Was Darth Vader capable of generosity towards those who served him well?

Darth Vader was probably known as the most difficult man in the Galaxy to work for. Disappoint him and he's liable to Force-choke you to death. That being said, could Vader be generous towards those who served him well? I'm not talking about merely foregoing the Force-choke, but actually being handsomely rewarded for a job well-done.

 

I've always seen him as the "Do bad and you're punished; do good and you're rewarded" type leaders.

 

Punishment= Death

Reward= Allowing to live.

 

Pretty much.

 

How about "You are in command now, Admiral Piett!"

Sounds like a reward to me! Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it, but...

 

He seems more ruthless and efficient than caring. He might not try to have a "quid pro quo" relationship with his officers, but I could see him standing up for one if he thought performance would suffer.

I don't think he would ever offer to come to a friend's house as Santa Clause, if that's what you mean.

 

IF you do Vader well he will return it. However if you ever mess up, if you ever fail he will destroy you.

The Nogri are a perfect example of how he helped them so they would owe a debt to him.

Admiral Piett is another obvious example.

Vader is not that bad when you look at the films. He is not half as bad as Tarkin or Palaptine!

Elijah Baley
Plainclothes man of the City of New York

 

I agree with Partner Elijah!

Baley speaks the truth

 

IF you do Vader well he will return it.

Sorry, my head was in the gutter.

 

The Nogri are a perfect example of how he helped them so they would owe a debt to him.

Ahh, but he didn't do the Noghri much of a favor after all.

Although EU suggests it much more strongly than the movies did, I agree that Vader was loyal to those who served him well. Piett's the obvious example. I also get the sense that Vader trusts and respects Veers. He was honest with Veers about his intentions.

And Montie, you are one gutter-minded son of a gun.

 

Although EU suggests it much more strongly than the movies did, I agree that Vader was loyal to those who served him well. Piett's the obvious example. I also get the sense that Vader trusts and respects Veers. He was honest with Veers about his intentions.

Yes, Veers seems very efficient and professional and does not show much fear, if any, to Vader (although he does sort of go out on a limb when he tries to explain Ozzels actions). Tarkin is a similiar type of figure except he shows no fear at all and we get to see more of his character.

At the end of ESB where Piett sort of fails him by not disabling the hyper drive on the MF, Vader doesn't seem to notice for some reason. Maybe he's preoccupied?

felt sorry for Captain Needa, he didn't really deserve to die.

 

"Punishment= Death

Reward= Allowing to live. "

Agreed.

 

Vader doesn't seem as evil once you see the prequels. However, Ep III is not out yet so I have yet to see if he really goes off the deep end. P.S. Could anybody please send me some sites as to read some spoilers on EpIII? Thanks. PM's are ok too.

 

In one of the books, I think in the Thrawn Trilogy, it says that working on the Executor, Vader's ship, was the fast track to a promotion. (I would think that those promotions would have to do with Vader.) And so when that ship was destroyed, moral dropped because all of the higher-up Imperials were on that ship.

 

Well I can see it as being the fast track for 2 reasons:
1- It's the flag ship so obviusly if you're serving on it you are bound to be noticed.

2- The officers on that ship worked in close proximity to Vader and therefore they had a very high mortality rate. I think alot of "field promotions" happened in that ship.

 

I'm not sure Piett's a good example of being rewarded for being a loyal officer, he only got his promotions because of his superiors being a bit crap...

 

I don't know if I would call it generosity ...

Piett only got the promotion 'cause Vader had just whacked the guy superior to him and needed to fill the void.

I think, rather than saying, "Wow! Bang up job buddy!" Vader would remember who had done something good and if, at a later date, that same guy did something not so great perhaps Vader would not kill him?

Something like that seems more like what Vader would/could do rather than openly showing generosity.

Perhaps the Imperial Officers meet in the Officer's Club and talk about how many "Don't get force-choked" cards they've earned for doing good in Vader's presense?

dm

 

I just remember that in one of the books, maybe Shadows, Vader was getting an inner chuckle out of his officers - he knew that they drew straws to give him news. He knew the score. He was aware of who the competent ones were, and probably had normalish military relationships with them, though not familiar. Remember, in ANH, operations were a little more typical of what you'd expect.Those he did knock off were quite - unsavory types.(way to smarm, Brit actors!)I don't think those on the Executor were expecting fruit baskets, but I guarantee that Vader was keeping tabs on the good apples.

 

Vader's basically Darwinism in action.

Only the strong survive, the clumsy and stupid ones get force choked

 

It is the way of the Sith. Only the strong are on top, therefor ensuring that the Sith are always powerful.

Anyways, vw_Jedi is correct on why the Executor was the fast-track to promotion. The averege lifespan of a Imperial officer who worked with Vader was generally either very long, or very quick. It all depends on just how good you are at your job. I can't see Vader killing a good officer because of some mistake, yet a poor officer? A lesson must be taught to the entire command crew. One just does not want to be the example.

 

Piett only got the promotion 'cause Vader had just whacked the guy superior to him and needed to fill the void.

I'm going with you on this on DarthMandarb.

As for rewards... If you do a good job, you'll most likely get a "Very good, Admerial (or who ever)" and that's about it.

Or he may do a force slap on the butt, kind of like they do in football... or not...

 

2- The officers on that ship worked in close proximity to Vader and therefore they had a very high mortality rate. I think alot of "field promotions" happened in that ship.

I have to admit I also interpreted it that way. I thought Zahn was making a tongue-in-cheek remark about the rate at which Vader was running through commissioned officers in the OT. But I think we should also ask whether what we saw on the Executor was commonplace and whether it was a fair representation of what daily life must have been like there. If Vader choked people on a daily basis he couldn't have been in command, period. There would have been a coup.

 

But I think we should also ask whether what we saw on the Executor was commonplace and whether it was a fair representation of what daily life must have been like there.

I think it should be noted that on every occasion we see the Executor in the movies, it's either involved in a battle or some other tense, high-pressure situation (i.e. chasing Rebel fugitives) - which might explain why Vader's temper runs a bit higher at those times.

 

"I've always seen him as the "Do bad and you're punished; do good and you're rewarded" type leaders."

I agree.

With military retards and bumbling buffoons like Ozzel he delt swiftly with them. They were merely a stumbling block to his plans.

But, with Veers (and I'm sure other such officers that we don't see) Vader always seemed different. Ozzel fails Vader in the orbital bombardment plan, so he entrusts Veers with the critical mission of taking out the rebel base on the surface.

And personally, from the moment I saw him, Veers has always been my favorite Imperial officer. There is just something about him that says, this is what a true, prime officer in the Imperial Navy looks like. Clean cut, efficient, ruthless yet he doesn't let that get in the way of his mission goals. He doesn't have time for petty officer squabbles like between Ozzel and Piett. Dunno, there's just something truly and utterly cool about the way he goes about things.

*shrugs*

I just think he's the darned coolest Imperial in the entire trilogy.


P.S. Sorry this turned into a rave about Veers instead of the true question at hand.

 

I just think he's the darned coolest Imperial in the entire trilogy.

I think you just like his helmet.