10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Darth Vader
7. He's Not Superior To Grand Moff Tarkin
Another mistake casual Star Wars fans make is assuming that, outside of the Emperor - who is only briefly mentioned in A New Hope - Darth Vader holds rank as the Empire's top-line villain.
But in actual fact, Vader isn't at all superior to Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) in the Empire pecking order. After all, it's Tarkin who commands the Death Star, has Alderaan obliterated, and actually gives Vader orders.
Now, that's not to say that Tarkin is superior to Vader either: Vader is basically outside of the Imperial chain of command and answers primarily to the Emperor, yet it's reasonable to assume that he deferred to Tarkin onboard the Darth Star both to appease Palpatine and out of respect for Tarkin.
After all, Tarkin's position surely commanded a measure of admiration from even someone as Force-choke-happy as Vader, right?
In reality they're basically separate but equal, and Vader knew that taking direction from Tarkin on his own ship was the right call.