Star Wars Rebels provided audiences with a deeper look into the horrors of the Galactic Empire and how they negatively affected individual communities and planets, and it also gave Grand Moff Tarkin an even darker legacy that isn’t related to the Death Star. Most of Rebels revolves around Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger and his found family aboard the Rebel ship the Ghost. Over four seasons, Rebels showed the toll that the Rebel Alliance took on its members as well as the people impacted by the Empire’s injustices.
Though Rebels took audiences to many different planets in the galaxy, it primarily took place on and kept returning to the Outer Rim world of Lothal. Ezra Bridger’s home planet of Lothal became the home to an Imperial factory that produced equipment like Grand Admiral Thrawn’s failed TIE Defender ships. Because of the Imperial hold on Lothal by order of Grand Moff Tarkin, however, many people were ousted from their homes and land.
Grand Admiral Thrawn, along with other Rebels characters like Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, and Chopper, all returned in live-action for Ahsoka season 1.
As Governor Of The Outer Rim, Tarkin Was Responsible For More Than Just The Death Star
His Legacy is Reminiscent of Great Depression Era History
In Rebels, audiences were introduced to “Tarkintown”, a slum area of Lothal that was essentially a refugee camp for people who had been expelled from their homes when the Empire claimed land. Because Tarkin was the governor of the Outer Rim, the settlement was named after him. So, while audiences largely know Tarkin from his legacy of using the Death Star on planets like Scarif and Alderaan, for the people of the Star Wars galaxy, his legacy was one that displaced people from their homes.
The name “Tarkintown” was an ironic reference to the Great Depression-era shantytowns called Hoovervilles. Hoovervilles were named after then US President Herbert Hoover, whose economic policies were blamed for exacerbating the economic strife after the collapse of the stock market. Star Wars has a long legacy of referencing and basing aspects of the galaxy on real-world events. For example, the original Star Wars trilogy was a response to the United States’ war in Vietnam. So, seeing another reference to the real-world isn’t unwarranted or anything new to the franchise.
Lothal May Have Only Had One Of The Galaxy’s Tarkintowns
If the Hooverville Comparison Holds True
During the Great Depression, the Hooverville shantytowns were widespread across the US, and not just one settlement. By applying this reasoning to Rebels’ Tarkintown, it’s not a stretch to believe that Lothal’s Tarkintown is only one of many spread across the Outer Rim. The Empire was known for using and abusing the galaxy’s Outer Rim, so having people ousted from their homes and forced into settlements like Tarkintown wouldn’t be solely a Lothal problem.
Though the Empire would burn down Tarkintown in Rebels, it’s likely the encampment was rebuilt somewhere else. Rebels season 4 reveals that the Empire started to decimate Lothal’s local agriculture, which indicates that more and more people were forced to relocate. It’s possible that audiences may see another version of Tarkintown in other Star Wars тιтles, and observing how they operate outside of Star Wars Rebels would make for a compelling story.
