History YouHaveFailedMe / StarWars

** [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Aresko and Grint]] repeatedly fail to deal with rebel operations on Lothal. In response, Governor Tarkin has the Grand Inquisitor execute them in front of Agent Kallus and Minister Tua, making it clear that they're next if they screw up as well.

** It's noted in one of the novels that the fastest way to promotion in the Imperial Navy was to get yourself assigned to Vader's flagship, the ''Executor''. The flip side of that coin is, as Captain Pellaeon says, this meant the crew of the ''Executor'' was entirely staffed by people who were either hypercompetent or very lucky (Vader was known for strangling people who delivered messages to his quarters while he was in a bad mood, so the crew drew lots whenever someone had to do that, with the honor going to the loser), since they were the only ones who survived, which meant that when it was destroyed at Endor the Empire lost the best of the officer corps along with it.

** In others [[PragmaticVillainy he's evil, not stupid]] — while he's brutal to those he's decided are useless, "the last time" was ''never'' the first time; you had to screw up habitually, badly, or in Ozzel's case, ''both''. According to ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', Ozzel was a [[TheNeidermeyer Neidermeyer]] who loved to [[NeverMyFault blame subordinates for his own mistakes]] and kept his job mainly through family connections, meaning that Vader was looking for any excuse to get rid of him. Indeed, in ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]'', Mara Jade asks Vader to keep an eye on then-Captain Ozzel, with the implication that his promotion to Vader's flagship is Vader's way of doing exactly that. Vader was certainly harsh but he wasn't ''completely'' unreasonable; if your failure was the result of something you had control over (e.g. you didn't utilize resources properly, you gave up too quickly, you had poor judgement, [[RunningGag you were Admiral Ozzel]]), then you said goodbye to your trachea. However, if the failure was a result of something you had no control over (you lost a battle because of unexpected enemy reinforcements), he'd let you live, but you ''damn well better'' plan for whatever tripped you up the next time. This would seem to be the intended characterization from the films, as seen when Vader ''didn't'' kill Piett when the ''Falcon'' escaped. In this case his trap failed because R2 arrived with Luke and repaired the sabotage to the ''Falcon'' — something that Piett couldn't have expected, and was in fact partially ''Vader's'' fault because he'd drawn Luke there in the first place and just locked R2 out and let the droid go instead of destroying him.

** In others he's evil, not stupid — while he's brutal to those he's decided are useless, "the last time" was ''never'' the first time; you had to screw up habitually, badly, or in Ozzel's case, ''both''. According to ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', Ozzel was a [[TheNeidermeyer Neidermeyer]] who loved to [[NeverMyFault blame subordinates for his own mistakes]] and kept his job mainly through family connections, meaning that Vader was looking for any excuse to get rid of him. Indeed, in ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]'', Mara Jade asks Vader to keep an eye on then-Captain Ozzel, with the implication that his promotion to Vader's flagship is Vader's way of doing exactly that. Vader was certainly harsh but he wasn't ''completely'' unreasonable; if your failure was the result of something you had control over (e.g. you didn't utilize resources properly, you gave up too quickly, you had poor judgement, [[RunningGag you were Admiral Ozzel]]), then you said goodbye to your trachea. However, if the failure was a result of something you had no control over (you lost a battle because of unexpected enemy reinforcements), he'd let you live, but you ''damn well better'' plan for whatever tripped you up the next time. This would seem to be the intended characterization from the films, as seen when Vader ''didn't'' kill Piett when the ''Falcon'' escaped. In this case his trap failed because R2 arrived with Luke and repaired the sabotage to the ''Falcon'' — something that Piett couldn't have expected, and was in fact partially ''Vader's'' fault because he'd drawn Luke there in the first place and just locked R2 out and let the droid go instead of destroying him.

* The trope name originates from ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', and possibly the most famous instance: Darth Vader's PreMortemOneLiner "You have failed me for the last time" before choking Admiral Ozzel to death for botching the fleet's approach to Hoth. Ozzel had brought the Imperial fleet out of hyperspace too close to Hoth, which gave the Rebels enough advance warning to activate their shield generator and begin evacuating before the fleet was in position to attack. Ozzel's death deserves special mention, as Vader wasn't even in the same room and killed him ''over the intercom/viewscreen'', promoting Captain Piett to Admiral before the body hits the floor.

