The Greatest Relationship Star Wars Doesn’t Quite Know It’s Writing

35 min readDec 30, 2019

This essay was co-written with Darcy K.

In the whole story of Darth Vader, filled with tragedy as it is, there is only one person who knew him as both Anakin and Vader — and liked him the same under either identity. Wilhuff Tarkin is the sole individual in the current Star Wars canon who can boast to be both Anakin and Vader’s friend. With a friendship spanning (though briefly interrupted) ~20 years, Tarkin’s positive impact on Vader’s life vastly outlasts even the ~12 years of companionship with Obi-Wan Kenobi, to whom Tarkin is rather tellingly often contrasted.

Whatever else Disney’s decanonization of the old Extended Universe might have done, it created a powerful ally and friend for Vader. This essay seeks to shed light on a dynamic that is seldom discussed despite arguably shaping Vader’s life more deeply than most others.

As should be evident, the only canon being discussed here is Disney-era canon, with the exception of some brief examination of themes in the official (though now technically decanonized) novelization of Revenge of the Sith later on, which for several reasons — the greatest of which being that George Lucas personally edited this novelization and presumably therefore deemed it to match his vision of the movie — has a degree of relevance to the Disney-era canon that other Legends material lacks. The only piece of Disney-era canon that will be exempted is the comic Darth Vader Annual 02 by Chuck Wendig, given that it contradicts most other Disney canon — most damningly the novel Catalyst which its events are literally based on.

Further, this essay takes a Watsonian perspective on the events in different media. Rather than trying to examine how different authors might have influenced each other’s takes on the characters, we’ll mainly discuss the story as one coherent narrative. Developments between media by different writers are taken as one consistent storyline, despite minimal discrepancies.

Lastly, you can make the point that canon — be it intentional or not — rather strongly implies that Tarkin is attracted to Vader on a sexual/romantic level. We won’t ignore this here — while we recognize that gay subtext is a contentious arena to enter with media analysis, all claims made are based directly on canon media and sourced in the footnotes. Primarily, our intent is to analyze canon as is, not to present a slash shipping manifesto. If you walk out of this considering the validity of a Vader/Tarkin romance that is just a pleasant side effect of the effort.

Structurally, this elaboration will be split in two parts: Relationship Development and Relationship Aspects. We’ll begin with a run-down of Tarkin’s and Anakin/Vader’s canonical history together and then delve more deeply into the elements that make their friendship so special. As it’s going to get lengthy, there’s sub-headers for your reading convenience.

Relationship Evolution

In order to not completely exhaust readers that are already familiar with the extended Disney canon, summary of the canon events will be kept comparatively brief.

The Clone Wars

The first meeting of what was to become an iconic duo occurs during the years of the Clone Wars. Anakin, still a Jedi, is sent on a rescue mission for Jedi Master Even Piell and his Captain, a young Tarkin, who hold valuable war intel. The rescue proves difficult as Piell and Tarkin are being held at the Citadel, designed to be inescapable.

Noteworthy about this is how fast Tarkin takes to Anakin. Within their very first moments together, Anakin and Tarkin get into an argument as Tarkin questions Anakin’s methods and is swiftly shut down by the young Jedi in turn. “I reserve my trust for those who take action, General Skywalker,” Tarkin proclaims, though his lips quirk into an intrigued smirk as Anakin turns his back.¹ Tellingly, it takes Anakin exactly one episode to earn this precious trust — a privilege Tarkin verbally confirms but denies any other member of the rescue team.²

The sympathy turns out to be mutual. In Tarkin, Anakin finds a kindred spirit who shares his opinions on the Jedi order and is not afraid to voice them. Tarkin is outspoken about how inefficient and restrictive he finds the Jedi Code in war context and Anakin is visibly startled to hear his private thoughts echoed by somebody else.³ Kinship is formed, evidenced by the fact that in a mere three-episode arc, Anakin winds up defending Tarkin to his own friends three separate times.

When Ahsoka voices disbelief at Tarkin’s admiration for the prison’s design, Anakin takes Tarkin’s side.⁴ When Ahsoka and Obi-Wan tag-team to criticize Tarkin’s stance on the Jedi Order, Anakin defends him — and as it seems like he may be losing the discussion, he cuts it short with a curt “Either way, he is a good captain.”⁵ And finally, the arc ends (after a firm handshake between Anakin and Tarkin, set over a bar of the Imperial March) on Anakin’s steadfast endorsement of Tarkin and his views, despite Obi-Wan openly voicing his suspicion toward Tarkin and his role in the war.⁶

This is especially important, because Anakin’s approval of Tarkin isn’t a one-off event. He starts and maintains a friendship with him, even despite his Master’s explicit disapproval. Two seasons later, we see Tarkin and Anakin are still quite familiar. Noteworthily, this occurs right after the funeral of Jedi who lost their lives in a terrorist bombing. After this especially somber event, Anakin and Tarkin have apparently sought each other out one way or another. While we do not see what they may have been talking about initially, the conversation only shifts to the bombing itself (the professional reason Tarkin would have for even being there) when Ahsoka brings it up. The trend of Anakin defensively protecting Tarkin from his friends’ scrutiny continues in that segment.⁷ Two seasons’ worth of what was presumably Obi-Wan and Ahsoka heavily judging Anakin for maintaining contact with Tarkin have done nothing to sway his positive opinion, and he steps in to agree with Tarkin’s stance on the Jedi’s role in the bombing case immediately. Anakin still seems firmly on Tarkin’s side despite the hostility between him and Ahsoka as the scene ends; Anakin leaves with Tarkin with a weary remark about how “in ways, she’s still very young,” which Tarkin concurs with. They’re friendly enough with one another that Anakin feels comfortable discussing his difficulties with his Padawan very casually, and Tarkin takes this in stride.

