8 Star Wars Questions That Always Confused You

2. Why Did Vader Listen To Tarkin?

Star Wars A New Hope Tarkin Darth Vader
Lucasfilm

Given that Darth Vader was, y'know, a Dark Lord of the Sith, it probably seems a little weird in retrospect that he spent the vast majority of 1977's Star Wars being bossed around by Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin. No one should be getting in between Vader and a good Force choking (*ahem*), but the Grand Moff is able to do just that in the meeting aboard the Death Star.

The Clone Wars did a good job of establishing Anakin Skywalker's respect for Tarkin while he was an officer in the Republic, but their relationship was taken to a whole other level following Order 66, as was revealed in Dark Lord of the Sith #18.

The Charles Soule comic reveals how Tarkin tested Vader before A New Hope to see if he could ever be bested in combat. Tarkin is able to outthink Vader, resulting in a stalemate once he Force chokes the Moff, and that's how the two become the bestest friends ever (or at least evil-doers who harbour a begrudging respect for the other).

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.