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Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, introduced as the main antagonist of the  original 1977 Star Wars film (played by Peter Cushing). In the film, Tarkin is depicted as a high-ranking officer of the Galactic Empire, placed in charge of the operations on the Death Star, the Empire's dwarf planet-sized battle station. He orders the destruction of the planet Alderaan by the station's superlaser, and is killed at the end of the film by Luke Skywalker, who destroys the Death Star with Tarkin still on board.
Outside of the original film, Tarkin has made appearances in various canon and non-canon Star Wars media, including the animated series The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch, and the films Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One. He is also the protagonist of the 2014 novel Tarkin, which details the character's backstory and rise to power within the Empire's ranks. In the novel, Tarkin advocates for the Tarkin Doctrine, a military system based on "the threat of force, rather than force itself". His philosophy becomes central to Imperial policy and earns him the position of the first Grand Moff in the Empire.
Tarkin's character has been well received, and he has been called "one of the most formidable villains in Star Wars history."Rogue One (2016)
In the film Rogue One (which takes place just before the events in A New Hope), Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Imperial Military, meets with Tarkin, who expresses his skepticism about Krennic's management of the Death Star project. Tarkin oversees the Death Star's first attack on the Rebellion when it is used to destroy the Holy City of the planet Jedha. Impressed, he congratulates Krennic before announcing that he is going to take command of the Death Star from that point on, pointing out security breaches that had occurred under Krennic's command (much to Krennic's chagrin). Later in the film, Tarkin is informed of a Rebel attack on Scarif, the planet where the plans to the Death Star are kept. He orders the jump to hyperspace to the planet, where an ongoing battle between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance rages. Tarkin has the Death Star target and destroy the Scarif base, killing Krennic, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and any other survivor of the ground battle.Novels
Tarkin appears in Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel, the prequel novel to Rogue One, where Tarkin forms a rivalry with Advanced Weapons Director Orson Krennic.Tarkin (2014)
Star Wars: Tarkin explores the title character's origins, and chronicles how he meets and aligns himself with Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader prior to the events of A New Hope. The novel was one of the first four canon novels to be released in 2014 and 2015. Tarkin's Star Destroyer, the Executrix, is introduced; it later appears in Rogue One.
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