Tay Vanis Tay Vanis was an Alliance Intelligence agent who operated during the Galactic Civil War under the codename Tiree . Based aboard the modified freighter " Home " under General Lens Reekeene in the early stages of the war , Vanis sparred with the Imperial Security Bureau agent Mar Barezz , who repeatedly attempted to capture the elusive " Tiree . " Though he had already participated in the maximum number of missions before mandatory retirement , Vanis continued to serve the Alliance , albeit " off the record . " He was instrumental in the recruitment of many future members of the Alliance around the time of the Battle of Yavin . Despite his service record , Vanis would later go absent without leave pursuing family matters , prompting the Alliance to launch no less than two search and rescue missions . Vanis was contacted by his sister , Tyerle , from Questal , whose husband had been brutalized by Moff Bandor . Investigating the incident , Vanis was captured by Bandor and subjected to the power of the hurlothrumbic generator . He was later rescued by a team of Rebels , but would once again go missing in 3 ABY . In his native Iskalon system , the Empire was preparing some unknown superweapon , and Vanis intended to discover its purpose . Sowing seeds of rebellion on the worlds of Gamandar , Iskalon and his homeworld Telfrey , Vanis ' actions soon led the Iskalonian system to suffer swift reprisals from Darth Vader . His family died in the Telfrey Holocaust , but Vanis was given little time to mourn , as he was soon given a set of datatape s by Bothan spies , containing information relevant to the unknown superweapon . Although he sent his ally Yom Argo to the Alliance requesting aid , possession of the tapes brought Vanis firmly within the sights of Lord Vader , who captured and brutally tortured Vanis . Prior to his capture and torture , however , he had transferred the tapes to the care of his droid , LE - 914 , in the hopes that members of the Alliance would come to retrieve them . Sure enough , Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa came to the rescue , but it was too late . Vanis , now a vegetable of a man , had been kept alive by Vader as punishment , and LE - 914 , understanding her master ' s plight , self - destructed , killing Vanis in the process . Biography . Battles with Barezz . During the Imperial Period , Vanis served the Alliance to Restore the Republic under the codename of " Tiree , " with his faithful droid , R2 - D0 . He served aboard the modified freighter " Home " , under General Lens Reekeene , and worked as an operative for Alliance Intelligence . With a multitude of successful espionage missions carried out against the Galactic Empire , his actions were considered so damaging that the Imperial Security Bureau dispatched one of their agents , Mar Barezz , to stop him . The cat - and - mouse nature of Barezz ' s hunt for " Tiree " became legendary throughout the intelligence community . Vanis was nearly outmaneuvered by Barezz on his twentieth mission , however . Sent to rendezvous with a group of people hoping to join the Alliance , Vanis ' T - 65 X - wing starfighter was set upon by the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Aggressor " . The " Aggressor " gunned down the shuttle carrying the six Rebel hopefuls , leaving Vanis with little choice but to escape . He was almost downed by the " Aggressor " , but was able to make the jump to hyperspace in time and reach " Home . " Once there , Vanis reported to General Lens Reekeene and her advisors , Mikka Reekeene , Lieutenant Am Serro and Santhou Lazith ' chika . During the debriefing , General Reekeene suspected that one of the recruits may have been a planted Imperial agent , and that her operation might have been compromised . However , Serro pointed out that the Imperials likely had more important information to divulge than the location of a recruitment rendezvous , if they truly could . Hoping to make up for the loss , Vanis put forward four candidates for recruitment : Raleigh Dawn , Raal Yorta , bounty hunter Sammie Staable and Smileredon - Verdont . Reekeene approved of the candidates , but pointed out that Vanis had now completed twenty missions , the limit before mandatory retirement . To Vanis ' relief , she decided to leave his new mission " off the record . " His candidates were all on Ord Mantell , making arranging a rendezvous easier . He contacted Staable directly , as the bounty hunter was acting as a representative for Yorta and Smileredon - Verdont . In the case of Dawn , he contacted Skivvers , a Ho ' Din slicer who was economic with namedropping , and arranged a meeting . Dawn met with Vanis , who provided her with instructions to procure a ship and a datapad containing coordinates for the rendezvous point . The coordinates led to an abandoned Clan Alya Bothan relay station above Bothawui , which would receive transmissions from R2 - D0 leading the recruits to Mesa 291 on the planet surface . When they did arrive , however , they had a modest Imperial force in tow , led by Barezz . Vanis attempted to lead the Imperials away from his new recruits in his X - wing , and led several agents away from Mesa 291 . On his return to the hangar , however , an AT - AT shot him down , and without the aid of R2 - D0 , he was forced to crash land . Unfortunately for the Rebels , he crash landed into the shuttle that was supposed to take his recruits back to the " Home " . In addition to that , he was gravely wounded , and was forced to wait until the recruits reached him . The group made it out of Mesa 291 in a pair of spare BTL Y - wing starfighter s , and since Yorta had been able to eliminate the Imperials with