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I have been wondering for some time why Darth Vader, one of the leading officers of the Empire, repeatedly put himself into such danger?

To name a few cases, in A New Hope, he boarded Tantive IV, a ship he knew belonged to the rebels. It could have been filled with explosives, and it was not entirely unlikely that the rebels would choose to sacrifice themselves in order to kill him.

The same logic applies when Vader enters the Hoth base in The Empire Strikes Back.

Back in A New Hope, he also enters a dangerous starship battle on his own.

Did he somehow know from the Force that he would not put himself into danger?

Gaussler
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    Over-confidence I guess. It seems to be a character requirement for every fantasy villain. – ʀᴇᴅ_ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ226 Feb 02 '16 at 10:11
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    @red_devil226: it’s not over confidence if it’s accurate. – Paul D. Waite Feb 02 '16 at 10:48
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    @PaulD.Waite I agree with your answer. Doing all those things didn't really bring him any harm. But he didn't have to do them. He could have sent a subordinate. But then he probably wouldn't be one of the most popular fantasy villains of all time if he was just ordering people around (not that his goal was to be best known villain of all time, just stepping out of the Star Wars universe for a second). – ʀᴇᴅ_ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ226 Feb 02 '16 at 11:17
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    Because he's Darth F-ing Vader. What better way to show how much of a badass he is than to have him walk right into the middle of a battle like it's nothing? A similar device is used later with Boba Fett when Fett is confident enough to talk back to him, and get singled out about not disintegrating anyone. – phantom42 Feb 02 '16 at 11:55
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    @red_devil226 Getting into the battle at the end of A New Hope might have seemed dangerous at the time. But in the end getting into the battle actually saved his life. – kasperd Feb 02 '16 at 13:56
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    @red_devil226, it's adequonfidence – user1717828 Feb 02 '16 at 14:00
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    Vader is basically Palpatine's evil knight errant at this point. This is what that sort of unquestioningly loyal, combat-skilled- terrifying minion is for. – anaximander Feb 02 '16 at 15:05
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    There is that story about Erwin Rommel, being flown about in a Fieseler Storch to get an idea of how things are going, dropping hand-written notes on dallying troops to the effect of "get a move on, or I'm coming down to make you". That's the kind of leadership Vader is trying to emulate. ;-) – DevSolar Feb 02 '16 at 15:54
  • In addition to other answers, the Imperial Fleet seems to be equipped with pretty good sensor technology, which would probably be able to detect booby traps. Presumably a scan was done on the Rebel ships / bases before Vader walked in. – Nate Eldredge Feb 02 '16 at 16:00
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    hand-waving Because the force. – njzk2 Feb 02 '16 at 18:54
  • Note that culture in Star Wars closely resemble wars of medieval times on Earth. There are nobility, and Knights. On Earth, knights used to take the very front of a battle (at least in Earth's modern cinema). – sampathsris Feb 03 '16 at 01:29
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    He was the best starfighter in the galaxy. – Mazura Feb 03 '16 at 02:00
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    Overconfidence is a slow and insideous killer – Petersaber Feb 03 '16 at 17:09
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    I hate to be that guy, but with a midichlorian count of over 20,000 you'd be pretty confident too. – Natural30 Feb 03 '16 at 17:53
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    @TheodorosChatzigiannakis With that many exotic bacteria in my bloodstream, I would actually feel quite anxious. – Gaussler Feb 03 '16 at 17:58
  • If I was designing it, I would've left that out. – ruffin Feb 03 '16 at 21:28
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    Didn't he do the same thing as a youngling? – Kos Feb 04 '16 at 10:24
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    I find your lack of faith disturbing – Gryzorz Feb 04 '16 at 15:40
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    same reason why Darth Vader jumped even though Ben/Obi-Wan had the high ground? – BCLC Feb 04 '16 at 17:28
  • I changed the title to the less click-baity title of "Why did Darth Vader put himself in danger so frequently" and it was reverted back. I don't want to get into an edit war, but I do think we need a title that better reflects the actual content of that question, instead of drawing people in based on the ambiguity. – Thunderforge Feb 05 '16 at 03:26
  • @Thunderforge I am open for suggestions and edits, and I frequently accept them. But in this particular case, I felt the original title reflected ny vision for the question better. But that is all a matter of taste. – Gaussler Feb 05 '16 at 07:30
  • At the risk of nitpicking: didn't he have two wingmen dedicated solely to his protection in the starship battle you mention? –  Feb 05 '16 at 08:50
  • Come on! The dude's a dude! He's a bro! He's an adrenalin junkie! He does it just for the rush, the excitement, the thrill!! And also because, y'know, he's, like, Palpatine's evil dark lord sock puppet... :-) – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Feb 05 '16 at 12:09
  • @Lilienthal - yeah - and isn't THAT just typical? In WWI the RAF learned that the best combat setup for flyers was a primary pilot and a wingman. During the "between-the-wars" timeframe they managed to forget the hard-won combat knowledge, and changed to having their fighters fly in "vics" - three aircraft, with two to do the screening. In the Battle of Britain the Germans made mincemeat of them until some bright boy said, "Hey! Why don't we go back to doing what worked in the last war?". My point: two wingmen? I DON'T THINK SO!! – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Feb 05 '16 at 12:13
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    Dramatically these scenes quickly establish him as the villain. (Surprising, but sequels need to be written with the expectation some of the audience hasn't seen the preceeding movies in the series) – Tim Feb 05 '16 at 18:19
  • If you could sum up Obi-Wan's admonitions to Anakin in Ep's 2 and 3, would it be "Anakin, you really need to take more risks." – Eric Towers Feb 07 '16 at 00:00
  • Maybe he's actually an inspiring leader to his troops? – Broklynite Jan 14 '17 at 05:06

