Vader knew Tarkin had gone insane and, really even as a Sith he should have stopped him. The fact Vader stood by and watched proves how truly lost he was at this point. Seeing Obi Wan again was the highlight of his day
OR he knew that Alderaan getting whacked would inspire the rebels to attack something he'd always considered a waste of resources and an abomination (compared to the Force) and subsequently destroy it, and Tarkin, in his overconfidence, would die with his weapon.
@TheGuardianofAzarath Yes. I think, given his experience in the Clone Wars, he knew the Force would find a way to destroy the weapon which of course it did through Luke. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force." Sidious should have listened more. I always feel like as Emperor he became arrogant and...Well lazy, after putting in all that work to overthrow the Republic. He underestimates the non Force sensitive, to the point where literally one Jedi Knight posed a large enough threat to rally the galaxy and bring about his undoing. Or should I say two Jedi Knights, meaning Anakin
Or GL wrote a story that he wasn’t sure would see the light of day and then had to fill in a bunch of made up backstory over the years with movies, comics and novels
@coomodus2592 G L meticulously planned the narrative and story of the original 3 using The Hero with a thousand faces or heroes journey, which again touches on Jungian archetypes. If he hadn't, it never would have seen the light of day. Dude made a Sci fi masterpiece in 1977, that STILL stands up today story wise and effects wise. With or without prequels there was massive licensed EU which did a much better job than Disney ever has.
I have no doubt the Star Wars universe had its own version of Machiavelli to spout "It is better to be feared than loved" which Palpatine would most certainly agree with. But, like many, he likely ignored the rest of the quote: "But it is better to be loved than hated."
The Jedi became complacent out of a sense that they were just marking time and keeping the peace. As a Sith, Palpatine allowed himself to become complacent because he thought all his enemies were either dead or too terrified to stand against him. It shouldn't come as a surprise that arrogance can plague those on either side of the Force.
@@The_Lucent_ArchangelThe rise of skywalker should end with palpatine depowered Place on a stage with millions of people coming there to rip him apart
At least in Legends one of the consequences of Alderaan was it caused fractures in the Imperial ranks. Many defected to the Rebellion and others became more loyal to sector admirals than the Empire or Emperor that gave rise to the Warlords after Palpatine's death. Some of the most beloved Legends characters were former Imperials form whom the destruction of Alderaan was to far.
Indoctrination can only go so far. Those that grew up post jedi purge never knew anything different. It literally took such an act of lunacy to break them from their indoctrination.
@@xxxthwagdrakexxx4672 exactly, why have nuance? disney acts like there's good people who do only good things and bad people who do only bad things. maybe soon they'll bust out Darth Sploder
@@tessa63627 when I first watched the 7th movie I felt like the whole script was copied off the first movie the same way I would let people do off my homework in highschool where they had to change it a little
The big problem in Tarkin's theory (apart from it being psychotic) is that there is nowhere to run, you can't move the planet somewhere else, nor can you evacuate all inhabitants before the Death Star gets there. Since flight is not possible, the only instinctual response to being cornered is fight. So this superweapon galvanized the rebellion. Its why Thawn proposed a bigger imperial navy, it has greater reach and just the right amount of intimidation factor.
Well put. The Death Star is simply too extreme of a weapon for any sane society to tolerate living under. The second you start threatening planets with that thing, your citizens will turn on you because most people would rather die fighting back instead of living under eternal fear of annihilation.
Yeah. An imperial blockade and subsequent orbital bombardment could accomplish the same thing the Death Star could at a fraction of the cost. Ok, well maybe not same thing. It can’t destroy the planet, but it can damn make sure nothing on that planet survives given time.
@@Predatornc1agreed. At the very least you could still mostly harvest raw materials from said planet, even if you Base Delta Zero’d it. The Death Star ruins even that option
@@Predatornc1 Yep. This is literally a tactic you can use in Stellaris as well. You _can_ use a Colossus to outright annihilate an entire planet, sure. But doing so will make all other Empires hate your guts for doing so. an alternative is to simply use orbital bombardment until the planet becomes an (almost) uninhabitable Tomb World that only Machine Empires and Empires with Tomb World habitability can colonize. That level of orbital bombardment will also make other Empires unhappy with you, but not to nearly the same degree as using a Colossus (though if you're playing as an Empire type that can't even engage in diplomacy like Fanatic Purifiers, Devouring Swarm, Determined Exterminators, or Driven Assimilators then the opinions of other Empires are of little concern as other Empires will already hate you to begin with as your mere existence is an existential threat to them.
One thing Sidous needed the most is to be proven that this was his ultimate demise. And his most pathetic statement of how fear brought people to his knees, but the courage to stand up to that fear was his ultimate failure of the entire empire.
The @Dragonfangize having a common anamy is the best way to bring people togheyet from different backgrounds and races! And that's what happened when they destroyed alderaan. They showed the galaxy that no one was safe from the empire. If they can destroy alderaan, they can dothat whit everyone!
yea, if it had been some random outer rim world or a world in hut space (even the huts main world) the reaction would most likely been quite different. aigenst the hut the empire could even use the arguement that they whiped out a scourge to the galaxy or atleast severly damaged them. and i think a lot of the galaxy would have been a little happy about it considering it was the huts. BUT NO tarkin HAD to blow up Alderaan.
Putting Tarkin in charge of the Death Star was one of the few times Palpatine made a critical mistake. He trusted Tarkin as a loyalist, but underestimated Tarkin's arrogance, pride, and irrational mind. Palpatine basically gave Tarkin the codes to a nuclear arsenal, but Tarkin stepped out of line and ordered a preemptive strike without approval.
After the Battle of Scariff, Palpatine decided that Tarkin was to independent and ambitious and needed to be removed. That was the primary reason Dath Vader was on the Death Star. He was just awaiting Palpatine's orders to do so.
@@jamesricker3997 Tarkin still possessed limited authority over Vader, and the Death Star surely carried many Tarkin loyalists who would have protected Tarkin from Vader or supported Tarkin's cause.
It is indirectly Palpatine's fault Tarkin killed Alderaan, because in the OG continiuty/Dark Horse comics, Tarkin while cold and at times condescending, surprisingly had a moral compass not to commit genocide, so Palpatine set up Tarkin's beloved son Garoche to turncoat with the Rebels and get axed by Vader with said son's death's story "slightly" exaggerated. The embittering grief grief gave Tarkin rabies and the rest, you guessed it . . . history. Of course once Palpatine heard about Tarkin's transgression it was that moment he knew, too late . . . he fugged up!
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
"And that depends on how good your manners are...And how big your.....pocketbook is....he heh HEH" - Executive Chef, Entrepreneur and Purveyor of Find Foods, Dexter Jettster
Sidious was up to the exact same trick as the Clone Wars. Tarkin knew off Sidious's plans. I read somewhere that Tarkin in fact knew more than Darth Vader. Hence Vader in some novels was pleased that the Death Star was destroyed. Sidious always 'required' an enemy to justify his tyrannical rule and full militarisation a la Adolf Hitler. The Rebellion, however, grew faster that Sidious expected. Sidious thought the Death Star would easily get rid of the Rebellion. Three Shocks 1. The Death Stars destruction II. Luke Skywalker destroying the Death Star III. Obi-Wan secretly training Luke.
Also don't forget Storm troopers that were from Alderan joined the alliance as well so the rebellion got trained soldiers and fighters to help train the rebellion which helped as well
there is quite a interesting book featuring two pilots that joined the empire before the events. one joined the rebelion the other stayed. but that person had a lot of doubt about her choise to stay, but it was extremly important in her family and her culture to never betray your oaths. she was NOT a bad person just her upbringing not allowing her to break the oat she swore to the empire at the time. afther the destruction of the second deathstar she was captured and i think she ended up joining the alliance then. (she was at that point of time newly promoted to a stardestroyer captain but she had never commited any of the horrors a lot of them did, so she got that rank from her own skills entierly and from beeing a evil person. she did break the oath to the empire once, but that was to save her friend that joined the rebelion, they grew up together but his family and culture dident have the strict rules about not breaking your words that she did, reason for why she broke the oat to the empire? she had an even older oath to him so either way she would break and oath and chose not to kill him)
@@baldrian22 you'd think this would be prime TV adaptation but no we have people threatening to torture childrens eye sockets fried like during the obi wan movie
Tarkin's arrogance that destroying an important planet like alderaan would make the rebellion too afraid to rebel anymore literally blew up in his face. Fear makes people do two things, either cower or bold. Alderaan just made the rebllion bolder since they probably figured with the death star the empire would just blow up planets on whim since they blew up alderaan which was a core system plemt that had significant poltical influential in the galtcia commuity.
