Who's more evil? Thrawn vs Tarkin

Who's more evil in the Star Wars universe when you compare Thrawn & Tarkin? Tarkin, we sadly didn't get to see much of since he got blown up in the first Death Star at the end of the Battle of Yavin. What we do see and learn of him is that he is purely an evil man. How can you top giving the order of destroying an entire planet? Its said that he's the only one, other than the Emperor, who could control Vader.

Thrawn is different. He is evil in another way. He can outsmart the New Republic when they think he's outsmarted them. He is a genius, you can't deny that. However, he is a bit more merciful than Tarkin because he lived in a different time when men and supplies to the Empire were in short supply. He couldn't kill someone because they failed to capture a certain prisoner. But he is still someone to be feared and respected.

So who is more evil?

 

Tarkin. Even in the early EU, Thrawn lacked the sadism that tended to characterise Tarkin.

 

I'll go with Tarkin. Thrawn could be ruthless, but he did not have the tendency to casual mass murder that Tarkin had.

 

Tarkin though Thrawn did seem a hell of a lot smarter plus dispite being blue like a smurf was kind of sexy in a alpha male kind of way

 

Tarkin for sure. While Thrawn could certainly be nasty, he was all about the tactical advantage and looking at war as a chess game. I actually really enjoyed his character, probably my favorite Imperial character in the EU. Tarkin seemed much more bent toward the stereotypical Imperial disregard for life.

 

Thrawn is far more sexy though

 

Fact. And Tarkin is eviler, because Thrawn seemed to be more of a straightforward kind of antagonist, not sneaky even with those on his "side." I always felt he got a malicious glee out of "fooling" Leia that way.

 

Thrawn the prankster!!

 

given that we actually have a book about tarkin i think we can get some more info on him. but here's one simple thing to consider: what was the tarkin doctrine? rule through fear. how did you create that fear? by being a cold-hearted bastard who wouldn't think twice about killing you, and the ultimate expression of that ideal was the deathstar, a device which the sole purpose of was being capable of destroying planets and causing terror. that's evil. period. thrawn never wanted any of the above, nor did he show an inclination to kill indiscriminately. i mean, just look at his relationship with pellaeon, and how pellaeon tried to pattern himself off of thrawn as much as he was capable of. and pellaeon is actually, you know, a good character. so really, this isn't much of a question. tarkin was far more evil, thrawn was just capable of being ruthless when it was needed. but so are most chiss, so that's more of a species trait than anything i think. the chiss always struck me as very vulcan in a lot of ways, do what's necessary and don't let emotion interfere.

 

Even before I've read the Hand of Thrawn, I haven't really found Thrawn to be evuuul. All he did was in a way justified by his view that the Empire was a legitimate government that had to be restored. He did right by his people. The only beef I'd have with him is the treatment of Noghri, which was pretty cold. But Tarking took a lot more pleasure in being mean. Same goes for Isard.

 

Thrawn might not be the most megalomaniac out of himself, Tarkin and even Isard I'd argue he was easily the smartest of the three

 

They're both high-level psychopaths. I don't know how one can really quantify "evil," but I would say that Thrawn may be more intelligent, while Tarkin is more ruthless.

 

i'd say thrawn not destroying a whole planet, nor showing any indication for indiscriminate killing, is a good starting place. thrawn also didn't exactly show any inclination to rule through fear so much as respect, see pellaeon (or even love) for one example of this. don't really see how this is much of a contest really.

 

Tarkin. Read the Tarkin book if you can. It will show you why he became that way.

 

Tarkin absolutely.

 

A cold calculating strategist, like thrawn? Or Someone like Tarkin who actually gives more perverse thought to knowing how horrifying(evil) his actions were?

Thrawn knew what he was doing of course, but it was just another strategy to him. And he did not wast needless time hurting people unless it was necessary. Tarkin didn't care about strategy, only whatever actions he thought might please his superiors and make him seem a hard man.

I'd say Tarkin. However brown nosey or cowardly his decisions were.

 

So no problem with trying to kidnaping children who were to be handed over to a complete madman as payment for service rendered?

 

Right, that. That is a good point which didn't cross my mind. Probably because every time I'm reading the TT, I get the impression that Thrawn wasn't planning on having C'baoth sticking around for long. Not after Imperial Remnant reclaimed a bit more territory and the need for Battle Mediation wasn't so dire. Yet you are right, Thrawn probably wouldn't have cared what happened to the children after C'baoth was out of the picture.

 

Tarkin hands down.

Thrawn was ruthless but also thoughtful and didn't kill his crew when things went South

Tarkin blew up Alderaan without a second thought. Before that he always was ruthless which is why Palpatine liked him so much.

He was ready to persecute Ahsoka without a proper investigation

If it wasn't for Anakin, I'm pretty sure he was ready to give her the death penalty.

 

Tarkin is totally the more evil.

Thrawn was ruthless but a military mind who would do what was right based on the tactical situation.

Train though wanted to rule through fear. He didn't care for his own people if the ends justified the means whereas Thrawn didn't want to needlessly throw away lives.

 

Tarkin was way more evil. His whole worldview was all about terrizing people into submission: grab the biggest stick you can find and beat everybody until they are trembling in fear, unable to do anything but obey. He couldn't understand society in any other way.

Thrawn was all about doing what he had to do, even if it was evil. The needs of the many are more important that those of the few, so he was willing to cause pain and death to many people in order to ensure the safety of the Galaxy as a whole, but didn't cause unnecessary damage if he could avoid it, and he prefered cunning and strategy over brute force and raw fear.

The Chiss mentality was to gain strength through discipline and logic, and use that strength to disuade potential enemies from attacking you. Destroy anybody who attacks you, but never be the first one to attack others, that was the Chiss way. Thrawn was different in that he thought some people were bound to attack you sooner or later, so it was best to destroy them as soon as possible.

 

At least Thrawn won't destroy a whole planet. In my view this is the most stupid thing Tarkin had ever done.