By doing so he immediately becomes more powerful than literally almost everyone in the Empire because he, not they, commands the Death Star. If they decide to rebel against his commands (remember, with the Imperial Senate dissolved, he has been made a defacto warlord over the territory he controls, even though he follows the Emperor) he simply waltz into their system and blows their planet up. Their fleets can't harm his station because the DS has been designed around a large scale capital ship attack, as well as the starfighter pilots not having the Force to guide their torpedoes down the exhaust port (never mind that they don't know its weakness in the first place anyway).
Dude, you realize this is all wild extrapolation, possibly mixed with some EU cherry-picking right? That's precisely my point.
Who gives a shit if it is? The fact is that I could figure this all out in less than a minute using inferring from canon sources (all of the Star Wars trilogy, specifically ANH) while the motivations of the TradeFederation make little sense despite them being the focal villains AND BEING DISCUSSED BY ALL THE RATIONAL COMMENTERS HERE IN THE TOPIC. Seriously, you're a dumbfuck for not realizing this.
I don't give a shit if I have to eat crow after this. So what if I'm wrong? If the plot of TPM makes more sense to me by your superior (
) debating skills, then I have been improved from the then-dumbfuckery shared by various people on this board. And it would be about fucking time I find out about and understand TPM, cause I sure as hell don't now.
Additionally, he serves the Emperor because if he doesn't Darth Vader comes over and chokes his scrawny self to death.
"Enough of this! Vader, release him!" Come the fuck on, the ONE unique thing about Tarkin is that he's NOT afraid of Vader. Also, the Emperor is a complete non-entity in ANH. Amusingly, the introduction to the novel absolutely establishes that he's not an evil sorcerer, he's a little proxy patsy. This strongly indicates Emperor as we know him had not been invented yet.
1. Novel isn't canon. So psycho-electro evil sorcerer soulless torturer Palpatine is the guy he works for. Don't agree with that? Don't give a shit; it's canon.
2. He hadn't insulted Vader on screen. He was in charge of the station. He took advice from Vader ("You're sure the homing beacon is aboard their ship? I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work.") but otherwise was in control of the station, given he's the one who orders Alderaan's destruction. But simply saying he wasn't scared of Vader because of that ignores what happened there.
Tarkin took control of the conversation/argument between Motti and Tagge as soon as he entered the room, which indicates authority over them. Since Vader from the scenes shown isn't the one entirely running the show on the DS (and since Tarkin is the commander of the DS from all of the scenes shown), Tarkin can afford to not be entirely afraid of him since HE, not Vader, is the top dog for now. BUT, consider that Vader tends to be the henchman for the Emperor. Vader, as repeatedly demonstrated in ESB isn't afraid to execute incompetents. I doubt he'd miss Tarkin if the latter tried a coup with him onboard (notice how in the Radio Drama he only gets Motti's coup-proding AFTER Vader is outside fighting the Rebels) and if the Clone Wars cartoon series is canon, he's already been pissed off at him or something (It says that Tarkin apparently disrespected Anankin and the latter told him that he'd only respect those who show him gratitude, though I guess Tarkin might not know Vader is Anakin)
Additionally, combine this with Jerjerod pissing himself upon notice of the Emperor's impending arrival . Even if he doesn't fear Vader, he still has to keep whatever ambitions for galactic domination he has silenced because of the Emperor doing horrible things to people, and him if he acts up. Since the Empire has constructed the Death Star to terrorize the local systems into submission Tarkin plays a huge role in the Empire. Given that Motti was merely critizing Vaders use of the Dark Side (and considering that he was telling the truth anyway considering the Dark Side failed Vader) and he was choked for that, what do you think is going to happen to Tarkin if he tries to overthrow Palpatine? (Granted, he may get Vader's support for this considering Vader openly asks for his son, an open traitor to the EMpire, to join him in a coup against the Emperor. But I suspect the loyalty/fear of/to Palps is too strong right now)
Only my priorities and motivation prevent me from fanfic-ing as hard about Gunray as you are about Tarkin. How is this not obvious?
Not fanfic. With a little thought you can see some of the details about Tarkin and why he did the things he did. The details were explained in the film and didn't violate logic or decent explanation.
