What is the most effective leader in combat?
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Darth Martin
These are bad guys only! Here are some candidates.
1. Darth Vader
2. Grand Moff Tarkin
3. General Grievous
Gideon
Specify what type of combat, please. They're all military geniuses, and all three are capable starfight commanders - though Tarkin's major flaw (extreme arrogance - "extreeeeeme"

would likely do him in.
That said, based on just pure tactics, I'd say Grievous is the best. He and Vader can lead land-based or spaced-based combat extremely well, and even participate. Tarkin? Eh.
Rampant ox
Tarkin was higher up the pecking order than Vader, and was even given his own Death Star to play with. Although this doesnt necesarily make him better than Vader as an effective leader, it looks better on paper.
Grevious however was the CIS's top military figure - he created the strategies and in many cases personally carried them through to victory. He was feared by all of his enemies and was effective at both leading and fighting. I would say that GG has this.
Darth Martin
Some categories could be......
-Ground Assault
-Space Assault
-Dog Fights
-Combat w/ weapons
-Most feared
-Inspirational(people will be willing to fight if this person arrives)
-Strategy
-Intelligence
Rampant ox
Ground Assault: Vader
Space Assault: Greivous
Dog Fights: Vader
Combat w/weapons: Im leaning towards Greivous.
Most Feared: They were all pretty feared at their particular time frame - I would say either Tarkin or Vader though.
Inspirational: Tarkin or Vader. You cant inspire droids.
Strategy: Greivous
Intelligence: They were all pretty smart. Tarkins arrogance is his downfall here and Vader was never a really a genius so to speak. Greivous takes this because of his robotically enhanced brain.
Gideon
I would recommend reading Rise of Darth Vader. Tarkin was overseeing the construction of the Death Star. This was shown at the very end of Revenge of the Sith. On the Death Star, yes, his authority would supercede Vader's own. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the Emperor thought Tarkin more competent or more skilled. It was simply his pet project.
Grievous wasn't feared by all of his enemies. Vader was feared by more, and deeper. Though it is close.
Rampant ox
Originally posted by Gideon
I would recommend reading Rise of Darth Vader. Tarkin was overseeing the construction of the Death Star. This was shown at the very end of Revenge of the Sith. On the Death Star, yes, his authority would supercede Vader's own. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the Emperor thought Tarkin more competent or more skilled. It was simply his pet project.
I havent read the book, but from the movies Tarkin is certainly shown as a higher ranking figure than Vader himself. The way he just strolls in and tells Vader to stop choking that general is classic (forget the quote). Leia also states something like "I thought I would find you holding Vader's leash", implying (to me) that Tarkin was one of the highest ranking and most well known figures in the Imperial ranks. Either way, in terms of an effective leader I would say Tarkin - his arrogance being his major flaw. None of Vaders troops seemed to respect him as a leader (not to say that he wasnt a good leader in his own right though).
Gideon
Originally posted by Rampant ox
I havent read the book, but from the movies Tarkin is certainly shown as a higher ranking figure than Vader himself. The way he just strolls in and tells Vader to stop choking that general is classic (forget the quote). Leia also states something like "I thought I would find you holding Vader's leash", implying (to me) that Tarkin was one of the highest ranking and most well known figures in the Imperial ranks. Either way, in terms of an effective leader I would say Tarkin - his arrogance being his major flaw. None of Vaders troops seemed to respect him as a leader (not to say that he wasnt a good leader in his own right though).
Lmao. Vader's troops and colleagues were terrified of him. Those who didn't, like Tarkin respected him. You're referring to people who sat on the Death Star's command board - like Motti, who openly defied Vader. That was because he got cocky, and considered Vader to be nothing more than the Emperor's lackey - he had the same problem in RoDV.
And, yes, Tarkin is one of the very highest. But he had only more authority in terms of the Death Star, and, of course, the Emperor's wishes. The Death Star was Tarkin's show - Vader was just lending a hand.
