Conan Antonio Motti
Admiral Conan Antonio Motti was an Imperial officer stationed aboard the first Death Star. An arrogant man, Admiral Motti openly insulted Darth Vader's belief in the Force because he did not believe in his "sad devotion to that ancient religion." Vader was quick to prove to Motti that the Force indeed existed, using its powers to telekinetically strangle him. Luckily for Motti, Grand Moff Tarkin intervened, and the jaded admiral was spared. He ultimately perished when the Death Star was destroyed by Luke Skywalker during the Battle of Yavin.
Expanded Universe
Motti was related to Grand Moff Tarkin by marriage: Tarkin had married Motti's sister, Lady Tarkin, making him Motti's brother-in-law.
Comments
Early scripts of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope shuffled the names of Admiral Motti and General Tagge. He is curiously absent from the Death Star meeting scene in the novelization of A New Hope, and there it's General Tagge who's the victim of Vader's telekinetic stranglehold while Motti himself is replaced by a new Imperial officer named Romodi.
Motti's first name is a referance to Conan O'Brien.
