TK-421

Biography
TK-421 was a member of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps serving aboard the Death Star space station in the years prior to the Battle of Yavin. In 0 BBY, the Empire managed to capture a renegade freighter ship known as the Millennium Falcon. TK-421 and his comrade-in-arms TK-422 were assigned to guard a scanning crew instructed to search the ship for life forms. The ship's crew, which consisted of pilot Han Solo, co-pilot Chewbacca and passengers Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO and R2-D2 ambushed the scanning crew and knocked them out. Pretending to be one of the technicians, Han called down to the two Stormtroopers, requesting their aid. The soldiers walked up the boarding ramp to the Falcon, but upon doing so, they were jumped and knocked unconscious. Han and Luke stripped the Stormtroopers of their armor and used it to disguise themselves so they could sneak about the station unmolested. Luke donned TK-421's uniform. When the station became alerted to their presence, they sent a team down to inspect the ship again. TK-421 and TK-422 were found and taken to the infirmary, but they died later when the Death Star was destroyed by Luke Skywalker.

Notes & Trivia

 * In the Marvel Comics adaptation of A New Hope, TK-421 and TK-422 were actually part of the scanning crew that inspected the falcon. This minor departure from film canon was likely made for the sake of efficiency. Another change in the comic series was the code designation used for the Stormtroopers. TK-421 was identified as TX-421.


 * TK-421 was included in the Star Wars Customizable Card Game – A New Hope, copyright 2002, from Wizards of the Coast.

Speculation
Dressed in TK-421's armor, Luke was considered uncharacteristically short for a Stormtrooper, leading to the idea that TK-421 was a normal human soldier and not a clone, even though the Star Wars Customizable Card Game – A New Hope posits that he was in fact a clone. At the very least he was not a clone bred from the genetic stock of Jango Fett.