Rampant ox
Fair enough. Im just going by the movies - as I despise most pieces of EU.

Darth Martin
Originally posted by Rampant ox
Ground Assault: Vader
Space Assault: Greivous
Dog Fights: Vader
Combat w/weapons: Im leaning towards Greivous.
Most Feared: They were all pretty feared at their particular time frame - I would say either Tarkin or Vader though.
Inspirational: Tarkin or Vader. You cant inspire droids.
Strategy: Greivous
Intelligence: They were all pretty smart. Tarkins arrogance is his downfall here and Vader was never a really a genius so to speak. Greivous takes this because of his robotically enhanced brain. I agree w/ everything except strategy and intelligence. Vader is more intelligent and Vders strategy on Hoth makes me lean toward him than Grievous.
jollyjim311
Originally posted by Darth Martin
Some categories could be......
-Ground Assault
-Space Assault
-Dog Fights
-Combat w/ weapons
-Most feared
-Inspirational(people will be willing to fight if this person arrives)
-Strategy
-Intelligence
- Vader.
- Vader has used the force and told his crew when to fire for a seemingly difficult hit against an escaping Rebel vehicle. He has slightly less experience with strategy (but still plenty), but can actually help his troops tangibly.
- Vader, easy. He retained and expanded on Anakins skills.
- Vader, Greivous as a close second.
- Vader, easy.
- Not sure. Vader is the face of the Empire, if he shows up, I guess they would be inspired (not to mention scared shitless not to fight).
- Could go to any of them, I imagine. They're all different and excel in different areas.
- Greivous obviously is, but doesn't seem to be too intelligent. Between Vader and Tarkin, I suppose.
kamhal
It's not to be a fanboy or something, but if you want to talk about militar genius, them bring out Revan...
jollyjim311
Originally posted by kamhal
It's not to be a fanboy or something, but if you want to talk about militar genius, them bring out Revan Thrawn...
Yeah...
Blaxican
Better yet... break out Thrawn...
jollyjim311
Read carefully, Blax...
Darth Subjekt
Originally posted by Rampant ox
I havent read the book, but from the movies Tarkin is certainly shown as a higher ranking figure than Vader himself. The way he just strolls in and tells Vader to stop choking that general is classic (forget the quote). Leia also states something like "I thought I would find you holding Vader's leash", implying (to me) that Tarkin was one of the highest ranking and most well known figures in the Imperial ranks. Either way, in terms of an effective leader I would say Tarkin - his arrogance being his major flaw. None of Vaders troops seemed to respect him as a leader (not to say that he wasnt a good leader in his own right though).
You also have to understand two things;
1. Vader has no rank whatsoever, he's just a Sith Lord, and thusly respectively recognized as second in command, just out of being Palp's apprentice, and being naturally more powerful. Although that probably didn't come into play when ANH was written, which brings me to point two...
2. At the time of ANH, Vader was only meant to be a faceless brute, by GL's own admission, quickly followed by back peddling. It wasn't till the huge fan response, that GL decided to make Vader "the one" guy to be the badass on the block. Although he was tough as nails in ANH, Tarkin actually had a military rank, which in governmental circumstances, would outweigh Vader's Sith Apprenticeship, unless otherwise noted by the Emporer himself.
Now, Tarkin, while sitting comfortably in the Death Star, was able to move from pplace to place and threaten any soveigrnty or planet, by complete obliteration of their planet. In my eyes, my to tactful or skillful. Vader on the otherhand, designed and helped carry out multiple space and ground operations, with unrivaled success (until the likes of Thrawn). While everyone else was hellbent on swaying through the galaxy and using the "ultimate power' (DS), Vader was the only one who was smart enough, or to semi quote, have Clairvoyance (spelling?) enough, to be hesitant to use it with such disregard for the opposition's chances of exploiting a weakness. In my mind, and not just out of being a Vader fan, Vader was slightly above Tarkin in military tactics and intelligence. GG on the other hand did only what Sidious told him to do. I don't recall him doing much on his own. And to the best of my knowledge, his brain was his own, not robotically enhanced.