a thermal detonator , they made their escape with a minimum of fuss . Detainment on Questal . Vanis was present on Yavin 4 during the successful attack run on the Death Star . There , he met the Heroes of Yavin , Luke Skywalker , Leia Organa , and Han Solo . He would later speak very highly of the trio to those he met . Following the Battle of Yavin , Vanis traveled to the Imperial world of Questal without authorization from Alliance High Command . He had received a communication from his sister , Tyerle , whose husband Rogan had attempted to start up a Rebel cell on Questal . Rogan had been discovered and brought before the infamous Moff Bandor , who threw him in the Game Chambers , an elaborate labyrinth where victims were hunted by other captives , as well as Bandor himself . After being tortured into a state of insanity by Bandor , Rogan was thrown out onto the streets of Questal ' s capital , Gralleenya , before being recovered by Tyerle . Conferring with his sister , Vanis deduced that there was something in Bandor ' s palace that had the ability to turn sane men into simple lunatics . He therefore put it upon himself to investigate the machinations of Bandor . He made contact with Questal ' s Rebel cell and started asking questions around Gralleenya about Bandor ' s palace . After questioning Tan Shilley of the cantina Shilley ' s , Vanis made his way to the mansion of Turf Boss Mosh Pelkan . However , when he reached the mansion , Ref Mawber , a spy for Bandor and an acquaintance of Mar Barezz , discovered his presence . Mawber alerted the Imperial palace , and when Vanis finally decided to break in , he was met with a squad of troopers and thrown into prison . Vanis was subsequently thrown into the Bandor ' s Game Chambers and was relentlessly hunted by the Moff . While being hunted , he discovered what Bandor used on Rogan : a hurlothrumbic generator , which induced fear into the minds of those affected by it . The device had turned Rogan into a babbling mess , and though he tried to stop it , Vanis too fell prey to its power . Left unconscious and starving in the generator chamber , he was eventually rescued by a band of Rebels , who were able to deactivate it and defeat Bandor . Without the oppression of the sadistic Moff , and with the planet ' s natural resources nearly depleted , the Empire chose to abandon Questal altogether . Vanis , free from the generator ' s power , recovered completely . After the Questal incident , Vanis operated in the Arkanis and Tharin sector s , collecting substantial amounts of intelligence on the Empire . Vanis nearly ran afoul of the Imperial authorities again in the Lorn system , where he was relentlessly pursued by Moff Murquan . Thanks to Intel ' s Sandwind Team on Tatooine , Vanis was quickly redirected to a safe house on Vuzsa , allowing him to evade capture . Vanis would later send a report to Intel commending the members of Sandwind Team , who were now in jeopardy due to the rampaging of the so - called " Jundland Banshee , " a Tusken Raider with a deep hatred of Humans . Vanis recommended that aid be sent to prevent the destruction of a vital Alliance installment . Tandell intelligence . Shortly after the subjugation of Firro by the Empire , Vanis traveled there masquerading as an aide of the new Imperial governor , Cuvir . From Firro , he reported back to the Alliance on the Imperial Navy ' s movements in the Tandell system . One night , during his investigations , he was discovered by Cuvir , who attempted to arrest him . Left with no alternative but to shoot his assailant , Vanis was caught red - handed by 2 - 1B , Cuvir ' s personal physician droid . As 2 - 1B attempted to revive Cuvir in vain , Vanis asked if he could trust the droid to keep the unintended murder a secret . 2 - 1B believed that Vanis truly had meant Cuvir no harm and decided to join the Alliance , serving at his new friend ' s side on several missions . 2 - 1B would later go into service as chief of surgery at the Alliance ' s Hoth facility , Echo Base . Patriotism . In 3 ABY , following the Battle of Hoth , Vanis acquired LE - 914 , who would become his closest companion . LE - 914 accompanied Vanis on dozens of missions against the Empire , while the agent constantly modified the droid . Vanis installed blaster - resistant armor plating , large , hidden compartments , and the ability for LE - 194 to self - destruct , using a proton bomb he had nested in the unit . Later that year , Vanis traveled to the Imperial - held Iskalon system on a mission with fellow agent Yom Argo . Both natives of the system , they had heard from their families that the Imperials had heightened their presence . There were also rumors of some sort of superweapon under construction in the area . The pair began sowing seeds of rebellion in the system , hoping that its inhabitants would join the Alliance . When Lord Darth Vader , who was in charge of the Imperial presence in the system , realized what was going on , he reacted by subjugating the world of Gamandar , imprisoning the inhabitants , cutting away the native foliage , and erecting a new fortress to serve as an Imperial center of operations . The natives of Telfrey , however , rebelled outright , and so their punishment from Vader was far worse . The Empire burned the planet ' s surface to a husk , along with anyone on it . Vanis ' family was among those lost in the Telfrey Holocaust . Distraught , he was comforted by Mone and Mone ' s wife Kendle , natives of Iskalon . He spent much time on the water world Iskalon following the devastating attack , exploring the grottoes and the vast ocean that held them , while residing in the city of Pavillion . Recording all his