Conan Antonio Motti

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Conan Antonio Motti, also known as C. Antonio Motti,^[4] and nicknamed Zi^[3] was an Imperial admiral who was in charge of station operations aboard the first Death Star, and had a rivalry with General Cassio Tagge. Motti was related to Grand Moff Tarkin by marriage: Tarkin had married Motti's relative, Lady Tarkin.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.1.1 Motti and Helaw 1.1.2 Motti and Tarkin 1.2 Service aboard the Death Star 1.2.1 Personal agendas 1.2.2 The Battle of Yavin 2 Personality and traits 3 Behind the scenes 4 Appearances 5 Sources 6 Notes and references 7 See also

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Conan Antonio Motti was born as a member of a wealthy and highly influental family line. The Mottis had amassed tremendous financial resources from numerous interests, including the mining of megonite, a moss-like substance found on Phelarion in the Outer Rim (possibly the Motti family's homeworld) used in explosives production. Like many families of influence, the Mottis had ties to the central government on Coruscant, and members in the Imperial armed forces, where reputations and power bases could be built quickly.

[edit] Motti and Helaw

Motti’s Imperial service record prior to being assigned to the Death Star Project is incomplete, but it is known that while still a first lieutenant, Motti served aboard the Ion Storm under Captain Jaim Helaw. They both grew to be friends and colleagues, but they could not be any less alike; Helaw was an old-school fleet officer, who rose to flag rank on the front lines of a dozen major battles, presumably—and especially—including engagements during the Clone Wars. Helaw was a soldier, first and foremost, who was fulfilled only by standing on the bridge of his ship and destroying the enemy. Motti, on the other hand, was ambitious in every way Helaw was not, and politically savvy in the same fashion; Helaw could not be bothered with politics, no matter how much Motti tried to interest him. Still, opposites as they were, they built a friendship outside the bounds of the commander-subordinate relationship. Helaw came to address Motti as "Zi," possibly an affectionate nickname.

Motti eventually did a desk tour on Coruscant, where he made contacts that allowed him to rise in the ranks, faster even than his old commander, Helaw. By the time the Galactic Civil War began in earnest (ca. 0 BBY), they were both admirals. Still, the speed of Motti's rise in rank never seems to have intruded on their friendship; until the very day of the older man's death, Helaw was one of the very few beings Motti respected fully, and one of the few whose advice Motti heeded.

[edit] Motti and Tarkin

The ties between the Motti family of Phelarion and the Tarkin family of Eriadu were established early and deeply. It was an aunt of Motti's that Wilhuff Tarkin, seeking access to the family's valuable contacts, took as wife. When Motti himself was a commander, it was Tarkin who took upon himself the task of recovering Conan's cousin Shella Motti, a niece of Tarkin's by marriage, when she was kidnapped by members of the Nebula Front terrorist group. Though the families were closely joined, however, the available evidence indicates that Motti and Tarkin themselves did not know each other prior to their work together on the Death Star Project, or that if they met prior to that point, then it was not a meeting Tarkin remembered.

Their eventual association was made due to a decision from the Emperor, not Tarkin. When Tarkin was promoted to the rank of Grand Moff and given authority to restart work of the Death Star battle station, he was simultaneously given four Sector Groups, to provide security for and defend the project. As Grand Moff and administrator of the region encompassing the station's construction site, Tarkin was technically permitted the title and rank of high admiral and/or priority sector high commander himself,^[5] but to prevent him from having to divert time and energy from the construction process, it was decided that a separate fleet commander would be necessary. Palpatine selected Conan Motti as head of Naval Operations for the battle station. Tarkin seems not to have been impressed by the selection: entries in his personal journal reveal that he examined Motti's record and commented, "I fear he is nothing if not overrated."^[6]

Tarkin was quite right in his assessment; Motti was, relatively speaking, a rather young being to hold the rank he held, and he had earned it more for his devotion to the New Order than anything else. As Tarkin had guessed, the many successes in Motti's record were overrated. It was his belief in technology that made him a natural choice to function as head of Naval Operations for the battle station, and he was promoted over the heads of many senior officers.^[6]

As the commander of four Sector Groups, Motti's Order of Battle (abbreviated variously as ORBAT or OB), based on current research, would have consisted of at least 9,600 ships, which included about 96 Star Destroyers of either Victory-class, Venator-class, or Imperial-class, and an additional 6,400 combat starships. Of that number, at least one full Navy squadron (an average of 14 to 60 ships) would likely have been turned over to Tarkin's Sector Group HQ and placed under his personal command, but as he, like certain particularly competent or politically-connected beings, was influential enough to do so, it is possible that he could expand that number to as many as fifteen squadrons (about 210 to 900 ships).^[5]

Eventually his responsibilities increased from even this. As time passed, and as Tarkin became more and more engrossed in the process of construction, the day-to-day running of the Death Star became his responsibility. Motti found himself dividing his time between his own command ship, the Imperial Star Destroyer Steel Talon, and the station.