Not to mention how other planets started secretly funding the Rebellion, because if the Empire was willing to do that to a openly pacifistic world that posed no military threat to the Empire, then what was to stop the Empire from coming after the rest of them?
Palpatine has stated he did not want to rule a galaxy of the dead so you would think you would have to have direct permission before you take out a planet no matter how evil your Emperor is
@@informationservices Palpatine made a critical error to give Tarkin limited authority over Vader. Vader literally could not stop Tarkin without killing him, which would put Vader under trial for executing his commanding officer. Palpatine trusted Tarkin as a loyalist, but he underestimated Tarkin's pride and desire for power. Tarkin was a man who would have overthrown Palpatine if given the chance and taken control of the Empire for himself.
@@hmk5123 Lol As if Vader would care. He would not need to kill Tarkin to stop him and if he did he would. There is no way Vader is going back to the Emperor and saying, well I wanted to stop him from blowing up a planet without your orders but he "outranked me". I see that going over super well. Also remember the scene where Tarkin says "I am taking an awful risk" about letting the Han get away with the Death Star plans? Not the action of a mad man.
The Tarkin Doctrine already had me feeling like the man was holding the Empire back from being truly effective. But after this video, he's basically the rebellion's savior. He gave them exactly what they needed, public proof of what the Empire really was. He asserted himself prematurely, exposed his Emperor, and then died swearing "I got this" 😅 That's one hell of a way to wrap up managing a multi-decade project 😂
Citizens in the galaxy were aware of the iron fist and acts of the Empire, but they were quiet because they thought it wouldn't affect them if they turned a blind eye. But then Alderaan happened, the people reacted because the Death Star could be pointed to any planet.
And wasn’t the death star recently finished by the time the movie starts? Yes, Tarkin is basically a high ranking navy officer that takes a new state of the art ship, attacks a civilian state and then the ship gets torpedoed, bombed, and sunk by a bunch of pilots. Sounds more like a cautionary tale 😅
The instant you destroy an Imperial planet that is not in "active" rebellion to your empire, and then the weapon you used to destroy that planet is wiped out, most planets will realize they could be next and are better off joining the Alliance. It was a double blow to the Empire's reputation from which it could never recover.
Palpatine's problem was not the lack of wisdom or competence. Is just he couldn't stop himself from being a sadistic monster, and his Empire reflected that.
I think of it like this; if my enemy has a big weapon, I might refrain from attacking. But if they start using it on random bystanders anyway in an attempt to frighten their enemies, we will certainly attack, and we will have allies. If your enemy is crazy enough to kill innocents, they are certainly crazy enough to attack you anyway. So you might as well take your chances. Add to that that a lot of people would value the lives of innocents out of moral grounds, and suddenly my faction grows. Deterrance policies only work if there are alternatives. And random violence is never a good deterrant, as the whole point of fear is to avoid being attacked. If you strike first without provocation you lose your leverage.
Tarkin: "Do you have another target? Then NAME THE SYSTEM!" Leia: "No pls" Vader: "How about Tatooine? We know she was delivering the plans there. And I hate that planet." Imagine of that happened. It would mean a lot to the main chars, but nothing to the rest of the galaxy. Except for podrace fans.
I agree. Destruction of Alderaan changed everything. It caused people's of the galaxy to woke up and join the Rebellion.People rejoiced and celebrated with a reason. I didn't know how average citizen reacted to this. This was nice. Palpatine was stuck in his hubris. May the Force be with you too. See you soon😊
I know this isn't popular... but Palpatine almost certainly knew Tarkin's plan. Or at least had a really good idea of them. The reason Tarkin was placed in charge was that Tarkin performed the Ghorman Massacre. Created the Doctrine of Fear. And was very likely to take just the very action he did. And Tarken knew Palpatine had just disbanded the Senate. Likely by direct communication with Palpatine. And both knew Alderaan had been aiding the Rebellion. I suspect Palpatine had planned for backlash... but not open rebellion. Because he'd have a Death Star to keep planets in line. He didn't count on some kid in a snubnose derailing his plans. Something that he kept doing over and over .
It makes you wonder if Tarkin left the Death Star b4 the battle of Yavin, what would Sidious have done to Tarkin for destroying Alderaan w/o his permission and the aftermath of it?
The problem with ruling with fear is best explained in a quote from the game The Godfather. You can push a man far, but everyone has a breaking point, and they will fight back after that point.
The fact is that damn Tarkin was drunk on power and didn't think and realize that blowing away Alderaan just to get an answer out of Leia would really cause more problems for the empire that he never knew. After that happened even more star systems throughout the galaxy wanted vengeance for Alderaan and joined the rebel alliance.
It is indirectly Palpatine's fault Tarkin killed Alderaan, because in the OG continiuty/Dark Horse comics, Tarkin while cold and at times condescending, surprisingly had a moral compass not to commit genocide, so Palpatine set up Tarkin's beloved son Garoche to turncoat with the Rebels and get axed by Vader with said son's death's story "slightly" exaggerated. The embittering grief grief gave Tarkin rabies and the rest, you guessed it . . . history. Of course once Palpatine heard about Tarkin's transgression it was that moment he knew . . . he fugged up!
Leading by fear never works. Fear, like the power it grants in the dark side, is fleeting and quickly transforms into resolve. People who know they are as good as dead have nothing to lose and everything to gain
Many joined. Many more funded or supplied or otherwise helped. While many more just took a step back from their support to the Empire, yet afraid of any negative repercussions from being seen as a Rebel ally.
@@tompearce5418 true. Too bad they couldn’t just overload the biggest cargo freighters they can find and shut down one of the major hyper lanes or some other means to sort of passive / aggressively slow up the galactic economy. You don’t need to actually join or fund the Rebels. Just muck things up without making it to obvious.
@@eds1942 hence Darth Vader seizing Cloud City to secure a reliable source of Tibanna gas for use in Imperial weaponry. After Alderaan civilian sources of supply became abruptly less reliable. You know a military machine is in trouble when the general population stops feeding it.
All Tarkin had to do was not be a completely unhinged maniac for like 5 mins and just blow up some rebel sympathizing mid rim planet that hardly anybody gave a shit about.
The destruction of Alderaan was the biggest shooting itself in the foot for the empire. As it showed its true face to galaxy as a tyrannical and ruthless dictatorship that would broke no rebellion. Which coupled with the rebellions destruction of the death star at Yavin created a massive wave of discontentment and hope against the empire, leading to massive recruitment of new blood and forces joining the rebellion, making it a substantial threat to the empire going forward.
Had Tarkin survived, he would have been executed for his blunder and possibly scapegoated by Sidious, but the damage would still have been done. The destruction of Alderaan broke the bantha's back, and the destruction of the Death Star was the rallying cry that truly got the ball into the Rebellion's court. It is still heartbreaking that so many had to die before the people of the galaxy finally woke up and understood that they could not just bend over and cow before the Empire or else no world would have been safe. Even if Tarkin had survived, scapegoated, and executed, there's no way the people would have been satisfied with his death alone. One of the most impactful moments I've ever seen in SW in relation to Alderaan's destruction was the confrontation between Cara Dune and a member of Moff Gideon's Imperial remnant, how this despicable and spiteful man had the gall to justify the destruction of an innocent world and claim the rule of the Empire had been righteous and for the better, only to get shot down by Cara for his vile words. In some ways, I despise the "true believers" of the Empire more than the ones who were motivated for their own personal gain. How these individuals could believe in the cause of the Empire in spite of its atrocities and excuse them for foolish, stupid, or hypocritical reasons, like "for the greater good". At least the imps who were only in it for themselves weren't deluded by such shameless and misplaced patriotism. It took the worst of imperial workings, like Operation: Cinder, to finally get some imperials to wake up and see the Empire for what it truly was, like Iden Versio. If only her father had had her courage and integrity.
