#tarkin lives

[echos-gal]

Listen. We never heard Tech laugh. We never saw him with his goggles off. And he's the only brother who did not hug Omega.

Three perfectly good reasons for Lucasfilm to bring him back. These need to be addressed immediately.

[heyclickadee]

Okay but for all we know Saw and his buddies picked Tech up (alive) on Eriadu.

[mario-art]

so in "star war: galaxy of heroes" the recommended extended party for vader includes thrawn and, surprisingly (for me at least), wampa. and my first thought was this scenario

[cross-my-heartt]

Even

(It's been less than a day and I'm already writing alternate endings. This is part of the Make Antagonists Smart Again 2024 campaign that I just made up. I've also sprinkled a bit of technocrat book!Tarkin in there because I couldn't help myself. I really wanted these two to interact again.

Don't worry, the batch is still safe in this one.)

Following the Kaminoan down the darkened halls of the base had been easy work. Making sure he remained unseen even more so. The structure was still disturbed by the occasional tremors from fighting going on in other corners of the base but Rampart considered that fortunate. Distractions suited him well.

For how far they’d come, the clones were shockingly negligent of their prisoners and he preferred not to give them a chance to realize that. They could focus on their mission. He had his own.

He let the scientist poke around for a while until he got into position and aimed the blaster between her shoulder blades, at the nearly nonexistent spine. Her body was surprisingly quiet as it hit the ground. Though he supposed he should have known their species would weigh next to nothing.

The grenade she’d pilfered from one of the dead guards served its purpose perfectly and he made sure it landed next to her body as he tossed it into the vault. In the end it would all go up in flames as she intended.

All except the newly-acquired datapad in his hands.

Making sure all the evidence in the lab had turned to charcoal, he nodded to himself and slipped away in search of a safe place where he could lay low, glad that it was all over. This was dirty work. Soldiers’ work.

A few times, crouched down in his hiding spot, he thought the base would topple down over their heads but he waited it out, knowing this was his best bet at surviving. And it was all worth it in the end, an hour or so after sunrise, when he was discovered and marched to one of the last remaining intact hangar bays by a pair of troopers and found none other than Tarkin there.

Unruffled and poised, if slightly surprised to see him there.

Tarkin, who’d advocated for his project from the very beginning. Who’d seen promise in him and left him in charge of War-Mantle and the operations related to Kamino’s decommissioning. A man who he’d been communicating with extensively even before his promotion and Rampart knew for a fact viewed him somewhat favorably.

Indeed, this may well still end well for him. ______

“And you were content to cooperate with these insurgents?”

The sharp wrinkles at the corners of Tarkin’s mouth contracted and Rampart nearly flinched.

They were strolling along the outer edge of the rounded hangar bay, bathed in Weyland’s sun and the various sounds from the jungle. A jarring contrast to the troops sifting through scrap and analyzing the scorched wreckage that was left of the base behind them. Rampart almost found it worthy of a twisted kind of awe.

He felt more in control now, after Tarkin had immediately ordered his men to let him go and even more so after seeing the Governor’s mood improve upon being presented with his gift.

Still, there was more work to be done if he wanted to escape from this unscathed.

“I was kidnapped. Forcefully.” He hurried to clarify. “I realized my actions could harm the Empire but… at some point I wondered if it couldn’t benefit from them instead.”

The glowing, working screen in Tarkin’s hands spurred him on.

“I know these clones well, Governor,” he said lowly, keeping his tone casual. “They had more than one way in. They are persistent. So I decided that keeping a close eye on their operation and undermining it from within would be the wiser decision. I turned myself in as soon as we made contact with friendly forces.”

Tarkin nodded along.

“But Hemlock refused to work with you.”

“He preferred to lock me up and take matters into his own hands.”

A scoff as Tarkin looked out to the jungle below. “An arrogant man to the last,” he sneered.

And thankfully dead now, Rampart added mentally as he shook his head with feigned regret. He didn’t need any witnesses twisting his already twisted narrative.

