CT Darth Vader's motivation for hiring Bounty Hunters

I think pretty much all the explanations in this thread are correct, but on top of not trusting the Imperials to get such a tricky job done properly (and not caring one bit about offending the military officers), it's possible that he also wanted Luke delivered to him first, rather than straight to the Emperor - giving him a shot at turning Luke to the Dark Side himself and then overthrowing Palps.

That might be overthinking it, though - the real purpose of bringing in the bounty hunters was to: a) introduce this new aspect of the SW universe; and b) demonstrate Vader's absolute determination to capture Luke, protocol be damned. It also allowed the heroes to 'escape' - giving the story a break from the relentless chase - while setting up the betrayal and eventual capture.

 

The Emperor hired a bounty hunter to track one of his ships that was stolen (Lando Comic). He makes a very good point by stating 'The Imperial military works great as a hammer but tracking a ship requires the work of a needle', he calls the bounty hunter "the needle".

So I believe this was a task suitable for a "needle" and Darth Vader used bounty hunters in a similar fashion to the Emperor. The fact Palpatine sought their help also indicates that it's permissible for a Sith Lord to use them, it's not seen as 'below' their level.

 

If Sidious was willing to use Gunray, Vader was more than willing to use competent help like the bounty hunters.

 

This. Simply this. Ive never seen it as being an odd move in any way

 

He's a lethal hunter who respects adept hunters.

 

Because the Imperial Fleet were failing him.

In Empire Strikes Back, Vader really comes into his own as an implacable, mercurial and resourceful warrior who will try to cover all the angles. That's why his sudden arrival on the bridge after the line "Bring my shuttle" near the end had such an impact on me, it was a fantastic leap that cemented the hopelessness of our heroes plight and Vader's seeming omniscience and omnipresennce. But the up latest editions of the film do not convey that any more in that scene. At least not nearly as well.Pity.

 

A good question. Didn't the Imperial navy have an Intelligence branch (Col. Yularen)? Were their own spies unreliable? It's quite possible that the answer to that is, yes! (Just recall how badly certain real world intelligence services have failed...) The Bounty Hunters may have had contacts that the Empire did not - contacts that would help them track down their elusive quarry. It's also possible that Vader's distrust for his own lackeys stems from their ranks being infiltrated by rebel spies. The forthcoming Rogue One might tell us something on this score.

 

Maybe he thought that his own troops didn't do their job as well as they should and that bounty hunters were more specialized at what they did?

 

bounty hunters are trained to find people that is there job and they are usually very good at it and the amount of credits vader has accessible to him would mean he would only hire the best. where as the imperial officers are as subtle as a sledgehammer so it would be much easier to hide from them compared to a bounty hunter

 

Perhaps he heard about the "These aren't the droids you are looking for!" incident and thought he would out source!

 

He wanted to find Luke so bad, he didn't care how. Hiring bounty hunters, following the Falcon through the asteroid field, invading Hoth (and even going down there himself while the battle was still going on).

 

Bounty hunters are good for multitaskers like Vader and Sidious. It's a big galaxy. Get as many eyes and ears out there as possible.

 

He had this great idea for an anthology novel about their backstories but felt that they need an establishing scene in the movies to give it a bit of press. Boba Fett was down with this and made sure he got the best deal of the lot from the merch rights.

 

Bounty Hunters are employed by governments all the time.

 

LOL
You just blew my mind. I never really considered the thought process Fett must have went through. OR maybe he saw them sticking to the Avenger by looking out from the Executor's bridge. Fett seems like someone who enjoys a good game of cat & mouse, so he let them go to their intended destination.

 

Did Fett's ship actually pass through the garbage exit route - or might it have simply dropped out of one of the hangar bays at the same time?