Originally posted by relentless1Filoni: "Because Tarkin's in charge. Outside of the Emperor, you'd be hard pressed to find somebody with more authority, especially militarily, than Tarkin. Tarkin outranks Vader. Vader has to listen to Tarkin."
He may not be able to order Tarkin around but Tarkin certainly cannot order Vader around either; when he got Vader to stop choking out Motti it was a courtesy really
Originally posted by relentless1As mentioned, the Vader comic series is set just a few weeks/months after the events of RotS... Before Tarkin had even attained Moff status, let alone Grand Moff status... but even that far back and Sheev STILL made it clear that he was out of Vader's 'jurisdiction'.
Darth Vader #12.... vader asks to make an example of Imperial officers, The Emperor says anyone but Tarkin, I have need of him... definitely makes it sound as if Tarkin is valued but he doesn't outrank Vader
By the Rebels/ANH-era, however, Tarkin was indeed Vader's superior officer. This fact is quite incontrovertible, tbh.
I've always wondered the same lol...Ive watched clips of Tarkin bossing around Vader, the grand inquisitor and even Thrawn, I was like wtf..next he'll be asking Sidious to bring him coffee.
SPOILERS
Reading the Vader comics Tarkin at the time was more highly ranked then Vader but then after the destruction of the Death Star Vader was put under the authority of the grand general. (Guy who warned Tarkin that the Death Star was vulnerable) after he ****ed up, Sidious gave Vader more authority and the executor star destroyer. The ex grand general got force choked fit his trouble.
In the newer comics I believe Vader was given even more authority and could kill anyone he wanted except Tarkin.
In return of the Jedi Vader was bossing around the grand moss that was in charge of the second Death Star
I found this gem:
"He's so overwhelming in that first film, but you get to the point where you say, "Wait a minute, if he's so powerful, why doesn't he run the universe?" He even gets pushed around by the governors! They know the Emperor is the final word, so what happens is the same thing that happens in any corporation: Everybody worries about the top man, they don't worry about his goon. And by the time the Death Star is finished, it gives them the sense that they have a bigger, better suit than Darth Vader. In a standoff between the Death Star and Darth Vader, they have no question about who would win, and it's not this mumbo-jumbo Sith guy. So it's even more tragic, because he's not even an all-powerful bad guy, he's kind of a flunky."
This is from an interview with Lucas https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/george-lucas-and-the-cult-of-darth-vader-20050602
-In Darth Vader v2 #12(set shortly after RotS), Vader was officially given the title/rank of 'Emperor's Voice', and also headed-up the Inquisitor program. He was able to punish/kill anyone in the Empire(no matter their rank), except Tarkin.
-By the time of Rebels/ANH, Vader commanded everyone in the Empire except Tarkin, who was well-established as Vader's superior officer.
-In Darth Vader v1 #1(set just after the events of ANH), Vader was demoted by Palpatine as a result of his failure with the Death Star, and put under the command of Grand General Tagge.
-By Darth Vader v1 #25(set shortly before ESB), Vader had finally redeemed himself to Palpatine, and was given back all of his previous power/authority. However, without Tarkin in the picture, he was now *the* highest ranking official in the Empire, barring the Palpatine himself. This is also when Vader was officially given more of a militaristic role: Sheev gave him control of the entire Imperial fleet, and command of the Executor.
Hard to say. Granted, Palpatine knew that Tarkin shared at least some of the blame in the Death Star's destruction, due to his arrogance of the weapon's touted superiority, but it was still Vader's fault that the Rebels were able to obtain plans for the Death Star in the first place. He was overly arrogant and allowed them to escape with the plans deliberately(even though Tarkin was counting on him to stop them):
https://i.imgur.com/tBsVdqD.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/V2oTN6W.jpg
Had Tarkin survived the Death Star, they both would have been reprimanded harshly, but Vader would've undoubtedly got the shorter end of the disciplinary stick. Had he done his job right the first time(and stopped the Rebels then and there), the Death Star would have never been destroyed.
Originally posted by MendaxIndeed. Tarkin was fully relying on Vader to stop the Rebel fleet while he handled the matter on Scarif.
He was? i thought vader was just doing his own thing?
Random Officer: "Sir, shall I begin targeting their fleet?"
Tarkin: "Lord Vader will handle the fleet. Target the base of Scarif..."
-Rogue One
Vader just let his arrogance in his own abilities blind him, and intentionally let the Rebels get away with the Death Star's plans -- honestly one of the single dumbest decisions/mistakes in SW history. As I said above: had Vader completed his task then and there and stopped the fleet, the Rebellion would have never obtained the plans, and the Death Star would've never been destroyed.
...Frankly, he's lucky that Palpatine just let him off with a simple demotion.
Originally posted by ares834Yep, you're right. I completely forgot about that.
Um... Vader didn't let the Rebels escape Scarif intentionally. The comic scans are clearly referring to ANH when Vader and Tarkin let the Millennium Falcon escape the DS with the plans.
Same end result, though -- the blame falls primarily on Vader. Tarkin only shares the blame because he trusted Vader enough to allow him to carry out that plan in the first place(against his better judgement, I might add.)
Tarkin: "You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk, Vader... This had better work."
-ANH
Frankly, that makes Vader look like even more of an inept buffoon than I first thought. Had Tarkin survived the Death Star's explosion, he might've even been able to spin the happenings in such a way that *only* Vader was reprimanded, tbh. ermm
