Tarkin dying on the Death Star feels like it should be one of the biggest losses the Empire ever takes. He’s the guy running the station, the guy with the Doctrine, the guy Palpatine trusted to squeeze entire systems into line.
And yet there’s a reason this question keeps coming up among fans: was Palpatine actually upset about losing Tarkin… or did he see it as one less future problem to deal with?
Palpatine Was Glad Tarkin Died With the Death Star
If you look at Tarkin through Palpatine’s eyes, he’s useful… but he’s also dangerous. He isn’t just a soldier following orders. He’s a builder. He has his own doctrine, his own political weight, and the kind of authority that can start to feel permanent—especially once you hand him something like the Death Star and let him run it like his personal kingdom.
And that’s the problem with people like Tarkin in a Sith-style Empire. Palpatine doesn’t want partners. He wants tools. He’ll elevate someone, let them become feared, even let them believe they’re untouchable—but the moment they start looking like an equal, they’re on a timer.
That’s why this topic exists in the first place, and why there’s an actual Legends source people point to. In Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, Palpatine leaves a handwritten marginal note saying Tarkin was “fortunate” to die with the other commanders when the Death Star exploded, because he had “far too much ambition, and his days were numbered anyway”.
What’s worse is that Palpatine’s notes reveal he tortured the Death Star’s designer and executed the architects. So even if Tarkin had survived, he likely would’ve ended up the same way—because Tarkin was the one in control of the Death Star.
Tarkin’s Ambition Was Always Going to Become a Problem
Tarkin doesn’t climb by being a loyal little administrator. In Luceno’s Tarkin, he grows into something way more uncomfortable than that: a man with his own territory, his own doctrine, and enough institutional momentum that people start talking about him like he’s the Empire’s next “voice,” not just one more officer.
By the time Palpatine names him the first Grand Moff, he isn’t just rewarding Tarkin — he’s testing what happens when you hand one person an oversector and a superweapon pipeline. Palpatine even spells out the temptation right to his face: once the battle station is finished, Tarkin will “wield the ultimate power in the galaxy.”
And Tarkin immediately starts moving like someone who believes he’s been built for this. He goes public, lays out the logic of fear and control so confidently that the media brands it the “Tarkin Doctrine,” and people openly wonder if he’s becoming the Empire’s new spokesman.
That’s the kind of “ambition” Palpatine can use… right up until it starts creating a second center of gravity in the Empire.