Star Wars: Imperial Royal Guard respect thread(Legends canon)
By Wolfrazer 16 Comments
So have decided to make yet another nameless dude respect thread in the form of Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guardsmen. The elite of the elite, best of the best.
In order to fully grasp as to who these guys are, I will refer everyone to this blog
In which details and goes over what Stormtroopers are capable of. Royal Guardsmen are even above them as they are all essentially superhumans in ability.
So...without further ado let's begin!
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Sourcebook Accolades/Quotes
The best elite Stormtroopers have a chance to become Royal Guards, the personal protectors of the Emperor. They receive the best training and only a handpicked group of a few Stormtroopers makes it to Imperial Royal Guards.
- Taken from Imperial Sourcebook
Only the best Stormtroopers are chosen, handpicked and receiving the best training.
An elite force of bodyguards, warriors, assassins and executioners all fanatically loyal to Emperor Palpatine. Training for membership required a year of grueling painful work on the planet Yinchorr. There candidates perfected the fighting art called echani, failure in training often meant death.
- Taken from Complete Encyclopedia
Training is one year, they perfect the fighting art known as Echani which is used to fight against Jedi. Failure in training meant death, so there's no going back.
Of the more than 40 students in a given training year, only a handful survive for their final test before the Emperor himself- a battle to the death against one's own training partner.
- Taken from Complete Encyclopedia
Only a handful out of 40 survive and even then that number is dwindled down as they must face off against eachother to kill before the Emperor.
To keep in fighting trim, the Royal Guard rotates through Stormtrooper field duty. When in training rotation, the Royal Guard wears the standard uniform of their current duty, although they operate within their own units, not dispersed among their Stormtrooper brethren.
- Taken from Rebel SpecForce Handbook
Rotated among their regular Stormtrooper duties to keep in top form, though they keep within their own units.
The Royal Guard were the ultimate product of all the training, mental conditioning and skill that the Empire could instill in a man. They mastered every conceivable weapon and every known means of hand to hand combat, none the least of which was the terrifyingly fast martial art of Echani.
- Taken from Fact File 33
The Ultimate product of all the training in the Empire, masters of every weapon and martial art in the galaxy.
The Royal Guard served with distinction, protecting the Emperor and deflecting many attempts on his life by the Rebel Alliance, paid assassins and even by his own aids and advisers.
- Taken from Fact File 33
Guarded Palpatine from attempts on his life from the Rebel Alliance, to assassins to his own aids and advisers.
Echani is a martial arts style that become the official technique of Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guard. Palpatine had experts modify the original techniques to make them more deadly. The brutal Echani style is full of jabs, chops, kicks and other quick dangerous strikes, focusing on deadliness over finesse.
- Taken from Hero's Guide
So not only do they know Echani, but they have a modified version of it, which is even more deadly.
It is the way of the Echani to read their opponents, to know where an opponent will strike before it connects, to anticipate them, and to strike against them. Echani battles are fought several minutes in advance. In many ways it is like the game of dejarik played in the core systems. The most skilled among the Echani are able to predict the course of battles by months, and the most revered are able to predict the path of wars.
- Taken from Kotor 2
Echani read their opponents, knowing when they strike, the most skilled can predict the outcomes of entire battles..this is what the Royal Guards master.
Royal Guards wear grab consisting of flowing red robes, red battle armor and red helmets. Although ceremonial, the red armor does not hamper Guardsmen in regards to movement or fighting. The armor is derived from a pair of similar designs, the uniforms of the Death Watch and Sun Guard. That armor that resembles those units with such ferocious reputation is no accident and the red glint of Imperial Royal armor inspires fear even in the hardest of men.
- Taken from Imperial Sourcebook 2nd edition
They wear fully functional battle armor which doesn't hinder their movements.
Troopers selected as potential Guards were screened for intelligence, strength, dexterity and in particular, loyalty. Once accepted, a trooper was exhausted in many forms of combat. Individual Guardsmen as a matter or practice, were rotated among various Stormtrooper units. However their true tests as guardians of Emperor Palpatine. From preventing attacks on Palpatine to performing covert assaults and assassinations, the Royal Guardsmen were always on guard.