The one thing that can change that is the very event that follows: Tarkin acts as prosecutor in the trial of Ahsoka Tano, falsely accused of terrorism. What was a promising friendship is cut short as Anakin finally picks his loyalties, with his initial agreement with Tarkin’s views on the Jedi’s role in military matters easily overtaken by his personal anger when Tarkin’s management of the case interferes with Anakin’s attempts to help defend his Padawan. The residual bitterness from this incident is only resolved five years later in the novel Tarkin, set after Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side. Palpatine clearly notes this as a lingering source of friction between them in the novel when musing on the relationship between them, something that he was making an effort to encourage throughout the war and beyond.⁸

The important takeaway is that Tarkin and Anakin genuinely get along as people. Before they are brought together under the Emperor to work together as his two most important men, they already show a genuine appreciation for one another despite Tarkin’s disapproval of the Jedi as a whole — and the Jedi closest to Anakin’s disapproval of Tarkin. While it was the war (and Palpatine’s admitted influence) that brought them into one another’s spheres, their rapport prior to the end of the war is still borne from trust and respect, not necessity.

Early Days of the Empire

One advantage(?) of being presumed dead and assuming a new identity is that you get to make new first impressions on people you have already met. The first impression Vader makes on Tarkin compared to the one as Anakin is… certainly more chaotic. Their very first meeting includes Vader bursting in on a conversation between Palpatine and Tarkin, robotic limbs exposed, making Tarkin fear for Palpatine’s safety.⁹ Understandably so, given this is before Palpatine officially introduces Vader to his top brass. That introduction is also interesting in and of itself:

Vader is placed above the top imperials both by words and actions. Palpatine not only names Vader as his second in command, he also allows Vader to exemplarily kill five of his officers.¹⁰ The only one who manages to watch this stone-faced and without fear is none other than Tarkin — the only person Vader will ever willingly take orders from in the future, but that’s a little ahead.

After this, Tarkin and Vader form a terse cooperation by necessity, demonstrated during the siege of Mon Cala later in the same comic.¹¹ At this point, Vader still begrudges Tarkin for what happened with Ahsoka (this is made explicit by Luceno in the Tarkin novel) and Tarkin has no reason to really trust Vader after what has been two rather dubious displays. At this point, Vader still clearly views himself as Tarkin’s superior. When the Moff makes a request of him, he rejects it firmly, and only concedes when Tarkin clarifies that he’d see it as a personal favor and he would be owing Vader one in return.¹²

Then Tarkin by James Luceno comes in, settling the authority question once and for all… by not settling it. In the novel, Palpatine sends Vader and Tarkin on a mission together to let them work out the order of command by themselves.¹³ This results in the dynamic we still see in A New Hope — Vader does not have to listen to Tarkin but chooses to do so.

Vader’s lingering resentment of Tarkin is resolved in this novel, they reach a new understanding. It is also established that Tarkin has begun strongly suspecting Vader’s identity.¹⁴ Twice, he references dialogues from the Clone Wars to Vader and twice, Vader lets the obvious probing slide.¹⁵ The second time, he even paraphrases Anakin’s own words to Vader.¹⁶ Yet Vader lets him live, fully aware that Tarkin has seen through his armor and disguise. More aspects of the novel will be discussed later, here it suffices to say that they form a very effective team from this point on, with no animosity left between them.

Which leads to a relationship climate in which Vader feels comfortable cashing in on the favor Tarkin has owed him since Mon Cala. And what a favor it is.

“I have my theories as to why he wanted this. Vader is Palpatine’s hunter. But I’ve read reports from the inquisitorius. Vader and his monsters have done their job well. Few Jedi remain, if any. Which leaves a killer with no one to kill. Or, more particularly, no one worth killing. I could be wrong about all of this. He has told me nothing, and I suspect he never will. All I have is the request itself. He wanted to know that he could still be challenged. Could still, possibly, be beaten, even in a galaxy devoid of Jedi. He chose me to prove this to him. It’s actually somewhat flattering.” — Wilhuff Tarkin¹⁷

Though Tarkin isn’t certain about Vader’s reasoning for the request, the comic suggests that his guess isn’t far off. Earlier in the same run, empath force user Ninth Sister describes Vader as ‘dying to fight, dying to die’ — confirming those same emotions Tarkin suspects in him.¹⁸ Vader chooses Tarkin to give him a reason to live — and should Tarkin succeed in killing him, Vader chooses Tarkin to end him. There is an immense amount of respect wrapped up in this consensual murder attempt.

The comic issue doesn’t quite make the timeline of this event clear, but it is most reasonable to place it after the events of Luceno’s novel. First, because Vader’s respect for Tarkin has jumped up in a way that isn’t justified within solely the comic run and second, because Tarkin references that Vader ‘somehow learned’ of his past as a hunter on Eriadu.¹⁹ This is a little odd, given that Tarkin personally tells Vader about his past within the novel — and the novel is clearly being referred to here, being the only medium to have brought up hunter Tarkin prior to the publishing of this comic. As a theory, we propose that Tarkin’s narration in this comic issue is taken from his canonical memoir, which he is mentioned to be writing by Luceno. If he was writing for the eyes of a third party, it would make sense that he’d be vague on the personal details. This is, of course, just an unconfirmed theory.

The contest between Tarkin and Vader ends as a close call. Tarkin seems to have won momentarily, but Vader still manages to force choke him. It results in the following monologue:

“As I fall to my knees again, this time not as part of a ruse, but because his icy, invisible hands on my neck have stolen my strength…. I realize we are both to learn lessons this day. Vader releases me, and I consider the power, the will of this man. His strength is… immense. Incalculable. And every ounce of it, every drop, is in service to the Empire, and the grand ambitions of its ruler — his master and my own, Palpatine. I drag in a ragged breath and all I can think is how lucky we are.” — Wilhuff Tarkin²⁰

Tarkin, as well, respects Vader’s strength beyond his sense of self preservation. He feels no ill will at being bested; he is merely impressed. And this is what really defines Tarkin and Vader in the time leading up to A New Hope: their boundless mutual respect for one another.

