CT If Tarkin evacuated...

From what I hear from both Legends and Canon, Palpy wasn't happy AT ALL with Vader and punished him severely in both canons for the death star's destruction. That designer from the EU Bevel Lemilisk got killed and cloned mutiple times by Palpatine for his failure. (Obviously in canon, Krennic is already dead at this point.) So what severity of punishment do you guys think Tarkin would have faced if he survived the battle of Yavin?

 

Vader may not have been too badly punished he was given extra powers after that battle as for Tarkin i'd say the Emperor would be furious with him an execution of his family a demotion to a warzone planet and an assignment to keep order among the Wookie's, keep him in constant irritation to serve as a reminder of his losing the Death Star.

 

I think Tarkin was too valuable to lose right away, but he'd endure some sort of harsh punishment. Whatever it would be, it may be enough to cause him to plot against Palpatine. Of course, Palpatine may have been able to replace Tarkin easily. If that was the case, he may well have executed the grand Moff

If Vader did the honors, I think he'd strike down Tarkin with satisfaction, given their history.

 

...he would have been probably executed as a war criminial (by the Empire in an attempt to calm down the other Imperial member worlds) for having single-handedly ordered the destruction of Alderaan.

 

Given how sheming Tarkin is I could see him find a way to blame the whole thing on Vader. He could claim that Vader failed at getting back the plans thus enabling the attack in the first place and later failed to protect the weak spot.

 

I can very much see Tarkin as fall guy for the Death Star's destruction. Like all powerful monarchs, Palpatine would make sure not to let the anger of the common people reach high up enough to topple him from his throne.

 

That's interesting. If the emperor had managed to shift all blame for Alderaan onto Tarkin, and then execute him, I wonder at the effect it would have on the rebels/galaxy's views about it.
But Tarkin might be valuable and/or cunning enough to get out of it.

 

Tarkin would not have been executed Vader was not executed. Vader was integral to the Emperor remaining in power but Tarkin was a key figure in the running of the Empire. While the Emperor would be most displeased, Tarkin was to valuable to the Imperial Navy for execution. Tarkin had ensured that others in Imperial Ascendancy were cut down leaving him the largest personality in the room. The Emperor already had pliable officers and with Tarkin gone replacements would be tough to find.

The Emperor would purge Tarkin's loyalists and keep Tarkin around, take away his privileges, demote him & weaken his ability to leave his new assignment. A sort of purgatory to make him servile to the Emperor. The Emperor would never again give him a vital command post to hold aside from that the Emperor would be satisfied that an officer like Tarkin would work well on priority missions against minor hits by the Rebellion.

 

^ That's what I always figured -- he wouldn't have Tarkin executed; rather he'd demote him and put him in a position where he wouldn't hold the same amount of power as he did on the Death Star.

 

Bob the X-Winger wrote

Tarkin would not have been executed Vader was not executed. Vader was integral to the Emperor remaining in power but Tarkin was a key figure in the running of the Empire. While the Emperor would be most displeased, Tarkin was to valuable to the Imperial Navy for execution

Hear, hear. I believe Admiral Ozzel also thought he was too valuable to the Imperial Forces...

On the contrary the example of Admiral Ozzel tells us that rank doesn't protect you from execution, once you screw up. I think we are looking at a "survival of the fittest" philosophy that allows eager and able Imperial officers to quickly ascend through the ranks.

Why should Vader have been executed? He was the one realizing the snubfighter threat to the Death Star and seized the initiative by sending crews to their TIE fighters.

Regarding Tarkin here is a list of screw-ups he did in ANH:

1. Not examining the possibility that the Death Star might have a weakness the Alliance could have exploited. General Taggi will testify that he did suggest that during the Death Star conference.
2. Not being able to motivate Senator Organa to disclose the location of the hidden Rebel base.
3. Not notifying Imperial Forces HQ that they located the Rebel base on Yavin IV (apparently Tarkin ran silent and hoped that he could report its destruction as a surprise for everybody else and in an attempt to raise his personal prestige). The right thing would have been to notify the Imperial Starfleet and have them standby as a Plan B.
4. Not launching TIE fighters the moment the Alliance fighters started attacking. Apparently the sadist within himself wanted to see the Alliance try, fail and suffer doing this "pointless" attack, caution would have dictated to send out TIE fighters to meet the Alliance snubfighters en route to the Death Star.

Just like Ozzel (later) Tarkin had proven that he was unfit for command. A trial and execution would have been inevitable, otherwise - considering his screw-up list - it would have sent the wrong message to Imperial personnel, IMHO.

 

And besides which, Vader is a Party man Sith Lord. Tarkin's just a military governor. Plenty of those where he came from.

 

Evacuated, or better yet took a few Star Destroyers with him to Alderaan.

 

Alderaan? But Tarkin destroyed Alderaan. Or do you mean the Imperial stronghold, whose name was transferred to Leia's homeworld in the January 1976 fourth draft?

 

This reminds me of an interesting part of the ANH radio adaptation. There, Tarkin actually does seriously consider leaving the area at once. However, Motti (who's portrayed as something of a would-be kingmaker) convinces him otherwise, since it would hurt his image. Also, it would mean giving up command of the Death Star, which he could later use as his own weapon in overthrowing Palpatine and taking over the Empire himself. That's hinted at in the Tarkin character description from the original movie's era, but isn't really developed in the movie itself.

 

Basically a few things may have happened.
1. Tarkin executed short after and seen as the fall guy.
2. Tarkin receiving some sort of punishment but staying a Grand Moff.
3. Tarkin stays a Grand Moff and plots to overthrow Palpatine.

 

Which made NO sense in the film canon. Vader goes from enforcer in ANH who warns the imperials of the foolishness of this "technological terror" to leader of the entire Imperial fleet in ESB. Which would make sense if he had always been against the idea and warned Palpy about it. Maybe he was even vindicated went it was destroyed. IT would explain his promotion in ESB. This idea that Palps was mad at Vader specifically was just EU canon that never jived with the films.

 

Thing is, Vader was within moments of destroying Luke before Han showed up. His account of the Battle of Yavin, even if he slants it his own way as much as possible, is likely to get a

"So, because you failed to kill one X-wing pilot, he blew up the station"

reaction from Palpatine.

 

Keep in mind that three years (at least) passed between ANH and TESB. In both canons, Vader was punished in some fashion. I think the new canon has him being placed under General Tagge's authority (who somehow managed to escape before the Death Star's destruction). Someone can correct me on that.

In Legends, Mara told Luke that Vader almost died at the Emperor's hand, and that's when he lost his right hand (obviously, written before the prequels came out).

 

I meant Yavin. If he'd taken the obvious precaution of having some SDs accompany the DS there the Rebellion would've been extinguished.

 

Should Tarkin be punished in some way it would not be for the destruction of Aldeeran that was designed to strike fear into the Galactic worlds. The Empire ruled through fear not out of love of the Emperor. It would have presented a major challenge to the Empire what to do with Tarkin. Execute him and risk undermining the military or perhaps engineer an accident to get rid of him. The Emperor is known throughout the Galaxy for his cruel and wicked ways by allowing Tarkin to remain on while still delegating tasks to him the Emperor shows the Galactic Worlds he is capable of mercy. Great for propaganda purposes. The defeated Tarkin is kept in the inner circle source of resentment for the Stormtroopers who blame him for the death of their colleagues.