Rank Insignia of the Galactic Empire
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Rank Insignia of the Galactic Empire refers to badges of military rank which were displayed in the Star Wars feature films, used by officers of the Imperial Navy and Army. The insignia shown in the three major motion pictures, whose pattern and system was never established in an official publication or by live action dialogue, has since become a major point of speculation, conjecture, and entertainment by Star Wars fans.
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Officer Ranks
In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Imperial officers of the Galactic Empire wore insignia consisting of a confusing collection of multi-colored rank squares (consisting of red, blue, yellow, orange, or white) on the left breast of the officer's uniform with a combination of several metal cylinders (which gave the officer security clearance) to either side of the rank badge. The confusing color system was used from the start of the Imperial Navy, in which officers had an unequal number of squares (as seen in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith). By the time frame of the film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the rank squares had become a much simpler collection of red and blue squares with the code cylinders still in use.
In the Star Wars films, most Imperial officers were verbally addressed as "Commander" with the exception of Admirals Ozzel and Piett who were addressed as "Admiral". Grand Moff Tarkin, from Star Wars Episode IV, was referred to as "Governor". With such generic terms, the Star Wars films give little hint to a system of ranks and insignia. Over the years, however, the Star Wars Expanded Universe has established a system of ranks and insignia which matches closely to the characters in the feature films and the ranks and authority which they most likely held.
Enlisted Ranks
Imperial enlisted personnel have never been shown to have any type of insignia, but do have various types of uniforms which could indicate senority among the enlisted rank structure. The uniforms appear to range from Soldiers and Technicians, to Sergeants and Naval NCOs, as well as Warrant Officers and Command Sergeants. Each of these groups is shown in the feature films to have various types of uniforms but never have been shown wearing any type of identifying insignia.
Stormtroopers
Imperial Stormtroopers apparently use the same rank system as the Imperial Army, but rarely wear any type of outward insignia. It is mentioned in Star Wars literature that Stormtroopers most likely have an identification scanner, built into their helmets, which can determine the rank and senority of other stormtroopers. This does not explain, however, the colored shoulder pads used by Stormtroopers on Tatooine, in Star Wars Episode IV. Also, in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back a stormtrooper is seen wearing the insignia of an Army Captain on his armor. It is assumed that such insignia display is for the benefit of non-stormtrooper personnel.
In the higher ranks of the Stormtroopers, it can be reasonably assumed that the senior Stormtrooper officers do not wear the Battle Armor on a regular basis, thus a different uniform, for the more casual "office" setting, would most likely be worn. This explains a number of Imperial officers, seen in the feature films directing groups of Stormtroopers, who appear to be wearing solid black uniforms with rank badges. Such personnel are most likely Stormtrooper commanders whose daily duties do not necessitate the regular wearing of battle armor.
Starfighter Corps
The Imperial pilots of the Starfighter Corps are a subject of great debate in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. One school of thought is that such personnel are members of the Imperial Navy while another possibility exists that the starfighters comprise an entire separate branch of service. Several different literature sources have provided a feasible rank structure for the Starfighter Corps, with indications that Starfighter pilots are Imperial officers with ranks similar to the Army and Navy combined. In the feature films, no starfighter pilot was ever shown wearing rank insignia but this may have been since the pilots were only seen in flight suits. It is plausible that a separate duty uniform exists, upon which rank insignia may be displayed.
Several conjectural rank systems for the Imperial Starfighter Corps have been extrapolated by the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Most contain numerous matches matching the structure of the Imperial Army and Navy ranks, however there are exceptions. The Lucas Arts Flight Simulator game TIE Fighter, for instance, provides a simple version of Starfighter Ranks as listed below.
- General
- Commander
- Captain
- Lieutenant
- Flight Officer
- Flight Cadet
Given that the flight simulator ranks appear overly simplified and combine Navy and Army titles indiscriminately, most Star Wars sources consider the Tie Fighter ranks to be contradictory and this rank system is generally ignored.
Imperial Security Bureau
Members of the Imperial Security Bureau, or the "ISB", have only been seen in Star Wars Episode IV. A white uniformed ISB Colonel can be seen attending the Death Star conference room along with two ISB NCOs walking past the Death Star main elevator area. In both cases, the ISB personnel were shown to be wearing white uniforms with rank insignia corresponding to Imperial Army and Navy personnel. It is possible that the ISB uses the same insignia, with different rank titles, or that the ISB ranks are identical to those of the Imperial Army.
Alternate Versions
| Rank | Alternate Insignia | |
| Officer Candidate | 
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| Lieutenant | Missing image ImpLT2.jpg | |
| Major | 
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| Colonel | 
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| Commodore | 
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| Major General | 
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| Rear Admiral | 
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| High Admiral | 
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The insignia scheme devised in Star Wars: Episode 4 created an interesting ambiguity in that a review of the film shows some Imperial characters who have apparently the same rank and position, yet display different versions of insignia. This problem recurs in the Star Wars Expanded Universe in that Imperial officers of the same rank wear different badges of office.
The possibility exists that such officers serve in different branches of the military or that the difference in insignia is a means to display senority or some other badge of distinction. This has never been determined exactly, however, leaving the viewing audience to speculate.
The chart displayed to the right indicates alternate versions of Imperial insignia, when applying to the Version One method seen in Star Wars: Episode 4.
Additional Info
In the film Return of the Jedi, a wardrobe problem resulted in all Imperial characters wearing the same insignia, being that of an Imperial Navy Commander. Thus, the Imperial insignia in Return of the Jedi are often ignored.
The rank of Grand Admiral was first mentioned in the Timothy Zahn novels and is considered the senior most rank of the entire Imperial military. Grand Admirals, and their Imperial Army counterparts Grand Generals are authorized to wear white uniforms with gold shoulder boards, in addition to the standard badge of rank.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back demonstrated that the Imperial Navy and Army, while using the same rank badges, differentiate between the two services by the spacing of the colored squares on the badge itself. Imperial Army officers use rank badges with thin rank squares on a grey metal frame, while Navy officers display flush rank squares with no spacing in-between. This method of separating the two services apparently did not apply to the rank insignia of Star Wars: Episode 4, since all Imperial personnel, both Army and Navy, appeared to wear the same style of rank badge.
Insignia Sources
The information displayed in this article indicates one possible sequence of insignia order based on several different Star Wars literature sources, conjectural information, and information seen in the feature films and other live entertainment productions.
Neither George Lucas or Lucas Arts has ever published an established insignia guide for either the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance. In the case of the Empire, however, Star Wars: Episode 4 seemed to establish a basic system that the more squares and code cylinders a character wore, the more important of a position they held. This idea carried over into The Empire Strikes Back, however in that film the higher ranking characters wore more rank squares but fewer code cylinders.
With the information provided in the feature films somewhat limited, the Star Wars Expanded Universe has been left with the task of creating a rank and insignia system which holds to the information of the feature films and the additional information put forth in Star Wars literature and other film and televison productions. The following sources, therefore, were used in preparing this article.
- Star Wars Technicial Commentaries (http://www.theforce.net/swtc/)
- Star Wars Feature Films (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi)
- Heir to the Empire Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
- Lucas Arts X-Wing Computer Series (X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance)
- Lucas Arts Star Wars Strategy Simulations (Star Wars Rebellion, Star Wars Galaxies)