Gideon

Biography

Died

9 ABY, Mandalore

Physicality

Species

Human^[1]

Gender

Male^[1]

Hair color

Black, graying^[1]

Eye color

Dark^[1]

Skin color

Dark^[1]

Fidelity

Affiliation

Behind the scenes

Actor

Giancarlo Esposito

First appearance
"Chapter 7: The Reckoning"

"If you're asking if you can trust me, you cannot. Just as you betrayed our business arrangement, I would gladly break any promise and watch you die at my hand. The assurance I give is this: I will act in my own self-interest, which at this time involves your cooperation and benefit."
― Gideon, stating terms of surrender to Greef Karga^[src]

Gideon was a human male warlord who led a holdout of the Imperial Remnant.

Having served as an officer of the Imperial Security Bureau, Gideon attained the title of Moff and survived the Galactic Empire's collapse in the Galactic Civil War. Assumed to have been executed for his role in the Great Purge of Mandalore, he was in fact a member of the Shadow Council and worked to weaken the New Republic. With a base on operations on Mandalore, Gideon maintained a number of resources and military assets at his beck and call, in addition to sleeper agents and other allies across the Outer Rim. In his quest to conquer the galaxy, Gideon sought to build his own Force-attuned army and supplant the absent Thrawn as leader of the Shadow Council. Therefore, the Moff sent his agents to capture the Child, the key to his plans.

Biography[]

Serving the Empire[]

Gideon once served in the Galactic Empire's intelligence agency - the Imperial Security Bureau. In this capacity he helped carry out the purge of the Mandalorian people, and eventually came into possession of the Darksaber - an ancient lightsaber, and sacred symbol of Mandalorian culture.

Prior to the downfall of the Empire, Gideon was named one of the Moffs in control of the sector groups. Afterwards it was believed that Gideon had been executed for war crimes.

Imperial Warlord[]

The Mandalorian 16 — Gideon's death troopers killed The Client and his guards, allowing the Moff to land on Nevarro

In truth, Moff Gideon had evaded the New Republic's grip and had established his own Imperial holdout. With vast resources such as entire companies of troopers, technologically-advanced craft and competent scientists, Gideon committed most of his efforts in a bid to capture "the Asset" for a secret project.

To this end, Moff Gideon tasked the Client with assisting Doctor Pershing in obtaining their "donor". Unfortunately for them, the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin escaped with the Child, prompting the Client to send mercenaries to apprehend the rogue.

When Djarin returned to Nevarro in the company of disgraced magistrate Greef Karga and Cara Dune in an attempt to kill the Client, Moff Gideon contacted the latter to report on the Child's whereabouts. Shortly after, Gideon had his death trooper bodyguards open fire on the Client and his men for failing to see through Djarin's trap. As the squad was soon joined by additional companies of stormtroopers, Gideon himself arrived on his personal Outland TIE fighter to declare his intentions to the surrounded trio, while his escort assembled an E-Web heavy-repeating blaster. IG-11 rescued the child and rode a speeder into the town, shooting down Stormtroopers. He created a distraction and Djarin, Karga and Dune exited the building and attacked the troopers. After IG-11 was shot in the back, Djarin grabbed the E-Web blaster and shot down many of the remaining Stormtroopers. Gideon pointed his blaster at Djarin but then shifted his aim down towards the guns generator and blew it up, sending the Mandalorian flying. Cara pulled an injured Djarin back into the building and the group retreated. Afterwards, Gideon gave the order to "burn them out". However, it was unsuccessful, and Djarin and his allies escaped through the sewers.

GideonDarksaber-MandalorianCh8 — Gideon after using the Darksaber to escape his Outland TIE fighter

Gideon later reappeared piloting his personal Outland TIE fighter against Djarin and his associates, conducting a strafing run before Djarin used his newly acquired jetpack to launch into the air, grapple on to the fighter, and plant explosive charges on Moff Gideon's fighter. Gideon noticed this, but was too late to do anything to prevent the detonation of the charges, Gideon survived, however, he crashed his fighter into the wasteland surrounding the city and cut himself out of his wrecked fighter with the Darksaber.

At Trask, an Imperial captain contacted Gideon via hologram that he needed reinforcements, as his Gozanti-class Assault Carrier was under attack from three Mandalorians. Gideon asked the captain how far the Mandalorians had breached. When the captain told him they had taken most of the ship, Gideon stated that it was too late to send reinforcements and cryptically told them they knew what to do. Only the captain was aware of his meaning, upon which he shut off the hologram and killed both pilots, pushing the ship straight into the waters of Trask. He was unsuccessful however, and was stopped by Djarin and was then interrogated by Kryze for the Darksaber, but the officer followed Gideon's orders to the very end and committed suicide by setting off an electric shock mechanism in his mouth.

Around the same time, Gideon had received a hologram message from Dr. Pershing, who was apologizing to him for failing an experiment involving Grogu and Strand-Casts. He also reported that he had exhausted their supply of Grogu's blood samples, and that he required more genetic material from the donor in order to continue his work.

Three days later, when Djarin returned to Nevarro for repairs, a Mimbanese worker planted a tracking device on the Razor Crest. The Mandalorian later left after completing his mission with Cara Dune, Greef Karga, and The Mythrol. Gideon was later contacted by a Comms officer about this, and was told that the Razor Crest had the device installed. Gideon smiled to himself and continued to supervise the work of his scientists on his dark troopers. Eventually, Gideon's forces tracked Djarin to Tython. Ultimately, the Child( known as Grogu) was successfully kidnapped by the Dark Troopers. Once the trooper droids returned to the cruiser with the captured child, Gideon's cruiser jumped to hyperspace. While still in hyperspace, Gideon briefly talked to the child in his prison cell, walking in on the child attacking two stormtroopers. Gideon showed Grogu the Darksaber before having his stormtroopers stun him and place him in shackles to prevent him from using his powers on them. Gideon then ordered the comms officer to send an encrypted message to Doctor Pershing informing him that they had their donor for his experiments once they exited hyperspace.

DjarinWieldsDarksaber-TMCh16 — Djarin bringing a captured Gideon to the bridge

Eventually, Din Djarin and his allies embarked on a rescue mission to save Grogu. Earlier, Djarin had sent Gideon a transmission, threatening him and mirroring what Gideon had said during the skirmish on Nevarro. Djarin's team infiltrated Gideon's Light Cruiser, splitting up. Djarin went for Grogu's cell, while the rest of the team went for the bridge. Gideon, however, had been prepared for this, and decided to trick the Mandalorian to lower his guard with promises of returning the Child, claiming to no longer need him, having already taken his blood. Djarin fell for this, and Gideon suddenly tried to strike from behind. The two then engaged in a fierce duel. Ultimately, Djarin defeated Gideon and won the Darksaber. Afterwards, Djarin took the defeated Gideon to the bridge. When Djarin attempted to give the Darksaber to Bo-Katan, she refused and Gideon laughed, telling Djarin that she had to best him in combat to rightfully claim it.

Later, the dark troopers, which Djarin ejected into space, returned via rocket boosters. Gideon was confident that everyone but him and Grogu would be killed by the droids, but he himself did not anticipate Luke Skywalker's intervention. Being horrified as he watched the troopers being cut down by the Jedi's lightsaber, and realizing he was truly defeated, Gideon grabbed a discarded blaster from the floor (which he had concealed with his cape earlier) and tried to shoot both Bo-Katan and Grogu, but failed to kill both. Then, he tried to kill himself, but was stopped from doing so and knocked unconscious by Dune.