In the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Director of the Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research Orson Callan Krennic hurriedly goes to Fortress Vader on Mustafar to meet with the Sith Lord after the events of the destruction of Jedha City and the Rebel attack on the Imperial facility on Eadu.
Why did he visit Vader rather than the Emperor, and for what purpose?
Here’s what you need to know.
Why did Krennic visit Vader?
“Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Director.“
―Darth Vader
Krennic was summoned to an audience with Darth Vader after the death of Galen Erso on Eadu, a summons that the Director eagerly took up primarily because Vader had the means to get him an audience with the Emperor. Krennic was both ambitious and convinced of his own grandeur and openly admitted to Vader that he saw himself as having delivered something invaluable to the Emperor and deserving of an opportunity to discuss it with him.
Despite his rank, Krennic could not have secured an audience with the Emperor.
Palpatine had become more cautious and paranoid than ever upon becoming Emperor and would have never taken to such a self-serving request from a subordinate.
Knowing this, Krennic opted instead to seek out Vader, who was much more accessible due to him being an active military asset in addition to his position within the Imperial hierarchy.
Unfortunately, Vader was able to identify Krennic as an incompetent liability and the primary cause of the earlier Rebel victory.
Vader had summoned Krennic to tell him the consequences of his sloppy comportment and instructed him to be more vigilant and make sure that the Death Star had not been compromised in any way by the traitor.
Instead of receiving an audience with the Emperor, Krennic was instead reprimanded and Force choked to teach him a lesson.
Interestingly enough, Krennic fails to do this properly and is in part responsible for the destruction of the Death Star, as the exploitable weakness in its construction could have been found if he had followed Vader’s instructions more efficiently.
Conclusion
Vader’s interaction with Krennic goes a long way to show just how analytical the SIth Lord could be, as well as detailing the structure of the information network through the Imperial machine.
In addition to showing Vader as a formidable leader and cautious strategist, we also get to see how Darth Sidious let his paranoid and overly calculating nature cut him off from the happenings of his Empire and cause losses that his significant intellect might have otherwise been able to mitigate to instead occur freely.
Are you passionate about Star Wars and want to earn some flexible income?