Palpatine was a EXTREMLY gifted manipulator. also the fact that he was a sith was an EXTREMLY close guarded secret. some people knew but only people like his guards and people that was working realy close to him. the rebelion would have been aware but a LOT of people had in the beginning a realy positive view of him because of how he managed to blame the jedi etc.
According to Biggs in the novelisation of A New Hope the Empire started off as a noble dream but the corruption and atrocities basically piled up to the point where the public couldn't ignore the rot.
Framing Tarkin as the sole perpetrator of Alderaan's destruction in front of the entire galaxy would be PEAK Palpatine. Just like Admiral Rampart with Kamino, but on a much bigger scale.
Ahhh man now I goota, I just moved BF2 to my storage HDD to make room for this Xdefiant thing which I can see is probs my not gonna b3 me caus3 I don',... LSS gonna put Battlefront 2 back on and finish the bonus campaign from my last run,
I can just imagine the convo. Lolz Tarkin: we’re going to test this weapons full capabilities on your home world princess. Vader: 😳 uhhh……..I think I should check with Palpatine first. Tarkin: Nonsense! Ready the weapon. You may fire when ready. Vader: 🤦♂️ God dammit…….well at least I won’t have to be the one to come up with an explanation if this plan backfires.
@@scottb3034 but then obi wan would be gone and Luke as well then empire would have won the war without Luke no Death Star destroyed at yavin the Death Star plans destroyed, no redemption for Vader and then mon cala would have been destroyed after then chandilla
@@emperorvader9688 Luke and Ben were gone by that point. Alderaan was blown while they were in space, remember? The timeline would be identical at best. They couldn't get there before they left.
@@scottb3034between destroying the pseudo home of human civilization or blowing to pieces the base of mafia boss, destroying tatooine is still a less stupid idea. Hell why not leave those two alone and destroy nal hutta or nar shaddaa, rallying the galaxy to fight the hutts and pirates is better than them trying to fight you instead
It wasn't just because Tarkin ordered Alderaan to be destroyed or Luke being able to fire into the exhaust port of the Death Star that was beginning of The Empire's downfall, it was also thanks to Galen Erso delibertly made the design flaw of the exhaust port and his daughter Jyn and her gang that made it possible for The Rebels to get the plans for the Death Star. Without those important factors, the destruction of Alderaan wouldn't been enough for the rebels to take down the Empire.
It's probably some fan art, but it's strange to depict Leia as falling apart in that thumbnail. She was always defiant and strong, regardless of the situation.
Just goes to show you how fascism is a self-defeating ideology and the destruction of alderaan is one of many examples on how fascists are shortsighted and don't think long-term.
Andor showed that many nobles on Alderaan were the Empire's biggest supporters. The planet was also exceedingly wealthy. Its loss would be like trying to pay off the national debt without Texas or California paying anything in.
This is what I keep saying, you don't hold power and loyalty by proving that you are willing to kill your own people to make a point to the enemy, you hold power by killing the enemy to make a point to your own people, you show strength and the subtle warning that this strength can be used to hold order, coupled with showing that you will use this strength to PROTECT and not oppress them, Thrawn style.
Centralized fear over dispersed. If we take the old republic into consideration, the Sith ruled through fear by presence. Sidious was trying to centralize the fear into one major weapon. His fleets were nothing new as you would find that in any war. But it is a lot easier to rebel against one major weapon that would take time to reach you, and that you could solely focus on considering the amount of resources that went into it, over a Sith lord and their army on the doorstep of everyone on every major planet.
Destroying Alderaan sent the Empire on a path they shouldn’t of gone down, If they listened to Thrawn they would of survived and quelled alot of the resistance movements
Tarkin: my lord i have successfully tested the death star's weapon capabilities. Palpatine: good. Tell me which planet did you test it on? Vader: *slowly places his hand on his helmet (face palm)* Tarkin: i used it on Alderaan. Palpatine:...... ok I'm just gonna assume i miss heard what you said so can you please repeat what you said? Tarkin: i used it on Alderaan my lord. Palpatine: YOU WHAT!?!?!
Its funny that Palpatine thought that Tarkon wouldn't have been dumb enough to destroy the very planet that gave him his authority, that gave him his power over the galaxy and that was the very planet he was basically born on. If he did know Tarkon was targeting it, then it makes me wonder if he actually did think nothing of it at the time. But the fact that Tarkon wanted to prove a point to the galaxy through fear to destroy a planet, and didn't elaborate to sideus which planet that was, leads me to think palpatine didn't think he would be dumb enough to target an inner rim planet, much less one that wasn't even a good example to show force against. Had Tarkon targeted a mid rim or outer rim uppity planet, like the hut pirates and such. Then the galaxy would have more than gotten the point from that demonstration... while simultaneously showing the people they were doing this thusfar only to those planets and people who go against the law at all times. It would be a strong message to other rebels, but also an even stronger one to those who would think their own agendas couldn't possibly be stopped by the empire, so long as they were paid to excuse the fact. It would send a clear picture to pirates that they weren't dealing with just anything or anyone anymore. And that they were no longer infallible.
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
You mean an actually well written story that only needed one planets destruction to have the effect it should have? Interesting, I Just heard about this Disney owning Star Wars now, I hope they don't mess up movie 7 by making the story terrible and having just a bigger planet destroyer that came out of nowhere that was made from no resources with no explanation that takes out multiple planets as a "show of force" which will make the entire trilogy look terrible because just ONE Planet is enough to send shockwaves throughout the entire universe to the point that the entire universe will already be gunning for you so multiple planets would have to be written by some actual terrible writers who SUCK at their job.
Thing is, later media would claim that Emperor Palpatine was developing super weapons to deal with threats he saw coming from beyond the outer rim; the yuuzhan vong.
Honestly I know why it wasn't the target planet, but if Tarkin wanted to threaten Leia, and not upset the galaxy he should of just targeted Geonosis no one would of cared if the bug's planet was destroyed as it was more or less vacant anyways and helped fund the Separatists.
@@tomhenry897 it was either that or a planet wide extermination ik Palpatine wanted the Geonosisans extinct for obvious reasons but either way he probably would of wanted Tarkin to planet destroy a formerly separatist planet, so damage control of been easier than a core planet.
Tarkin made Alderaan a martyr instead of an example. Martyrs are powerful symbols people can rally, fight and die for. They cannot be destroyed or damaged, since they are already dead and idolized.
I have always wondered what life was like for the average citizens of the empire, how it varies from planet to planet, and between the classes. A good portion of the people had to live good or at least acceptable lives. Thinking that the empire was the right way.
I'm surprised the emperor or vadar didn't kill Tarkin for making such a move without their approval, and in fact, against Vadar's direct orders to clear it with Palpatine first. Imperial officials had been killed for far, FAR less than something this monumental.
The problem of the Empire was that it was so messy of a transition that many power hungry men gained high position and funnily enough Palpatine completely failed to see it or control them. He let them so loose that they made stupid mistakes upon even grievous mistakes that completely fueled the Rebellion. Just by taking over a bit more slowly and with less brutality would have gone a long distance in pacifying the Empire.
Theres only three ways I can see the destruction of Aldeeran being prevented. 1: Palpatine being in charge of the Death Star personally. 2: Vader being given power over Tarkin. 3: Vader being in charge of the death Star.
Tarkin: Ah Lord Sidious, how may I- Sidious: You're fired. Tarkin: ...... What? Sidious: DID I FUCKING STUTTER!?! I SAID YOU'RE FIRED!!! (Processes to shoot Sith Lightning)
because it is just like Leia said "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." and that was espicaly true after Alderaan was destroyed it didn't make the rebels surrender like they Hoped all it did was Rally them in defiance against the Empire with an even bigger determination to defeat them
Palpatine may have been a psychopath but He was a psychopath in control, who always thought before he acted. This And this alone was all tarkin’s doing.
