Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is one of the main antagonists in Star Wars: A New Hope and the secondary antagonist in Rogue One. He is a high ranking governor in the Galactic Empire. He had a very high position in the Empire, before he was killed when the Rebel Alliance blew up the Death Star.




Tarkin was intelligent, cunning, manipulative, ambitious, arrogant, and had a strong sense of duty and dignity. He was well-known for his sharp memory. He never forgot a favor or a slight and was capable of recalling people from meetings that took place over a decade before.

Although he seemingly cared about the welfare of the Galactic Republic, later the Galactic Empire, he was quite selfish, as everything he did was always for his own ambitions. Even after Palpatine was revealed to be Darth Sidious, the traitor and enemy of the Galactic Republic, he still remained loyal to the latter, whom he had long been a major supporter of. Tarkin had no intention of overthrowing Palpatine, though he dreamed of some day being in the position to fulfill his ambitions.


He also dismissed their desire to try Ahsoka in accordance with Jedi tradition and insisted on having her transferred to military custody, claiming that an internal Jedi trial would be seem "biased". During Ahsoka's military tribunal before the Senate, Tarkin served as the prosecutor and vowed to ensure both her conviction and execution, despite the fact that she had once saved his life. While Tarkin ultimately failed to achieve his goal due to the confession of Barriss Offee, he listened with great interest as the fallen Padawan publically denounced the corruption of the Jedi and the Republic. Tarkin's dismissive attitude persisted even after the Jedi Purge, where he believed them all to have died and initially refused to believe that Kanan Jarrus could be one.

Much like Palpatine, Tarkin was immoral, power-hungry, cruel and sadistic. He coldly ordered the Grand Inquisitor to execute Commandant Aresko and Taskmaster Grint for their constant failures to capture the Lothal rebels. This shows that he had no qualms about murdering his own allies in cold blood.

Tarkin had very little regard for innocent lives, as he was perfectly willing to murder innocent people just to make example out of what happens to anyone who challenged the Empire. He had no sense of honor, as he was perfectly willing to break his word if it suited him, like when he promised that he would not destroy the planet Alderaan, if Leia Organa told him where the rebels base was, and after she apparently did, he went back on his word and destroyed the planet anyway. He expressed no guilt or remorse for this vile act of his.

Tarkin was arrogant to the point of underestimating his allies, enemies and former allies alike, like when he heard the rumors that one of the Lothal rebels is a Jedi, he did not believe it as he believed they were all killed in the Jedi Purge, including Obi-Wan Kenobi, despite the fact he fought alongside them in the Clone Wars.

These negative traits of his was what eventually led to Tarkin's deserve death at the hands of Luke Skywalker; albeit indirectly.

Film Appearances

Revenge of the Sith


A New Hope

Tarkin became Grand Moff and placed in full charge of the Death Star and determined to use its destructive power to destroy the Rebellion. However, in order to find their secret base, he needed Princess Leia Organa to give up the location of the Rebel Base, but she refused to speak, despite numerous attempts to torture her into confession. He decided to use some persuasion by threatening to use the Death Star to destroy Leia's home planet, Alderaan. She tried to talk Tarkin down, begging him to spare her home planet, but he would have none of it as he asked for a final time for the location of the Rebel Base. This made her give away the location of the Rebel Base to be on Dantooine (apparently she was lying since the Rebel base on Dantooine was deserted, having been abandoned by the Rebellion for some time). Even though she gave in, Tarkin still went ahead in destroying her home world and gave the order to fire, killing millions of lives, including that of her adoptive father and one of the founders of the Rebellion, Bail Organa.


Tarkin with Darth Vader aboard the Death Star.



Rogue One


Tarkin in Rogue One.




Television Appearances

Star Wars: The Clone Wars


Star Wars Rebels



Call to action 3

Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars Rebels.






In Printed Media


Video Games

Star Wars: Force Arena



Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious

Tarkin developed great respect for Palpatine and the Supreme Chancellor took an interest in his carrer. When Palpatine proclaimed himself Emperor, Tarkin joined the ranks of the newly born Imperialists and was placed in charge of the Construction of the Death Star and became the first Imperial to become a Grand Moff. He was also one of the few people who knew that the Emperor was the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Tarkin developed respect for Anakin due to the fact both were hardliners, this became strained after Ahsoka was framed by Barriss Offee. Anakin saw right away that Ahsoka had been framed and had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Tarkin refused to even see this and viciously and relentlessly prosecuted Ahsoka despite the fact that there was virtually no actual evidence of her so-called treason.

After Anakin became Darth Vader, Tarkin was the first to meet the newborn Sith Lord. Tarkin first met Vader after the Emperor placed him in charge of the Construction of the first Death Star. They began working together after some lost Jedi were traced to Kashyyyk. Tarkin urged Vader to let the Jedi land onworld so they could use their presence as a pretext to invade the planet and enslave the Wookies so they could be used to help construct the Death Star. Tarkin was impressed by Vader's leadership during the Subjugation of Kashyyyk and asked the Emperor if he could call on Vader's services when he needed them.

Although Tarkin had a good working relationship with Vader, whom he found efficient and considered an ally in the Imperial hierarchy, he was also unsettled by Vader's supernatural powers and mysterious nature, and disliked it when Palpatine used Vader as a check on Tarkin himself. Although Tarkin respected Vader, he (secretly) did not trust or personally like him, possibly because Vader relied heavily on the Force. Tarkin was one of the few people who knew that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were the same person.

Ahsoka Tano

Ahsoka and Tarkin had an intense dislike for each other. Tarkin disliked her for her starry-eyed view of life and Ahsoka disliked him for his disdain for the Jedi Order, as well as for his arrogance and rude comments. Despite her disdain for him, Ahsoka saved Tarkin from being thrown into a lava river.

The enmity between the two was intensified when Ahsoka was framed for murder and treason; Tarkin, like most of the Jedi, he refused to believe in her innocence and the rising body count only convinced him that Ahsoka was guilty even after Padmé Amidala pointed out he had no real proof and that the evidence that was present proved otherwise.

After Ahsoka was proved to be innocent, Tarkin didn't apologize to her and the two have been enemies ever since; because after the birth of the Galactic Empire, Ahsoka helped Bail Organa establish the Rebel Network and Tarkin joined the ranks of the newly born Imperialists. Ironicly, Tarkin's prosecution of Ahsoka caused his death because the Rebel Network later became the Rebel Alliance.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Tarkin and Obi-Wan work together very well during the Clone Wars, however, unlike his relationship with Anakin Skywalker, he never respected Obi-Wan for no apparent reason; due to the latter being a Jedi.

Despite the fact he fought alongside Obi-Wan in the Clone Wars, he arrogantly underestimated his former ally, believing the latter was killed in the Jedi Purge.





  • During filming, Peter Cushing wore slippers during the scenes where his feet were not visible. Reason was the boots he was provided to wear were far too small to accommodate the actor's size twelve feet. This caused a great deal of pain for him during shooting sessions, and the costume designers did not have enough time to get him another pair.

External links


  2. "How Rogue One Brought Back Familiar Faces". The New York Times. (December 27, 2016)

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