Imperial Advisor

The Imperial Advisors were the elite group of politicians most close to the Galactic Emperor. The Advisors were appointed by the Emperor and hailed from hundreds of different planets across the Empire. In order to prevent his Advisors from gaining too much power, the Emperor consulted only a dozen at a time and assigned his Advisors to gather information about rival Advisors. He then appointed only some of his Advisors to the Imperial Ruling Council, the executive body of the Empire and one of the most powerful institutions in the Empire. This created an atmosphere of fear and greed that discouraged the Advisors from forming alliances and bound them to the Emperor.

Imperial Advisors would perform administrative tasks and duties, such as appoint Imperial Governors, Moffs, and other servants of the Galactic Empire as designated by the Emperor. It was Imperial Advisor Ars Dangor who officially appointed Moff Wilhuff Tarkin to the rank of Grand Moff.

At the height of the Empire in 4 ABY there were several thousand Advisors, of which only a few dozen were appointed to the Ruling Council. The post-Endor chaos resulted in the near extinction of the Advisor class, although several remained to serve aboard the Interim Ruling Council. Bacharan Valak made little use of Advisors, preferring to keep Warlords and other military commanders by his side, such as Jarl Rellik.

The Imperial "rebirth" in 14 ABY boosted the number of Advisors and expanded their role, including "Military Advisors."