Long-time fans readily remember when Vader choked Admiral Motti in A New Hope. The Imperial meeting scene has become legendary for Vader’s Force choking skills. Motti comes off as confident about the Death Star and defiant of Vader before he was choked. Was he crazy or stupid to act this way? Not really, he had good grounds to speak up as an Imperial officer.
Was Admiral Motti Foolish When He Insulted Vader?
Fans on this discussion board raised the question about whether Motti acted foolishly when he insulted Vader. At first glance, we may think he did. After all, Vader was an all-powerful Sith lord. Yet, coinciding with many posts, Motti was playing the part of a high-ranking officer who would not be so aware or concerned about Vader.
We can gain a sense of this viewpoint in the original scene above. Motti agreed with Grand Moff Tarkin about the power of the Death Star and how it would strike fear into the galaxy. He was consumed with the futility of attack by the Rebels against a battle station that was now “the ultimate power in the universe.” He was not concerned with outdated notions about the Force that Vader expressed.
Motti’s viewpoint becomes even clearer after the two seasons of Andor. As one post stated in the above discussion, the Empire consisted of “a highly professional military force full of competent officers” that had climbed the ranks of leadership over many years. This bureaucratic Empire included Motti as an admiral and naval chief.
Similar to the rise (and fall) of Andor officer characters like Dedra Meero, Motti had spent his time ambitiously carving out an Imperial career. He contrasted with Meero in his “wealthy family” background, but was comparable in his swift rise “through the ranks.” In his case, he went from flag officer to acting naval chief to commander of a Star Destroyer.
By the events of A New Hope, Motti was Admiral of the Navy, leader of Death Star naval operations, and a close ally of Tarkin. This background speaks to his engrossment in the Imperial military and political world, unaware or unconcerned about the Force and its mysterious doings.
Those Who Helped Foster Motti’s Views
The Death Star conference room would have been Motti’s comfort zone too. It was located on the officer’s deck where Tarkin held regular meetings with the top officers. This particular meeting was to announce how the Emperor had disbanded the Senate and included a range of Imperial officers who were likewise deeply embedded in the Imperial bureaucracy.
Wullf Yularen straddled the military and intelligence world with his positions as fleet admiral at the start of the Clone Wars and previously in the Senate Bureau of Intelligence. At the conference room meeting, Yularen was a colonel in the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) and could appreciate and foster both Motti and Meero’s outlooks.
Another influential high-ranking officer was Cassio Tagge, who served as Chief of the Imperial Army. Although Tagge disagreed with Tarkin and Motti’s full-blown trust in the Death Star, he had an “acrimonious relationship with Darth Vader.” Both Tagge and Motti felt emboldened enough by their Imperial pursuits to challenge the dark Sith lord.
We can remember that most Imperial officers would not truly know who Vader was. Outside of Palpatine, those who knew that Anakin was Vader were largely Jedi, Tarkin, and Thrawn. Those within the Empire’s upper echelons knew Vader as a powerful, rogue figure who operated strangely outside of their accustomed ranks.
Between their own privileged positions and lack of knowledge, officers like Motti felt confident in the workings of the Empire. He and others were skeptical and resentful of those like Vader who had worked around the Imperial structures.
Motti Insulted Vader
While we may see Motti’s actions as unwise or even stupid, he had his reasons for speaking roughly to Vader. As an entrenched high-ranking officer in the Imperial bureaucracy, he felt ensconced in something much larger than the mysticism of an ancient religion. His hubris was his downfall, but we can recognize why he felt this way.