CT Emperor Tarkin?

I was looking through one of my copies of the ANH novelization, one with the photo inserts and character descriptions. In the one for Tarkin, it includes this phrase: "His insatiable political ambitions to become Emperor have driven him to use ruthless means to quell the rapidly growing rebellion." I find this very interesting. It's not really addressed in the movie, and the only other place I can think of where it's featured is the ANH radio adaptation, with Motti trying to convince Tarkin to use the Death Star to move up in rank. I don't know if it's addressed in the EU books.
My question is, would Tarkin have made a better, or more fearsome, Emperor than Palpatine? I think he'd have been a pretty formidable enemy for the Rebellion. Yes, he didn't have Palpatine's Dark Side powers. But, he doesn't have the baggage of trying to make himself immortal or maintaining the Sith movement or whatever. Tarkin would just focus on keeping everybody in line and making the Empire work, by any means necessary. He'd be a coldly efficient tyrant, and not waste time trying to turn families to the Dark Side. He'd basically be what Thrawn ended up as, but with a planet killer at his command.
Your thoughts?

 

I agree I think he would have been a good ruler, in an evil way ha. I wonder what the Emperor thought of him?

 

I don't think "good" is the right term. He'd be a human-sized tyrant, rather than a supervillain like Palpatine. And that would make him very dangerous.
Another question: who would Vader side with? Would he be loyal to his Sith master, or go with Tarkin and use him to put the overthrow he'd planned on since ROTS into action?

 

I think Vader would want to side with Tarkin but would end up siding with Palpatine.

 

What I find interesting is, if Tarkin survived the Death Star assault, would the Emperor have forgiven his failure, or executed him? And would Vader be the one to do it?

I don't believe Tarkin's earlier "friend" line would've swayed Vader in his duty. The Sith have no friends.

 

There was no warmth in Tarkin's "my friend"; he was just noting that Vader was an ally...at that moment. And, yes, Palpatine would've had Tarkin's head on Traitor's Gate in an instant if he'd survived, for both his failure and for not having the guts to go down with the ship. I don't know if Vader would deliver the blow, since he was in the doghouse, too.

 

When I first saw the complete first trilogy in theaters (1997), I somehow thought the Emperor was a resurrected Grand Moff Tarkin.
Then again, during Lobot's first appearance on the landing platform I wondered if he was Darth Vader in disguise.

 

In the early EU, Tarkin ambitiously wanted to overthrow the Emperor one day and Vader kept his ambitions to himself. In the early EU the Emperor was not a Force sensitive, and later on he was a Force sensitive but not a Sith Lord like Vader.

 

I'd be amazed if Tarkin didn't have ambitions to gain greater power, he ruthlessly dispatched Krennic and took over the DS program, he seemed to enjoy that this gave him some control over the Imperial Navy's chief, Antonio Motti and the Imperial Army's commander, Cassio Tagge. He weaselled his way into Palpatine's good books, though I doubt Palpatine has any serious intention of allowing him such power long term.

 

In Legends, Book of Sith hinted along those lines - that Tarkin's days were numbered and that he had too much ambition in Palpatine's eyes:


Palpatine's section of the book:

"When complete, the Death Star will spell an end to the insignificant threats of rebellions and organized protests."

(annotation after the Death Star's destruction)

"The designer has been tortured and the architects executed. Tarkin is fortunate to have died along with the other commanders when the Death Star exploded. He had far too much ambition, and his days were numbered."

 

You mean, he retook it? Or had Tarkin always been the top commander? If you look at the montage near the end of ROTS, Tarkin clearly had been assigned to overlook the Death Star program.

 

I wonder if this is a holdover from when the Emperor was a powerless figurehead controlled by the bureaucracy. I think the Emperor was changed into the fearsome tyrant we know by the time ANH was released.

That lust for power still resonates in Tarkin’s character; fans will always bring up how he was the one person to boss Vader around. Knowing that Tarkin is likely aware that Palpatine was a supernatural monster, it’s an even greater show of his ego that he thought he could dethrone him someday.

 

Probably. He respects Tarkin, but he fears Palpatine.

 

It’s worth noting that Tarkin’s plan almost came to fruition with a cancelled EU storyline that would have been told though a toyline.
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Epic_Continues
First, it’s revealed that he survived the Death Star explosion, and I assume he was in hiding until the death of Palpatine. At which point, he would have become the leader of the remnants of the Empire. I don’t know if he would technically be emperor at this point.

This brings up an interesting contrast between Tarkin and Palpatine. Palpatine made his career off of being a well-intentioned politician, but Tarkin made no bones about being a brutal authoritarian military leader.

 

I think Tarkin would’ve made a good Emperor, although I doubt Palpatine would’ve left him around long enough for anything to come to fruition.