Tarkin gets mocked a lot for refusing to evacuate from DS. From different point of view, having to face Palpatine after losing the superweapon would not have been an improved situation. At least he got to die fast.
Alderan was always going to get targeted just like the home planet of the Caamasi before alderan. The caamasi had a genetic memory and were loyal to the old republic and the jedi. There was a caamasi refugee camp on alderan and a caamasi jedi that watched over Leia like kenobi watched over luke on tatooine
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
Palpatine thought that the Death Star would be used on either a military target or some out of the way obscure world as a terrifying demonstration. Tarkin's choice to blast Alderaan was ill-thought out to say the least. Even if he had fought off the Rebel attack at Yavin and gone on to destroy their main base, Palpatine would have killed him, likely multiple times like he did to Bevel Lemelisk. Despayre, the Legends construction site, was relatively safe to destroy, as there was no way they would release a planet full of prisoners. Had Tarkin settled with only Despayre being incinerated, not even destroyed in its entirety, then he would have achieved the terror he sought. As it was, he showed the galaxy a crucial lesson; 'Play up, and you're dead. Play ball, and you're dead'. The people had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Joining the Rebels was the best course of action for anyone and everyone, and Tarkin's idiocy was a magnet for pulling people away from the Empire.
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
BOOFIRE191 actually did a very good video on this titled “Star Wars The Idiocy Of The Sith 1: Palpatine Was An Incompetent Dictator,” where he compared the Galactic Empire to the Sith Empire in Legends, analyzed the flaws in Palpatine’s leadership, and mentioned that instead of controlling the people of the galaxy with fear of force if the people did something, he should have used the fear of destruction if the people did nothing, specifically rationalizing the gradual elimination of liberty first with the need to rebuild after the Clone Wars, and then with the looming threat of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion (in Legends). This especially makes sense when one considers that the real role of something like the Death Star would not be to fight decentralized rebellions, but to defeat large armies quickly (it would be especially useful against an enemy like the Yuuzhan Vong, who could terraform entire planets into organic shipyards in months, among other things).
Yep. The more wickedness the Empire did to the people, the more they fought back and inevitably won. Evil can NEVER win in the end. Too bad today's leaders don't get that.
Pride and Hubris can be a terrible blindfold. Or to put it more simply. Pride goeth before the Fall. Palpatine and Tarkin believed their empire to be invincible and therefore could get away with anything and therefore do anything they wanted. This is why I prefer the legends version of Death Star's engineer overlooking such a critical flaw in it's design. That this feeling of invincibility allowed him and others to miss that fatal vent port. As for how everyone else thought? Imagine being one of those who CHEERED when Palpatine declared their Republic was now an Empire? Applauding as Democracy died. Only to now see that same Empire backstab you in the worse way imaginable. Yes you probably had your complaints here and there, I mean no government is perfect. But to see them destroy a world that had zero weapons, but was meant to be a symbol of peace. Suddenly you find yourself missing that old Republic you complained about so much and the Jedi who defended it.
If Tarkin had escaped the Death Star's destruction he'd no doubt have been executed by Palpatine in a manner that was very slow, very painful and extremely humiliating.
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
Most of the support for the Empire came from the Human Core Worlds, by destroying Alderaan, Tarkin effectively attacked the Empire’s staunchest and wealthiest supporters, no Galactic government can survive without support from the Core.
Tarkin: Did you see that, my lord? We taught that insolent princess a le- Palpatine: Did you FOOLS not realize what you've just done!? YOU JUST DESTROYED MY GREAT EMPIRE!! Tarkin: *Shocked Pikachu face*
Vader knew Tarkin had gone insane and, really even as a Sith he should have stopped him. The fact Vader stood by and watched proves how truly lost he was at this point. Seeing Obi Wan again was the highlight of his day
Obi wan spared anakin from him.
OR he knew that Alderaan getting whacked would inspire the rebels to attack something he'd always considered a waste of resources and an abomination (compared to the Force) and subsequently destroy it, and Tarkin, in his overconfidence, would die with his weapon.
@TheGuardianofAzarath Yes. I think, given his experience in the Clone Wars, he knew the Force would find a way to destroy the weapon which of course it did through Luke. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."
Sidious should have listened more. I always feel like as Emperor he became arrogant and...Well lazy, after putting in all that work to overthrow the Republic. He underestimates the non Force sensitive, to the point where literally one Jedi Knight posed a large enough threat to rally the galaxy and bring about his undoing. Or should I say two Jedi Knights, meaning Anakin
Or GL wrote a story that he wasn’t sure would see the light of day and then had to fill in a bunch of made up backstory over the years with movies, comics and novels
@coomodus2592 G L meticulously planned the narrative and story of the original 3 using The Hero with a thousand faces or heroes journey, which again touches on Jungian archetypes. If he hadn't, it never would have seen the light of day. Dude made a Sci fi masterpiece in 1977, that STILL stands up today story wise and effects wise. With or without prequels there was massive licensed EU which did a much better job than Disney ever has.
I have no doubt the Star Wars universe had its own version of Machiavelli to spout "It is better to be feared than loved" which Palpatine would most certainly agree with. But, like many, he likely ignored the rest of the quote: "But it is better to be loved than hated."
It goes, "it's best to feared and loved of course, but if one must choose, it is far safer to be feared....but not to the point where you are hated."
People get braver when the status quo is so bad that they don't think whatever you can do to them is likely to be worse.
LOL, the citizens of the galaxy used anger/hatred as motivation against dark side Palp. Quite ironic.
Nearly every historic sith lord was like that.
Tarkin was an arrogant fool whose decisions usually resulted in 1 step forward, 2 steps back.
I find it ironic that Palpatine's downfall was ultimately due to his hubris, just like what he said about the Jedi before him
The Jedi became complacent out of a sense that they were just marking time and keeping the peace. As a Sith, Palpatine allowed himself to become complacent because he thought all his enemies were either dead or too terrified to stand against him. It shouldn't come as a surprise that arrogance can plague those on either side of the Force.
And his incompetent, corrupt, or insane government and military
@@The_Lucent_ArchangelThe rise of skywalker should end with palpatine depowered Place on a stage with millions of people coming there to rip him apart
@@justiceriser8970 Darth Kennedy will never let Rey be torn apart like that
That's not ironic for a Sith, that's typical
At least in Legends one of the consequences of Alderaan was it caused fractures in the Imperial ranks. Many defected to the Rebellion and others became more loyal to sector admirals than the Empire or Emperor that gave rise to the Warlords after Palpatine's death. Some of the most beloved Legends characters were former Imperials form whom the destruction of Alderaan was to far.
Indoctrination can only go so far. Those that grew up post jedi purge never knew anything different. It literally took such an act of lunacy to break them from their indoctrination.
Of course Disney comes along to piss all over that
@@xxxthwagdrakexxx4672 exactly, why have nuance? disney acts like there's good people who do only good things and bad people who do only bad things.
maybe soon they'll bust out Darth Sploder
@@tessa63627 when I first watched the 7th movie I felt like the whole script was copied off the first movie the same way I would let people do off my homework in highschool where they had to change it a little
@@xxxthwagdrakexxx4672 totally agree 😂🤣
The big problem in Tarkin's theory (apart from it being psychotic) is that there is nowhere to run, you can't move the planet somewhere else, nor can you evacuate all inhabitants before the Death Star gets there. Since flight is not possible, the only instinctual response to being cornered is fight. So this superweapon galvanized the rebellion. Its why Thawn proposed a bigger imperial navy, it has greater reach and just the right amount of intimidation factor.
Well put. The Death Star is simply too extreme of a weapon for any sane society to tolerate living under. The second you start threatening planets with that thing, your citizens will turn on you because most people would rather die fighting back instead of living under eternal fear of annihilation.
