacy of Independent Systems . At the time , many were assigned to the protection of the recently built Observatory on Jakku , one of many similar buildings scattered across the galaxy . These sentinels were used to guard the Observatory and the various ancient Sith artifacts stored inside . The sentinels played an important role as transmitters of the Emperor ' s Contingency plan , which involved destroying the Empire in the event of his death and sending a few worthy Imperials into the Unknown Regions to rebuild the Empire . Operation : Cinder . In the days following the Emperor ' s death at the Battle of Endor , a sentinel traveled aboard a " Lambda " - class T - 4a shuttle to the Star Destroyer " Torment " , captain ed by Lerr Duvat , at in the Outer Rim . The sentinel met Duvat aboard the ship ' s bridge , after Duvat had dismissed his officers . Upon verifying Duvat ' s identity with blood , the sentinel delivered a posthumous message from Emperor Palpatine , stating that was to begin immediately . The sentinel then presented Duvat with his target : the Mid Rim world of Naboo . Another sentinel was dispatched to Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax , who was tasked with carrying out the Contingency . In 5 ABY , three months after Endor , the Rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Shara Bey discovered a manufacturing line of sentinels while carrying out a mission to retrieve fragments of a Force - sensitive tree from an Imperial base on Vetine . Said line was destroyed during the confrontation between the Rebels and Commandant Hurron ' s troops . Battle of Jakku . In the lead up to the Battle of Jakku , a sentinel informed the now - Counselor to the Empire Rax that the deposed Grand Admiral Rae Sloane was approaching the Jakku Observatory with Niima the Hutt ' s caravan . During the Battle of Jakku , Rax traveled with the former Commandant Brendol Hux , his son Armitage , his child soldiers , and Adviser Yupe Tashu to the Observatory on a transport piloted by the sentinel . Using the sentinel pilot , Rax transmitted commands ordering the turbolasers and sentinel droid defenses to power down . This sentinel pilot later piloted a replica of the Emperor ' s yacht " Imperialis " in to the Unknown Regions . The ship ' s passengers included both the Huxes , the child soldiers , and Grand Admiral Sloane . During the journey , the sentinel told Sloane that a dozen path coordinates had been transmitted to Imperials considered loyal to the late Emperor . The droid informed her that all sentinels and messengers were programmed to serve his will even in death . After several months of traveling , the " Imperialis " rendezvoused with the Emperor ' s flagship " Eclipse " . Behind the scenes . Sentinel droids first appeared in " Shattered Empire , Part II " , the second issue of the Marvel Comics miniseries " " , which was released on October 7 , 2015 . The concept was written by Greg Rucka while the droids were drawn by Marco Checchetto . Sentinel droids have also appeared in other canon literature and media including Chuck Wendig ' s 2017 novel " " and " Star Wars Battlefront II " .