 

Tarkin never could have moved the pyramid sized building blocks into place need to turn the Republic into the Empire. Palpatine is the only one who could do that. It was a Sith Empire, thou most serving in it had no idea of that reality.

During the Clone Wars even the Jedi were duped. And a Sith Lord was needed to defeat key Jedi in person so the Rep9blic willingly gave up liberty.

If we take founding the Empire out of the discussion - Tarkin would have done a fine job as Emperor ruling for between 20 and 40 years.

I’m a big fan of the Star Wars Radio Drama. I really like Tarkin’s portrayal there. He’s cunning, ambitious, smart, gifted, politically brilliant manipulating other officers, and above all he knows how to maintain his own power. Tarkin is also loyal to the Emperor and not so ambitious that he is actively plotting to use the Death Star to over through the Emperor. Vader mentions this to Tarkin, a sort of threat that is also compliment. It also reenforces why Tarkin is the person in this position of power. He has all the skills needed for a successful ruler while still remaining a loyal soldier to his own commander the Emperor. And really being #3 in the galaxy isn’t bad.

Since Tarkin is secure and content maintaining his position, he’s perfect to serve Palpatine. Palpatine gets all the positives without dealing with a rival.

Vader and Tarkin have a great relationship on the Radio Drama too. It comes across that Vader overall out ranks Tarkin in the Empire and with the Emperor but not on the Death Star. Also Vader and Tarkin work well together. There is mutual respect and they listen to each other’s ideas and plans. They aren’t plotting against each other or threatened by the other. So Tarkin fits in very well at the top of command working for the Sith.

It is interesting that Tarkin is considering leaving the Death Star when he finds out the Rebels have a chance destroying it. One of his underlings says he can not leave his command without risking losing it. The General saying this is pushing Tarkin to someday overthrow the Emperor and maybe getting a promotion of his own, without directly saying all that. Tarkin listens but shuts him down, at least in words. At the same time this persuades Tarkin not to leave the Death Star. It’s in part maybe because Tarkin is entertaining the idea that in the future he could be Emperor. Tarkin also knows he can’t leave the Death Star without creating an opportunity for his underlings to challenge his command. It gives a false confidence to his later “Evacuate in our moment of triumph” line that’s pretty great. Remaining on the Death Star is a greater risk than his calculating mind finds acceptable, but he can’t abandon his post without losing his position of rank. In that moment Tarkin’s future lived or died on the Death Star’s success.

I like to think the Star Wars Novelization’s depiction of the Emperor as a powerless figurehead controlled by the bureaucracy of the Empire is a commonly believed deception in the galaxy. (That makes novel sort of a retcon.) It’s something the Emperor himself promotes for his own advantage. Very few in the Empire know how powerful and in control Palpatine really is. It’s so deep even the bureaucrats who think they are manipulating Palpatine have no idea their orders on how to push Palpatine actually come from Palpatine.

Tarkin is one of the few who has an idea just how powerful and in control Palpatine is. That’s another reason for Tarkin remaining loyal and keeping his ambitions in check.

Also the Relel Alliance know Palpatine isn’t a figurehead which is part of what makes them so threatening to the Emperor. They’re going after him.

 

I think you're remembering it wrong. Tarkin never entertained evacuating the Death Star. "Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? Surely you overestimate their chances."

Tarkin may have had huge political ambitions, but I think he was too smart to not rock the political boat especially since Vader, Palpatine's second-in-command, could literally Force Choke him to death for that stunt.

 

No, that is how it was in the radio version. Motti, obviously trying to play kingmaker, convinces Tarkin to stick around and, maybe, even use the Death Star as a way to gain more power for himself, and anyone in his orbit. Motti is an even bigger weasel on radio than he was on screen.

 

True. Generally speaking, vaporizing whole planets and their on-world populations is something that disqualifies somebody from being considered a "good leader".

 

I don't think being a good leader was something Tarkin at all cared about when he could brute force it.

"Fear will keep the local systems in line, fear of this battle station."

 

History has also shown us that these type of people keep popping up, failures of the past aside. Tarkin is no different.

 

There isn’t an Earth equivalent to a Death Star - so maybe that kind of brute force rule through fear could work in this scenario.

History doesn’t have a Death Star or civilizations living on multiple planets. So far nuclear weapons have only been used twice on Earth, the country that solely had that power did not continue to use it and conquer the planet while it had an unprecedented advantage. (This is perhaps the greatest act in American history.)

Nuclear weapons haven’t been used since largely because doing so means destruction of our planet and every nation on it. But if there were wars between worlds, nuclear attacks wouldn’t mean destruction of both sides. Suddenly nuclear annihilation of an enemy becomes a viable option.

So a Death Star could actually work. Maybe not forever, but for generations the threat of total destruction that’s not mutually assured could keep populations in line.