[edit] Service aboard the Death Star

An arrogant man, Admiral Motti believed that the Death Star was the "ultimate power in the universe", and that even the mighty Imperial Navy would not stand a chance against it, much less the rag-tag Rebel Alliance. So confident he was in the power of the Death Star, he openly insulted Darth Vader and his adherence to the dark side of the Force during a meeting in the Death Star's conference room.^[1]

Motti reasoned that Vader's failure to find the missing technical readouts of the battlestation and inability to divine the location of the Rebels' secret base was evidence that the Force was truly insignificant. Vader was quick to punish Motti for his ignorance, using the Force to telekinetically strangle him. Luckily for Motti, Tarkin intervened and ordered Vader to spare the jaded admiral. Vader obeyed, though he sounded reluctant to keep Motti alive.^[1]

[edit] Personal agendas

Practically from the beginning, Motti believed that once the Rebellion was destroyed, the Death Star—not Coruscant, not even Palpatine himself—would be the font from which power would flow in the Galactic Empire. As such, the being who controlled it would effectively be the most powerful being in the galaxy. Motti knew, of course, that Palpatine and Vader possessed supposedly-mystical powers of their own, and as a young man he personally saw what the Jedi could accomplish during the Clone Wars, but he could not imagine such powers being equal to a battle station that could destroy entire planets. As always, power to Motti meant the kind of power that came from tangible assets. He knew what power the battle station commanded; he did not know what power the Force could command, until Vader finally provided a personal demonstration.

Motti did not learn the lesson that Vader had tried to teach him. Instead, the admiral continued trying to subtly invest Tarkin in the idea that his command of the battle station made him a valid player in the great political struggle, that the very weapon intended to intimidate the Rebellion into nonexistence could also intimidate the Empire itself into accepting a new power structure, dominated by Tarkin (with Motti conveniently at his side).^[7] Tarkin did not appear to get the point of these hints, or if he had—the more likely possibility—then he chose to keep his options open, and keep them to himself.

In any case, the events of the next several days prevented Motti from further pressing the point: the Death Star was "christened" when Tarkin followed up on the destruction of Despayre by ordering the complete destruction of Alderaan, resulting in the deaths of nearly two billion beings; a stock light freighter believed to be carrying the missing plans to the battle station was captured, and then escaped, unknowingly bearing a homing device that would lead the Death Star, it was believed, straight to the main Rebel headquarters base. It was as the station followed the freighter to its destination—a small jungle moon in the Yavin system that was about to become famous across the galaxy—that Motti again broached the subject with Tarkin. But this time, Tarkin insisted that Motti dispense with the evasive speeches and say what was on his mind. Motti insisted that command of the Death Star could place Tarkin in a position second only to - and perhaps equal to - Palpatine himself, that with such power he could demand that the Emperor "share" dominion of the galaxy.

However, one immediate obstacle would have to be removed, and that would be the Emperor's emissary, Darth Vader; there was little likelihood that Vader would accept his master's overthrow (unless the intended successor was Vader himself) and would act to hinder or prevent any such coup attempt. But here, again, Motti's utter lack of respect for Vader's power and abilities made him underestimate his Sith opponent. Vader was but Palpatine's emissary, while the actual command structure terminated in Tarkin's person, not Vader's. If Tarkin gave the order for the station's personnel to act against Vader, Motti reasoned, they would obey, and against so many well-armed and well-trained troops even a Sith Lord had little chance:

Tarkin told Motti that he would like to hear the admiral further expound upon his ideas after the Rebels were crushed. But in fact, Motti was wasting his time. Though the thought had indeed occurred to Tarkin that command of the Death Star could enable him to challenge Palpatine, he was far more realistic about his chances; Motti may not have known Palpatine, but Tarkin most certainly did. He was certain that the Emperor would not pass such power into the hands of any of his paladins without putting some kind of fail-safe in place. Whether it was a destruct device secretly built into the station which only Palpatine could control, or a contingency plan known only to certain onboard officers and troops, or something even more devious, Tarkin was certain that Palpatine would have had some form of insurance against any theoretical palace revolt. Thus Motti's subtle hints, even his outright entreaties, were falling on deaf ears.^[3]