Yeah. An imperial blockade and subsequent orbital bombardment could accomplish the same thing the Death Star could at a fraction of the cost. Ok, well maybe not same thing. It can’t destroy the planet, but it can damn make sure nothing on that planet survives given time.
@@Predatornc1agreed. At the very least you could still mostly harvest raw materials from said planet, even if you Base Delta Zero’d it. The Death Star ruins even that option
@@Predatornc1 Yep. This is literally a tactic you can use in Stellaris as well. You _can_ use a Colossus to outright annihilate an entire planet, sure. But doing so will make all other Empires hate your guts for doing so. an alternative is to simply use orbital bombardment until the planet becomes an (almost) uninhabitable Tomb World that only Machine Empires and Empires with Tomb World habitability can colonize. That level of orbital bombardment will also make other Empires unhappy with you, but not to nearly the same degree as using a Colossus (though if you're playing as an Empire type that can't even engage in diplomacy like Fanatic Purifiers, Devouring Swarm, Determined Exterminators, or Driven Assimilators then the opinions of other Empires are of little concern as other Empires will already hate you to begin with as your mere existence is an existential threat to them.
Like the Matrix. You have to give them a choice.
Obviously it is a mistake. Alderaan is one of the most important planets in entire galaxy. Also it was unprovoked.
And Tarkin was not as smart as he thought.
One thing Sidous needed the most is to be proven that this was his ultimate demise. And his most pathetic statement of how fear brought people to his knees, but the courage to stand up to that fear was his ultimate failure of the entire empire.
The @Dragonfangize having a common anamy is the best way to bring people togheyet from different backgrounds and races! And that's what happened when they destroyed alderaan.
They showed the galaxy that no one was safe from the empire. If they can destroy alderaan, they can dothat whit everyone!
yea, if it had been some random outer rim world or a world in hut space (even the huts main world) the reaction would most likely been quite different. aigenst the hut the empire could even use the arguement that they whiped out a scourge to the galaxy or atleast severly damaged them. and i think a lot of the galaxy would have been a little happy about it considering it was the huts. BUT NO tarkin HAD to blow up Alderaan.
To showcase its power they could have just broadcast the destruction of an uninhabited planet. Clearly tarkin was stupid
Putting Tarkin in charge of the Death Star was one of the few times Palpatine made a critical mistake. He trusted Tarkin as a loyalist, but underestimated Tarkin's arrogance, pride, and irrational mind.
Palpatine basically gave Tarkin the codes to a nuclear arsenal, but Tarkin stepped out of line and ordered a preemptive strike without approval.
After the Battle of Scariff, Palpatine decided that Tarkin was to independent and ambitious and needed to be removed. That was the primary reason Dath Vader was on the Death Star.
He was just awaiting Palpatine's orders to do so.
@@jamesricker3997 Tarkin still possessed limited authority over Vader, and the Death Star surely carried many Tarkin loyalists who would have protected Tarkin from Vader or supported Tarkin's cause.
@@hmk5123it’s kind of hard to protect yourself from a guy who can hold his hand out and choke you to death without laying hands on you…..
It is indirectly Palpatine's fault Tarkin killed Alderaan, because in the OG continiuty/Dark Horse comics, Tarkin while cold and at times condescending, surprisingly had a moral compass not to commit genocide, so Palpatine set up Tarkin's beloved son Garoche to turncoat with the Rebels and get axed by Vader with said son's death's story "slightly" exaggerated. The embittering grief grief gave Tarkin rabies and the rest, you guessed it . . . history.
Of course once Palpatine heard about Tarkin's transgression it was that moment he knew, too late . . . he fugged up!
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
“The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
-Princess Leia Organa
"And that depends on how good your manners are...And how big your.....pocketbook is....he heh HEH"
- Executive Chef, Entrepreneur and Purveyor of Find Foods, Dexter Jettster
It's funny how Tarkin was the one to fan the flames of the rebellion in the biggest way.
Sidious was up to the exact same trick as the Clone Wars.
Tarkin knew off Sidious's plans.
I read somewhere that Tarkin in fact knew more than Darth Vader.
Hence Vader in some novels was pleased that the Death Star was destroyed.
Sidious always 'required' an enemy to justify his tyrannical rule and full militarisation a la Adolf Hitler.
The Rebellion, however, grew faster that Sidious expected.
Sidious thought the Death Star would easily get rid of the Rebellion.
Three Shocks
1. The Death Stars destruction
II. Luke Skywalker destroying
the Death Star
III. Obi-Wan secretly training
Luke.
"Oft evil will shall evil mar." -- Théoden, _The Two Towers_
@@FrostedSeagull Another Shocks: IV. Yoda was training Luke (Yoda learned with his mistake and taught Luke in a new light)
Palp is f&cked
Also don't forget Storm troopers that were from Alderan joined the alliance as well so the rebellion got trained soldiers and fighters to help train the rebellion which helped as well
there is quite a interesting book featuring two pilots that joined the empire before the events. one joined the rebelion the other stayed. but that person had a lot of doubt about her choise to stay, but it was extremly important in her family and her culture to never betray your oaths. she was NOT a bad person just her upbringing not allowing her to break the oat she swore to the empire at the time. afther the destruction of the second deathstar she was captured and i think she ended up joining the alliance then. (she was at that point of time newly promoted to a stardestroyer captain but she had never commited any of the horrors a lot of them did, so she got that rank from her own skills entierly and from beeing a evil person. she did break the oath to the empire once, but that was to save her friend that joined the rebelion, they grew up together but his family and culture dident have the strict rules about not breaking your words that she did, reason for why she broke the oat to the empire? she had an even older oath to him so either way she would break and oath and chose not to kill him)
@@baldrian22 you'd think this would be prime TV adaptation but no we have people threatening to torture childrens eye sockets fried like during the obi wan movie
Tarkin's arrogance that destroying an important planet like alderaan would make the rebellion too afraid to rebel anymore literally blew up in his face.
Fear makes people do two things, either cower or bold. Alderaan just made the rebllion bolder since they probably figured with the death star the empire would just blow up planets on whim since they blew up alderaan which was a core system plemt that had significant poltical influential in the galtcia commuity.
Or to mention that many loyal imperial officers were from Alderaan
If that’s how the empire rewards loyalty, why fight for them?
Not to mention how other planets started secretly funding the Rebellion, because if the Empire was willing to do that to a openly pacifistic world that posed no military threat to the Empire, then what was to stop the Empire from coming after the rest of them?
Palpatine has stated he did not want to rule a galaxy of the dead so you would think you would have to have direct permission before you take out a planet no matter how evil your Emperor is
vader told tarkin he should ask palpatine and then tarkin got big on vader, thats when vader knew tarkin was truly insane to talk back to him
@@informationservices Palpatine made a critical error to give Tarkin limited authority over Vader. Vader literally could not stop Tarkin without killing him, which would put Vader under trial for executing his commanding officer.
Palpatine trusted Tarkin as a loyalist, but he underestimated Tarkin's pride and desire for power. Tarkin was a man who would have overthrown Palpatine if given the chance and taken control of the Empire for himself.
@@hmk5123 Everything is going as planned.
@@informationservices
Which makes no sense when you look at the character and their interactions in episode IV.
@@hmk5123
Lol As if Vader would care. He would not need to kill Tarkin to stop him and if he did he would.
There is no way Vader is going back to the Emperor and saying, well I wanted to stop him from blowing up a planet without your orders but he "outranked me". I see that going over super well.
Also remember the scene where Tarkin says "I am taking an awful risk" about letting the Han get away with the Death Star plans? Not the action of a mad man.
The Tarkin Doctrine already had me feeling like the man was holding the Empire back from being truly effective. But after this video, he's basically the rebellion's savior. He gave them exactly what they needed, public proof of what the Empire really was.
He asserted himself prematurely, exposed his Emperor, and then died swearing "I got this" 😅
That's one hell of a way to wrap up managing a multi-decade project 😂
Citizens in the galaxy were aware of the iron fist and acts of the Empire, but they were quiet because they thought it wouldn't affect them if they turned a blind eye. But then Alderaan happened, the people reacted because the Death Star could be pointed to any planet.