Gideon
Well, to be honest, it is extremely difficult to compare two people in overall intellect. For example, who is smarter: Emperor Palpatine or Grand Admiral Thrawn? The first is the politician who manipulated the Republic, the Confederacy, and the Jedi into carving him a path of power, and the second is the greatest and most capable tactition in the galaxy's history. Both of them were patrons of the arts and well versed in philosophy and both of them were efficient leaders. But one was a master manipulator and the other was a master tactition.
Hard to say which is smarter.
I think that Vader and Tarkin are close in intellect and tactical ability. Personally, I believe that Tarkin may be the superior tactition, but that may not have been made evident in the movies due to his arrogance, which clouded his reason. However, Vader was the commanding officer of the Imperial Navy for a reason - though it could be, as Darth Subjekt alluded to, his personal apprenticeship to the Emperor that allowed such an assignment.
Rise of Darth Vader goes deep into this topic. Initially, Vader was disrespected by most of the naval commanders. This was eventually curbed by the assault on Kashyyk - where they learned the extent of his power (both politically and Force-wise), as well as his personal stance with the Emperor which allowed him to supercede most Imperial authorities.
Then, people like Admiral Motti aboard the first Death Star seemed to have become overconfident in their position, and defied Vader. But, as we saw, that didn't go well. The vast majority of the galaxy were terrified of Vader, and I believe that it is due to Tarkin's authority of the Death Star and his personal friendship with Vader that allowed him to bark a command - not that he necessarily was inferior in rank. Indeed, he seems to be outside the chain of command.
As for Grievous, we know that his brilliant strategies were what brought him to the Emperor's attention in the first place; that and he kicked the Republic's ass a lot in combat, and, he too suffered disrespect at the hands of Nute Gunray, especially when he knew that Sidious and Count Dooku wouldn't allow for Gunray to die.
So, I guess, Grievous is likely the better tactition. But Tarkin is the better leader, and Vader is the best all around.
ESB -1138
-Ground Assault: Darth Vader
-Space Assault: Tarkin
-Dog Fights: I'd say Vader
-Combat w/ weapons: I would have to say Vader.
-Most feared: My guess would be Vader.
-Inspirational(people will be willing to fight if this person arrives): I have to say Tarkin. Vader doesn't seem to be the type to make any speeches
-Strategy: Grievous. Manage to take control of Core Planets during the Clone Wars...impressive
-Intelligence: Tarkin. Grievous was a warlord and Vader was a Sith. When it came down to it Tarkin was the only one of the three to gain his rank through intelligence.
Tangible God
Just as a side note, Vader was the Supreme Militay Executor of the Empire. Not sure if that's the exact title though, but it was a rank nonetheless.
Darth Godzilla
Originally posted by Darth Martin
Some categories could be......
-Ground Assault
-Space Assault
-Dog Fights
-Combat w/ weapons
-Most feared
-Inspirational(people will be willing to fight if this person arrives)
-Strategy
-Intelligence
-General Veers. He did a frickin awesome job at Hoth.
-General Grievous. He was a strategic genius in space.
-Vader or Baron Fel... both awesome.
- Vader, Grievous or Revan... all three awesome
-Vader. Grievous comes close, but he never dared to defy Sidious. Vader, to some extent, did. (ex. blowing up Xizor)
-Revan. For all reasons.
-Thrawn. For all reasons.
- Uhh... pretty much anybody. You can't tell. Maybe Admiral whatshisname who Vader choked was brilliant, just a bit discombobulated.
I like that word.
Note- like 3/4 of these guys are Imperials. No wonder Sidious was able to control the galaxy.
Hold up, did we have to use those 3?
Brotz
-Ground Assault: Vader
-Space Assault: Thrawn
-Dog Fights: Antilles
-Combat w/ weapons? (don't understand)
-Most feared: Ragnos
-Inspirational: Revan
-Strategy: Revan
-Intelligence: Thrawn
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