- Taken from Movie Trilogy Sourcebook
Screened for various things, exhausted in many forms of combat, they also protected Palpatine, did covert assaults and assassinations.
Those members of the Imperial Stormtroopers who showed particular expertise were recruited into the Emperor's Royal Guard. But each was also tested for Force potential and those who displayed an aptitude for wielding the Force were singled out for special training on the isolated world of Yinchorr. There, these Stormtroopers honed their battle prowess so that they were almost a match for the formidable Darth Vader himself.
- Taken from Darkside Sourcebook
Tested for Force potential and they honed their skill to the point where they were highly trained. DON'T take the quote literally in saying that they are almost a match for Vader, just take that as a means of saying the Royal Guardsmen are highly trained, this is quite the accolade for them.
They can enhance their ability and have defense from Force attacks.
The Royal Guards are also taught Mandalorian fighting techniques which have been passed down through centuries.
The Royal Guard typically wield force pikes, which they combine with hand to hand attacks during combat. They are also somewhat resistant to the Force. Allowing them to withstand Force attacks that would easily dispatch Stormtroopers.
- Taken from TFU Databank
They can resist/withstand Force techniques that could easily dispatch Stormtroopers.
The human aspect wins as the Emperor's Royal Guard triumphs! The Magnaguard might be a formidable warrior, but this time, one of the Emperor's elite makes him eat a force pike!
- Taken from Insider 108
They can defeat Magnaguards 1 on 1, though yes an Insider VS quote, considering all the other things about the Royal Guard, this isn't far fetched at all as being within their capability.
One of the base's troopers is not what he appears; instead of being a lowly Army trooper or even Stormtrooper, one of the Imperials is infact a Royal Guardsman. (Serving out his 'refresher tour' with a combat unit.) However during the fighting, the Royal Guardsman realizes that his Commander is going to lose the battle. Sneaking away in the confusion, the soldier follows the Rebels back to their base and begins a one man hit-and-fade battle with the Alliance forces on the planet. Sabotaging the Rebel base and equipment, killing or capturing Rebel troops on patrol and attempting to steal a communications device to contact his superiors are all goals that this dedicated and dangerous soldier strives to achieve.
- Taken from Hideouts & Strongholds: Hidden Danger(Adventure Hook)
The Royal Guardsmen are all essentially one man armies, as noted above, a single Guardsmen does a hit and fade battle against Alliance forces, doing everything from sabotaging the base and equipment, to killing or capturing Rebel troops.
Which as noted Rebel Troops are all very much trained well, even the regulars, not even counting their Specforce.
Comic scans
Noted as the galaxy's most feared warriors, deemed the best of the best from their Stormtrooper units. A trainee(Burr Danid) had flawless technique in offense and defense due to such training.
Here at the end of the training, the trainees fight before the Emperor himself as a final test to see who is worthy enough to be a Guardsman. Kanos fights against his close friend Lemmet Tauk, killing him and becoming worthy of Guard status.
Here 5 Guardsmen ambush and start slaughtering a small army of Stormtroopers all the while Palpatine is having a drink. They lose only 1 of their own before Palpatine uses Force Lighting the bunch, take note Palpatine wasn't even worried about this small army, the only reason he even got involved was because a stray blaster bolt caused him to spill his drink.
Implying that his Guards would have killed them all.
Here a lone Guardsmen escapes from the planet Onderon after overhearing the Carnor Jax had sabotaged Emperor Palpatine's clone bodies. This after the fact, said Guardsman had been wounded from a lightsaber, able to press on and fight through an entire planet to escape back to Yinchorr, heavily damaged yet still alive.
This shows some pretty impressive durability, strength and dodging blaster shots.
So a small group of 21 Guardsmen are ambushed after Jax wanted them all dead for still being loyal to the late Palpatine. They kill a great number, but they are against overwhelming odds, despite that, they don't give 2 **** and the last remaining ones let a coin flip decide who'd be the one to avenge their Emperor while the other faced down death.
Very reminiscent of Order 66/Operation: Knightfall.
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Well there you have it folks, the Emperor's protectors! The Royal Guard!