CT In A New Hope, was Grand Moff Tarkin a higher rank than Darth Vader?

When Darth Vader was force choking that imperial officer who mocked Vader about the religion (Jedi) and told him that the force does not have the ability to find the stolen dearh star plans, Grand Moff Tarkin told Vader to release him out of the force choke, so does that mean Grand Moff Tarkin is a higher rank than Darth Vader as he just told Vader what to do, which is to releasing the imperial officer who mocked Darth Vader?

 

Depends who's writing. Some EU has had Vader be Tarkin's right-hand-man rather than the Emperor's - but that ended up being retconned.

The general theme seems to be that while he can't issue Vader direct orders under normal circumstances, when Vader's on Tarkin's ship, the Death Star, Vader considers it polite to follow Tarkin's instructions. Metaphorically speaking, Tarkin is The Captain, and what The Captain says, goes, even if you're not in his direct chain of command, but just a passenger.

 

True - Tarkin was Vader's equal, but able to give him orders in very specific circumstances. Ozzel and Piett were much lower than Tarkin in the chain of command - hence Vader issuing orders to them.

Vader is often characterised as having flagships - ships "of his own" (though not in the literal sense of them being his property) where he's the one issuing orders to the ship's Captain or Admiral.

In the movies, Flagships include first the Devastator - then the Executor.

 

In my headcanon, Vader was out of his own jurisdiction on the Death Star. He was only there because he was helping track down the stolen plans. Hence, Tarkin was in charge there; Vader and Tarkin were in separate chains of command.

 

Leia describes Tarkin as holding Vader's leash. Vader follows Tarkin's orders. Tarkin speaks down to/warns Vader over his plan to let Leai escape. Vader clearly has autonomy, and ranks above anyone else on the DS, but he never shows any authority over Tarkin. Vader has a title, but he's muscle, a goon, a henchman, a torturer and at best a squadron leader. Tarkin is clearly in charge.

 

He's clearly in charge on the Death Star. But that doesn't mean he can give Vader orders when neither of them are on it.

Like in the EU - Newcanon Vader is second-in-command of the entire Imperial Military, with the Emperor as its commander.

 

EU is irrelevant. Hypothetical scenarios are irrelevant. The question is: in ANH, was Tarkin a higher rank? In ANH, Tarkin is clearly shown to be in charge. Outside the DS, Vader is only seen barking orders at low ranked people, on the DS he bullies someone in middle management, takes orders from Tarkin, is literally said to have his leash held by Tarkin, and gives orders to a couple of fighter pilots. The DS conference scene shows that orders and information comes from imperial command to Tarkin, who subsequently relays it to Vader and everyone else. It demonstrates the chain of command. It's obvious.

 

It's reasonable to say that Being on The Death Star is a special scenario - and is not the norm for Vader.

I can agree that Tarkin is at least the same rank as Vader when off the Death Star but, in the context of the Star Wars Universe as a whole - it's not proven that he's of higher rank when off the Death Star.

"In charge (for the duration of the movie's events)" rather than "higher rank" works better.

 

They both answer directly to the Emperor, so you might say that they are of equal rank. Tehnically, I suppose that Vader could dispose of Tarkin if he proved clumsy, stupid or just plain useless, but Tarkin is none of those. He's a ruthless, fearless and extremely skilled military leader and Vader respects that. If Tarkin wants him to release Motti so they can get on with business, Vader has no problem with that. He's made his point anyway.

 

The Imperial Chain of Command (both political and military) is quite screwed up. Grand Moffs are supposed to be below the Ruling Council, the Supreme Commander (Vader) and the Emperor. Tarkin is the second (tied with Vader) or third most powerful person in the Empire it seems.
At any rate, I don't see Tarkin's "release him" as an order. Vader didn't have to follow it, he just chose to.

 

The Emperor maintains a "divide and rule" policy. A confused hierarchy ensures that subordinates to him compete with each other for approval and favour, but never threaten his position.

 

Tarkin is both a governor and a Grand Moff. The issue is that Lucas never clarified what a Grand Moff was. Mainly because he kept changing what it was. I think the idea was that they were basically equals, but Tarkin was more experienced politically than Vader and so he was better suited certain situations. Notice that he agrees to Vader's plan to use the Falcon to lead them to the Rebel base, even though failure would result in severe punishment. Likewise, Director Krennic comes to Vader, in order to have something done about Tarkin's usurping control of the Death Star project from him. Granted, he wanted Vader to address his concerns to Palpatine, but he believed that Vader was vital in this regard. Likewise on Lothal, Tarkin seems to be in charge of routing the Rebel forces, but Vader is given latitude.

 

By most accounts, they are pretty much equals. On the Death Star, Palpatine granted Tarkin some authority over Vader for the sake of order. Tarkin seems to be incharge of anything Death Star related, but I don't think he'd otherwise be able to order Vader around.

 

Tarkin didn't have a higher rank. He had a different rank. He was in charge of his sector & the Death Star. His & Vader's scenes were all on the DS, hence Vader deferred ultimate command to him.

 

I'd agree with everyone else saying they're essentially equals, vying for the Emperor's favor. In theory, the Emperor should value Vader most highly as his apprentice, but ever since he got burned up and stuck in that suit the Emperor just hasn't seen him in the same light. Meanwhile, Tarkin gave him a Death Star, which the Emperor is starting to see as potentially more valuable to him than a Darth Vader. Darth Vader can feel the way the winds are blowing, which is why he's so vocally insistent that the Force is far more powerful than any space station will ever be. Vader doesn't want to be rendered obsolete, as if all he is is an older, less powerful piece of technology.

 

As most are saying here, they're essentially equals for all intents and purposes. Both report to the Emperor directly and while Vader defers to Tarkin while on the DS he certainly isn't just his henchman/goon or muscle. Vader openly mocks the DS and takes his assertiveness on commands.

 

I would say yes. Leia clearly says that Tarking holding Vaders leach.

 

I always thought Vader was technically a subordinate while in reality he merely humors Tarkin's authority. Vader likely knew he could get away with removing Tarkin should he ever feel like it.

 

Honestly, I think Vader's actual rank is overestimated most of the time. His 'Rank' is essentially determined by the Emperor depending on what he needs to do, and for whom. We see in the Darth Vader comic that he's put under the command of General Tagge due to his failure to protect the Death Star. But we see the Emperor gain confidence in him once again at the end and put him back as someone of actual power, but without official rank. Vader does what is necessary, be it taking orders from Tarkin, or giving them depending on the situation.

In the case of the Death Star, he was receiving orders from Tarkin, as he not only respected the man, but coordinating was the best way to protect the Death Star. But in the Tarkin book, he was an equal, working with Tarkin to complete their mission.

 

I mean if you're going to bring the comics and EU into it then it confuses things. I have a feeling OP was asking in relation ONLY to ANH without the context of outside canon.

 

Maybe. But with the Story Group trying to connect everything, I feel like it's relevant. I mean, Leia's in-and-out accent in ANH sounds weird, but with the context we're given in Bloodlines, it makes sense, as she was making fun of Tarkin.

 

I always assumed Leia's accent was her 'senatorial voice.' That is to say, she was trained in some customary Alderaanian style of diction, and she spoke that way to Vader, Tarkin and other imperial officers as a matter of etiquette in her role as imperial senator. She stopped by Empire and Jedi because the Senate was dissolved, her planet was blown up and her association with the Rebel Alliance was well-known by that time. So she spoke naturally.

I'm not basing that on any hard evidence, I just thought it was logical.