LoneStranger said:
The only thing I have issue with is the Tarkin-G'Kar comparison...
-SNIP-
Yup. What I meant, was that G'kar at Pre-B5 times can be nasty.
Although he doesn't want to impose his view of how things should be on All the galacy like Tarkin (it's in the Empire's credo after all), he is almost as bad (just not so secure in his power, thus more scheming and devious - see "The Gathering"; I presume Tarkin in before-ANH times was also a devious yet charismatic git; all the books and BG info point in that direction, only after he bacame "Great Moff" did he no longer need to be subtle in his dealings with anyone but the Emperor and Vader...)
However, the basic mindset is the same, only the scope of G'Kar is a bit smaller, and his reasons are a bit more personal. Both follow a "Grand Cause" (Tarkin - bringing "Order" to the galaxy and assuring supremacy of his people; G'Kar - bringing "Justice" to the Centauri and ensure the safety of his people), which in their eyes is worth a few (or more) sacrifices (as long as others are sacrificed); both think the end justifies the means.
Only G'Kar has still some compassion left (see his actions with Sakai), as long as he can afford to (one of the less canon books mentions him doing some atrocities of his own during the time when the Narn Regime subjugated races like the T'llin or Tachunq - and those stories seem likely, since the Narn certainly weren't nice in their quest to build the strength to take on the Centauri after their first liberation...).
Tarkin has left all compassion behind, for him the millions humans and aliens on Alderaan are just a statistic in the empire's history, no more then a footnote. G'Kar isn't at that point, not by quite a bit... however, he might have taken that road, if things had gone quite differently. But these differences between him and Trakin were what made the Shadows look elsewhere - G'Kar thought to small, had too limited a goal to create wide-spread chaos, was too focussed on his enemy instead of pursuing a grand destiny that was likely to bring him into conflict with many other races... his great goal was limited to one race, one small region of space, and he didn't intend to go beyond that. Tarkin (or Londo for that matter) had an unlimited (and in Londo's case, diffuse and not entirely thought through) goal, something that wouldn't stop, but would have to continue no matter what (even if the empire had won, it would have been only a matter of time before the next rebellion had sprung up in one other corner of the galaxy; even if the Centauri had archieved Londo's dream of regaining their greatness fully, it would only have been a matter of time before their expansion would have brought them into contact with new enemies, or old ones had risen up in resistance again)
As for reasons... The Narn have suffered greatly under Centauri rule, and now believe they have the right to make others suffer the same in the name of making sure their people will never again suffer thus. I could make another comparison, but I wish to avoid cans I know containg worms, and current politics is always one of those. I don't know all about Tarkin and the BG of the empire (after all, you never know if GL isn't going to throw in some new info in E-3), but while he may have started out from an honest desire to make sure something like the clone wars (and the other troubles created by the crumbling of the republic - and we don't know if Tarking hasn't suffered some personal trageties of his own to make him the man we saw in "ANH") can never happen again, he became drawn too deeply into "the dark side" (not of the force, but of human nature in this case... well, maybe the force too, one never knows where the Emperor's influence stops in SW...), calmly planning genocide as logical step toward his goal.
But still, G'Kar in pre-B5 times IS a very "grey" character; not really to be trusted and capable of doing a lot of nasty things if it furthers the cause of the Narn regime. Not quite as evil as Tarkin (who I'd rate just a bit below Jha'Dur - he at least didn't enjoy his "work" as much; and at least didn't go out of his way to kill bystanders unless it was neccessary for his cause, while Jha'Dur did that just as "practice", besides doing things in her labs that would have Dr.Mengele throw up his lunch...), but still pretty bad under the right (or wrong) circumstances.
Damn, I'm writing a rant again, am I not? OK, ok, I'll stop now... :wink:
