Q & As About 'Star Wars': 'During Vader's confrontation with Admiral Motti, why doesn't the Dark Lord choke Governor Tarkin when he intervenes?'

 'During Vader's confrontation with Admiral Motti, why doesn't the Dark Lord choke Governor Tarkin when he intervenes?'

Because, as powerful and menacing as Darth Vader is, he can’t Force-choke anyone who is equal in stature, or even above Vader’s standing in Imperial hierarchy, even if he is tempted to. It’s just not something one does in a chain of command, and especially not in the ruling circles of the Galactic Empire.

Understand. In Star Wars, aka Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Vader is not the big bad villain representing the Empire. That role belongs to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, Governor of the Imperial Outland Territories, author of the Tarkin Doctrine, and commander of the Empire’s new Death Star battle station. He is also a confidante and friend to Sheev Palpatine, aka His Imperial Highness, Emperor Palpatine.

© 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corp. 

In Episode IV; A New Hope, in which the “I find your lack of faith disturbing” altercation between Vader and Admiral Conan Antonio Motti occurs, Darth Vader is a lackey, the Emperor’s errand boy/enforcer on temporary duty to assist Tarkin during the Death Star’s first operational deployment.

Put simply, Tarkin is Vader’s superior officer for the duration of this assignment.

Which means that, like it or not, Vader has to accept Tarkin’s orders until the Emperor calls him back to Coruscant or sends him off to hunt Rebels or pesky Jedi survivors.

Motti is not Vader’s superior. Motti dared insult the Dark Lord. Thus, Tarkin doesn’t respond immediately to Vader’s use of the Force. At the same time, though, Tarkin realizes that Starfleet Admirals don’t grow on trees, so he intervenes when it looks like Motti is in dire straits as a result of Vader’s Force-choke.

Tarkin is Vader’s temporary overlord. The Dark Lord here has an ambiguous role that may be similar to the Soviet military’s zampolit, or political officer. In the Cold War, zampolits were officers who underwent military training but were more loyal to the Communist Party than to the branch in which they served. Political officers were tasked with making sure everyone was indoctrinated property with Communist idealism. They also reported on officers and enlisted personnel whose loyalty was under question and had the authority to countermand a unit commander’s orders if he found them ideologically suspect.

In A New Hope, Vader is powerful enough to command his own troops and elite fighter unit, and he is in charge of the search for the missing Death Star plans. He can also give advice to Tarkin, as he does when he suggests placing a homing beacon on the Millennium Falcon and letting our heroes “escape” in order to find the Rebel base on Yavin 4. But he can’t command Tarkin. Not without just cause, and being reprimanded by the good Governor is not “just cause.”