And wasn’t the death star recently finished by the time the movie starts?
Yes, Tarkin is basically a high ranking navy officer that takes a new state of the art ship, attacks a civilian state and then the ship gets torpedoed, bombed, and sunk by a bunch of pilots.
Sounds more like a cautionary tale 😅
The instant you destroy an Imperial planet that is not in "active" rebellion to your empire, and then the weapon you used to destroy that planet is wiped out, most planets will realize they could be next and are better off joining the Alliance. It was a double blow to the Empire's reputation from which it could never recover.
Palpatine should have read "The Prince" by Machiavelli. He was specific on how to use cruelty. And blowing up Alderaan was the step too far.
Palpatine's problem was not the lack of wisdom or competence. Is just he couldn't stop himself from being a sadistic monster, and his Empire reflected that.
Feared better than loved but never hated
@@mudyao exactly
@@SolarinDay ah my fellow prince
@@raistlin3462
Palpatine’s weakness = #OVERCONFIDENCE
I think of it like this; if my enemy has a big weapon, I might refrain from attacking. But if they start using it on random bystanders anyway in an attempt to frighten their enemies, we will certainly attack, and we will have allies.
If your enemy is crazy enough to kill innocents, they are certainly crazy enough to attack you anyway. So you might as well take your chances. Add to that that a lot of people would value the lives of innocents out of moral grounds, and suddenly my faction grows.
Deterrance policies only work if there are alternatives. And random violence is never a good deterrant, as the whole point of fear is to avoid being attacked. If you strike first without provocation you lose your leverage.
Lord Vader reminded Governor Tarkin that Alderaan was foremost of the inner systems and that Tarkin should have consulted Emperor Palpatine.
Tarkin: "Do you have another target? Then NAME THE SYSTEM!"
Leia: "No pls"
Vader: "How about Tatooine? We know she was delivering the plans there. And I hate that planet."
Imagine of that happened. It would mean a lot to the main chars, but nothing to the rest of the galaxy. Except for podrace fans.
Would have the wrath of the Hutts. But still interesting
@@scottb3034 In Legends, Hutts, and by extension Hutt Space, was one of the few Empires the, well Galactic Empire did not fuck with.
Hutts dude, empire had no desire for that smoke.
I agree. Destruction of Alderaan changed everything. It caused people's of the galaxy to woke up and join the Rebellion.People rejoiced and celebrated with a reason. I didn't know how average citizen reacted to this. This was nice. Palpatine was stuck in his hubris. May the Force be with you too. See you soon😊
I know this isn't popular... but Palpatine almost certainly knew Tarkin's plan. Or at least had a really good idea of them. The reason Tarkin was placed in charge was that Tarkin performed the Ghorman Massacre. Created the Doctrine of Fear. And was very likely to take just the very action he did.
And Tarken knew Palpatine had just disbanded the Senate. Likely by direct communication with Palpatine. And both knew Alderaan had been aiding the Rebellion.
I suspect Palpatine had planned for backlash... but not open rebellion. Because he'd have a Death Star to keep planets in line. He didn't count on some kid in a snubnose derailing his plans.
Something that he kept doing over and over .
Yes.
This fits with his desire to destroy Chandrila, another core world and founder with the Second Death Star.
It makes you wonder if Tarkin left the Death Star b4 the battle of Yavin, what would Sidious have done to Tarkin for destroying Alderaan w/o his permission and the aftermath of it?
Sidious would’ve literally force choked tarkin from a hologram like how Snoke force choked General hux
@@Truly_Sitharireally I thought palpatine would use force lightning to punish tarkin
@@cjsaurus4120 I mean sidious did force choke dooku through hologram and dooku almost exposed him as a sith.
@@Truly_Sithari yeah but sidious likes force lightning more than force choke
I'm sure Palps would have had Tarkin arrested, put on trial and then publicly executed for the entire galaxy to see.
The problem with ruling with fear is best explained in a quote from the game The Godfather. You can push a man far, but everyone has a breaking point, and they will fight back after that point.
The fact is that damn Tarkin was drunk on power and didn't think and realize that blowing away Alderaan just to get an answer out of Leia would really cause more problems for the empire that he never knew. After that happened even more star systems throughout the galaxy wanted vengeance for Alderaan and joined the rebel alliance.
It is indirectly Palpatine's fault Tarkin killed Alderaan, because in the OG continiuty/Dark Horse comics, Tarkin while cold and at times condescending, surprisingly had a moral compass not to commit genocide, so Palpatine set up Tarkin's beloved son Garoche to turncoat with the Rebels and get axed by Vader with said son's death's story "slightly" exaggerated. The embittering grief grief gave Tarkin rabies and the rest, you guessed it . . . history.
Of course once Palpatine heard about Tarkin's transgression it was that moment he knew . . . he fugged up!
@@skymabile2855 Look they were BOTH responsible!
Leading by fear never works. Fear, like the power it grants in the dark side, is fleeting and quickly transforms into resolve. People who know they are as good as dead have nothing to lose and everything to gain
Many joined. Many more funded or supplied or otherwise helped. While many more just took a step back from their support to the Empire, yet afraid of any negative repercussions from being seen as a Rebel ally.
You don't need to join the Rebels to fight the Empire. You just have to make sure deliveries of groceries are delayed due to mechanical problems.
@@tompearce5418 true. Too bad they couldn’t just overload the biggest cargo freighters they can find and shut down one of the major hyper lanes or some other means to sort of passive / aggressively slow up the galactic economy. You don’t need to actually join or fund the Rebels. Just muck things up without making it to obvious.
@@eds1942 hence Darth Vader seizing Cloud City to secure a reliable source of Tibanna gas for use in Imperial weaponry. After Alderaan civilian sources of supply became abruptly less reliable. You know a military machine is in trouble when the general population stops feeding it.
Just like the calendar was reset by that battle, "You Tarked up" or Tark you man"! Forever, your family's name is that of the ultimate curse word!
Princess leia told tarken the truth. But tarken was to arrogant and dogmatic to be able to understand the consequences of his actions on the galaxy.
All Tarkin had to do was not be a completely unhinged maniac for like 5 mins and just blow up some rebel sympathizing mid rim planet that hardly anybody gave a shit about.
The destruction of Alderaan was the biggest shooting itself in the foot for the empire. As it showed its true face to galaxy as a tyrannical and ruthless dictatorship that would broke no rebellion. Which coupled with the rebellions destruction of the death star at Yavin created a massive wave of discontentment and hope against the empire, leading to massive recruitment of new blood and forces joining the rebellion, making it a substantial threat to the empire going forward.
In the end, Bail Organa saved the galaxy. Love that dude
You know I'm surprised Palpatine didn't just use force choke on Death Star like he did from Clone Wars.
Thank you for this! This question cruisers my mind every now and then for years and years! The most recent time was just a couple of days ago!
Had Tarkin survived, he would have been executed for his blunder and possibly scapegoated by Sidious, but the damage would still have been done. The destruction of Alderaan broke the bantha's back, and the destruction of the Death Star was the rallying cry that truly got the ball into the Rebellion's court. It is still heartbreaking that so many had to die before the people of the galaxy finally woke up and understood that they could not just bend over and cow before the Empire or else no world would have been safe. Even if Tarkin had survived, scapegoated, and executed, there's no way the people would have been satisfied with his death alone.
One of the most impactful moments I've ever seen in SW in relation to Alderaan's destruction was the confrontation between Cara Dune and a member of Moff Gideon's Imperial remnant, how this despicable and spiteful man had the gall to justify the destruction of an innocent world and claim the rule of the Empire had been righteous and for the better, only to get shot down by Cara for his vile words.
In some ways, I despise the "true believers" of the Empire more than the ones who were motivated for their own personal gain. How these individuals could believe in the cause of the Empire in spite of its atrocities and excuse them for foolish, stupid, or hypocritical reasons, like "for the greater good". At least the imps who were only in it for themselves weren't deluded by such shameless and misplaced patriotism.