* As ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy'' shows, the Sith are pretty big fans of this in general, at least in the Legends continuity. It’s made clear they tend see anyone who’s not a fellow Sith or related to them as [[AMillionIsAStatistic expendable and interchangeable]], so their attitude is pretty much “if I kill this dude who’s failing, a new dude will replace him and maybe won’t screw up”. The result, of course, is that most of the stormtroopers and imperial officers hate them, with most only serving out of fear or loyalty to the Fel Empire, which the Sith forcibly took control of. Special mention has to go to [[AxeCrazy Darth Azard]], who seems to brutally kill subordinates for failure [[UpToEleven in every single scene he’s in]]. At one point we see him chop one poor guy in half [[DisproportionateRetribution just for getting]] [[JediMindTrick mind-tricked]].

* Subverted in an issue of the original ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' comics. An Admiral Giel meets with Vader to dissect the result important mission, in which a Rebel infiltration squad led by [[TheHero Luke Skywalker]] destroys the Empire's latest superweapon. Giel, noting that no amount of preparation could have anticipated the Rebels' successful infiltration gambit, refused to be blamed for the catastrophe, but nevertheless accepts the responsibility for the loss and stands prepared to receive his punishment. Unlike with Needa, Vader is impressed with this display of frankness and integrity and lets Giel live — though he still demotes him down to Lieutenant as punishment.

* Subverted in an issue of the original ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' comics. An Admiral Giel meets with Vader to dissect the result important mission, in which a Rebel infiltration squad led by [[TheHero Luke Skywalker]] destroys the Empire's latest superweapon. Giel, noting that no amount of preparation could have anticipated the Rebels' successful infiltration gambit, refused to be blamed for the catastrophe, but nevertheless accepted the responsibility and stood prepared to receive his punishment. Unlike with Needa, Vader is impressed with this display of frankness and integrity and lets Giel live — though he still demotes him down to Lieutenant as punishment.

* Subverted in an issue of the original ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' comics. An Admiral Giel reports to Vader to take responsibility for the failure of an important mission, in which a Rebel infiltration squad led by [[TheHero Luke Skywalker]] destroys the Empire's latest superweapon. Giel, noting that no amount of preparation could have anticipated the Rebels' successful infiltration gambit, refused to be blamed for the catastrophe, but nevertheless accepted the responsibility and stood prepared to receive his punishment. Unlike with Needa, Vader is impressed with this display of frankness and integrity and lets Giel live — though he still demotes him down to Lieutenant as punishment.

* Subverted in an issue of the original ''ComicBook/MarvelStarWars'' comics. An admiral reports to Vader to take responsibility for the failure of an important mission. Unlike with Needa, Vader is impressed with the display and lets him live — though he still demotes him down to Lieutenant as punishment.

** However, while Snoke will not go out to kill you, he will still humiliate in front of your subordinates and Force slam you, as [[Film/TheLastJedi Hux found out]] after the Resistance destroyed ''Fulminatrix'' and escaped.

* He does it ''again'' to the hapless Captain Needa before the film's even halfway done, despite the man having the foresight and backbone to personally apologize to Vader for losing track of the ''Millennium Falcon'' (hence Vader's line "[[BondOneLiner Apology accepted, Captain Needa]]"). Needa's expression when he tells his men that he's going to apologize personally to Vader tells the whole story; he ''knows'' Vader will kill him--[[TakeMeInstead but if he takes the blame]], [[HeroicSacrifice none of his underlings will]].

* Despite his reputation, Vader's preference for using this trope is something of a {{Flanderization}}. While he's certainly not someone you would want to work under as evidenced by the fact he ordered his fleet into an AsteroidThicket that resulted in at least one star destroyer ''losing its bridge tower'' to a flying rock, he only kills Ozzel and Needa for screwing up, and spares Piett even when everyone in-universe and out expected him to go three for three. As far as ExpandedUniverse materials are concerned it really [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on who's writing him]]:

** In others he's evil, not stupid -- while he's brutal to those he's decided are useless, "the last time" was ''never'' the first time; you had to screw up habitually, badly, or in Ozzel's case, ''both''. According to Franchise/StarWarsLegends, Ozzel was a [[TheNeidermeyer Neidermeyer]] who loved to [[NeverMyFault blame subordinates for his own mistakes]] and kept his job mainly through family connections, meaning that Vader was looking for any excuse to get rid of him. Indeed, in ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]'', Mara Jade asks Vader to keep an eye on then-Captain Ozzel, with the implication that his promotion to Vader's flagship is Vader's way of doing exactly that. Vader was certainly harsh but he wasn't ''completely'' unreasonable; if your failure was the result of something you had control over (e.g. you didn't utilize resources properly, you gave up too quickly, you had poor judgement, [[RunningGag you were Admiral Ozzel]]), then you said goodbye to your trachea. However, if the failure was a result of something you had no control over (you lost a battle because of unexpected enemy reinforcements), he'd let you live, but you ''damn well better'' plan for whatever tripped you up the next time. This would seem to be the intended characterization from the films, as seen when Vader ''didn't'' kill Piett when the ''Falcon'' escaped. In this case his trap failed because R2 arrived with Luke and repaired the sabotage to the ''Falcon''--something that Piett couldn't have expected, and was in fact partially ''Vader's'' fault because he'd drawn Luke there in the first place and just locked the R2 out and let the droid go instead of destroying him.