This was going well for him. He could feel that deep down Tarkin harbored a lingering dislike for Hemlock and whatever project he was spearheading. A dissatisfaction perhaps that the resources directed towards it weren’t allotted to Tarkin instead and that he wasn’t getting his due recognition.

It was common enough in the Empire, everyone was vying for the Emperor’s good graces… and the privileges that came with it.

Which is why Rampart had a feeling Tarkin would be more than happy to turn a blind eye to his temporary misstep considering how it had all yielded such fortunate results for him. He could already see the cogs in the Moff’s mind turning, lining pieces together and rewriting events to make for the perfect story when he wrote his report to the Emperor. A narrative that suited Tarkin’s needs.

What a brilliant man.

“And the girl, Vice-Admiral?” Trakin said suddenly, snapping Rampart out of his thoughts.

“The girl?” Rampart floundered, momentarily stumped.

Tarkin scowled and turned his eagle-eyed stare toward the datapad in his hand.

“According to this data there is a clone out there, vital for the further development of this project. Do you know anything of their fate?” Those sharp eyes found Rampart again.

For a brief moment, there was an uncomfortable twisting sensation in Rampart’s gut and he swept it aside in favor of focusing.

“She was with Clone Force 99,” he paused to swallow heavily. “One of the reasons they infiltrated the base. But I’m afraid they all perished in the attack. I saw it with my own eyes.”

The knot at the base of his stomach jumped and began wriggling and Rampart forced it down viciously.

“Perished you say,” Tarkin seemed to ruminate on that for a moment, a thoughtful crease cleaving his brow in two. Before it was all dismissed with his usual unceremonious briskness.

“Unfortunate but not fatal.” He waved a hand, his mind seemingly made up. “The Emperor will find another subject if he deems it necessary.”

“Clones are hardly unique,” he added with a wry condescending smile that Rampart found himself empathizing with.

Finally, someone who spoke the same language.

“Indeed.” Rampart nodded.

It was better this way, he told himself. Clone Force 99 were an unpredictable bunch and if they found themselves being hunted again… No, Rampart knew personally how much of a troublesome element they were. Better be rid of them permanently. Tarkin seemed more than happy to put the final nail in the coffin of Hemlock’s legacy and a happy Tarkin only meant good things for Rampart going forward.

The Emepror would be consoled by the scraps Ramaprt had managed to salvage, Tarkin would get the funding and flowers he was clamoring for, the vaunted position of being Palpatine’s top priority, and Rampart would be restored to his former position, rightfully so.

Of course it all hinged on Clone Force staying out of sight and out of mind but they were all better off this way. They were even-

“If you don’t mind my asking, Governor,” He regained his composure. “you don’t seem to have much faith in Doctor Hemlock’s work.”

His confidence grew as Tarkin’s smile returned, more congenial this time.

“I very much believe in technological progress being the way forward for our new Empire,” Trakin said, “but I have a different kind of technology in mind.”

He turned his datapad off with a flick of the wrist and handed it to one of the troopers escorting them.

“Cloning and ‘genetic experiments’ are a thing of the past. The Empire needs to invest in security if it wants to ensure its future and clones are not the means to achieving that.”

Rampart pushed his chest out. “I believe we were in agreement on that from the start.”

“That we were. And I hope we still are. Project War-Mantle has been missing the guiding hand of its creator. I’m sure the ISB will be happy to assist you in finding your way back to it.”

Rampart’s elation soared and he had to fight to keep himself in control for the sake of his dignity.

“There is nothing I would like more, Governor, I assure you...”

[afabulousjello]

I know it in my heart of hearts, soul of souls, that if Tarkin ever found out that his decrepit Emperor was a crazy magic ligthning wielding Sith, he would have been so disappointed

[joe-spookyy]

Also. We all know I’m obsessed with the toxic vampire yaoi. But who are YOUR all time fave toxic yaoi fuckers?? I have my suspicions (reanigaytor) but i need to know who you’d pick if you had to pick one toxic gay couple forever

WRONG! my favorite toxic yaoi is grand moff tarkin and stormtrooper TK-421. they had a torrid love affair during the film star wars: a new hope and it’s genuinely canon even though there is not even a hint of it onscreen. which i think is beautiful.

on a serious note yeah you’re probably right dan and herbert are hard to beat. runner ups batman and joker and luke and jon from the living end. which you should watch.

and my favorite toxic yuri is faith lehane and buffy summers they changed my life. btw.