13 Answers13

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  1. That’s kind of his job. He’s Number One to the Emperor’s Picard, Luca Brasi to the Emperor’s Godfather. He’s there to put a bit of stick about, kick ass and take names, demonstrate strength and fearlessness on behalf of the throne. You can’t effectively inspire fear from behind a space desk.

  2. I don’t think we see any evidence that the Rebels are particularly interested in taking out Darth Vader, or any reason for them to be. They’ve got an entire Empire and a Death Star or two to worry about. Sure, killing Vader might provide a temporary boost to morale, and even weaken the Empire to a degree, but Palpatine doubtless has other potential apprentice irons in the Sith fire who could eventually take over the role.

  3. In each of the specific situations you mention, it’s probably fairly clear that he’s not walking into a trap, so he’s not exactly being careless:

    • the Rebels on the Tantive IV had stolen the Death Star plans, and were desperately trying to get away (see Rogue One for details), rather than trying to lure him into a trap.

    • Vader was, in his younger days, one of the greatest pilots the galaxy had ever seen, so entering the Death Star battle wasn’t a huge risk.

    • On Hoth, the Rebels had been chased across the galaxy by the Empire before getting there. Laying a bunch of explosives around their one secret base would have been risky for them, and taken time and resources that they likely didn’t have.

    • In general, we don’t see any examples of suicide bombing or similar traps by the Rebels — it’s apparently not in their playbook.

  4. It seemed to work out okay, didn’t it? Vader was barely scratched out in the field, and eventually met his end right in the middle of the second Death Star, not on some Rebel ship.