** PlayedForLaughs (somewhat) in the new EU novel ''Dark Lords of the Sith'', where Palpatine's advisor Mas Amedda expresses utter frustration with Vader's habit of applying this trope to every underling within reach.
** {{Subverted|Trope}} in the new EU novel ''Literature/StarWarsTarkin'', when Vader tells a Stormtrooper that he has failed for the last time, but ''doesn't'' kill him. Immediately afterward, Sergeant Crest captures the warehouse of a crime lord and Vader promotes him. It's implied that for the rest of his life, Lieutenant Crest never fails Vader again, so it really was "for the last time."

* While Vader had a reputation for this, Emperor Palpatine was far, ''far'' worse. It isn't explicitly shown in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', but Vader heavily implies ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.") that if the officer and the crew working on the second Death Star don't make sure that the station is fully operational by the time of the Emperor's arrival, the crew will end up suffering a punishment so horrific that Vader's use of the trope will seem like a sympathy-induced pat on the back in comparison. Franchise/StarWarsLegends went into more detail, and reveals that [[NightmareFuel he wasn't fucking kidding]]:
** Bevel Lemelisk, lead designer of the Death Star, was executed by Sidious having him EatenAlive by piranha beetles as punishment for overlooking such a massive design flaw... and then brought back to life with a clone body and [[BlackMagic Sith Alchemy]] because despite this mistake Lemelisk was too much of an asset to throw away. Sidious proceeded to make a point of [[AndIMustScream executing and resurrecting Lemelisk]] every time something went wrong with the Death Star II's construction, with [[CruelAndUnusualDeath a new and unique method of execution]] every time. The punishments we learn about are the aforementioned Piranha Beetles, getting ThrownOutTheAirlock, lowered inch by inch into a vat of molten copper ("It was what the smelter used that day."), and being chained in a drive tube while the engine was slowly powered up. This happened ''six times'', meaning there were two more punishments that we never learned the details about. When the New Republic finally got ahold of Lemelisk and sentenced him to death, his request to the firing squad was that they "do it right this time." At least Vader is business-like about killing you; Sidious will make sure you ''suffer''.
** It gets even worse when you read various stories from the old Expanded Universe which showed that Vader would kill you for failing him, but the Emperor would not only kill you in any number of agonizing ways -- as Lemelisk could attest -- he would also [[AndYourLittleDogToo kill your entire family]]. One story from ''Tales of the Bounty Hunters'' took it even further by implying that even if Vader would off underlings for many reasons, he always had a definite reason for killing them, but the Emperor... he would straight-up kill for pleasure, something Vader '''never''' did.
** The new Star Wars Expanded Universe has this in the form of Operation Cinder, a "contingency plan" ordered by Palpatine in the event of his death. Far from being some form of retribution against the Rebellion, instead it's one final act of spite against the entire galaxy and the Empire, using special climate satellites to devastate hundreds of worlds, ranging from Rebel-held systems to loyal Imperial planets, all for the simple "crime" of being unable to protect him and, in Palpatine's twisted, [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorbed mind]], proving itself unworthy of existence.

** Towards the end of the series this is strongly implied by Thrawn towards Governor Pryce after she ends up destroying most of the planet's fuel supply in an attempt to kill the escaping rebels, which had the effect of [[NiceJobFixingItVillain indefinitely stalling production of the game-changing TIE Defender fighter]]. This is [[EpicFail a blunder so colossal]] that unlike the sole example of him doing this in Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy, he is visibly ''seething'' with so much rage that he [[PunctuatedForEmphasis can't even use full sentences]].