intelligence of the Imperial activities in the system into LE - 914 , Vanis and Argo set off on a mission to the newly built Imperial fortress on Gamandar . The Bothan connection . Shortly afterwards , Vanis and Argo were smuggled tapes by Bothan spies pertaining to a new Imperial superweapon . Picking up the tapes in the Bothawui system , Vanis , who understood that the tapes were of great importance , decided to flee from the inevitable Imperial pursuit , while Argo would return to the Rebel fleet for aid . With Vader hot on his heels , Vanis left a lead behind in a suite on Kabray Station hoping that Rebel agents would find it . Admiral Griggor Tower , commander of the Gamandar garrison , attempted to launch a search , but Vanis had long departed the Iskalonian system . Vanis was far more concerned by the threat of Vader , and so he headed for Dennaskar under the pretense of being a trader . Crashing in the forest of the world , he left behind another message for Rebel eyes only and fled into the woods , awaiting rescue . He left the data tapes with LE - 914 , with explicit orders to have them destroyed within two days if he was not heard from . Soon enough , however , Vader tracked Vanis down and captured him , holding him in a nearby castle that served as the Imperial center of command on the planet . Death . The Dark Lord of the Sith brutally tortured Vanis , effectively making a vegetable of the man when he was through . Vader considered leaving him alive to be far more effective punishment than granting the man the release of death . Eventually , Luke Skywalker , Leia Organa , and C - 3PO , who had been tracking Vanis for several weeks , found him in his cell , a shell of a man . Before they could rescue him , however , LE - 914 entered the room , relinquishing the data tapes to the Rebels . Although she had been ordered to destroy them , LE - 914 overrode the command , vehemently believing that someone would come to collect them . She then explained to the would - be rescuers that Vanis could not live in his current state , and that the only thing left for him was death . She cradled her master momentarily before self destructing , killing Vanis in the process . Before leaving , the Rebels destroyed the castle as a monument to LE - 914 and , as Vader had referred to him , " The Great Tay Vanis . " The data tapes contained vital information pertaining to the Empire ' s new Death Star II superweapon . Though Luke Skywalker and Koth Melan had already retrieved a set of the plans from the Imperial freighter " Suprosa " , the Alliance sought confirmation and received it in the tapes that cost Vanis his life . With that data , the Alliance would destroy the superweapon battlestation at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY . Personality and traits . Joining the Alliance on a matter of principle , Vanis earned the ire of his sister when he decided to abandon his family for the Rebel cause . His elusiveness made him a figure of infamy amongst the Imperial Intelligence and Imperial Security Bureau community , and would earn him the enmity of several influential figures . By the end of his career , Vanis had even earned both the ire and respect of Lord Darth Vader . Though the Empire managed to capture him on several occasions , Vanis had , by the time of his death , cost them a substantial amount of time and resources . Despite the fact that he turned his back on his family at an early age , Vanis came to their aid on several occasions , though he would inadvertently cost them their lives . His attempts to start rebellious movements in the Iskalonian system forced the Empire to respond with several acts of genocide , resulting in Iskalon itself shutting off all diplomacy with other worlds . Vanis also developed attachments to droids , particularly R2 - D0 and LE - 914 . Both of his droids would come to understand his mode of operation , and LE - 914 would even come to fully respect her master . Vanis also liberated 2 - 1B from Imperial servitude , simply because the droid found he could trust the Rebel agent . Behind the scenes . The character of Tay Vanis was created by Mary Jo Duffy and was the central focus of an arc in Marvel Comics ' " Star Wars " series . First mentioned in " " , the protagonists of the series gradually found out more and more about Vanis until " " , where Vanis was revealed to be alive but mentally destroyed . To conclude the arc , Vanis was killed by his droid . In 1987 , over three years after the publication of " Ellie " , West End Games published the first edition of " " , and in doing so introduced a character with the codename of " Tiree . " The character would be alluded to in several other sourcebooks and would feature as a character for the protagonists to hunt down in " The Game Chambers of Questal " . While they were both Alliance agents with a sense of duty to their families , there was no connection between the two characters , though some , like Pablo Hidalgo , speculated that they might be retroactively consolidated . In 2000 , Rich Handley and Joseph Bongiorno made the connection canon in the article " " in " Star Wars Gamer 1 " by briefly mentioning that Vanis ' codename was " Tiree . " Vanis would later become a supporting character in Hidalgo ' s " " , the to which was an adaptation of the original scenario from " Star Wars : The Roleplaying Game " where " Tiree " had made his debut . Another character called Tiree appeared in as a Y - wing pilot during the Death Star attack run , but is unrelated to Vanis . In the article " Who ' s Who in Echo Base " , an entry on 2 - 1B incorrectly identifies the droid ' s rescuer as the Tiree from " A New Hope " , instead of Vanis .