Paul D. Waite
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    Also, he's a powerful force user. He would probably sense the trap if there was one. – David says Reinstate Monica Feb 02 '16 at 14:19
  • Spoiler (?) Met his end there? The other film had him apparently dying and then appearing as a ghost with Obi-Wan. – WGroleau Feb 02 '16 at 14:29
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    @WGroleau: well, Darth Vader met his end there. Anakin Skywalker may have been briefly re-born, and then re-appeared as a Force Ghost. – Paul D. Waite Feb 02 '16 at 14:47
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    For point 2, in the recent story line "Vader Down," a crossover between Marvel's current Star Wars comics, Leia literally orders a squadron of X-wings to kill Vader and herself when she is proximity to the Dark Lord on Vrogas Vas. The entire plot of the story revolved around Vader being alone on a rebel controlled planet and trying to capture or kill him. – The Unknown Dev Feb 02 '16 at 15:30
  • @Jamil: okay. Did the plan to capture or kill him precede him being alone on the Rebel planet? – Paul D. Waite Feb 02 '16 at 15:52
  • No, more of "this is our only opportunity to save the galaxy" sort of schpeal. – The Unknown Dev Feb 02 '16 at 15:54
  • @Jamil: gotcha. – Paul D. Waite Feb 02 '16 at 16:18
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    To further your first point, he's Kirk to the Emperor's Kirk. – corsiKa Feb 02 '16 at 19:03
  • @DavidGrinberg And perhaps one can use the force to prevent a bomb from detonating? –  Feb 02 '16 at 19:11
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    I'll also add that in the opening to A New Hope, Vader boarded the Tantive IV after a battalion of storm troopers went in first and secured the ship. If there was a trap, it would likely be sprung long before Vader set foot in there. – Brandon Feb 02 '16 at 22:05
  • @Brandon: well, not if it was a trap for Vader. – Paul D. Waite Feb 02 '16 at 22:24
  • @Brandon I'm not sure there was a whole battalion there... Judging from what we see in the movie, maybe a couple squads were on board. – TylerH Feb 02 '16 at 22:26
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    "entering the Death Star battle wasn’t a huge risk" - In fact, by the time he entered the battle the Imperials had figured out that the Rebels were trying to destroy the Death Star, and that their approach might work. So getting out into the battle could have been the safe option. Obviously you have a much better chance of surviving the destruction of the Death Start if you're not on it at the time. – aroth Feb 03 '16 at 00:04
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    +1 for other potential apprentice irons in the Sith fire. Well played! – FreeMan Feb 04 '16 at 16:53
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    Palpatine didn't have very much concern for keeping his apprentices alive, nor any shortage of new recruits, as seen in the prequels. Granted, Vader had been with him a long time and would have been too strong to replace directly, but the Emperor was a crafty one and, by the end, is actively trying to replace Vader with Luke. I believe he intentionally wanted to off his apprentices before they became strong enough (or willful enough, Vader was undoubtedly strong enough) to off him instead. No doubt killing Vader would have been only a minor blow to the Empire in the grand scheme of things. – Jason Feb 04 '16 at 23:05
  • @aroth Good point! Come to think of it, that is why he survived A New Hope. – Kyle Strand Feb 05 '16 at 20:21
  • I think the intent was to show that he was very 'hands on', the only time he does not get involved personally is finding the droids on tatooine – Jeremy French Nov 07 '16 at 10:57
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First of all, Vader doesn't rush headlong into battle anymore like he used to as Anakin - and he survived that. These days, he sends expendable stormtroopers to overrun the enemy and secure the ground before making his entrance. If anyone is dead from a trap, it won't be him.

Secondly, even if something is amiss, that is exactly what the Force is for. It gives Force wielders like Vader extrasensory perception and limited, usually subconscious foresight into the future, all of which help keep him alive. Where it's unavoidable - for instance, exploding AT-RTs falling on him (Rebels Season 2 pilot movie episode), it does give him the forewarning needed to react and protect himself by levitating the debris from direct impact. This is a skill demonstrated by Jedi too on the likes of collapsing caverns etc, not unlike those on Hoth.

Thirdly, don't underestimate Vader's suit. It is a pressurised environmental suit, capable of surviving in the vacuum of space and can perform better in all terrains than specialised stormtroopers (eg. Snowtroopers). It is also well-armoured against damage, including substantial resistance against even lightsabers. That suit can take quite a lot of punishment.

So far, this answers why it is ok for Vader to enter enemy territory - the risks are tolerable. The next question to answer is: Why?

Vader is not an armchair general. He is the Emperor's first weapon of terror. The aura of the dark side emanating from him naturally strikes fear and dread in those around him, even if they aren't Force sensitive. Effective use of such a weapon - whether to drive the Imperial troops forward or to scatter the Rebels into retreat - requires Vader to be visible at the frontlines.

Update:

Watch the ending of Rogue One. That one scene sums up everything about this answer: why Darth Vader can survive a head-on, point blank attack against the enemy, the sheer psychological effect of doing so. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

In Legends lies another part of the answer. In Vader we can glimpse the slightest hint of Anakin Skywalker persisting as the Jedi General who leads his men from the front. Despite their fear, his stormtroopers are fiercely loyal to him, for "he will not tell us to do anything he will not do himself".

thegreatjedi
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Vader probably carried a death wish to a certain degree which would have made many of his actions insanely bold.

After the death of Padmé, he lost his limbs in the fight with Obi-Wan and suffered severe bodily burns. Once in the infamous suit, it restricted his ability to utilize the force to its potential (eg. use of Sith lightning), and also restricted his agility.

The book Dark Lord, by James Luceno, saw Vader go on a hate-fuelled rampage, full of bitterness, in the knowledge that he would probably remain the lapdog of Sidious forever.

If anyone had a reason for a death wish, Vader had plenty.

fluffy
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mungflesh
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Young Anakin Skywalker may have been reckless, but the older Darth Vader is anything but.