Here in dumbed down form, since your feeble mind is no match for the power of the Dark Side.
Tarkin command Death Star. Death Star blow up planets who join Rebels. Tarkin no give shit about lives lost. Maybe Tarkin sociopath, thus no give shit about lives lost? Sociopath real condition, it make sense. Tarkin stop at nothing to kill Rebels. Tarkin evil. Tarkin no disobey Palpatine because Palpatine evil boss, kill/punish Tarkin if he want to be Emperor. Why? Palpatine kill Vader when Vader kill Palpatine (and Vader then likely new Emperor). Also, Motti want be Emperor. (though Tarkin not know that, but maybe he expect something) Motti make "accident" kill for then Emperor Tarkin and be Emperor. Tarkin not want to be Emperor then, too dangerous.
With Gunray you aren't sure as to what he'll get out of the deal with Sidious. As others have said, how is he going to profit from blockading Naboo (and later invading it, as well as trying to kill investigators, which would be a criminal act)? I guess the idea was that he might force the Senate (which was already partly at least in its pocket) to lessen taxes on the trade routes it controlled by using Naboo as a hostage. But since Palpatine used sympathy for his planet to get Valorum replaced, Gunray couldn't get his objective completed. Corporate guys do not generally engage in long-running wars with powerful governmnets, since the Republic is now unifying against him under Sidious' commands. He likely knew Palps was Sid unless Palps was extremely good at hiding himself (maybe the Force made his mind weak, ala Mind Trick) but all he's wearing is a black robe that covers his eyes. You still hear his voice and see most of his face and you could simply as RLM said play back to the Senate and compare. Besides, what resources does Sidious possess to convince Gunray that he can get what he wants? He's one Sith with one apprentice against hundreds of Jedi.
people like Motti wishing to dispose of him
Oh I KNOW you're making that up. There's none of that at all in the briefing room scene, it's just Motti baiting Vader and trying to browbeat Tarkin into being more aggressive.
In the recent novel Death Star Motti does come off as ambitious, though not to the Starscream-like levels you imply. However, in the radio drama he's got his nose up Tarkin's asshole. Again, all EU extrapolation.
No, dumbshit. I'm not making that up. Under Motti's profile under Wookiepedia (the wiki for Star Wars that
the official Star Wars website repeatedly links to it in the character articles to the corresponding ones for further information) he is listed as plotting to overthrow Tarkin later on. However, it is said on the page that he prods Tarkin repeatedly to do a coup against Palpatine after Yavin IV is destroyed and THEN knock off Tarkin and become the new Galactic Emperor. Here's the quote which lists Death Star as its source. Part is bolded.
"The admiral had been one of the strongest supporters of the Death Star project,[8] and felt that it was him, not Tarkin, who ran the battlestation's daily operations.
He had attempted at least once to subtly convince Tarkin that whoever was in control of the Death Star held sway over the entire galaxy. Though Palpatine, ruling from Coruscant, was the Emperor, Motti was convinced that if Tarkin attempted to seize power by using the Death Star, he would be successful. Then, if something were to "accidentally" happen to Emperor Tarkin, his trusted assistant Motti would rise to power. Thus, Motti pretended to be loyal to the Grand Moff, all the while learning the ins and outs of the superweapon and gaining the loyalties of other key officers aboard the Death Star. During this time, he also commanded the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Steel Talon, which was part of the fleet guarding the Death Star above Despayre.[1]"
I'm pretty sure the book (and the info) is canon. If not, well then I learn something everyday.
I'm not the most skilled debater as you can see. I've been active, trying to understand this shit the day I first came here in 2005-06 (lurking, not signed up of course) so don't expect me to be able to counterattack your claims the best ways possibly.
Even if everything you said is true,
so what? I showed that at least the EU and implications from the film(s) gave Tarkin a understandable character and reasons for doing what he did. Gunray and his TF buddies? Eh, not so much.
Tarkin is the major villain. His motives HAVE to make sense or otherwise the audience doesn't understand what's at stake.
Gunray and the Federation were the villains of TPM and their motivations weren't well explained. That made a big difference between the easy to understand epic ANH and the confused, muddled SFX showcase that is TPM.