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- "Of course. Such a life we lead. Did you ever think that stabbing people in the back would be a way to get ahead?"
"It's the way the game is played. I prefer flying my starship." - ―Lero Danthe and Captain Sloane discussing career advancement
Baron Lero Danthe was a human male, born on the planet Corulag, who became a high-ranking official of the Galactic Empire. A scion of a droid-manufacturing dynasty, Danthe and his rival, Count Denetrius Vidian jostled for the favor of Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine during the Gorse conflict. Vidian was killed while attempting to destroy the moon Cynda as part of a plot to undermine Danthe, who ultimately secured a contract for his heat-proof mining drones to mine the permanently sun-baked side of Gorse for its valuable thorilide minerals.
Biography
Working with Count Vidian
Lero Danthe was a droid magnate during the Age of the Empire. In his twenties, Danthe was one of the "New Imperials", a media catchphrase for the first generation of Imperial citizens to ascend to adulthood under the Galactic Empire. As the heir to a powerful family that owned a firm manufacturing heavy-day droids for fiery worlds like Mustafar, Danthe was wealthy and well-connected to the Imperial government and elites.[1]
About eleven years before the Battle of Yavin, Danthe worked as the Imperial efficiency expert Count Denetrius Vidian's attaché at the Imperial government on Coruscant. Despite their close partnership, Vidian viewed Danthe as a rival in his efforts to curry favor with the Emperor. Likewise, Danthe coveted Vidian's wealth and reputation. Knowing that Count Vidian owned shares in the comet-chasing industry, Danthe tried to interfere with Vidian's portfolio by offering the services of his company's heat-resistant Mining drones. Unwilling to become indebted to Danthe, Vidian refused his help.[1]
The Gorse conflict
Prior to his inspection trip to the Gorse system, Vidian urged Danthe to convince the Emperor not to raise the thorilide production output that year. Danthe claimed to be hurt by Vidian's implied accusation and denied that he would ever want to hurt his "friend." When Vidian informed him that he was sending the Emperor the latest report on thorilide production, Danthe asked for a copy but Vidian saw this as an attempt by Danthe to interfere in his domain. Vidian promised to transfer management of the Gorse system to Danthe if he successfully met the Emperor's target that year. When Danthe expressed delight at his "generosity", a furious Vidian demanded that he stay out of his affairs.[1]
To keep an eye on Vidian, Baron Danthe recruited the Imperial Navy Commander Nibiru Chamas as his informant. Commander Chamas was stationed aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Ultimatum, which Vidian was traveling to the Gorse system in. After Count Vidian had finished his tour of the thorilide mining moon of Cynda, Danthe contacted Vidian from Coruscant via hologram. He informed Vidian that the Emperor had embarked on several "new amazing initiatives" and consequently doubled thorilide production by 50 percent more per week. Vidian was displeased that his friend had reneged on his earlier promise to persuade the Emperor otherwise and rebuffed an offer by Danthe to supply the services of his droid factories.[1]
After contacting Danthe a second time, Vidian destroyed his personal quarters aboard the Ultimatum in a fit of rage. Danthe's informant Chamas informed his superior officer Captain Rae Sloane about his attendants finding Vidian's room in a mess. Later, during Vidian's tour of the planet Gorse, Danthe the contacted Vidian a third time by hologram and informed him that the Emperor had tripled thorilide production again following top-level meetings with Imperial officials. Danthe also informed Vidian that he would be attached to his administration. He also offered the services of his droid factories if Vidian agreed to put some of his territories in his hands. An enraged Vidian told Danthe that this was not finished and he vowed to succeed. After learning from Moonglow Polychemical's chief operations officer Lal Grallik that her company could not meet the Emperor's new quota, he callously murdered her by throwing her into a vat of xenoboric acid.[1]
Vidian's plot
Seeking to discredit Danthe and curry the Emperor's favor, Count Vidian embarked on a plot to detonate Cynda under the pretext of meeting the Emperor's thorilide quota by making it easier for his comet-chasers to harvest the moon's thorilide. To allay Captain Sloane and her science officer Lieutenant Deltic's fears that detonating Cynda would damage its thorilide crystals, Vidian conducted a test bombing and faked the results to support his claim that detonating Cynda would not damage the crystals. Satisfied, Vidian ordered all mining ships in the Gorse system to accompany the Ultimatum to his depot in the Calcoraan system, which contained vast stockpiles of Baradium-357 explosives. Under the pretext of stabilising Cynda, Vidian planned to detonate the moon. Once the moon was detonated, his thorilide harvesters would extract the moon's thorilide crystals. Vidian also planned to frame Baron Danthe by inviting him to mine the resulting asteroid field. Once the thorilide had been depleted within a year, Vidian hoped to cast blame on Danthe and Sloane.[1]