Note that Vader isn't generally on the front lines, with the exception of the first Battle of the Death Star. He boarded the Tantive IV while his troops were mopping up after the vessel was mostly secure. He did the same on Hoth, and while he entered Cloud City before it was secure, he was entering a civilian environment with an overwhelming military force and no resistance. This is not out-of-line with the behavior of a General in any army. Yes, there may be still be fighting occurring when a General enters into a newly-secured area, but he usually enters into it after it is mostly secured; unless things go badly awry, he's not on the front line.

When he did enter the battle directly at both First and Second Death Star, as well as in Cloud City, it was because he was uniquely qualified for the task. In all three situations, his mastery of the Force played a critical role in the reason he entered the fray. At First Death Star, for example, his piloting skills made him uniquely qualified to pursue the young hotshot pilot who was attempting to destroy the station with a snub fighter. In these situations, he was taking a necessary risk.

Additionally, as noted by @jpmc26 in the comments, Vader didn't put himself directly into the fray at First Death Star. His mission was specific: Destroy units on their final attack run. The bulk of the enemy force had been destroyed, and there was little chance that the units on the attack run would be able to effectively counterattack. He was also flying with two wingmen for cover. The risk to him was minimal. That a raging lunatic would choose to fly a freighter into the trench to attack from the rear was a possibility so remote that it could not have been foreseen.

Deacon
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    Also worth noting about the Death Star run: Vader didn't put himself directly in the fray. He took a very specific mission of destroying units making their final attack run. In this situation, is was difficult if not impossible for them to effectively attack his ship, and he still had two fighters covering his rear. So even here, you could make a case he's minimize the risk to himself. – jpmc26 Feb 03 '16 at 01:18
  • Excellent point, @jpmc26! I wish I'd thought of it myself! – Deacon Feb 03 '16 at 13:21
  • You are welcome to edit it into your answer if you wish. =) Comments are ephemeral after all. – jpmc26 Feb 03 '16 at 17:46
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    +1 for "raging lunatic would choose to fly a freighter into the trench" – Angew is no longer proud of SO Feb 05 '16 at 11:24
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Vader is an Alpha male (as seen in his posturing with the imperial officer on the Death Star), this type of bravado is typical of an Alpha male type. He likes being in the thick of the action and showing everyone just who is the boss.

This is complimented with his supreme confidence in his skills. I wouldn't say he was over confident in these situations because he came out of them unscathed. One exception to this would be in A New Hope where the Millennium Falcon shoots him off into space. However this is a case of the situation changing after he has committed to it.

It is also shown in the prequels that Anakin had pretty good prescience. He foresaw

Padme's death

As well as the Jedi's seeing things before they happen during podracing. It is therefore possible that Vader has a danger sense that allows him to see if a situation will be dangerous to him.

Cearon O'Flynn
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Vader barely does compared to other Movies/TV shows: It's basically the same reason Kirk (or other command staff) beams down in Star Trek, Sheridan flies combat missions in B5, and in every other military drama command staff are in the thick of things during combat missions. Is so prevalent and over the top in every other show that Vader's being in the thick of things seems down right reasonable in comparison to most other instances.

Standard TV Tropes Warning: The Main Characters Do Everything

aslum
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    This is surely the best out-of-universe answer, but the normal assumption on this stack is that answers are meant to be in-universe unless otherwise specified. – Todd Wilcox Feb 02 '16 at 16:36
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Because in the first movie, Vader was not the second most powerful man in the Galaxy, he was a thug. Vader did not command the Death Star. Other officers on the ship treated him with contempt. Leah talks to Tarkin about Vader, insulting him to his face and Vader takes it like a flunky.

Vader was just a mid-level baddy, just the one you would expect to be running about in a Tie fighter rather than steering the ship. Vader's elevation to cult hero status rose after the first movie, and was not a part of the original plan.

Oldcat
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    Very interesting theory indeed. So Vader was supposed to be our image of the empire, personified by a mid-level officer. The three counterarguments I can see are (1) Vader does not have an ordinary military rank, unless Darth was meant to be a fictional military rank, like moff. But many things indicate that Darth was originally meant as a name. (2) I think that even in the first film, he is often called Lord Vader. Do you call a mid-level commander "lord?" And (3) Leia immediately recognises Vader, suggesting that he is quite well-known in the galaxy. – Gaussler Feb 03 '16 at 07:46
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    Think of him as an SS officer rather than a navy officer. Different organization, and a nastier one. You certainly would call a noble Lord "Lord" no matter what his rank - see British practice before WWI, when nobles bought rank in regiments. Lord is not a military rank. And Vader may be well known, but he wasn't well respected in that movie, by Leia or anyone else. Nobody showed him the deference that the second most powerful political actor would have, let alone an evil magician. – Oldcat Feb 03 '16 at 17:53
  • Excellent analogy, @Oldcat! I would not have thought of the SS analogy, but when you dive right down into it, that's what he is. – Deacon Feb 05 '16 at 14:35
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  1. He was a Sith trying to become more powerful than his master to kill and replace him as the Sith always do. The best way he could go about this was to inspire fear in the rebels by showing mercilessness, a total lack of fear of death for himself and that he knew he was too powerful for them to kill.

