Why Palpatine Was Glad Tarkin Died on the Death Star - Star Wars Explained

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Composer: Whitesand (Martynas Lau)
Year: 2017
Title: Eternity

Additional Music Terminus by: Scott Buckley
Released under CC-BY 4.0.

[dawidwidera]

That's a Palpatine paradox: he keeps complaining about incompetent subordinates, but when competent one comes - he will be ambitious by default, as all competent people. That scares Sidious, and he wants them dead or removed... replacing them with... someone less competent, but than he is not satisfied enough.

[NeidalRuekk]

Sidious would have killed Tarkin himself even if the main Rebel base on Yavin 4 had been destroyed. Tarkin had permission to use the Death Star, but Sidious believed it would be used against either a military target or a world that was almost unknown. When Despayre was destroyed by the Death Star, there was no uprising because it was simply not well known, and in any case it was a prison planet. Alderaan on the other hand was well know, well loved, a civilian, almost ideal world, and outwardly appeared to be nearly totally Imperial aligned. Yes, some citizens were Rebel leaning, but that happened on many worlds. Not only did Tarkin NOT get the Rebel base location from Leia, he also sent a message to the galaxy that went a lot like this; "Disobey the Empire and die. Obey the Empire and die". Rebel ships caught the action on camera and broadcast it to all the people they could, and the result was everything the Emperor did NOT want; FLOODS of recruits for the Rebellion and still more worlds cutting ties with the Empire. Basically, Tarkin was lucky to have died aboard the Death Star. Sidious and Vader would have made his death the very definition of excrutiating.

[Raptormon]

I will point out that letting Tarkin be in command of the Death Star was also Palpatine's greatest mistake. As Tarkin was the one who ordered the destruction of the peaceful planet Alderaan. From there, it caused countless planets and people to turn against the Empire, as they were revealed to be truly evil. This is also another possible reason why Palpatine was glad about Tarkin's death.

[davidpaz]

Palps put a lot of weight on what Tarkin thought. In the novel "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader" Tarkin had asked if he could speak openly. Sidious told him "I suggest you make a practice of it."

[ShinChara]

Palpatine was supremely impressed with his own ability to manipulate his way into power. Because of that, he saw similarity to himself as superiority, and therefore wanted people similar to himself to rise to higher positions. If he had been less self-absorbed, he would have recognized that type of ambition in others as a liability, and would have instead sought to promote people who were capable but not dangerously self-serving. Unfortunately, the Sith philosophy is inherently self-defeating in this way. That's what happens when your philosophy is based on whatever the most evil position happens to be.

[brianpark]

I wonder if Tarkin and Thrawn agreed or disagreed on certain things since they both were high ranking officers in the Empire

[chasehedges]

As Palpy put it, “Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.”

[SaraNightfire]

A fascinating note:

Tarkin had slaves, at least in Legends.

One is a Mon Calamari known as Ackbar.

Yes, that Ackbar.

He rarely spoke about the times he spent as a slave, but in one book he mentioned that Tarkin in his better moods would often talk about strategy and war to him.

He learned a lot from him.

[lordofpain]

Tarkin wasn't a friend , he was a asset .
When a asset is gone , you simply get another one .
Tarkin was too ambitious , and would have become a problem eventually.

[bozo]

I know you won't see this but I really do thank you your videos brought me back into Star Wars

[daniels]

The destruction of Alderaan also had the opposite of the desired effect. *Proof* that the Empire was so evil that it would literally destroy its own worlds left too many people with a sense that there was nothing left to lose. The Empire might destroy their worlds simply as an object lesson. Tarkin neglected to consider that an animal that is scared enough may lash out without regarding to reason.

[flintironstag]

I saw a Short clip where Christopher Lee talked about calling Peter Cushing and asking him "WHAT is a grand moff tarkin?"
Peter-"I haven't the remotest idea dear boy..."😂😂😂😂

[ChiefBarnesArt]

Tarkin was clearly becoming a rival. Maybe not in the force but as a dictator. Sidious realized he may need to get rid of him.

Luckily Luke save him the trouble.

[troyhencely]

Love this. I read the Tarkin novel and loved it. Tarkin wasn't a lap dog by far, but I don't think he planned on turning on the Emperor. It would've been interesting to see the unrest between Vader and Tarkin play out a little more.

[ryanquinn]

I don’t know it Palpatine hated aliens…his master and first apprentice were both aliens and his rival yoda (who he respected) was an alien too. The sith themselves were races of aliens, so I think the people he aligned himself with liked humans more but I don’t think he would personally hold such a trivial belief when all he wanted was power, just my opinion

[kittycat]

Made one mistake Palpatine didn’t hate aliens it was just a useful tool to control everyone

[gionova]

Tarkin's hostile rivalry with Vader also made him a liability to Sidious since he hoped they would work together to make the Empire unstoppable.

[davidnerswick]

I watched a video from this channel a week or so ago, detailing why Palpatine was disappointed in the Empire. This video helps explain why Palpatine's disappointment is, in a way, all his own fault. What we get is a cycle of (self) abuse.

Step 1: Allow your subordinates to fight and claw their way to the top, so that only the strongest, most cunning, most ruthless survive.
Step 2: You feel that your subordinates are too powerful and you fear that they may overthrow you. (Not an entirely unfounded fear.)
Step 3: Kill your powerful, ambitious subordinates, before they kill you
Step 4: Complain that competent help is impossible to find.
Step 5: Sulk.
Step: 6: Avoid all ancient Sith spirits, as they ARE laughing at you.
Step 7: Orchestrate a new civil war.
Step 8: Allow yourself to "die."
Step 9: Your clone, using a new name, unites the galaxy and ends the civil war.
Step 10: A new Empire is declared. Huzzah. And now, we need to make sure that the Empire is run by only the best people. Return to step one.

Palpatine to Palpatine "Come back, baby. It'll be different this time. I promise."

[darthroden]

I believe one of the reasons that Vader was on the Death Star with Tarkin was to keep an eye on him for the Emperor.
As it was stated, Tarkin was ambitious....maybe ambitious enough to use the Death Star on Coresaunt itself?
Even a Dark Lord of the Sith can't survive planetary destruction, and take out the Emperor and rule himself with the power of the Death Star at his back. It would be easy enough to convince most of the admirals and administrators on the Death Star to go along with him, and the ones who didn't could easily have "accidents". Tarkin was certainly cleaver enough to spin a story that might convince those assigned to the Death Star that what they were doing was for the greater good.

[ImYourOverlord]

I'm surprised that Palpatine should have been concerned about any ambition Tarkin may have had. There was nowhere to advance to from where the Grand Moff stood, and he had no possibility of ever becoming Emperor, as that position was only ever held by Sith Lords. Tarkin was in the perfect position for himself, and appeared quite content to hold that position for as long as he could remain capable, or until he decided to retire, had he not perished when he did.