[machetespaghetti]

Jova Tarkin found Tech alive and he's teaching him about camping. It's canon because I said so.

[grandmofftarkinsuggestions]

don't know what my thoughts on it exactly are but i realized that there is definitely a tarkin lives and (possibly) gets redeemed alongside vader during rotj au.

[thrawns-backrest]

@random-user753 lmaoooo

Krennic just knows Palpy's sophisticated tastes, what can you do

too bad he booooom and tarkin took all the credit :v

[newjenns]

imperial theme what are the chances of anakogie

[jedi-enthusiast]

Could you debunk the "jedi are slavers/have slave" argument people always seem to bring up in correlation with leading the clones? Thanks in advance ! <3

Of course!!!

Firstly, while the Kaminoans say that the clones were made for the Jedi, they are actually property of the Republic---which means that, since I would agree that they're slaves even if that wasn't GL's intent, the Republic would be considered the slavers, not the Jedi.

"Oh, but Jedi-Enthusiast, the Jedi are still slavers because they're forcing them into battle-" NOPE!

The thing is, even if the Jedi could refuse to fight in the war---which is a very complicated thing, both morally and politically---the Republic would still be sending the clones to fight the Separatists, only this time without the Jedi. And, as we've seen multiple times in TCW, more clones tend to die on missions without the Jedi's help---and that the Jedi are often shown saving their men from situations where they would otherwise die or be injured.

And, as much as I enjoy the trope of "the Jedi have limited experience actually running a war, so they struggle a bit and ask for help so the Jedi and clones get closer" because of the angst and fluff potential, in canon the Jedi are shown to be very good tacticians and they're rarely shown to struggle leading their men.

All of this to say that the Jedi leading the clones actually saves more lives, and that the Jedi not leading them would mean a lot more of them die...and idk about y'all, but I don't think- "more clones should die so the Jedi stay morally pure" -is the gotcha anti-Jedi morons think it is.

Not to mention that, if the Jedi didn't lead them, the job would go to people like Tarkin---y'know the man who criticized the Jedi for not being ruthless enough and caring for their men.

Are the Jedi put in a difficult position by leading the clones? Yes.

Is fighting in the war a morally grey decision? Yes.

But are the Jedi slavers or terrible in any way for doing what they did? Absolutely fucking not.

[rochenn]

man whenever palpatine gets killed off during the clone wars in a fic and fucking. padmé or bail become chancellor right after him. i understand this in a "i want a happy ending for everyone" kind of sense but this solution seems so out of touch sometimes. as if you wouldn't have mas fucking amedda as an interim chancellor first and as if the next election wouldn't either solidify him or result in the ascension of someone like tarkin.

"but palpatine was outed as a sith" ok. how do you even prove that to the public, to the feared Average Voter, the dreaded Moderate, without sounding like a conspiracy lunatic? like the sith as a whole are even less known about than the jedi and they might as well just be the same thing (about 10 thousand jedi exist in the galaxy. coruscant alone has a population of 2 trillion. "minority" doesn't even begin to describe the position of the jedi here)

even if palpatine fucking dies it's too late for the republic because his old lackeys and corpo friends are in ALL the positions of power and could so, so easily pin this situation on the jedi one way or another. also dooku's training weights are essentially off now that the guy who could have killed him via zoom is gone. ppl need to realize that everything was already SO over before the clone wars even started, no matter if palps lives or dies

[mis-mcgifsten]

The genocide of the Jedi is also the genocide of the troopers. And I imagine their poor screaming souls trapped under the influence of the chip probably gives some sort of sithly misery boost to old Skeevy Sheevie. The dark side literally feeds on misery and suffering and them being a kind of cocktail of grief and hurt he's sipping on at his convenience fits with his general sith lord shittery really. He chose to have the droids be on the CIS side and the organics on the Republic side for a reason. And being as he is a sith those reasons will be nasty and profitable for him. He's a consummate politician and has multiple reasons for just about everything he does.

