
Palpatine became Tarkin’s mentor, helping him secure a spot in the Judicial Academy. That led to a place in the Sullust Sector Spacefarers Academy, where Tarkin met Naboo’s ambitious Senator Palpatine. As a teenager in the Outland Regions Security Force, Tarkin applied those lessons to space combat, destroying a band of pirates known as Q’anah’s Marauders. The experience taught Tarkin that life was an ongoing battle for survival, with the strong and smart staying on top by gaining and keeping control of those below them. There, the boy got an education in tracking and hunting while defending himself against Eriadu’s vicious native fauna. Tarkin’s parents taught Wilhuff ruthlessness by sending him to Eriadu’s untamed Carrion Plateau shortly after his eleventh birthday.

Wilhuff Tarkin was born on the Outer Rim planet Eriadu, scion of a prestigious family whose lineage dated back to the planet’s earliest settlers.
