aita?

[insertusername]

am i the asshole?

Life isn’t always black and white. Sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s really at fault, and no one wants to believe they’re the bad guy. Sometimes you need an outside opinion. Or several.

Tell your side of the story and crowdsource an honest answer to the age old question; Am I The Asshole?

Top Level

with your character explaining a situation where they might have been the asshole.

Comment

with your hot takes. Anon or IC.

Comments

[adarkergray]

For the first one, it helped that I was far from the only engineer who was willing to accept death over being forced to keep working with the same out-of-date manuals - and that all the shipyards were ten months behind on their maintenance schedules, except for the one that was secretly using our draft revision. For the second one, perhaps someone remembered me. Or perhaps I used some... unconventional persuasive methods.

[In other words, he'd resorted to mind tricks. Vader also knew that Jacob had once been a Jedi healer, but after he'd had time to absorb the lessons of the war, he'd come to hold only disillusionment and scorn for the Order.]

And I'd like to believe that in their final moments, Krennic and Tarkin both realized the folly of their hubris. It's too bad those they left behind didn't share that lesson.

[nouskaiananki]

As if the Empire has an issue with mass death of a certain class.

[ They both know the Empire was born from mass slaughter. ]

You have talents above others, no reason not to use them. So long as you aren't caught, there is no damage done. The weak-minded are of little importance and they weren't harmed.

Krennic may have but Tarkin. I hold no hope in him.

[adarkergray]

As I recall, the Empire inherited that attitude from the Republic.    

[He doesn't resist the anger that wells up in him at the reminder of how little both the Empire and the Republic held certain lives in regard - he's already spent too many years forcing it back, and he suspects he'll never stop being angry over the Clone Wars. But if anyone understands that anger, it's Lord Vader.]

...It never ceases to amaze me how important the weak-minded consider themselves, and how many of them manage to find their way into positions so far above their level of ability. I wonder how much of it is a deliberate choice on the Emperor's part, to ensure he'll always be able to exercise exactly the level of control he wants over his subordinates, and how much is simply the bureaucracy rewarding mediocrity.

[nouskaiananki]

The Republic held that idea for centries.

[ He'd been born into the proof of it. What did it matter if slaves died? You could get more. ]

Mostly the former - very few things (officially) occur within the Empire that the Emperor doesn't have a heavy hand in approving and controlling.

[adarkergray]

Somehow, I'm not surprised that his obsession with control extends to something that petty.

[Of course, not everything goes according to the Emperor's plans - the fact that Jacob is still alive, and the bond he's forged with Lord Vader, are more than proof enough of that. Sidious' apprentice is supposed to be completely isolated; he's not supposed to have anyone who cares for him, or someone who's dumb enough to take his side no matter what.]

[nouskaiananki]

Given I was the very first to plan to remove him from his throne and replace him with another? I'm not.

[ Having Jacob was a jealously guarded secret Vader was willing to kill to protect. And it's almost entirely because of the loyalty Jacob had shown him, with a little bit of one up manship with Palpatine. ]

[adarkergray]

I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to helping you finally succeed. He's done enough.

[Unlike most dark side users, Jacob's ambition doesn't manifest in the form of seeking power or glory for himself. He only cares about recognition from those he's closest to, and he's made his peace with the fact that his strength in the Force will always be limited. However, if he's cunning enough in how he uses it, he can still be everything that Vader needs from him.]

[nouskaiananki]

Unfortunately, there does need to be someone ready to take the helm and we don't have anyone yet.

[ It's a problem he is actively working to rectify. He doesn't want it - he's content to be the enforcer behind the power, if that. ]

[adarkergray]

That's true.

[It's too bad it can't be Grand Admiral Thrawn - as much as they both admire him - but they both know why. He's a good man, and he has an unfortunate habit of assuming others are good like him - that his values are more universal than they actually are, and that there's more overlap between his concept of virtue and others' than there actually is. And while he's been right often enough to have gained some powerful allies, they wouldn't be able to keep him from being shredded by the vornskr pack that are the Moffs, and to a slightly lesser degree the rest of the bureaucracy, if he was actually running things.]

[nouskaiananki]

It's a separate, but parallel, project.

[ Vader himself would handle the Moffs, no problem. Vader also questions whether or not the Chiss even would want to. ]