Star Wars Rebels, set chronologically after all this, further cements them as a team. When it comes to assassinating Minister Tua, Vader and Tarkin cooperate. This even includes Vader acting as Tarkin’s mere messenger.²¹ He does not take issue with Tarkin being seen as his partner or even superior at this point, which is consistent with his portrayal in A New Hope, which is the next thing we shall discuss.

A New Hope

The movie gets its own category because it is the original medium Tarkin and Vader appear in and the one that sets the baseline for every interpretation of their dynamic. Here, Vader is introduced as being Tarkin’s henchman. Leia iconically remarks she “should have expected to find [Tarkin] holding Vader’s leash.”²² This means that it is known across space that Vader defers to Tarkin — and Vader does nothing against this assumption, despite the fact that he isn’t actually outranked by Tarkin. This is also picked up in From A Certain Point Of View, which describes the events of ANH from various perspectives. In it imperials internally refer to Vader as “Tarkin’s pet” or “Tarkin’s advisor — his enforcer”.²³ ²⁴ Tarkin and Vader are thought of as a unit among imperials and rebels alike — the direct result of their many successful co-operations.

But Vader and Tarkin are also remarkable on a personal level. Though it is only because the story hadn’t been finalized at the time A New Hope was scripted, it is now still canon that Vader refers to Obi-Wan as “my old master”²⁵ when around Tarkin. This makes Tarkin the only person whom Vader is comfortable enough with to speak of Anakin in the first person perspective. In contrast, he doesn’t even feel fine with being referred to as Anakin by Darth Sidious himself.²⁶

At some point between the Tarkin novel and the movie, Vader must have accepted that Tarkin knows of his past and given up putting an air of distance between himself and Anakin. That’s a huge step for their relationship. Put into this context, there isn’t anything facetious about it when Tarkin refers to Vader as “my friend”.²⁷

Relationship Key Points

Now that we’ve established the rough framework of their relationship, it’s time to get to the meat of things. What narrative space does their dynamic occupy? What are the aspects that make these characters click so well in Disney’s new canon? Let’s find out!

Parallel Setting

The first step to establishing our claim that Vader’s and Tarkin’s relationship is special is naturally to compare and contrast it with other relationships within the canon. There are obviously parallels being drawn between Tarkin/Vader scenes and their respective dynamics with other characters.

Tarkin and Obi-Wan

This is especially blatant in the case of Tarkin and Obi-Wan, who get treated as mirror influences on Anakin over a variety of different media. We don’t need to go through any great efforts to point out that Obi-Wan is one of the people, if not the person who shaped Anakin into who he is during the Clone Wars. They’re master and student, but more than that, they are friends. They’re a duo, their names belong together in the public consciousness of the pre-Empire era just as much as Vader and Tarkin belong together during the days of the Empire.

Luceno’s novel parallels Tarkin with Obi-Wan on both benign and deeply topical levels. He depicts Vader and Tarkin as flight partners who effortlessly work together.²⁸ ²⁹ He references the “spring the trap” dialogue between Obi-Wan and Anakin during Revenge of the Sith by having Vader go “Now, Governor, we get to spring the trap.”³⁰

And while that’s fun call-backs, Luceno also digs far far deeper.

Everyone should remember Obi-Wan’s iconic description of Vader as “more machine now than man; twisted and evil”.³¹ The person who was once closest to Anakin has completely given up on him, denounced his very humanity. Obi-Wan splits Anakin and Vader apart to the point where he treats the latter as the killer of the former — he refuses to see them as one continuous individual.

Tarkin challenges this perspective on multiple counts.

Nothing about Vader seemed natural — not his towering height, his deep voice, his antiquated diction — yet despite those qualities and the mask and respirator, Tarkin believed him to be more man than machine.³²

Luceno’s Tarkin directly subverts one of the most iconic and defining lines Obi-Wan has to offer in the Original Trilogy. This kind of thing doesn’t happen on accident. Between this and the moral push-and-pull of Tarkin and Obi-Wan during The Clone Wars episodes described above, it’s hard to deny that at least some writers in the official canon want us to view Tarkin and Obi-Wan as foils in Anakin/Vader’s life.

The contrast in how Tarkin and Obi-Wan view Vader becomes even more relevant when you remind yourself that they both belong to a very small group of people who know that Anakin and Vader are one and the same. Both of them are not judging only Vader as Vader but also Anakin as the entity he has become.

As extra icing on the cake, the first time Tarkin ever sees Vader as Vader, it’s when Vader’s suit is torn — revealing his prosthetic robot limbs in plain sight.³³ Tarkin knows Vader as being made up of machine parts and he knows far better than Obi-Wan what Vader is capable of in battle and how inhuman his style of life might seem now. Yet it is Tarkin who sees Vader as a human being and Obi-Wan who views him as a monster.

This makes Tarkin the only person in the Star Wars universe to have ever liked both Anakin and Vader. And more than that, he views them in a continuity. He does not see them as two separate people whom he likes independently from one another. Instead, he recognizes Anakin’s good qualities in Vader — such as when he points out that Vader’s standing with his troopers is reminiscent of Anakin’s way of leading during the Clone Wars.³⁴ If there is anybody around who has always taken Anakin for who he is and appreciated him for it, it’s Tarkin.

