Star Wars: Rogue One - 10 Ways It Changes A New Hope
6. Tarkin's Arrogance In Not Evacuating
Another point of criticism for A New Hope has been Grand Moff Tarkin's brash arrogance during the assault on the Death Star. Many have deemed this as foolish over-confidence, but Rogue One tells us that this is far from the truth. Was he over-confident? Arguably. But it was far from foolish. In fact, had it not been for Galen Erso's actions, he would have been absolutely justified in his refusal to evacuate the base.
As stated before, the Death Star's only weakness was a result of an inside job, something Tarkin was completely unaware of and could not have planned for. The only two imperial officers who knew of the sabotage, were Galen himself and Director Krennic, both of whom perished during the events of Rogue One before the information could get back to Tarkin.
Moreover, Tarkin's attitude towards the Death Star in Rogue One tells us a lot as well. The sheer amount of pride that the Grand Moff had, which we had only gotten a glimpse of in A New Hope (while he made an example of Alderaan), was now on display in full force. The Death Star was so destructive, Tarkin had both Jedha and Scarif fired upon on the station's weakest setting, and yet it still caused cataclysmic devastation. The Death Star created something of a God complex for Tarkin, and he refused to entertain the idea that it could be destroyed. And given what we saw in Rogue One, who could honestly blame him?
He truly felt that the Empire would win the day, a point driven home by his "moment of triumph" line, and had it not been for Galen Erso, they would have. The rebels discovered the port to the main reactor on their own, sure, but this information would have been utterly useless to them had they not learned of Galen's tampering through Jyn.