Even though Kylo Ren, General Hux and Captain Phasma were all brutal members of the First Order, their tempers and their pride kept them from being truly effective leaders. While Star Wars Resistance's Agent Tierny of the First Order Security Bureau did not hold as high of a rank as these leaders, she was much more effective at pushing the First Order’s agenda. Her skilled manipulation of Tamara Ryvora in particular led her to almost capture the Colossus station multiple times, even if her failures ultimately led to her execution.
While the main trio of Snoke and later Palpatine’s underlings led through fear, Agent Tierny was far more subtle. Agent Tierny first appeared in "Descent," Episode 19 of Star Wars Resistance's first season, to investigate a possible Resistance cell on board the Colossus. The stormtroopers occupying the station were unable to capture the actual Resistance members Kazuda Xiono, Jarek Yeager and CB-23. However, Tamara surrendered believing the entire situation was a misunderstanding because her friends kept her in the dark about their Resistance missions.
From the beginning, Agent Tierny presented herself as sympathetic to Tam. She ordered her soldiers to let Tam go and apologized for their "lack of hospitality." In doing so, she positioned herself as the kinder, more reasonable option. Tierny claimed that the Resistance was "a violent and dangerous group, disavowed even by the New Republic." In contrast, she described the First Order as a group whose goal was "galactic peace through absolute order." Tierny made her interrogation into a meal between friends rather than the standard First Order interrogation by torture. She also made sure to keep Tam from seeing the destruction of the Hosnian system. Overall, these little changes to her routine made the First Order appear to be the rational side of the fight with only Tam and the rest of the galaxy's wellbeing in mind.
Tierny leveraged Kaz and Yeager's secrecy to win Tam's trust. Tierny informed Tam that Kaz was actually a former New Republic pilot and from Hosnian Prime, not the poor kid from Coruscant he claimed to be. After the First Order captured Yeager in the first season finale, Tierny used Yeager's attempts to take the blame to save Kaz to prove to Tam that Yeager had been lying to her all along. Tierny claimed that Kaz and Yeager's secrecy put Tam in danger and showed that they did not care about Tam. Because Tierny was able to manipulate Tam so thoroughly, she convinced Tam to join the First Order.
Tierny's other interrogations showed how she changed her strategy in response to her target. When she later captured Jarek Yeager and Synara San in the second season's "Breakout," she used the more common torture tactics found within the First Order. To Yeager, she also weaponized Tam's defection to the First Order to hurt him more. However, this interrogation also showed that Tierny's pride blinded her to the fact that Tam was conflicted and close to abandoning the First Order once and for all.
Tierny viewed Tam as an asset that the First Order could use to track the Colossus after the station's escape. At first, she was correct. Tam turned in her comlink to Tierny, and Tierny and the First Order were able to track the Colossus to D'Qar. This moment was a turning point for Tierny and Tam. For Tierny, she saw Tam's willingness to cooperate with the First Order as proof that she had won, even though she continued to manipulate Tam. For Tam, however, turning over the comlink was actually the beginning of her disillusionment with her choice. As Tam became further enmeshed within the First Order, Tierny was unable to hide the true cruelty and evil behind the organization and their ruthless culture from Tam forever.
Tierny might even have believed that she was a good mentor figure for Tam, though the lines between Tierny's manipulation and the truth were unclear. When she first recruited Tam, she claimed to be doing so to help Tam reach her potential. In the series finale, Tierny claimed to see some of herself in Tam and seemed genuinely hurt by Tam's later betrayal. However, because of Tierny's skill at manipulation, her hurt could have been yet another act to try to manipulate Tam back to the First Order.
While Tierny was executed by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren because of her repeated failures to capture the Colossus, she still represented a more cold and calculating side to the First Order. Agent Tierny was a far more effective leader than her superiors because she favored calm manipulation over rage and fear. Her actions, in particular the way she convinced Tam to join the First Order, showed the subtle and overt manipulation that the First Order used to convince people to join their cause. Tierny's manipulation in Star Wars Resistance fleshed out the First Order more and made them even more horrifying because Tierny showed how good people, like Tam, could be convinced to do horrible things with the right misinformation campaign.
Star Wars Resistance is available to stream on Disney+.