Whether or not that is a good influence is up for debate, considering Tarkin also takes every atrocity Vader ever commits in stride, but it’s undeniable that as far as positive relationships go, Tarkin is the only one Vader has that never truly goes sour. Out of every single person Vader ever meets, it is only Tarkin who is always his ally, always his friend. (Luke notwithstanding, his circumstances being a lot more… unique and complex.)

Vader and Other Higher-Ups

Now, we’ve established that Vader listens to Tarkin out of personal respect rather than because of any chain of command. This is already rather telling in and of itself, but when compared and contrasted to how Vader treats any other imperial higher-ups, it becomes far more impressive.

Mas Amedda often functions as Palpatine’s spokesperson, but his voice seems to carry no weight to Vader at all. When Amedda asks Vader to be a little less murderous, he gets brushed off.³⁵ Meanwhile when Tarkin does it during A New Hope, Vader immediately complies.

Palpatine’s approach to pairing Vader with other officials also differs starkly from his approach regarding Vader and Tarkin. In the Tarkin novel, he leaves the two of them to decide the chain of command for themselves. Meanwhile there is a whole comic that is about Palpatine teaching Vader to subvert orders well enough to turn them against the person giving them — and to do so, he humiliates Vader in front of Governor Ahr in order to force obedience that Vader wasn’t initially willing to give.³⁶ Tarkin is the one imperial Vader is not pitted against but expected to appreciate and respect as a partner — and it works out that way in practice, too.

Even more compelling than the case of Ahr is the Darth Vader comic series from 2015, set directly after the destruction of the first Death Star. Vader is placed under the command of Cassio Tagge, known Death Star critic, who immediately belittles Tarkin and his life’s work. “Tarkin had vision, you have graphs,” Vader retorts and thus sets the tone for their future ‘cooperation’.³⁷ Even though Vader himself statedly disliked the Death Star (“technological terror” as he calls it³⁸), he allies himself with Tarkin over Tagge.

“In time, you will understand that this is all for the best. You should think of yourself as your lightsaber. A singular weapon from an older time… and one that is dangerous to everyone around them without a skilled hand to wield it. In time you will understand that I am that skilled hand you’ve been waiting for.” — Cassio Tagge³⁹

In that very same conversation Tagge tries to play himself up as the ‘handler’ Vader might need — he tries to put himself into direct succession to Tarkin, mistakenly understood to be Vader’s last ‘handler’, and he gets it completely wrong. It’s no big surprise Vader strangles him by the end of the comic.⁴⁰ Vader listens to Tarkin not because Tarkin dominates him but because Tarkin respects him and that respect is mutual.

The only other imperial higher-up who comes close to replicating this relationship with Vader is Thrawn, though for all the numerous similarities between the two dynamics and the undeniable respect the two share for one another, there are also very distinct differences that highlight just how high in esteem Vader holds Tarkin in particular. While these differences can be to some extent accounted to a disparity between Timothy Zahn’s interpretation of Vader and Luceno’s, on a Watsonian level they still contribute to the same picture.

Both Tarkin and Thrawn: Alliances present a similar situation — Vader is tasked by Palpatine with investigating a matter of some concern alongside a fellow imperial with whom his relationship is cool at best.⁴¹ In Tarkin, Palpatine allows Vader and Tarkin to work out the chain of command between themselves, something which they handle with grace despite Vader’s standing grudge. However, in the case of Vader and Thrawn, Thrawn is given direct command.⁴² Vader reacts to this with open hostility that continues long into the book. His reason to hold a grudge against Tarkin is more personal than any misgivings towards Thrawn, yet his teamwork with Thrawn suffers more from far more animosity. He is also more forgiving of Tarkin’s failures, even those on a similar scale — he hangs onto Thrawn’s failure to capture the Phoenix squadron on Atollon as a point of contention for most of the book, even going so far as to accuse Thrawn of allowing the rebels to escape on purpose.⁴³ Indeed, this single major misstep in the civil war is the primary reason for Vader to have such a scathing view of Thrawn in the first place,⁴⁴ while the multiple times Teller’s rebel crew outplay Tarkin over the course of that novel don’t seem to affect Vader’s opinion of Tarkin at all. Not all of these incidents involve Vader himself being outwitted alongside Tarkin either.

Perhaps most importantly, Thrawn is also aware of Vader’s true identity — but unlike with Tarkin, with Thrawn Vader emphatically denies his past even once they have made amends, refusing to make any acknowledgement of Thrawn’s allusions to their history together.⁴⁵ In sharp contrast his willingness to someday speak of Anakin Skywalker in first person with Tarkin, Vader maintains that his past self is dead to Thrawn despite — or perhaps because of — the fact that Thrawn makes it very clear he holds Anakin in very high regard, even promising, in their final conversation on the topic, to “always honor his memory.”⁴⁶

Even held up against the next closest thing Vader has to such a relationship, his trust and respect for Tarkin is ultimately unique.

Mutual Professional and Personal Respect

So then, what is the exact nature of that respect? How does it show? How far does it go? A New Hope gives answer to the latter question with ease — the Death Star is destroyed because Tarkin trusted Vader and his homing beacon plan. Tarkin’s trust in Vader allows him to risk and ultimately lose his life. Faith until death does them part. And that’s in the very first movie of the franchise!

