Your favorite Star Wars villain who dies in the same episode he's introduced

[devilbat]

My vote goes to Darth Maul. He was the only bright spot of Episode 1, and deserved a far better death then was written.

 

[John Crichton]

Grievous

> snip <

had a memorable style of speaking that is only rivaled by that of Jabba.

You spelled Yoda wrong. You spelled it J-A-B-B-A. Tsk tsk.

 

[John Crichton]

I voted Tarkin. He out-cooled and bad-assed Vader in ANH, which ain't easy to do. Others have already mentioned the planet destroying and Leia bluffing. He was sooo damn menacing and cavalier.

Maul and Grievous were very cool but they are a different kind of villain. Anyone can put together a good fight and look bad-ass but not all villains are truly villainous.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Plus, he treated Vader like his lapdog

This seemed even more impressive to me after watching the entire trilogy. In the first movie, it merely seems like Tarkin is ordering around a subordinate. But after seeing all three movies several things become clear. Namely the fact that Vader could have physically crushed Tarkin like a bug, and that Vader had more clout with the Emperor than just about anyone.

So basically, Tarkin was either fearless, or crazy, or both. And ruthless, to boot.

Tarkin all the way.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Tarkin may be the thinking man's villain, but I'd much rather come across him in a darkened alley than Darth Maul.

I liked Tarkin, but I saw exactly enough of him as I needed to see. Maul, OTOH, left me wanting much more. Remember the speculation leading up to Episode II that involved some kind of "Return of Darth Maul" (I remember hearing about some fight with multiple Maul-clones)? That excited a lot of people, and I was quite frankly surprised Lucas didn't bite.

Maul had a kickass weapon we'd never seen before, he had powers to rival a Jedi, he made as sweet an entrance as Vader would make later in Ep. IV, and then he wasted one of the nicest guys ever in the SW universe.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Maul had a kickass weapon we'd never seen before...

Actually, back in the Tales of the Jedi comics, Exar Kun was the first with the double bladed lightsaber. And since Lucas is a self stated fan of those comics, its no surprise he lifted the idea.

Still, Maul was cool. I never liked him enough to want him to come back as so many people did(there were even rumours that Grievous was made from the top half of Maul at one point), but he was great for his part in tPM.

 

[Orius]

Maul kicked ass, but had no lines (ok, he had all of 1 line in the entire move). He was more style than substance really.
Jango was a punk that got wasted by Mace Windu.
Grievous was a silly wheezing droid that never came off as menacing.
Jabba is in more than one movie, so he doesn't count — even if you want to disregard Episode IV SE, he does make a cameo appearance in TPM.

Tarkin, hands down.

He's a cold, ruthless, classical sort of villain. His iconic scene of villainy is the scene where he orders the destruction of Alderaan to get Leia to talk, and when she finally does talk, he turns around and orders Alderaan's destruction anyway. He has the best dialogue of all the villains. He also is the only character besides Palpatine himself that manages to reign in Vader, which bumps his impressibility up a few notches. He also has the blind arrogance of a great villain: "Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances."

 

[Orius]

How come I don't see Greedo on that list?

Greedo was an even bigger punk than Jango that got wasted in an even worse way.

And his EU treatment makes him into yet an even bigger punk.

Greedo don't belong on that list.

 

[Orius]

Tarkin is great, yes, but he can't use four lightsabers simultaneously..

Bah, who needs multiple lightsabers when you can destroy entire planets?

 

[demiurge1138]

Bah, who needs multiple lightsabers when you can destroy entire planets?

Well, this poll isn't about power. It's about favorites. And, since Greivous fills me with malicious child-like glee, he wins, even though Tarkin is probably the more dangerous in the long run.

Demiurge out.