Do TARKIN & other officers know that Palpatine AND Vader are Sith Lords?

At the end of ROTS, we see Vader and Palpatine on the Star Destroyer with Tarkin in attendance. Tarkin is obviously thought of highly by Palpatine in the whole saga as he then stays in a prominant position in the Empire for another 20 years.

Now. The line from Tarkin to Vader in ANH 'The Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe. You my friend are all thats left of their religion.' kind of makes it clear that he DOESNT know that Palpatine is a Sith Lord. And to me, it also says that he doesnt regard VADER as a Sith Lord EITHER.

Also, if he DIDNT then why does Moff Jerjerrod in ROTJ get so panicky when he says 'The Emperor is coming here?' Was it just because he was simply scared of the Emperor but didnt know he was a Sith. After all, he could simply have been terrified of him just like a failing Nazi Officer would be scared if he was told that Hitler was coming to whip him into shape.


So the question is: Did Tarkin and the rest of the Empire Officers and Moffs know that Palpatine AND Vader were 'SITH LORDS' or did everyone simply regard Vader alone as a JEDI?

(That one line in ANH doesnt add up for me simply because at the end of ROTS Vader says such things as 'From my point of view the Jedi are evil' and 'The Jedi turned against me'. The Jedi are the hatred enemies of the Sith. Vader is a Sith. Vader HATED the Jedi. So why does he NOT get upset that Tarkin has called him a Jedi? Surely he would be angry?)

 

i think they only know that vaders a sith, since theyve all probably watched him force choke somebody, and since in ROTS sidious didnt reveal to the senate who he really was and has never really shown his force powers to anyone but other sith and jedi, the officers probably just revere him like the nazis did hitler or we do the president, very powerful and someone to be feared because of his office. as for when tarkin says hes the last of the jedi, vader probably didnt care because he knew tarkin was just making a generalization, and he couldnt flip out on tarkin anyway because technically tarkin outranks him

 

I think everyone in the Empire simply viewed the Emperor as a kind old man. I'm sure there were rumors of Vader practicing a strange and ancient religion, but I doubt that anyone made the connection to the Sith. Keep in mind that everyone thought the Sith were destroyed a millenium ago.

Warrior_of_Mandalore Strikes Again!

 

Did the greater population of the galaxy even know what a Sith was? It seemed clear that only the Jedi would have known about them in TPM, because they had supposedly been gone for 1,000 years. The galaxy knew that Dooku was the leader of the Separatists, but did they know that he was also a Sith? Perhaps they just saw him as a Jedi gone astray.

The same could be true for Vader. Tarkin may have just seen him as a Jedi who had fallen to the dark side, but not distinguished him as a Sith, because he either didn't know what the Sith actually were or he was just saying Jedi because it had been what he had grown up with.

The Emperor instilled great fear in everyone no matter what. They didn't have to know he was a Sith. He was an evil dictator and would kill them if they messed up.

 

Ousley, good points.

Maybe, as you say, Tarkins line about Vader being 'The last Jedi' so to speak, is probably because he knows he was once Anakin Skywalker. Therefore, a Jedi. As for him knowing of the Sith, again its a good point about the rest of the galaxy really knowing what they are if they have been extinct for a millenium. Probably no-one does.

Maybe Palpatine never reveals to the populous that he is a Sith Lord, or a Force-user. They simply see him as an evil old dictator, again, Hitler like, and if his subordinates fail him he will see they are punished, explaining Jerjerrod's fear.

The only issues that may arrise with this are that he doesnt show any hesitation in using his Sith Powers in front of Mas Amedda in ROTS. But then maybe Mas is sworn to secrecy? And I still think Vader should have been a little peeved that Tarkin called him a Jedi, but maybe he just let it go as Tarkin is his 'friend' and ill-informed?

 

I don't think ANYONE knew that Vader and Palpatine were Sith. If they let out that information, someone with a Bachelor's degree in galactic history would have said, "Hold up, they're Sith, don't listen to them, they just wanna take over the galaxy!" Just as Palpatine charaded as a moral man doing what was right for the Republic to seduce Anakin to the Dark Side, he did so with the Republic itself, making them sympathetic with his plight against the Jedi by stating that Mace Windu tried to assasinate him, while leaving out the fact that, oh yeah, he's a Sith Lord.