Later instalments pick up on it naturally and empathize the mutual nature of their respect and teamwork. In Rogue One, Vader cuts Orson Krennic off in the very second he begins to try to deflect from his own failures by blaming Tarkin. In Star Wars Rebels, the Grand Inquisitor is shown to listen to Tarkin despite being Vader’s direct subordinate, suggesting a sharing of assets between them. In this show as well, Tarkin’s faith in Vader is unflinching. Until there is hard proof of Kanan’s Jedi nature, he remains a sceptic — he is that sure Vader would not have let a Jedi escape. But even when it is proven, Tarkin immediately personally moves to bring Kanan to Vader’s castle (“a place that never fails to extract a confession” in his words⁴⁷) — Vader is still the only other person he trusts to handle this matter.⁴⁸ At the beginning of Thrawn: Alliances, Thrawn’s initial disdain for Vader stems from Vader’s perceived support of the Death Star alongside Tarkin, and Vader immediately reacts to Palpatine’s mere mention of Tarkin’s name like so:

Palpatine sensed a flicker in Vader’s emotions, perhaps a hope that Thrawn would mistakenly believe this was the right time and place to once again raise objections to the Death Star project.⁴⁹

Not only is Vader willing to argue with fellow imperials in defense of Tarkin, he’s eager to, despite, again, the fact that other media has shown him to have little love for the Death Star itself.

This penchant for defensiveness almost made it into the actual movies as well. Though not fully confirmed, a Rogue One deleted scene was very likely to have featured Vader voluntarily protecting Tarkin from Krennic. Pardon us for going into minor speculation, but the evidence is too compelling to not at least bring this up for your consideration.

These stills from deleted scenes in the Rogue One movie show Krennic pointing his blaster at someone in the Death Star control room as well as Krennic being reprimanded by Vader in the very same location. As film journalists also pointed out,⁵⁰ ⁵¹ the final movie scene corresponding to this takes place between Krennic and Tarkin. Further, it seems quite unlikely that a) the rebels would have ever made it onto the Death Star without there being some kind of deleted footage of it released or b) that Krennic would ever threaten Vader himself with a mere blaster. The conclusion to draw from this is that Krennic threatened Tarkin for trying to take the Death Star away from him — only to be instantly stopped by Vader. A redditor claiming to have worked on the movie and having seen parts of the script also describes the scene that way.⁵² This is also corroborated by Guy Henry, who played Tarkin in Rogue One, referencing an additional scene with Tarkin and Vader that was cut from the movie.⁵³

If you choose to view this as a credible reconstruction, it is fun to note that Vader’s strong loyalty to Tarkin was so on the writers’ mind that a scene showcasing it made it far enough to actually be filmed.

Back to finalized canon, the Tarkin novel, being the pivotal piece of Star Wars media as far as this relationship is concerned, goes into so much depth on their respect that it is near impossible to recount. We will let a quote speak (mostly) for itself first.

Tarkin didn’t always agree with Vader’s methods for dealing with those who opposed the Empire, but he held the Dark Lord in high esteem, and he hoped Vader felt the same toward him. Very early on in their partnership — soon after both had been introduced to the secret mobile battle station — Tarkin grew convinced that Vader knew him much better than he let on, and that behind the bulging lenses of his face mask, whatever remained of Vader’s human eyes regarded him with clear recognition. More than anything else it was those initial feelings that had provided Tarkin with his first suspicion as to Vader’s identity. Later, observing the rapport the Dark Lord shared with the stormtroopers who supported him, and the technique he displayed in wielding his crimson lightsaber, Tarkin grew more and more convinced that his suspicions were right.
Vader might very well be Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, whom Tarkin had fought beside during the Clone Wars, and for whom he had developed a grudging appreciation.⁵⁴

Besides the obvious, it is important to point out just how well Tarkin can read Vader’s body language from the very beginning on. Considering he also recognizes Anakin’s fighting style in Vader, it isn’t a stretch to say that Tarkin has always paid close attention to him in either form.

Further, Tarkin liked Anakin even despite the noteworthy obstacle that is disliking the Jedi as a whole, which he brings up from time to time.⁵⁵ Anakin is an exception to him, on account of not his official position in the war but rather his personal strengths and opinions.

Vader in turn is shown to put in a word for Tarkin with the Emperor. When Tarkin laments about being taken away from his post, Vader later argues to Palpatine that he should be sent back to it. Though at this point Vader is still bitter towards Tarkin because of Ahsoka’s trial, he has not refused to work with him in the past either. The reason he wants Tarkin sent away cannot solely be his dislike for cooperation. Even Palpatine points this out: “Ah, so you’re arguing on Tarkin’s behalf, are you?” ⁵⁶

And though working out chain of command is the stated goal of the mission together,⁵⁷ Vader and Tarkin immediately fall into frictionless tandem work together. Command squabbles end up not really being an issue between them at all.

“They’re employing the pintle guns,” Tarkin said in a rush. “They’ll burn right through us.” He risked a glance at Vader. “We’ve only one chance to survive this. Redirect all power to the aft shields.”
Vader took Tarkin at his word, and the Predator slowed significantly as a result.⁵⁸

Later in the book, Vader even displays a similar amount of life-or-death trust in Tarkin’s skill that Tarkin does in Vader during A New Hope.

And even further, it is implied that Vader might have had a hand in Tarkin getting sole sovereignty over the Death Star project by the end of the novel:

Tarkin nodded. “Frankly, Lord Vader, there are simply too many voices weighing in.”
“Then we need to remedy the situation.”
“As I’ve been proposing all along.” ⁵⁹

Vader trusts Tarkin with the Death Star and in turn….

“It will be a momentous responsibility,” the Emperor said, drawing out the words. “For once the battle station is fully operational, you will wield the ultimate power in the galaxy.”
Tarkin’s gaze moved from the Emperor to Vader and back again. “I don’t believe that will ever be the case, my lord.” ⁶⁰

Now we know, in excruciating detail, that Tarkin and Vader have a wonderful history of professional teamwork. What else is there? The fact that Tarkin’s backstory is introduced directly in the context of making Vader like Tarkin more because there are many notes in their lives that they can relate on. Both of them come from harsh conditions on Outer Rim worlds and Palpatine directly draws a connection between their life stories.

