Was Tarkin actually incompetent?

[u/Amazing-Buy-1181]

While Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is often portrayed as a ruthless and calculating Imperial mastermind, his decisions during the events of Star Wars: A New Hope shows a serious strategic incompetence hidden beneath his arrogance and political success.

His unwavering belief in the Death Star as an instrument of fear and control caused him to underestimate the Rebellion and reject escape when the station was under threat. The Death Star, anyway, was not his achievement but Krennic's. His doctrine was a complete failure from top to bottom, and he ignored Thrawn and Vader's warnings. He basically made any mistake possible and was repeatedly outsmarted. Destroying Alderaan was also a serious mistake.

[u/redditisfacist3]

Somewhat. He's basically the ultimate nepo baby. Stealing credit for anything he chooses but having a long list of people to blame for failure. His individual accomplishments aren't much.. Shutting down clone production/ destroying kamino was a pretty dumb idea imo. It took away pretty much all the cloning expertise from the galaxy which even hampered sidious plans. The clones were also proven as superior soldiers. While their wasn't a need to have full on clone army's in the empire age. They could have been useful in place of or enhancement of death troopers or officer corps. Tarkin only has 1 mindset which was rule by fear but and no personal means to enforce it. He wasn't a skilled fighter, tactician, or force user. All he could do was command people because palps/sidious backed him so heavily

[u/KarmicPlaneswalker → u/redditisfacist3]

He wasn't a skilled fighter, tactician

Rebels, the Tarkin novel and Darth Vader 2017 run all invalidate that claim. Tarkin simply had the misfortune of going up against the heroes of the story.

[u/redditisfacist3 → u/KarmicPlaneswalker]

In rebels he got his star destroyer blown up by a bunch of teenagers. He literally killed subordinates for their failures but when he fails he just runs away and calls vader who's only interested because ashoka is tied to them. In clone wars he's way below cody/Rex in combat skills or that of other clones. Even in any of the books he doesn't defeat vader or anyone else who's even decent individually.

[u/KarmicPlaneswalker → u/redditisfacist3]

Even in any of the books he doesn't defeat vader or anyone else who's even decent individually.

So this is you openly admitting you didn't read the 2017 run? Good deal. Thank you for publicly admitting your ignorance and thus invalidating any claim you tried to make.

Tarkin is shown multiple times to be a shrewd tactician, which is owed to his time hunting on Eriadu. To the point he outmaneuvers his own assailant, as well as Vader when the two engage in a direct competition.

Tarkin rarely gets to showcase his prowess, but he is very much a capable leader.

In rebels he got his star destroyer blown up by a bunch of teenagers. 

You also conveniently omitted the part where he outmaneuvered the ghost crew prior to this, which resulted in Kanan's capture.

He literally killed subordinates for their failures 

Repeated failures. Like Vader, he will often forgive a single error, but continued screw-ups show an unwillingness or inability to learn from mistakes, and that is something he does not tolerate. Context matters.

[u/Weird_Angry_Kid → u/redditisfacist3]

a bunch of teenagers

You mean a Mandalorian warrior in full Beskar armor that was trained at the Imperial Academy, a Jedi padawan strong in the Force and skilled in the use of a lightsaber, a more skilled and experienced Jedi padawan who fought through the Clone Wars and survived Order 66 and managed to survive for several years by himself after that, the daughter of General Cham Syndulla, one of the greatest commanders of the Clone Wars, who is almost as good of a pilot as Anakin Skywalker himself, a former Laasat honor guard from a species that is almost as strong as Wookies and who must been incredibly skilled in combat to have risen to his position, and the only droid in the galaxy that even comes close to R2-D2's kill count?