Star Wars: Rogue One - Predicting The Entire Plot In 10 Steps
6. Jedha Is Destroyed By The Death Star On Vader's Commands
Speaking of the Death Star, guess what turns up to crash the party? Director Krennic and his cronies have arrived at Jedha's world (a planet that looks from above like Tatooine, but logically can't be) to get their prize.
But while Krennic's got what he wanted, so is as happy as that guy can be, he gets commands from the mysterious man above him, Darth Vader, to decimate the city. The Empire doesn't care about some Jedi worship place, but the Sith want all trace of them wiped out. This propagates the movie's internal Imperial conflict (which was mentioned in the EW feature, but hasn't been brought up since, meaning it's got some big secrets within), as well as seeing Vader get into an arc of increasing desperation.
The Death Star's laser obviously isn't at planet-level destruction yet - the crystals haven't been installed - but with an eight-pronged attack it's more than enough to decimate the entire city, something that was actually shown in the past trailer; Jyn, Cassian, Kaytoo and their new friends barely escape, flying through the tumbling wreckage in their U-Wing.