The fact that tcw emphasizes that what matters to the clones generally is their loyalty and their individuality and their budding agency to decide who or what is worth fighting for, them being humans not programmed like battle droids, and the relationship they build with the jedi that begins with the jedi telling them they each feel unique in the force, and the personal relationships they develop there, and then, and then, the way all of that specifically culminates in their ability to chose and their individuality being wiped clean away so they can carry out a betrayal

[david-talks-sw]

hey david! Do you have any George quotes regarding the final Vader vs Obi wan fight? Like did obi wan deliberately throw that fight and let vader kill him or did vader win the duel and obi wan did the Force ghost thing as a last resort?

Here's the quotes I could find that are relevant to the subject:

"A particular case is the confrontation between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. You know there's something, some relationship they have to each other, 'cause they talk about meeting again ‘and now I'm going to get you’ and all this kind of stuff."

"So there's some kind of old battle going on that we don't know anything about that works amazingly well considering that all it is, is ultimately this one scene between him and Tarkin where he says, “He's here. He's come for me. And it's our destinies to meet up again. And I'm gonna handle this myself. I have to."

"This confrontation with Obi-Wan and Vader— it works just as a confrontation between the good guy and the bad guy. I mean, he’s— Obi-Wan's, at this point, the strongest good guy. He’s the one that has the most knowledge— the father figure that has taken on Luke. Then you have the bad father figure who is the evil father."

"And the subtext of this, which is that this is the culmination of a larger issue… has never really played, I think, for people. It's really just the confrontation between bad and good. Then the surprise at the end of this, is that: Vader doesn't kill him… but that he's able to join the Force, and by being one with the Force, influence things in a more powerful way than he can just being a Jedi." - A New Hope, Commentary Track, Special Edition DVD, 2004

"When he loses Ben, [Luke] freaks out. He’s depressed and all the things that you would be. But Ben has put that idea in him that things happen naturally and there’s also this other thing that’s never explained, which is that he allowed himself to be killed. He didn’t really die. He disappeared. There’s more to this than just a death. Later on in the movie, Luke hears Ben say, “Use the Force!” It mitigates that loss a little bit, because he knows Ben’s somewhere and that something’s going on." - The Star Wars Archives: 1977-1983, 2018

So there you have it.

In a destined confrontation between good and evil, good triumphs not by defeating evil but by ascending and growing beyond it.

So it feels to me that it's a "when in Rome" kind of decision on Obi-Wan's part, wherein he realizes he won't win this fight, and so he decides to make his end meaningful, so that he can show Luke that death is not the end of the journey... he's joining the Force.

Now, if we're talking power-scaling...

... you could argue that Ben might have put up more of a fight, had it been necessary.

George acknowledges that Ben's an old man when explaining the more dynamic fights in the Prequels... but back in the early days, he ranked him as more powerful than Vader/equal to the Emperor.

"Maybe we should set up some kind of levels of achievement. Ben can say that Luke is now a level 2 and Vader is a 4; ‘‘I was a 6 and the Emperor is a 6, and he’s on his way to becoming a 10, which will be a force so powerful in the universe that nothing can stop him. You must stop the Emperor before he achieves the level 10.’’" - Story converence, 1977, as transcribed in The Making of The Empire Strikes Back, 2010

"[Vader] ended up losing his arms and a leg and became partly a robot. So a lot of his ability to use the Force, a lot of his powers, are curbed at this point, because, as a living form, there’s not that much of him left. So his ability to be twice as good as the Emperor disappeared, and now he’s maybe 20 percent less than the Emperor. So that isn’t what the Emperor had in mind." - Vanity Fair, 2005

Now, the first one is an old quote from the development of Empire Strikes Back, when the story was very different; it's take it or leave it, if you ask me. Power-scaling is invented to justify storytelling, so if the story changes, it's not guaranteed the power-scale remains.