But since Vader was known as a Jedi probably because of the fact that he speaks of the Force so often and has a lightsaber, and Palpatine most likely didn't show anyone aside of Vader, Yoda, and the Jedi he killed his powers in the Dark Side, I don't think anyone knew who the Emperor or Vader really were, not even Tarkin. Every member of the Galactic Empire thought they were doing the right thing for their galaxy, when in fact they're adding to the power of the Emperor and the regional governors.

 

I think Tarkin knows, maybe a handful of others, blue horny guy in ROTS knows obviously. Tarkin seems very trusted and may know Anakin prior to being suited Vader, with the implied offscreen time Pals and Anakin spend together. So I think Tarkin may not know the semantics to an average joe over a jedi or sith, but I'm pretty sure he's aware the Emperor is a force user, otherwise, why wouldn't Vader just kill him and take over.

 

Here, I found this in the Star Wars RPG: Rebellion Era Sourcebook:

"Early New Order propaganda painted Darth Vader as a patriot. Holoreports indicated that he had stood against the rebellious leadership of the Jedi Order and had almost died for his dedication to the citizens of the galaxy. He was hailed as a hero, given a special place in the Imperial hierarchy, and then removed from the direct gaze of the public...Unknown to everyone except the few survivors who had been personally involved in the events, Darth Vader had once been the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker...Vader was viewed with fear and suspicion by most of those around him. They saw him as an archaic relic who insisted on clinging to outdated beliefs."

It was published in 2001, so it's fairly up to date.

Warrior_of_Mandalore Strikes Again!

 

The Emperor never was a Jedi, only Vader was, that's why Tarkin says he's the last of the religion.... Sith are not Jedi, Vader is just a Jedi who became a Sith... I would have to say that although I guess you could say people knew they were "Sith" , the Sith were apparently extinct for a milennia, and only the Jedi had found out that Palpatine was the Sith Lord and were killed shortly after...so the greater part of the galaxy would probably know nothing about Sith, and at this point in time, there are alot of people (like Han Solo) who don't believe in Jedi anymore either...

I could probably make an assumption that certain individuals like Tarkin may have been privy to Palpatine's true nature, but I don't think everyone in the galaxy talked about the Emperor as a Sith Lord...He duped alot of people to get into power and he didn't do that by saying "Hey, look at me, I'm an Evil Sith Lord", and after all he doesn't call himself Darth Sidious...he calls himself the Emperor. He's one Sith who doesn't advertise

 

I doubt hardly anyone in the service of the Galactic Empire knew that Sidious and Vader were Sith Lords. They probably didn't know that the Emperor had force powers and thought that Vader was just a Jedi who helped to hunt down the other Jedi when he learned of their treacherous nature. They probably think Darth Vader is his name, with Darth as the first and Vader as the last. It seems that hardly anyone knows what a Sith Lord is, and those that do would definitely not want to be in the service of them. Tarkin definitely seems like an evil man to me, so he probably wouldn't care too much, except for the fact that he would be grossly overpowered by the Sith Lords, when he probably felt he was relatively equal to the Emperor and Vader. They probably just thought that Vader was the last Jedi and the Emperor was just a man.

 

Of course they don't know.There would be no point telling them.Palpatine wanted to keep his real identity a secret so the people would support the Empire.And Vader was just seen as the last survivor of the Jedi Order.The only one who supported the Empire and stayed loyal to Palpatine.I doubt anyone except very few people had ever even heard of the Sith besides the jedi.

 

I think Palps inner circle icl Tarkin kinda knew that he and Vader were bad jedi so to speak, but im not sure if they knew to call them Sith.

 

Most likely they only know that Vader is a Dark Lord of the Sith. I would bet that Uncle Palpy has dropped the Sith title since the only people that would have known that Darth Sidieous existed were all killed by Anakin/Vader on Mustufar.

They fear Vader because they know that he is a representative of the Emperor.

 

As is so often the case, the story unfolded on two levels. The level of government / jedi / sith etc and the level of the ordinary shmow. I don't believe Joe Shmow had any idea about all the jedi / sith stuff. Most people probably bought the propaganda that the jedi tried to take over and good old Palpy saved the day. A few murmurings about Vader practicing ancient religions would be about all that there was.