Vidian did not inform Baron Danthe of his plot. Through Commander Chamas, Danthe learned about Vidian's Cynda operation and contacted Captain Sloane via hologram. After thanking Sloane for saving Vidian's life, Danthe asked her about the progress of Vidian's special project. He also told her to contact him immediately if ever she had the smallest need. Sloane accepted his offer before terminating the transmission. Danthe's offer to help came at an opportune time. Shortly later, Sloane was ambushed by a group of rebels while touring the Calcoraan Depot. These rebels were opposed to Vidian's plan to destroy Cynda and had uncovered evidence that Vidian had tampered with the test results. While downloading Vidian's mind, the rebels learned about his rivalry with Baron Danthe. One of the rebels Kanan Jarrus posed as an agent of the Emperor and revealed the full depth of Vidian's deception to Sloane. She complied with his demands to send the original test results to the Emperor.[1]
Upon returning to the Ultimatum, Captain Sloane had Commander Chamas arrange a secure hologram channel to Baron Danthe, using the contact information he had provided. While it was rare to involve a civilian in military matters, Sloane and Chamas regarded Danthe as the only person who had a hope of directly reaching the Emperor or one of his top officials. Sloane transmitted the message that Kanan had forwarded her to Danthe, who sent it to the Emperor. The Emperor's experts quickly found out that Vidian had indeed suppressed the original results which stated that destroying Cynda would destroy its thorilide crystals. After uncovering Vidian's deception and alerting the Emperor, Danthe traveled to the Gorse system to join Sloane and Chamas aboard the Ultimatum.[1]
Danthe was present on the bridge of the Ultimatum when Captain Sloane issued orders to suspended the Detonation Control link to Vidian's ship Forager and to arrest the Count. When the Count refused to surrender and revealed that he could still control the detonation remotely, Sloane ordered the Imperial fleet to destroy Vidian's ship. This effectively ended Count Vidian's plan to destroy Cynda. The Count was killed by one of the rebels Skelly, who had earlier tried to dissuade the Count from destroying the moon. The other rebels including Kanan escaped the derelict ship before it exploded.[1]
Triumph in the Gorse system
Following Vidian's death, Baron Danthe was given oversight of thorilide mining in the Gorse system. Some of his first acts was to open mining on Gorse's sunward side and to re-designate Cynda as a nature reserve again. Due to the hot, scorching conditions in Gorse's sunward side, mining was carried out by his firm's mining drones, which had been specially built to withstand heat. Danthe also used his connections to secure Sloane's promotion to permanent captaincy of the Ultimatum.[1]
During a victory celebration held to celebrate the establishment of mining operations on Gorse's sunward side, Danthe personally thanked Sloane for alerting him to Vidian's plot. Sloane responded that she was alerting the Emperor. During the conversation, Danthe revealed that he had back stabbed Vidian in order to engineer his demise. Sloane remarked that this was the nature of the game before emphasising that she preferred flying her starship. Danthe then asked her about the mysterious rebels she had encountered. Danthe chose to downplay the Gorse conflict as a single rebellious act that would not start anything. In his view, it was a blip or glitch in the Gorse system.[1] In retrospect, Danthe's assessment was premature since Kanan and his rebel companion Hera Syndulla would go on to form a rebel cell that harassed the Empire.[2]
Personality and traits
- "Boy, they don't like each other at all. Did you catch the smirk on that baron guy's face? I wouldn't trust him to hold the door open for me."
- ―Kanan Jarrus' observations of Baron Danthe after downloading and watching Vidian's mind
Lero Danthe was a young blonde Human man who liked to dress in regal business attire. He wore a richly decorated suit or clothes with gold buttons and a half cape slung over his right shoulder. Danthe was an ambitious businessman who was determined to advance the business interests of his family's droid manufacturing company and to curry favor with the Emperor. Danthe's ambition for prestige and wealth led him to manipulate the Emperor into increasing the Gorse system's thorilide production quota in order to undermine his rival Count Vidian. This led Count Vidian to embark on an elaborate plot to discredit Baron Danthe by detonating the planet Gorse's moon Cynda, which was rich in thorilide. Kanan Jarrus regarded Baron Danthe as an untrustworthy schemer.[1]
Due to his family's wealth and connections, Danthe enjoyed direct access to the Emperor in Coruscant. This privileged access to the highest level of Imperial government gave him a leverage in decision-making and political appointments. Despite his wealth, Danthe coveted Vidian's wealth and name. This led Danthe to make several attempts to sabotage Vidian by convincing the Emperor to rapidly increase the Empire's thorilide production quota. By doing so, he provoked Vidian into embarking on an elaborate conspiracy that eventually ensnared its maker. Knowing Vidian's violent temperament, Danthe made at least two attempts to drive Vidian into a homocidal rage; with one claiming the life of the Moonglow chief operations officer Lal Grallik. To gain an edge over his political rival, Danthe also cultivated several informants including the Imperial Navy Commander Nibiru Chamas.[1]
Behind the scenes
Baron Lero Danthe first appeared as a secondary antagonist in John Jackson Miller's 2014 A New Dawn, the first in a new line of Canon novels produced in conjunction with the Lucasfilm Story Group.
Appearances
- "Bottleneck"—The Rise of the Empire (Mentioned only)
- A New Dawn (First appearance)