It took the worst of imperial workings, like Operation: Cinder, to finally get some imperials to wake up and see the Empire for what it truly was, like Iden Versio. If only her father had had her courage and integrity.
Palpatine was a EXTREMLY gifted manipulator. also the fact that he was a sith was an EXTREMLY close guarded secret. some people knew but only people like his guards and people that was working realy close to him. the rebelion would have been aware but a LOT of people had in the beginning a realy positive view of him because of how he managed to blame the jedi etc.
If took out the main rebel base all would have been forgiven and Tarkin promoted and reassigned to corrount
According to Biggs in the novelisation of A New Hope the Empire started off as a noble dream but the corruption and atrocities basically piled up to the point where the public couldn't ignore the rot.
Framing Tarkin as the sole perpetrator of Alderaan's destruction in front of the entire galaxy would be PEAK Palpatine. Just like Admiral Rampart with Kamino, but on a much bigger scale.
Ahhh man now I goota, I just moved BF2 to my storage HDD to make room for this Xdefiant thing which I can see is probs my not gonna b3 me caus3 I don',... LSS gonna put Battlefront 2 back on and finish the bonus campaign from my last run,
Luke said it best. Old Palpy got overconfident. He thought he could do anything and got away it.
Sounds like a lot of politicians today. 🤔
I realy wonder what palpatines initial reaction was after He got informed that tarkin just blew up alderaan out of the blue...
And yet Sidious decided to build Death Star 2….
As part of an elaborate trap to lure the rebellion out of hiding and destroy them once and for all. Too bad for him, that too backfired spectacularly.
And he planned to use it on Chandrila and Dac.
I can just imagine the convo. Lolz
Tarkin: we’re going to test this weapons full capabilities on your home world princess.
Vader: 😳 uhhh……..I think I should check with Palpatine first.
Tarkin: Nonsense! Ready the weapon. You may fire when ready.
Vader: 🤦♂️ God dammit…….well at least I won’t have to be the one to come up with an explanation if this plan backfires.
Tarkin should have consulted with Palpatine before he did if it wasn’t an important planet like maybe tatoonie the galaxy might not have cared
Tatooine is important because it is Hutt Space and Hutt Kingpin Jabba lived there. Would have been a big issue.
@@scottb3034 but then obi wan would be gone and Luke as well then empire would have won the war without Luke no Death Star destroyed at yavin the Death Star plans destroyed, no redemption for Vader and then mon cala would have been destroyed after then chandilla
@@emperorvader9688 Luke and Ben were gone by that point. Alderaan was blown while they were in space, remember? The timeline would be identical at best. They couldn't get there before they left.
@@scottb3034 depends on what system the Death Star was in before it headed to alderaan and how many parsecs it takes to get to tatoonie
@@scottb3034between destroying the pseudo home of human civilization or blowing to pieces the base of mafia boss, destroying tatooine is still a less stupid idea. Hell why not leave those two alone and destroy nal hutta or nar shaddaa, rallying the galaxy to fight the hutts and pirates is better than them trying to fight you instead
It wasn't just because Tarkin ordered Alderaan to be destroyed or Luke being able to fire into the exhaust port of the Death Star that was beginning of The Empire's downfall, it was also thanks to Galen Erso delibertly made the design flaw of the exhaust port and his daughter Jyn and her gang that made it possible for The Rebels to get the plans for the Death Star. Without those important factors, the destruction of Alderaan wouldn't been enough for the rebels to take down the Empire.
Why Alderaan was a mistake:
“They blew up Jedha!” “What’s that?
Vs
“They blew up Alderaan!” “By the force, the emperor must be stopped!”
Not so Grand Moff Tarkin.
"Um, Sr., we may have Tarked up
It's probably some fan art, but it's strange to depict Leia as falling apart in that thumbnail. She was always defiant and strong, regardless of the situation.
The destruction of Alderaan was their 9/11 a day of tragedy accept an entire planet was destroyed, not by a terrorist group but a tyrannical empire
Look hard at what you said.
I'd be up for a new scene filmed for ANH where Palpatine calls up Tarkin & screams at him for his decision.
Just goes to show you how fascism is a self-defeating ideology and the destruction of alderaan is one of many examples on how fascists are shortsighted and don't think long-term.
Alderaan destruction was the empire destruction in return
Had the reverse effect
Instead of obedience through fear got rebellion
Andor showed that many nobles on Alderaan were the Empire's biggest supporters. The planet was also exceedingly wealthy. Its loss would be like trying to pay off the national debt without Texas or California paying anything in.
This is what I keep saying, you don't hold power and loyalty by proving that you are willing to kill your own people to make a point to the enemy, you hold power by killing the enemy to make a point to your own people, you show strength and the subtle warning that this strength can be used to hold order, coupled with showing that you will use this strength to PROTECT and not oppress them, Thrawn style.
In legends any former alderanian survivors would more likely join the alliance, even those already in the empire.
Centralized fear over dispersed.
If we take the old republic into consideration, the Sith ruled through fear by presence.
Sidious was trying to centralize the fear into one major weapon. His fleets were nothing new as you would find that in any war.
But it is a lot easier to rebel against one major weapon that would take time to reach you, and that you could solely focus on considering the amount of resources that went into it, over a Sith lord and their army on the doorstep of everyone on every major planet.
In a way the Evil Galactic Empire defeated itself with this act of destruction.
Luke's X-Wing should have been displayed in a museum at Coruscant forever as a memorial that changed SW history.
Destroying Alderaan sent the Empire on a path they shouldn’t of gone down, If they listened to Thrawn they would of survived and quelled alot of the resistance movements
Let me destroy alderaan!
Wait a minute...
If Tarkin survived and returned to Coruscant, Palpatine will be having a charged little chit chat with him.
How many rotations was there between the destruction of Alderan and the battle of Yavin?
love ur videos bro !!
Imagine being called by your subordinate to tell you he found the base of your enemies, and that he blew up a planet in the process.
"The more you tighten your grip, the more systems that will slip through your fingers."
Using the Death Star led systems to consider joining the rebellion. It being destroyed led to systems saying "Where do I sign up?"
Tarkin: my lord i have successfully tested the death star's weapon capabilities.
Palpatine: good. Tell me which planet did you test it on?
Vader: *slowly places his hand on his helmet (face palm)*
Tarkin: i used it on Alderaan.
Palpatine:...... ok I'm just gonna assume i miss heard what you said so can you please repeat what you said?
Tarkin: i used it on Alderaan my lord.
Palpatine: YOU WHAT!?!?!
Whiluff Tarkin was one of the rebellion's best recruiters.
Its funny that Palpatine thought that Tarkon wouldn't have been dumb enough to destroy the very planet that gave him his authority, that gave him his power over the galaxy and that was the very planet he was basically born on. If he did know Tarkon was targeting it, then it makes me wonder if he actually did think nothing of it at the time. But the fact that Tarkon wanted to prove a point to the galaxy through fear to destroy a planet, and didn't elaborate to sideus which planet that was, leads me to think palpatine didn't think he would be dumb enough to target an inner rim planet, much less one that wasn't even a good example to show force against. Had Tarkon targeted a mid rim or outer rim uppity planet, like the hut pirates and such. Then the galaxy would have more than gotten the point from that demonstration... while simultaneously showing the people they were doing this thusfar only to those planets and people who go against the law at all times. It would be a strong message to other rebels, but also an even stronger one to those who would think their own agendas couldn't possibly be stopped by the empire, so long as they were paid to excuse the fact. It would send a clear picture to pirates that they weren't dealing with just anything or anyone anymore. And that they were no longer infallible.
The Hutt Homeworld would have made a much better target from a political point of view.
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
You mean an actually well written story that only needed one planets destruction to have the effect it should have? Interesting, I Just heard about this Disney owning Star Wars now, I hope they don't mess up movie 7 by making the story terrible and having just a bigger planet destroyer that came out of nowhere that was made from no resources with no explanation that takes out multiple planets as a "show of force" which will make the entire trilogy look terrible because just ONE Planet is enough to send shockwaves throughout the entire universe to the point that the entire universe will already be gunning for you so multiple planets would have to be written by some actual terrible writers who SUCK at their job.