Even if Tarkin were not apparently certain that Motti's plans would fail, it can be assumed that he suspected that there was more to the admiral's plotting than he was letting on. Motti would hardly have envisioned any kind of equitable split of the Empire between Tarkin and Palpatine; this notion of "sharing dominion" was likely a way of bringing Tarkin over to his side gently, slowly, though it is probable that Tarkin saw through this at once. Furthermore, Motti, ambitious as he was, would not have tolerated a secondary position for long. He would have permitted Tarkin to do the heavy lifting of supplanting Palpatine, but he very well would have overthrown Tarkin as soon as was feasible, leaving him, Conan Motti, in sole control of the Galactic Empire with the Death Star as his hammer.

There is some question as to whether or not Motti's dream was at all realistic. In fact, Tarkin was probably right that it could only fail; Palpatine had made arrangements for just such an eventuality by insisting that two full legions of stormtroopers (25,984 soldiers) be quartered aboard the Death Star, in part to ensure that the battle station remained in the hands of officers loyal to him and to the New Order.^[6] If Tarkin or Motti were to attempt a palace revolt and claim the superweapon for themselves, they might—or might not—have been able to count on the support of the Army and Navy contingents on board, but the Emperor's elite shock troops, unswervingly loyal to Palpatine personally, were not likely to have been bought off or seduced from that allegiance, certainly not down to the last man. If they understood what would have been happening, they would presumably have made a seizure of the station far more difficult and costly a proposition than Motti arrogantly assumed it would have been. In any case, Motti would not live long enough to test this assumption.

[edit] The Battle of Yavin

Motti's disregard for intangibles extended beyond his scoffing of Vader's use of or belief in the Force—the very idea of spirit and faith eluded him. Thus when the Rebels attacked at Yavin 4, using only a collection of tiny starfighters, Motti was at a loss; he and his tacticians, operating on his principle of tangible assets, expected that the Rebels would not attack without massive offensive capabilities he knew they did not have, and that their only possible option for resistance would be a massive defense of the moon itself.^[8] That the Rebels should launch a hurriedly-planned attack with vastly inferior numbers on a small, almost impossible-to-hit target, based on nothing more than spirit and faith, simply eluded him.

While the Rebels carried out their desperate attack, Motti remained on the overbridge with Tarkin, waiting for the station to complete its orbit of the gas giant Yavin Prime and achieve effective firing range on the fourth moon. If he had any doubts at all about the capabilities of the battle station, any uncertainty as to its invulnerability, there is no sign of it; more likely, he remained overconfident up to the last moment. Nor is there any evidence that he reacted when General Moradmin Bast, one of his rivals, attempted to warn Tarkin of a possible danger to the station; by then, his advances to Tarkin prevented the Grand Moff from making a decision to evacuate and save his life.

How Motti learned that the fatal shot had been fired is not known; either he had been monitoring the course of the battle more closely than he had let on, or he reacted to an alarm, but either way, he discovered, to his shock and horror, that the station was, after all, vulnerable: once he noticed that the Rebels had fired ordnance into a small auxiliary thermal exhaust port built into the far end of Polar Trench 12 in the northern hemisphere of the station, it was a simple matter to trace the course of that shaft, straight down to the hypermatter reactor. It was only a matter of time before the reactor would explode. Even then, he may not have guessed that the scale of the interconnections and redundancies built into the station would likely cause a chain reaction that would completely destroy the station as subsystem after subsystem exploded in support of the main reactor, but he knew that the loss of the reactor itself would cripple the station. Either way, the jig was up, and he knew it; he told Tarkin that the hypermatter reactor would blow.^[3]

Admiral Conan Antonio Motti's overconfidence in the Death Star, in which he was investing all his hopes for advancement, had suddenly been proved to be terribly misplaced. But he did not have more than a few seconds to realize that. The hypermatter reactor did blow, and Motti died as the battle station exploded around him.

[edit] Personality and traits

Conan Motti chose to wear the prominent sideburns that were popular among the Imperial officer class at the time.^[9] Other serving Imperial officers who wore their hair in this fashion, many of whom were also assigned to the Death Star, included Cassio Tagge, Moradmin Bast, Nahdonnis Praji, and Pol Treidum.