“Have you never been to Eriadu?”
“I have.”
“Then you know what that world is like. Venture outside the safe haven of Eriadu City and the land is every bit as bleak and hostile as Tatooine. That land forged Tarkin in much the same way Tatooine forged you.”
Vader shook his head. “Tatooine did not forge me.”
Sidious stared at him, then grinned faintly. “Ah, I see. Slavery and the desert forged Skywalker. Is that what you mean?”
Vader left the question unanswered. “What trials did Tarkin endure?”
Sidious took a long moment to respond. “Trials that helped transform him into the military mastermind he has become.”⁶¹

Palpatine knows, accurately, that Tarkin’s life story would appeal to Vader on a personal level. When Vader asks Tarkin about his life story, Vader listens intently and makes this fact known to Tarkin through his body language (“But just now Vader’s frequent downward glances suggested that he was actually listening […].”⁶²). He’s interested in Tarkin personally.

Vader looked at him. “The Carrion Spike?”
“Just so,” Tarkin said. “Without Jova having to say as much, I began to grasp that the Spike was to be the site of my final test.”
Vader interrupted his rhythmic breathing to make a sound of acknowledgement. “Your trial.”⁶³

And he shows his personal life full respect by contextualizing Tarkin’s past in terms familiar to himself — terms from his Jedi and Sith education. Doing this he accepts the premise that Palpatine had set for comparing the two of them.

To Vader, Tarkin is an equal.

Tarkin’s Attraction to Vader

This is the part of the essay where I am sure we’re going to lose a few readers, but I am still imploring you to stick with us. All of this is sourced in canon media. As far as Star Wars theories go, this one isn’t even remotely out there.

So first things first, Tarkin is gay. If you missed it, here’s the rundown: The short story “Of MSE-6 and Men” by Glen Weldon in the ANH-adjacent collection From A Certain Point of View narrates the story of an imperial officer beginning an affair with a male stormtrooper. Though unnamed in the story, the officer is clearly identified as Tarkin by the fact that he’s the one with the highest authority on the Death Star during the timespan between Leia’s interrogation and the Death Star’s destruction. And if that’s not enough to satisfy the skeptics, the author himself also confirmed it on twitter.⁶⁴ ⁶⁵

Glen Weldon displaying amusement at the fan reaction to his short story.

Though FaCPoV features a lot of inconsistencies by design (being literally intended to show ANH from the contradictory views of various people), nothing elsewhere in Disney Era canon comes even close to disputing Tarkin’s homosexuality. The Luceno novel only makes a gender-neutral reference to ‘lovers’, and other allusions to Tarkin’s potential romantic exploits are far from explicit enough to even establish a solid case for any attraction to women, let alone exclude attraction to men. Disney put out FaCPoV and has not discredited its canon value anywhere — thus for all intents and purposes, Wilhuff Tarkin is a gay man.

Tarkin’s amorous adventure in “Of MSE-6 and Men” lends itself almost too well to being compared with his dynamic with Anakin. His lover is a fit, attractive younger man, with a rough Outer Rim upbringing and an interest in droids and droid customization, particularly of his beloved companion, the titular MSE-6. The latter is important because Tarkin and TK-421 (the trooper in question, only ever identified by his call sign — yes, the one whose uniform Luke steals in A New Hope) are noted to get along outside the bedroom as well. TK-421 is Tarkin’s type, and while the comparison between Anakin and TK-421 isn’t 1:1, the similarities between them are strong enough to support that Anakin certainly would be as well.

More relevant, Tarkin gets TK-421 a promotion after they begin hooking up (and Tarkin’s nepotism with regards to lovers was noted even in the old EU). Looking back to the Citadel arc of The Clone Wars, you’ll find that Tarkin ends the meeting with a lingering handshake and the promise to “inform Chancellor Palpatine of [Anakin’s] valor.”⁶⁶ Amusingly, the next time Tarkin is sighted on the show at all it’s at a military conference aboard a space station called Valor — a conference Anakin also attends, though they aren’t seen interacting.⁶⁷ It isn’t hard to believe Tarkin pulled some strings here, and “Of MSE-6 and Men” gives the mere offer of using his influence with the Chancellor to Anakin’s benefit a flirtatious tone, particularly directed at dashing young Anakin.

Palpatine comes into play to a greater degree here — he and Tarkin have known each other for a long time and they’re on a first name basis. Tarkin is the closest thing Palpatine has to a personal friend. When the novel states that “[d]uring the Clone Wars, Sidious had made every attempt to promote a rapport between Skywalker and Tarkin, but the relationship had never prospered to his satisfaction”⁶⁸ you could go as far as reading matchmaking intent into it, given that Palpatine has known Tarkin since he was a young man and Tarkin does not seem to be particularly subtle about his preferences — it is exceedingly likely that Palpatine is knowingly setting up his gay friend with his attractive young protegé. He also takes a particular personal interest in their relationship beyond their ability to function in tandem as his closest subordinates — it even seems to sour his satisfaction in Ahsoka’s expulsion from the order speeding Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side that Tarkin’s role in that affair formed a rift between them, and he’s quite annoyed that their collaborations have been absent the “appreciation for each other’s talents” he feels they ought to have.⁶⁹ While all this is, of course, for the primary purpose of securing his future dark triumvirate, it’s difficult to imagine Palpatine didn’t at least consider (and subsequently condone) the likely outcome of Tarkin making a move on Anakin.

But then, what about Tarkin and Vader? Vader is no longer the conventionally attractive young man he was during the Clone Wars. Let’s examine how Tarkin looks at him.

