Star Wars fans horrified to learn Palpatine wasn't the 'true villain'

Throughout all the Star Wars films, Palpatine has been the villain responsible for the war and the darkness plaguing the galaxy.

Even Darth Vader was merely a puppet used by the emperor in order to sow chaos and villainy throughout the Star Wars storyline.

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It turns out, that at one point George Lucas had planned for another character to be the grand evil presence instead.

According to a discovery on Reddit, Lucas originally planned for Grand Moff Tarkin to be the true villain of the story, with Darth Vader being merely a henchman.

Lucas apparently saw the reception to Vader and made the shift of both him and the emperor being the main villains and demoted Tarkin.

While some fans are in agreement that the picture was painted as such, others aren’t convinced.

“Watching the original Vader does seem kinda like the top henchman,” said relapse_account.

This story may have been inflated though, as Vader is always sinister and, to me, comes across as a force to be reckoned with.

“Yeah, Palpatine began the story as a puppet. I've always felt the Vader as henchman idea gets overstated a tad, though. It's his image looming over the heroes on the posters, not Tarkin's,” said Nimrod48.

Other fans explore the idea with their comments making a case for this being the general tone of the first film.

“Tarkin is clearly the main villain of the first movie, Vader only "barely" following his orders, it is clear that Vader is untouchable, but he isn't the one in command,” explains zennim.

Another Redditor shows that through dialogue, this was Lucas’ initial intention - “"Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash." Tarkin is clearly shown to be Vader's superior in A New Hope.”

That would have made for a very different set of films, especially as the henchman would eventually overshadow the villain.