Motti was concerned, perhaps overly so, about the impression he made on others. This included his physical appearance; he prided himself on keeping himself physically fit, and refused ever to see himself as a fat, weak desk officer. If he was physically stronger than those around him, he reasoned, it made them see him with a fundamental form of respect: Cross me, and I can break you in half. During his time on the Death Star, he would frequently push himself to the limits exercising in the executive officers' heavy-gravity room, and made it a point to do so within sight of other senior officers.^[3]

[edit] Behind the scenes

The character was portrayed by Richard LeParmentier in A New Hope, in which he was credited as "General Motti". LeParmentier was one of the few non-English actors cast as Imperial officers in the film and as such, did not speak with an English accent. He said, "...I suggested a mid-Atlantic accent to George and he thought it was a good idea. I was doing a light mid-Atlantic accent for the role..." As such, he is one of the few Imperial officers in the original trilogy to speak without an English accent, with Gherant, Dyer, Nahdonnis Praji, Khurgee, and Daine Jir being among the others. Early scripts of A New Hope shuffled the names of Admiral Motti and General Tagge. He is curiously absent from the Death Star meeting scene in the novelization of A New Hope, and there it's General Tagge who is the victim of Vader's telekinetic stranglehold while Motti himself is replaced by a new Imperial officer named Romodi. Motti does appear later on in the novel, proving that he and Romodi are different characters. Many wrongfully believe that Romodi is Motti's first name, however, despite Leland Chee confirming Romodi is a senator and is definitely not Motti.^[10]

Motti was one of the last Imperial characters from the original trilogy to receive a full name. Tarkin, Tagge, Ozzel, Piett, Veers, and Needa all have had first names given to them by the Expanded Universe in the decades following their appearances (as seen in their respective articles). Michael Reaves and Steve Perry had intended to finally give the character a first name with their novel Death Star. Their name—"Zi"—had already been approved when George Lucas suddenly created his own name for the character, after which the writers were able to change the name before printing,^[4] although one instance of "Zi" remains in the novel. Motti's full name was given by Lucas on the May 1, 2007 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Lucas was challenged to a trivia question by a "fan" (O'Brien Associate Producer Jordan Schlanski) as to the name of this Imperial officer who Darth Vader Force chokes in A New Hope, to which Lucas jokingly replied "Conan Antonio Motti." Although the character had previously been known only as "Motti," Lucas's statement finally gave a full canon name to this character.^[11] On the day after the episode aired, Late Night posted a blog entry on the NBC website about their surprise at Wookieepedia's quick response in adopting the new name for the character, and their appreciation for Lucas in naming a Star Wars character after him.^[12]

When asked at Celebration IV to confirm the canon status of Motti's first name, Leland Chee said that "It'll be revealed eventually,"^[13] which was generally interpreted as a directive for fans to wait until Motti's appearance in the StarWars.com Visual Guide or the release of the Death Star novel. The name was confirmed when Sue Rostoni posted the dramatis persona for Death Star on the StarWars.com message boards^[14] and Motti's Databank entry was subsequently updated as well to reflect the character's full name.^[2] With Motti named, the last major Imperial commander without a first name is Jerjerrod.

[edit] Appearances

• Death Star
• Tag & Bink Are Dead (Non-canonical appearance)
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novel (First appearance)
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope junior novel
• Star Wars radio drama
• Star Wars 1
• Star Wars 2: Six Against the Galaxy
• Star Wars 3: Death Star (Mentioned only)
• "Galaxywide NewsNets" - Star Wars Adventure Journal 3 (Mentioned only)
• The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader (Appears in flashback(s))
• Darksaber (Appears in flashback(s))

[edit] Sources

• Star Wars: The Power of the Force (1995)
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 91 (ADM1-2, Admiral Motti)
• Death Star Technical Companion
•  "Premiere Limited" - Star Wars Customizable Card Game (Card: 5D6-RA-7)
•  "Premiere Limited" - Star Wars Customizable Card Game (Card: Admiral Motti)
•  "A New Hope" - Star Wars Trading Card Game (Card: Admiral Motti)
•  Admiral Conan Antonio Motti in the Databank
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien - May 1, 2007 episode (First identified as Conan Antonio Motti)
• "The Empire's Finest: Who's Who in the Imperial Military" - Star Wars Insider 96

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] See also

• Motti family