For one, it’s noteworthy how often it is specifically pointed out that Tarkin plays close attention to Vader’s body language at all times. Not only the Luceno novel does this, it is also in the comics.⁷⁰ ⁷¹ Then, we need to pay attention to the descriptors of Vader’s body that are used when Luceno describes scenes from Tarkin’s point of view: sonorous breathing,⁷² the rich bass of his voice,⁷³ midnight orbs of his mask,⁷⁴ his thick arms,⁷⁵ thumb-and-forefinger dark magic of his⁷⁶…. and “Tarkin glanced at Vader again: gauntleted fists on his hips, black cloak snapping in the wind whipped up by departing warships, the morning light reflecting off the top of his glossy, flaring helmet.” ⁷⁷
Tarkin’s point of view paints a very attractive picture of Vader, and his isn’t a matter of the narrative voice in the novel as a whole. When Palpatine describes Vader it’s with words like “regulated breathing” and “gauntleted hands”.⁷⁸ Literal and utilitarian. And when Tarkin describes Palpatine, it’s not exactly flattering either. Palpatine has “a voice that many thought sinister but to Tarkin sounded merely strained”, a “ghastly face” and “wrinkled sallow hands”.⁷⁹ None of that is exactly untrue, but let it serve as an example that the novel doesn’t generally suffer from purple prose, and nor does Tarkin’s point of view in general. His descriptions of Vader are specifically poetic. While there’s no blatantly erotic quality to them, it still suggests a recognition of beauty in Vader’s appearance that stands out in the greater context of their relationship.

Considering his Age of Rebellion comic makes abundantly clear that Tarkin considers scars a proof of strength (and actively scorns a young officer for not having them), it seems unlikely that Tarkin’s admiration — and, yes, attraction — toward Vader would be at all dissuaded even by his unmasked body.⁸⁰ (Noteworthy here is also that Tarkin does recognize Vader as disabled within his narration — he has no illusions about there being a healthy man in the suit and is at least reasonably aware of the extent of his injuries.⁸¹ Indeed, given Tarkin’s established first encounter with Vader in the suit, he’s seen the extent of some of his injuries himself.⁸²)

And now to toss you what will likely come as another curveball: remember how we established that Tarkin and Obi-Wan are set parallel? This is another possible parallel between them. While this is further into speculation (or conspiracy theorizing) than this essay has gone so far, we ask you to bear with us for a moment.

Matthew Stover’s novelization for Revenge of the Sith, which George Lucas directly supervised and, according to Stover’s account, in many cases personally edited,⁸³ implies fairly heavily that by RotS time Obi-Wan is in love with Anakin. From a paragraph of Obi-Wan staring at Anakin’s ass,⁸⁴ to Anakin thinking of Obi-Wan’s love for him as “like a promise from the Force itself”,⁸⁵ to the narration referring to them knowing each other “more intimately than lovers,”⁸⁶ to Anakin immediately assuming, upon Palpatine’s unsubtle implication that Obi-wan is having an affair with a senator, that said senator is a man,⁸⁷ to Padmé flat-out comparing her feelings for Anakin to Obi-Wan’s in a dramatic scene (“You love him, too, don’t you? […] You do, you love him.”)⁸⁸, to Anakin being described simply as “the man [Obi-Wan] loved”,⁸⁹ to Padmé’s dying attempt to give Obi-Wan the japor pendant, a literal symbol of Anakin’s love, as she entreats him to see that Anakin can still be saved⁹⁰… the RotS novel doesn’t really pull any punches with its gay subtext.

And while this novel itself is currently considered part of the pre-Disney Legends continuity (and indeed references events in EU continuity that have since been retconned,) Obi-Wan’s potential forbidden love for Anakin in Stover’s continuity still retains its relevance to the parallels between Tarkin and Obi-Wan. This is because Luceno (who most firmly established that parallel) and Stover used to work very closely together and co-wrote the seminal piece of EU Darth Vader content that is the Dark Lord Trilogy (Luceno’s Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader — this book being notable for, rather uniquely for the EU which usually portrayed Vader and Tarkin’s relationship as heavily antagonistic, being one of the only pre-Disney books to show them collaborating amiably — bookending Stover’s Revenge of the Sith novelization), which is still referenced in Luceno’s current canon works and therefore, along with RotS due to it being personally overseen by George Lucas, are in more of a canon gray area than other novels of their era. We can’t presume to know what Luceno was thinking or wasn’t thinking when he wrote Tarkin, but on the simple level of intertextual analysis, it is interesting that Stover’s interpretation of Obi-Wan was at least likely to be on his mind as he wrote the comparisons between these two inarguably very important men in Anakin’s life.

Now, all of this might be — and perhaps very likely is — total coincidence. However, the author is dead and the text speaks for itself — in our opinion, quite loudly.

Still not convinced? We’ve got more.

Please do not make the mistake of assuming the evidence for Vader and Tarkin’s incredibly impactful relationship (whether platonic, one-sided romantic or maybe even mutually romantic) exhausts itself in what has been written. It does not. Even after this section, there will be small details left undiscussed. We are now merely providing a highlight reel of Vader/Tarkin that didn’t thematically fit well enough to be included in the big paragraphs. Let’s go!

