STAR WARS

Tarkin orders death, Vader preserves life

These next bits are pieced together through several cuts. First there's the exchange between Leia and Tarkin that leads to the destruction of Alderaan. Note that Leia flinches when Tarkin gets threatening but she doesn't seem uncomfortable in Vader's presence. Far from torture, Vader seems to have been using some fairly light interrogation techniques on the little princess.

During this scene, Vader says absolutely nothing. Having already expressed his disapproval of this battle station, he is silent when Tarkin orders the destruction of a world. This operation is entirely out of Vader's hands. Tarkin is the genocidal war criminal, Hitlerian in his methods and his over-confidence. His later demise aboard this doomsday weapon should be celebrated.

This is horrifyingly powerful weapon. When the beams touch Alderaan, the planet explodes almost immediately. No heat up, no melting, just instantaneous explosion. Holy shit!

When Tarkin learns the princess decieved him, he orders her immediate death (he also noted earlier that it was he who signed the order for her termination). Vader then uses the capture of the Millenium Falcon as an excuse to spare her life.

We have to work with what little material evidence we're shown, but it's clear that Vader's role with the Death Star is far from an active one and he is not nearly as ruthless as is suggested. Vader is the penultimate adversary of the Old Republic and the Jedi. He himself is a Jedi and he not only helped break the royalist stranglehold on the galaxy, he's now thwarting their efforts to retake the throne. Vader should be a hero to all but the royals and their supporters, a tiny minority if apathy from the rest of the galaxy is any indication.