  2. Sidious was a Sith Lord, his job is to train an apprentice that can become powerful enough to kill and replace him (and then accept the same responsibility), if Vader was too scared to go into extremely dangerous situations, he could never kill Sidious.

  3. Vader had already sent Stormtroopers into most all of these situations, so if it was a trap they would have died and not (hopefully) him.

Patrick Schaefer
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  • Well, carelessness implies incompetence, and that doesn't necessarily inspire fear. +1 about the redshirts, I mean stormtroopers, though. – einpoklum Feb 05 '16 at 23:14
  • If it was a trap, I wouldn't have wasted it on the fodders. I'd make it inviting for the carp to fall into the trap. – Lie Ryan Feb 06 '16 at 09:37
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Captain Antilles was quoted as saying it was a consular ship on a diplomatic mission. I believe they were just trying to play low key and not do anything that would attract the Empire.

Rick Henderson
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One point I do not see is the trust factor. Vader and Palpatine barely trust each other (when Vader sensed Luke on Endor, Palpatine immediately questioned his motives). They know that many of the Moffs and Admirals are lazy, greedy, and self-serving. Vader's presence, both as the Emperor's right hand and as a Force User helps to keep them in line and on task.

Xavon_Wrentaile
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  • But how does that equate to him being careless, which was the question? – Deacon Feb 05 '16 at 14:33
  • The question assumes he was being careless because he put himself at risk at various points. My point, to expand on what so many others have said, is that he was not being careless, there was a legitimate reason for him to be in those situations. – Xavon_Wrentaile Feb 06 '16 at 16:00
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Why? Since otherwise they would have to call the movie "No new hope."

Seriously, though, they're all careless.

  • Why did Leia not make 10 copies of the plans and send them with different people?
  • Why did the empire waste a nigh-infinite amount of resources on constructing the ridiculous ball of metal in space?

You should suspend your disbelief more.

einpoklum
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  • A couple things: First, Leia may not have had other trustworthy droids, or she may not have had more hardware on which to save copies of the plans, or she may have had both but not enough time to use them. Second, that ridiculous ball of metal is the only thing ever created that could destroy whole planets, so it isn't crazy for them to put a bunch of effort into it. Lastly, answers here are generally meant to be in-universe answers unless otherwise specified – Kevin May 12 '17 at 18:01
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    @KevinWells: (1) No need for trustworthiness if you have numbers. (2) Seriously? :-) ... anyway, that's just a homunculus argument: Why did she go get the death star plans without blank media to make copies? (3) It's useless to destroy planets; and with the same amount of resources the empire could probably have, I dunno, quadrupled its fleet size. (4) A nice large nuclear fusion (or whatever they use to power their ship reactors) bomb can destroy a planet just fine. (5) I'm sort of arguing there isn't a good in-universe answer and "you should really just relax" like they say on MST3K. – einpoklum May 12 '17 at 20:14
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He was careless for the sake of character development. A main villian who safely sits at the Emepror's side like a lapdog is not very engaging for the audience.

mccainz
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    Welcome! Answers here are expected to be in-universe, unless otherwise stated, so this isn't really the sort of thing people are looking for. Also, this angle has largely been covered already by aslum's answer. – David Richerby Feb 03 '16 at 18:52
  • Ahh, I see, sort of a fan fiction type of arrangement. Understood. – mccainz Feb 03 '16 at 19:03
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    Mccainz not that sort of in-universe. What we mean is that the explanation should come from within the existing Star Wars universe. Talking about character development is a comment from outside the 'universe's. – AncientSwordRage Feb 03 '16 at 19:27
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Maybe he is in search of his children. He may have joined the dark side but deep inside he still is a Jedi.
Also being the empire's main commander it was his duty to make sure things are done well.

Rand al'Thor
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Amit Kumar
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