STAR WARS

I'm on the leader

Before the battle, Vader (riding high after killing Kenobi) lets loose with an uncustomary proclaimation: "This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Kenobi. It will soon see the end of the Rebellion." Tarkin is noticeably weirded out by the statement and flashes Vader a disturbed look. One can only hope that Tarkin feels appropriately out of his depth.

An important question came to light in January of 2006: IS TARKIN ROGUE? The only intel we get about the Emperor's supposed wish to start blowin up planets is Tarkin's say-so. Is Tarkin here worried that Vader is speaking of HIS rebellion from the Emperor? We never get to see the Emperor talk about Tarkin at all - he never seems to mourne the loss of on of his trusted high command? Vader and Palpatine are buddy buddy in ROTJ - is this because Vader saved the Emperor'r bacon (not to mention the Empire itself) from Tarkin's mutiny? Remember, Vader is the one orchestating getting the plans to the Rebels thru his OWN ASTROMECH DROID!! And when the Rebels come a callin with the info HE GAVE THEM, he splits and makes sure he is jolly well OUTSIDE the base when it blows. If Luke missed the shot, would Vader have taken it? Vader and his son are the ones who end up at the end of that trench run, headin' balls out for the exhaust port.

Power struggles... man, they get complicated...

While Tarkin is smug and complacent, Vader decides to take action and snags two pilots to act as his wingmen.

This is another indication that he's on loan to the officials who are running the Death Star - if he were in charge of this operation he would not be going out to dogfight with the Rebels (compare this to his actions on Hoth - he isn't piloting a Scout Walker on the battlefield). Considering that the station is indeed under attack, maybe Vader just feels safer flying a ship on the off chance the whole place blows up. He listens to his intuition and it pays off. When the Death Star explodes, he escapes to continue hunting down the Rebels. I hope he got a vacation.

The Rebels may be lucky that Vader wasn't in charge of the Death Star. When Vader's in charge, he wipes the floor with the Alliance forces (the battle on Hoth again). Tarkin is in charge of this battle station and the Emperor heads all action at the second Death Star. Hmmm... he doesn't seem to trust Vader with that much power. Smart man. Vader is driven by his own moral code, and he's as willing to usurp the Emperor as he is the royals.

I can make no claim to know that Vader would be a good leader for the galaxy. The royals were negligent, irresponsible bullies. The Emperor turned out to be what Eddie Izzard refers to as a 'mass-murdering fuckhead'. In Empire, Vader pleads with Luke to help him end conflict and bring order to the galaxy. That still makes him and his rotten little brat despots, so yeah, that's bad. My approval of Vader over the Jedi rests mostly on his ability to beat those miserable thugs at their own game and his opposition to the royals.

And that VOICE!

And ya gotta admit, the boy's got style :)