But if you're going by "everything Lucas said is canon!" rules then you could make the argument that, in terms of power...

If Ben = Emperor and Emperor > Vader then Ben > Vader.

And thus can argue that Ben might've beaten Vader if this confrontation was/turned into more of a Force-based contest than a physical one.

[grandmofftarkinsuggestions]

TARKIN UNFINISHED MEMOIRS MOMENT.

it would literally be the perfect framing device for some tarkin related book/series/story in general. or as the framing device in an adaptation of the tarkin novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you just know wilhuff 'self denial' tarkin would be one hell of an unreliable narrator!!!!!!!! the juxtaposition between what we see and what he says about himself..... piecing it together with news articles, holovids, interviews etc. to fill in some of the blanks, but they still don't totally match up..... the possibilities!!!!! it also draws to mind the mouse droid's erased memory in 'of mse-6 and men' :).

[masterjedilenawrites]

List of books below, taken from the Star Wars wiki. Only included: Original Novels, Novel Adaptations, Script Books, and Young Adult Novels. Please no comments about books that are missing from the list... it is what it is.

The High Republic: Convergence - Zoraida Cordova

The High Republic: Path of Deceit - Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland

The High Republic: The Battle of Jedha - George Mann

The High Republic: Path of Vengeance - Cavan Scott

The High Republic: Cataclysm - Lydia Kang

The High Republic: Into the Dark - Claudia Gray

The High Republic: Light of the Jedi - Charles Soule

The High Republic: The Rising Storm - Cavan Scott

The High Republic: Out of the Shadows - Justina Ireland

The High Republic: Tempest Runner - Cavan Scott

The High Republic: Midnight Horizon - Daniel Jose Older

The High Republic: The Fallen Star - Claudia Gray

The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness - George Mann

The High Republic: Defy the Storm - Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland

The Vow of Silver Dawn - His Majesty the King

Dooku: Jedi Lost - Cavan Scott

Padawan - Kiersten White

Master & Apprentice - Claudia Gray

The Living Force - John Jackson Miller

Queen's Peril - E.K. Johnston

Queen's Shadow - E.K. Johnston

Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade - Delilah S. Dawson

Queen's Hope - E.K. Johnston

Brotherhood - Mike Chen

Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel - James Luceno

Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising - Timothy Zahn

Dark Disciple - Christie Golden

Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good - Timothy Zahn

Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil - Timothy Zahn

Ahsoka - E.K. Johnston

Thrawn - Timothy Zahn

Lords of the Sith - Paul S. Kemp

Tarkin - James Luceno

Most Wanted - Rae Carson

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition - Mur Lafferty

Rebel Rising - Beth Revis

Crimson Climb - E.K. Johnston

A New Dawn - John Jackson Miller

Jedi: Battle Scars - Sam Maggs

Lost Stars - Claudia Gray

Leia, Princess of Alderaan - Claudia Gray

Thrawn: Alliances - Timothy Zahn

Thrawn: Treason - Timothy Zahn

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Alexander Freed

Battlefront II: Inferno Squad - Christie Golden

Heir to the Jedi - Kevin Hearne

Doctor Aphra - Sarah Kuhn

Battlefront: Twilight Company - Alexander Freed

The Princess and the Scoundrel - Beth Revis

Alphabet Squadron - Alexander Freed

Aftermath - Chuck Wendig

Shadow Fall - Alexander Freed

Aftermath: Life Debt - Chuck Wendig

Victory's Price - Alexander Freed

Aftermath: Empire's End - Chuck Wendig

Last Shot - Daniel Jose Older

Poe Dameron: Free Fall - Alex Segura

Shadow of the Sith - Adam Christopher

Bloodline - Claudia Gray

Force Collector - Kevin Scinick

Phasma - Delilah S. Dawson

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Alan Dean Foster

Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire - Delilah S. Dawson

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition - Jason Fry

Resistance Reborn - Rebecca Roanhorse

A Crash of Fate - Zoraida Cordova

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition - Rae Carson