CT What did Darth Vader think of the destruction of Alderaan?

Did he approve of it, because he didn't stop Tarkin from giving the order? Or did he actually disapprove it?

 

Well, I just don't know.

However, I believe that at that moment, Vader was 100% bonafied Sith Lord still. I mean, he tortured the woman who turned out to be his daughter. He probably thought something like, "It is a shame this had to happen, but they failed to surrender to us the location of the Rebel Base or surrender to us the location of any known Rebel officers."

 

I agree. Vader didn't hate the people on Alderaan, and I'm not sure where people get that idea. It makes no sense.

 

TARKIN: So, my friend, what did you think of the destruction of Alderaan?
VADER: Neat explosion.





/LM

 

This

I really doubt he cared either way.

 

He probably didn't care at all. There was nothing of value to him on the planet, so having it blow up probably was most important to him because it was a blow to the Rebellion.

 

"Ooooh! Aaaaaah!"

 

It wouldn't have been the first time he maintained an unfailingly one-track minded intention, this time being finding the Rebel base. In the past...

-He had no problem slaughtering a whole camp of Tusken raiders to satisfy revenge as a result of the love of his mother...
-He was willing to let the entire Battle of Geonosis possibly go wrong and Dooku escape, therefore losing the chance to prevent the Clone Wars, in order to save Padme.
-Sometime during the Clone Wars, didn't he risk ALL in order to just save R2-D2? Even though Obi-Wan PLEADED with him to let the droid go?
-In the Battle of Coruscant, he was willing to postpone or forego the "mission" of rescuing the Chancellor in order to 1. help the ARC pilots, and then 2. Rescue Obi-Wan.
-He was willing to follow the Darkside teachings and let everything go to hell just to save Padme again.
-Not to mention he was willing to abandon good sense and risk his own limitations of skill or overconfidence (or whatever you'd call it) by making a logistically unwise attack against Obi-Wan on the lava banks of Mustafar-JUST so he could prove his power to him and kill him.

I'd say there are several examples of times where Anakin/Darth Vader's blatant tenacity caused him to not care at all about the means, in order to accomplish ONE single minded, specific end-an end that may not have much impact in the large picture. In Leia's case, finding the Rebel base to him must have been an "at all costs" kind of effort, even if it meant destroying a whole planet...


...such is a Sith...

 

VADER: Weird, I wonder if one of those rings would come out of the Death Star if someone blew it up.
TARKIN: Like that's even possible.

 

The loss of one man is a tragedy, the loss of a million a statistic. Anakin Skywalker alias Darth Vader in a nutshell. He may have disapproved of Alderaans destruction because of strategic reasons, but that was probably it.

 

"It was a BLAST!"

 

The Sith as a whole are pretty pragmatic about the slaughter of innocents to reach their goal of greater power. He knew the rebellion was powerful on Alderaan, Bail and Leia were both traitors, and disloyal. Beyond that Imperial intelligence probably told him that Jar Jar Binks was living at Alderaan at the time.

I don't think he took great joy at the destruction, but I don't think he lost sleep about it.

Vader - "Hey Tarkin watch this"

Vader holds up a stick with a marshmellow on it and holds it over the distant explosion, so that it looks like he's roasting it."

Vader - "Pretty cool eh"

Tarkin - "That my friend is hilarious"

An Imperial Officer walks up

Officer - "Excuse me sir, but we received reports from Imperial Intelligence, it turns out that Former Senator Bink's was not on Alderaan, he's vacationing on one of the moons in the Yavin System"



Vader - "Set a course for the Yavin system, nothing can stop us now"

 

In the ANH novel he's not sure it's the best idea ever (he suggests consulting with the Emperor first) but Tarkin basically ignores him on that.

 

^ Interesting, didn't know that it says that. I guess I should get around to reading the OT novelizations sometime (I've only read LOE, ROTS, and Dark Lord).

 

Tarkin: You may fire when ready!
Vader: Wait, I booked a holiday there.
Tarkin: *sigh* Well then, Naboo.
Vader: No, the fuzzy animals!
Tarkin: Tatooine?
Vader: Yes!

 

By the time of ANH I'd be one to think that Vaders bodycount totalled the population of Alderaan. I imagine he was none too impressed.

"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force"

 

Vader: *watching Alderaan go BOOM!* Meh. I never liked that planet anyways...

 

I don't think he cared, I don't think he cared about anything at that point. in the PT moments like his tusken slaughter and his raid on the temple strike me as dissociative moments and I think after fully falling he completely dissociates from reality, buries anakin deep inside himself and essentially builds a new personality where all the evil comes out. So I agree with what most of the posters were sayin. I don't think he cared one way or another about alderan.

It's kinda creepy how robot-like he is watching the planet blow up. tarkin is grinning with evil, leia aint feelin so hot, and everyone else seems to be cowering. and yet, vader just stand there absolutely still, like he could be anywhere else, doing anything else. his job is to do tarkin's wishes, so he does, and that's all he does. at the end of the day, he just wants to find the rebellion and crush it, and this is just another step on that path. does he not necessarily want to take it, no. but he will do anything necessary to achieve his goals. he is power personified, and he exists to destroy anything that opposes his power.

I think vader speaks for himself best when he says that the power of the death star is jack diddly to the force.

 

YMMV. The ANH novel can be a "what the hell?" experience in particular; it was released nearly a whole year before the film was and the changes in the script are small but noticeable.

 

It is said to have been released in December 1976.

 

Vader: I had a summer home on Alderaan you jerk.
Tarkin: Oh, that's right! My bad.

 

He said the Alderaanians were animals, that they died like animals, and that he hated them as he collapsed into a sulking heap before the indifferent Force ghost of Padmé.

 

Yet even if Anakin had done this, it would still be a more restrained action than comparing what George Lucas has done to Star Wars to Kim Jong Il's suppression of millions of people's rights. For Christ's sake.