Despite the fact that Vader is still bitter about Tarkin at the beginning of the Tarkin novel, he willingly initializes small talk when they meet early on. (“How is life on the Sentinel moon, Governor?”) Vader. Small talk. Let that sink in.⁹¹
Tarkin ditches his escort, Mas Amedda, for Vader’s company immediately after arriving on Coruscant. The two of them do the whole classic spiel of ‘taking an elevator and not holding it open for the third person to join’, even.⁹²
In the lift scene, Vader doesn’t even need to go see the Emperor himself, and there is no explanation of what business he had escorting Tarkin at all. He just gets off the elevator one level below, seemingly taking the maximum time to talk to Tarkin without having to awkwardly explain to Palpatine why he also showed up, uninvited.⁹³
Tarkin goes to stand with Vader and Amedda during an awkward official function. Considering it is well-established by this point that Tarkin dislikes Amedda, it’s Vader he is truly gravitating towards.⁹⁴
“That look again, Tarkin thought — or at least that suggestion of a look that always made him feel as if Vader knew him from some previous life.” It takes a special kind of attention to someone to accurately figure out what kind of looks they are giving you, even through a mask.⁹⁵
“Vader extended a hand to Tarkin and pulled him up onto the deteriorated deck plates of the gunship’s deployment platform.” Vader personally gives Tarkin a hand even though there are troopers around, there is no external reason for this. He just wanted to.⁹⁶
“Catching sight of Tarkin, the Dark Lord grabbed a flight helmet and life-support chest pack and carried them to him. “Highly recommended,” Vader said, handing over the gear.” ⁹⁷ Again, he doesn’t need to do this, yet he chooses to bring him his gear personally rather than either leaving Tarkin to do it himself or order someone to fetch it for him. (And arguably makes a crack about his own life support at the same time, but that’s up to interpretation. Still, he’s being very casual.)
Tarkin has been designing ships in his youth, giving them a shared interest in technological design.⁹⁸
Vader also lets Tarkin steer while he himself operates the guns — Vader the ace pilot trusts Tarkin’s flying enough to leave the cockpit to him.⁹⁹
When Tarkin and Vader part in the hangar following Tarkin telling Vader about his history on Eriadu (a story involving a pack of veermoks with reference to a “pretender to the throne”), it’s on this note:
Tarkin walked alongside Vader to the foot of the ramp.
“Safe journey, Lord Vader. Be sure to give the pretender my regards.”
“Rest assured, Governor Tarkin.”¹⁰⁰
And lo and behold, when Vader does in fact deal with their mutual enemy:
“One last thing, Vice Admiral,” Vader said as Rancit was being escorted aft down the walkway. “Moff Tarkin sends his regards.”¹⁰¹
Vader displays himself and Tarkin as a team and a unit as he takes down their common foe.

When Palpatine gives Tarkin the ship Executrix to match Vader’s Executor, it’s hard to see that as anything but quite literal shipping. And dare I say… this is the one and only instance where Emperor Sheev Palpatine’s priorities are entirely understandable.

CITATIONS:

[1] Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Season 3. Episode 18.
[2] [3] [4] Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Season 3. Episode 19.
[5] [6] Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Season 3. Episode 20.
[7] Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Season 5. Episode 18.
[8] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[9] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 05.
[10] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 12.
[11] Darth Vader (2017): Issues 13–17.
[12] Darth Vader (2017): Issues 16.
[13] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[14] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 07.
[15] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 11.
[16] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 16.
[17] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 18.
[18] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 11.
[19] [20] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 18.
[21] Star Wars Rebels. Season 2. Episodes 1&2.
[22] A New Hope.
[23] From a Certain Point of View: Of MSE-6 and Men.
[24] From a Certain Point of View: End of Watch.
[25] A New Hope.
[26] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[27] A New Hope.
[28] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 14.
[29] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 12.
[30] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 16. Also Revenge of the Sith.
[31] Return of the Jedi.
[32] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 07.
[33] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 05.
[34] [35] Luceno: Tarkin: Chapter 07.
[36] Age of Rebellion: Darth Vader.
[37] Darth Vader (2015): Issue 02.
[38] A New Hope.
[39] Darth Vader (2015): Issue 02.
[40] Darth Vader (2015): Issue 25.
[41] [42] Zahn: Thrawn: Alliances. Prologue.
[43] Zahn: Thrawn: Alliances. Chapter 12.
[44] Zahn: Thrawn: Alliances. Prologue.
[45] Zahn: Thrawn: Alliances. Chapter 13.
[46] Zahn: Thrawn: Alliances. Epilogue.
[47] [48] Star Wars Rebels. Season 1. Episode 14.
[49] Zahn: Thrawn: Alliances. Chapter 01.
[50] https://www.slashfilm.com/rogue-one-deleted-scene-images/
[51] https://www.inverse.com/article/26032-rogue-one-krennic-deleted-scene-blaster
[52] https://www.reddit.com/r/starwarsspeculation/comments/5o87zw/summary_of_the_deleted_vader_scenes_in_rogue_one/
[53] https://starwarsinterviews.com/star-wars-anthology/rogue-one/guy-henry-tarkin/
[54] Luceno: Tarkin: Chapter 07.
[55] Star Wars Rebels. Season 1. Episode 14.
[56] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[57] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 10.
[58] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 13.
[59] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 07.
[60] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 22.
[61] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[62] [63] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 20.
[64] https://twitter.com/ghweldon/status/915734601104084992
[65] https://twitter.com/ghweldon/status/916002354431893504
[66] Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Season 3. Episode 20.
[67] Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Season 5. Episode 13.
[68] [69] [70] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[71] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 18.
[72] [73] [74] [75] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 07.
[76] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 12.
[77] [78] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[79] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 07.
[80] Age of Rebellion: Grand Moff Tarkin.
[81] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 07.
[82] Darth Vader (2017): Issue 05.
[83] Matthew Stover, The Jedi Council Forums, Oct. 18 2006.
[84] Stover: Revenge of the Sith. Chapter 06.
[85] Stover: Revenge of the Sith. Chapter 03.
[86] Stover: Revenge of the Sith. Chapter 20.
[87] Stover: Revenge of the Sith. Chapter 14.
[88] Stover: Revenge of the Sith. Chapter 13.
[89] Stover: Revenge of the Sith. Chapter 20.
[90] Stover: Revenge of the Sith. Chapter 21.
[91] [92] [93] [94] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 07.
[95] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 09.
[96] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 10.
[97] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 14.
[98] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 12.
[99] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 13.
[100] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 20.
[101] Luceno: Tarkin. Chapter 21.