Palpatine must've regretted it by the end
THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS
“Decisions like this caused the Old Sith Empire to fall… *LETS DO IT AGAIN!!!* “
How big of light saber do you need to deflect the laser from the Death Star
I think the Force is the only thing that could deflect that thing.
Still be cool to see happen @@marcosgalvis3498
Thing is, later media would claim that Emperor Palpatine was developing super weapons to deal with threats he saw coming from beyond the outer rim; the yuuzhan vong.
Honestly I know why it wasn't the target planet, but if Tarkin wanted to threaten Leia, and not upset the galaxy he should of just targeted Geonosis no one would of cared if the bug's planet was destroyed as it was more or less vacant anyways and helped fund the Separatists.
Didn’t the empire gas geonosis?
@@tomhenry897 it was either that or a planet wide extermination ik Palpatine wanted the Geonosisans extinct for obvious reasons but either way he probably would of wanted Tarkin to planet destroy a formerly separatist planet, so damage control of been easier than a core planet.
Tarkin made Alderaan a martyr instead of an example. Martyrs are powerful symbols people can rally, fight and die for. They cannot be destroyed or damaged, since they are already dead and idolized.
Grand moff Tarkin was the rebel alliance’s best recruiter.
Just like there will always be a bigger fish, there will also always be a chihuahua to fight it.
Alderon was the Rebelions catalyst.
Its what galvanized the galaxie against the Empire.
I have always wondered what life was like for the average citizens of the empire, how it varies from planet to planet, and between the classes. A good portion of the people had to live good or at least acceptable lives.
Thinking that the empire was the right way.
I'm surprised the emperor or vadar didn't kill Tarkin for making such a move without their approval, and in fact, against Vadar's direct orders to clear it with Palpatine first.
Imperial officials had been killed for far, FAR less than something this monumental.
The moment that the planet killer weapon was fired for the second time, the Death Star became a failure.
“Disintegrated” the senate?? lol. I wouldn’t put it past Palpatine, but I think you meant “dissolved”.
So he threw them all in acid?
@@Sheilawisz 😂😂😂. I wouldn’t put that past him either.
Alderman was a beautiful place to visit
The problem of the Empire was that it was so messy of a transition that many power hungry men gained high position and funnily enough Palpatine completely failed to see it or control them. He let them so loose that they made stupid mistakes upon even grievous mistakes that completely fueled the Rebellion.
Just by taking over a bit more slowly and with less brutality would have gone a long distance in pacifying the Empire.
It was never going to end with Alderann, the long term effect was going to destroy nearly every world until Curosaunt was left
Theres only three ways I can see the destruction of Aldeeran being prevented. 1: Palpatine being in charge of the Death Star personally. 2: Vader being given power over Tarkin. 3: Vader being in charge of the death Star.
Tarkin: Ah Lord Sidious, how may I-
Sidious: You're fired.
Tarkin: ...... What?
Sidious: DID I FUCKING STUTTER!?! I SAID YOU'RE FIRED!!!
(Processes to shoot Sith Lightning)
because it is just like Leia said
"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
and that was espicaly true after Alderaan was destroyed
it didn't make the rebels surrender like they Hoped
all it did was Rally them in defiance against the Empire with an even bigger determination to defeat them
Good points 👍
Palpatine may have been a psychopath but He was a psychopath in control, who always thought before he acted. This And this alone was all tarkin’s doing.
Tarkin gets mocked a lot for refusing to evacuate from DS. From different point of view, having to face Palpatine after losing the superweapon would not have been an improved situation. At least he got to die fast.
Alderan was always going to get targeted just like the home planet of the Caamasi before alderan. The caamasi had a genetic memory and were loyal to the old republic and the jedi. There was a caamasi refugee camp on alderan and a caamasi jedi that watched over Leia like kenobi watched over luke on tatooine
Tarkin: "Let's blowup Alderaan! I see nothing wrong with this idea!"
Rebels: "See! We told you the Empire was evil!"
First sentence: "What was the reaction TO the rest of the Galaxy when..." You mean "OF the rest of the Galaxy..."
You know it’s bad when even Vader and the Emperor thought this was fucked up
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
Palpatine thought that the Death Star would be used on either a military target or some out of the way obscure world as a terrifying demonstration. Tarkin's choice to blast Alderaan was ill-thought out to say the least. Even if he had fought off the Rebel attack at Yavin and gone on to destroy their main base, Palpatine would have killed him, likely multiple times like he did to Bevel Lemelisk. Despayre, the Legends construction site, was relatively safe to destroy, as there was no way they would release a planet full of prisoners. Had Tarkin settled with only Despayre being incinerated, not even destroyed in its entirety, then he would have achieved the terror he sought. As it was, he showed the galaxy a crucial lesson; 'Play up, and you're dead. Play ball, and you're dead'. The people had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Joining the Rebels was the best course of action for anyone and everyone, and Tarkin's idiocy was a magnet for pulling people away from the Empire.
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
BOOFIRE191 actually did a very good video on this titled “Star Wars The Idiocy Of The Sith 1: Palpatine Was An Incompetent Dictator,” where he compared the Galactic Empire to the Sith Empire in Legends, analyzed the flaws in Palpatine’s leadership, and mentioned that instead of controlling the people of the galaxy with fear of force if the people did something, he should have used the fear of destruction if the people did nothing, specifically rationalizing the gradual elimination of liberty first with the need to rebuild after the Clone Wars, and then with the looming threat of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion (in Legends). This especially makes sense when one considers that the real role of something like the Death Star would not be to fight decentralized rebellions, but to defeat large armies quickly (it would be especially useful against an enemy like the Yuuzhan Vong, who could terraform entire planets into organic shipyards in months, among other things).
BOOFIRE 191 was right.
Yep. The more wickedness the Empire did to the people, the more they fought back and inevitably won. Evil can NEVER win in the end. Too bad today's leaders don't get that.
The Tarkin Doctrine proved to be an absolute failure, and it's a shame he never saw it crumble.
Pride and Hubris can be a terrible blindfold. Or to put it more simply. Pride goeth before the Fall. Palpatine and Tarkin believed their empire to be invincible and therefore could get away with anything and therefore do anything they wanted. This is why I prefer the legends version of Death Star's engineer overlooking such a critical flaw in it's design. That this feeling of invincibility allowed him and others to miss that fatal vent port.
As for how everyone else thought? Imagine being one of those who CHEERED when Palpatine declared their Republic was now an Empire? Applauding as Democracy died. Only to now see that same Empire backstab you in the worse way imaginable. Yes you probably had your complaints here and there, I mean no government is perfect. But to see them destroy a world that had zero weapons, but was meant to be a symbol of peace. Suddenly you find yourself missing that old Republic you complained about so much and the Jedi who defended it.
If Tarkin had escaped the Death Star's destruction he'd no doubt have been executed by Palpatine in a manner that was very slow, very painful and extremely humiliating.
love the clumsy attempts by supporters of the Sith and the Empire to justify Palpatine. Palpatine, even though he later regretted the destruction of Alderaan, allowed it to happen himself. He did not set any conditions for Tarkin as to what he would be allowed to shoot at. If that were the case, Tarkin, knowing Palpatine well, would know what he could afford. He knew what he was risking to break the Emperor's will. Vader too. Palparine allowed Rarkion to destroy planets and is head of state. Vader himself clearly does not see Palparine's will being violated, and he does not intervene. And he could.
Most of the support for the Empire came from the Human Core Worlds, by destroying Alderaan, Tarkin effectively attacked the Empire’s staunchest and wealthiest supporters, no Galactic government can survive without support from the Core.
Tarkin: Did you see that, my lord? We taught that insolent princess a le-
Palpatine: Did you FOOLS not realize what you've just done!? YOU JUST DESTROYED MY GREAT EMPIRE!!
Tarkin: *Shocked Pikachu face*