Wullf Yularen was the assigned Admiral to Anakin Skywalker’s fleet, effectively aiding
his Jedi comrade from space during battles.
So after leading one of the spear heads of the republic and fighting alongside the Jedi
during the clone wars, why did Yularen decide to join the Empire afterwards?
Well his decision to stay in the empire mainly stemmed from his loyalty to Palpatine, the
man who he believed was the one who would end corruption within the Republic.
Corruption that he believed was destroying the Republic from the inside out and that
would ultimately lead to its downfall.
Actually, Yularen’s desire to end corruption within the Republic was what motivated him
to get involved within the galactic government as a young man, leaving his position as a
naval captain in the Planetary Security Forces and eventually joining an anti-corruption
unit within the Office of the Supreme Chancellor.
During his time there, he met and befriended Palpatine.
Viewing the new Chancellor as someone who would finally do something about the corrupt
establishment, Yularen became a huge supporter of Palpatine and his policies which seemed
to combat the problem.
But Yularen and his team’s efforts soon came to an end, as the Senate quickly diminished
the funds to his anti-corruption unit, viewing it as a threat to their power and arguing
that it was an overextension of the Chancellor’s office.
With all his work and progress gone, the frustrated Yularen soon retired and left the chaos the
Republic was in.
However, Palpatine wasn’t going to let such a loyal and talented man walk away.
Once the Clone Wars erupted, Palpatine contacted Yularen and offered to promote him to an Admiral
within the republic navy.
Overwhelmed by such a prestigious position, Yularen accepted the offer and returned back
into the action.
Despite being one of the youngest people to hold the rank of admiral, Yularen quickly
became an extremely effective leader, building off of his earlier experience as a naval captain.
And then he was assigned the Jedi in his command, a Jedi who would frustrate him like nothing
before.
The reckless Anakin Skywalker who would almost always disobey his orders and pretty much
put him and his crew in unnecessary danger.
Actually Anakin’s apprentice, Ahsoka Tano almost got Yularen killed by disobeying his
orders.
So he definitely didn’t hold a favorable view on her after that incident.
And although Yularen respected Anakin as a courageous warrior who wasn’t afraid to
lead his men into battle, he didn’t like his presence on the command bridge.
And this wasn’t an uncommon sentiment among other non clone admirals and commanders.
Although the Jedi themselves were excellent warriors, they were very inexperienced when
it came to leading armies and fleets.
This caused them at times to butt heads with the more experienced and by the book admirals
and generals, who had been studying military strategies their entire lives.
To have some monks come into their line of expertise and tell them how to do things differently,
you can see why many of them wished to get the Jedi out of the military and back into
their old ways as non interfering peacekeepers.
And Yularen was no different.
So when the Jedi were marked as traitors of the republic and were eliminated, Yularen
placed his loyalty to the chancellor as he had no reason to not trust him.
He had no idea of Palpatine’s plot to take over the republic or that he was an evil sith
lord.
From his point of view, Palpatine was a guy who always had his back and shared his same
vision on ending corruption.
So of course Yularen would side with him over the Jedi whom he barely knew outside of the
workplace.
Once the Empire formed, Yularen resigned as Admiral and decided to join the Imperial Security
Bureau, also known as the ISB.
This organization acted like the secret police, whose goal was to root out traitors and spies
within the empire, as well as to crack down on other illegal activities within Imperial
borders.
One of Yularen’s first assignments was to investigate and identify possible traitors
within the Imperial senate, forcing the senators to go through tedious interrogations and to
be spied on.
An assignment he probably enjoyed, viewing it as payback for what they did to him and
his team many years earlier.
Overtime Yularen rose through the ranks of the ISB and became a colonel.
As colonel he was given power over other ISB agents, like agent Kallus from rebels.
His last assignment was to root out possible spies on the first death star.
He was apart of the death star conference room and the same meeting where he witnessed
Darth Vader force choke Motti.
Though it’s unknown if he knew that Vader used to be the Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker
that he served with.
Yularen later died once the death star was destroyed during the battle of Yavin.