How the Empire Reacted to Darth Vader's First Appearance - Star Wars Explained

As the Emperor’s main enforcer, Darth Vader quickly made himself well known across the galaxy as he spearheaded many of the Empire’s military campaigns to claim and later maintain its grip over the galaxy. While he sparked a deep fear in the Empire’s enemies, that same fear also spread among the Imperial ranks as officers were brought up to speed with who Vader was and his true authority when they were first introduced to him by Palpatine. First in Canon, Darth Vader was officially introduced to the officers of the Empire following a few failed assassination attempts on the Dark Lord.

Initially, Vader just came out of nowhere and was given command of Imperial units without much clarification of who he was or his relation to Palpatine. This caused some conflict among Imperials that Vader worked with, with many of them not taking him seriously at first as they didn’t understand his true power. In reaction to the disrespect Vader faced at first, he tended to kill the Imperials out right.

That made Palpatine unhappy, as he didn’t want to rule an Empire of dead men. So he told Vader to knock it off and that he couldn’t go around killing everyone who made him angry. As such, the Imperials that worked alongside Vader continued to view and treat him as if he were just some brute that wore a mobile life support system.

However, a few weeks later Vader discovered that a few high ranking Imperial officers had staged a few assassination attempts on him, likely revenge on him for how he treated them earlier. He couldn’t conclude exactly who these men were, but he knew they came from the high command staff. So Vader came to Palpatine and explained what he knew and that he believed it was necessary to punish a few Imperials as an example to the rest.

Palpatine agreed, also viewing this as a great opportunity to officially establish Vader’s role in the Empire to his military. So Palpatine called up all the higher ups of the various branches of the Imperial military to formally introduce Vader. He explained to them that Vader spoke on behalf of himself, that an order from him was to be treated as an order directly from himself.

They were all to clearly pass this information down to their men to eliminate any future confusion. Once Palpatine finished, Vader then stepped up and called up 5 random names, asking them to approach forward. He explained how he survived 2 assassination attempts and discovered they came from the higher command of the officer core.

He didn’t know exactly who planned these assassinations, but that didn’t matter to him. He would always survive, but they would not if they continued with their actions. Vader then force choked the 5 unfortunate, randomly selected officers as an example to the rest of the room.

The room quickly was swept with fear as everyone witnessed their fellow peers just get executed with a power they didn’t understand. And for most of them it was enough to never question Vader’s authority again. In Legends, Darth Vader was officially introduced to the Empire a few days following the creation of the New Order.

Before the arrival of the two Sith, the officers were all crowded into the audience chamber, casually making small talk with each other as some talked about how they were given honorary awards for accomplishments they didn’t fully deserve. A few mentioned their doubts on what really happened to the traitor maked Jedi, and how their accomplishments in the Clone Wars were being erased and instead given to regular generals. Upon the arrival of Palpatine and Vader, the room went silent and stood at attention.

When they first saw Palpatine, many gasped in shock to see how deformed he was from the apparent attack the Jedi staged on him. Hoping to make it clear to everyone what had happened to him, Palpatine decided to set the story straight of how the Jedi tried to assassinate him. But while he was giving his explanation, an Imperial officer yelled out how he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

In reaction to the officer’s outburst, Vader angrily asked the man if he was suggesting that the Emperor was lying. Palpatine then decided now would be an excellent time to introduce everyone to his new enforcer, clarifying that Vader spoke on behalf of himself. Vader then demanded the officer to answer his question again.

The officer tried to suggest that a mistake must of been made, as the Jedi he knew would never have done the act the Emperor suggested. But before he could finish his case, the man was lifted up and force choked by Vader in front of everyone. His lifeless body was then slammed into the crowd, with Vader sarcastically asking if anyone else had any more questions for the Emperor.

With the room remaining silent, Vader then established the new rules of how absolute loyalty was to be expected at all times. And that due to the current chaotic state of the galaxy, that resignations were temporary not allowed. Once everyone was dismissed to leave, some officers began to have doubts about what they had originally signed up for, as they realized how little their lives meant to the Emperor.

Others believed that once the galaxy was stabilized, that they would be allowed to resign, but in the meantime it was best to keep a low profile and not show any signs of treachery. While others who held great ambitions were ready to do whatever it took to climb the ranks of the empire and in a way impress the unnaturally powerful being they just witnessed that was Darth Vader.