In a galaxy of mystical men, the most dangerous was human. Mike Conte discusses why Grand Moff Tarkin was the most evil character in all of Star Wars.
By Mike Conte // Before we discuss Tarkin, a little backstory: I remember watching the original trilogy when I was just eight years old. I connected immediately with the Rebel Alliance. X-Wings were awesome, the cause was great and the characters actually had faces. Unlike most of the characters from the Empire, the Rebel Alliances’ were mostly relatable, too. Growing up who did you dream of being–a dashing smuggler with a seven foot dog as a best friend, or a poorly trained dude in bright white armor?
The one thing I find interesting is that Lucas made both Darth Vader and the Emperor–the leader of the Empire and his right hand man–totally unrelatable in their humanity. Vader is a powerful, supernatural human in head-to-toe black body armor and wields a laser sword. He looks grand and imposing, no doubt, so I understand the love and numerous action figures and cosplay you see of him. The Emperor is a deformed old man in a cloak who shoots lightning bolts from his fingertips. The Emperor receives less love from the Star Wars fandom but again, he suffers from the same problem as Vader, not very relatable to the human audience. They might be cool and look awesome, but not exactly relatable.
Most of the other Imperial characters don’t fair much better. The stormtroopers are all faceless cannon fodder; they look cool, but again face the same problems in terms of relatability. Most of the other Imperial officers get little screen time and are portrayed as mostly incompetent; Vader Force chokes a few of them and they are gone as soon as they appear. Admiral Piet does get some screen time, and is actually portrayed somewhat sympathetically, as is Moff Jerjerrod, who seems to actually care about his troops down on Endor as the Empire contemplates blowing the furry-critter-infested forest moon up. However, they are not very prominent, and even though they are high ranking Imperials, it is clear they do not hold much actual power. And before you bringing the badass known as Boba Fett–he was an independent contractor–not part of the Empire’s power structure.
There is one Imperial however that people don’t rush to cosplay (with the exception of Stephen Stanton) and isn’t often featured in a lot of promotional material. He definitely doesn’t have the action figure cache that Vader does. Maybe it’s because he hits a little too close to home, and maybe because he committed the single most vile and destructive act in the original trilogy, The destroyer of worlds: Grand Moff Tarkin.
The most horrific act shown in the original trilogy is not done by an old shaman who rules the galaxy or his clunky henchman who chokes his own subordinates if they look at him cross eyed–it was a plain old human.
Tarkin, played by the great Peter Cushing is presented in A New Hope as being on the same level or even above Vader, is sharp, prideful, shrewd and ruthless. He gave the order to destroy Alderaan, a peaceful planet with millions of people on it like he was ordering blue milk at a cantina, and he is all too human. Look back at other Imperial action in the Original Trilogy. They are largely military operations: (the invasion of Hoth, the battle of Endor). Even the takeover of Cloud City was relatively peaceful. Although poor Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru might have been roasted, it definitely does not compare to blowing up a planet with a giant death orb.
Think about that for a second–the most horrific act shown in the original trilogy is not done by an old shaman who rules the galaxy or his clunky henchman who chokes his own subordinates if they look at him cross eyed–it was a plain old human. He’s a guy who could be your grandfather with a bowl of Werther’s Originals on his coffee table, who just happened to give the order to kill millions.
And let’s not forget he was totally ready to do it again at Yavin!
The person that orders the most horrific act in the original trilogy is human. No special powers, no dark side mind tricks, just the sound of his voice that said “you may fire when ready.” That is what makes him so frightening: there is no one in our history that can choke people with his mind, but there are people who have ordered the death of millions by just uttering a few words and maybe sign a few papers. Stalin, Pol Pot, Goebbels, Hitler–no special powers, born with the same red blood that runs through all of us, yet responsible for acts that one can only have nightmares about. This is Tarkin’s genealogy.
Did George Lucas do this on purpose? I think so. There are so many characters in the original trilogy that we are able to relate to or even want to be; the handsome rouge, the gritty fighter pilot, the brave princess, the smooth talking gambler and the young boy yanked from obscurity to save the galaxy. Perhaps even the father that seeks redemption, or the watchful, lonely protector. But there is someone else nestled into those movies that is all too human. Someone we have seen before at various points in history. Someone we struggle to understand even though they inhabit the same world as we do. Grand Moff Tarkin, destroyer of fictional worlds, citizen of ours.