** First, a terrified officer, Lieutenant Mitaka, reports to Kylo Ren on how BB-8 and Finn have escaped aboard [[spoiler: the ''Millennium Falcon'']], the man fully expecting to be killed. Instead, Ren ignites his lightsaber and slashes a computer wall to pieces. When he's finished, he quite calmly asks "anything else?" as if nothing had happened. He does Force-choke the lieutenant when he starts to explain that BB-8 and Finn had the help of a girl (Rey), but Mitaka is seen later, shaken but still alive.
** Later, when Ren finds out that Rey has escaped, he howls with rage and slashes a chair apart with his saber. Two stormtroopers walking down the hallway hear Ren's outraged roars and see pieces of the chair flying out of the room, they promptly decide to quietly [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere walk back the way they came]].
** Finally, when [[spoiler: Starkiller Base is about to collapse, Supreme Leader Snoke orders Hux to return to him, and gives no indication he's going to be punished for the loss of this weapon. Indeed, Hux is still in command of the First Order's military come ''The Last Jedi'', even if he's on a shorter leash as Snoke has arrived to personally oversee the destruction of the Resistance.]]
** However, while Snoke will not go out to kill you, he will still humiliate in front of your subordinates and force slam you, as [[Film/TheLastJedi Hux found out]] after the Resistance destroyed ''Fulminatrix'' and escaped.

* In direct contrast to Vader was [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]], Pellaeon's superior, who deconstructs the whole idea of this trope. Throughout the Thrawn Trilogy we are shown just how widespread the practice of killing people for failure was, not just for for Vader but the Empire in general, with Pellaeon still expecting it to happen even long after Vader was dead. The poor captain was so thoroughly conditioned by this treatment that he kept expecting Thrawn to go ballistic and kill him or ''anyone'' every time something went wrong, but with the sole exception of the tractor beam operator mentioned below he never did, which results in Pellaeon ''intellectually'' realizing Thrawn won't do it but still instinctively bracing himself for an eruption every time something goes wrong. The result of Thrawn's refusal to kill underlings wantonly for failures beyond their control and rewarding them if they showed initiative and cleverness meant that his crew followed Thrawn out of genuine respect and loyalty rather than fear. Thrawn's entry at the Star Wars Wiki says he was ''appalled'' at the "Vader style" of command, and a large part of this is that Thrawn, unlike many Imperial officers and leaders, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knew how to admit defeat]]. In the Thrawn Trilogy, after the New Republic bested him in battle, Thrawn outright said (not in so many words), "Okay, we've been beaten this time. Let's shake it off and have another go."

* As ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy'' shows, the Sith are pretty big fans of this in general, at least in the Legends continuity. It’s made clear they tend see anyone who’s not a fellow Sith or related to them as [[AMillionIsAStatistic expendable and interchangeable]], so their attitude is pretty much “if I kill this dude who’s failing, a new dude will replace him and maybe won’t screw up”. The result, of course, is that most of the stormtroopers and imperial officers hate them, with most only serving out of fear or loyalty to the Fel Empire, which the Sith forcibly took control of. Special mention has to go to [[AxCrazy Darth Azard]], who seems to brutally kill subordinates for failure [[UpToEleven in every single scene he’s in]]. At one point we see him chop one poor guy in half [[DisproportionateRetribution just for getting]] [[JediMindTrick mind-tricked]].

** ''Videogame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' also has a 'You have failed me' moment directed at the player, when Kreia loses her patience with a dark-side Exile's psychopathic comments after the Exile has killed all the Jedi Masters and the party returns to Dantooine. Unusually, Kreia's not concerned with what the Exile has done, but with ''why'' they do it. When she realizes that the Exile favours brute force and vengeance over manipulation or advancing an ideology, she embarks on an idiosyncratic philosophical rant, starting with the very words 'You have failed me. Completely and utterly.' [[spoiler:Marking the beginning of the endgame, she does then proceed to [[OnlyMostlyDead almost kill]] the Exile, but then the Exile mysteriously wakes up again.]]

* Subverted in an issue of the original ComicBook/MarvelStarWars comics. An admiral reports to Vader to take responsibility for the failure of an important mission. Unlike with Needa, Vader is impressed with the display and lets him live--though he still demotes him down to Lieutenant as punishment.

** In the [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS2E18TheEscape finale episode]], [[spoiler:this proves to be true, as Kylo Ren runs out of patience for Agent Tierny and Commander Pyre's repeated failures to re-capture the Colossus. He holocalls them and uses the Force to make them [[PsychicAssistedSuicide almost shoot each other]] to prove his point... before he lets them go. At the end of the episode, after Team Fireball gets away, Kylo makes good on his threat and holocalls Tierny again and begins to Force-choke her to death for messing up one too many times.]]

* In the finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'', [[spoiler:Kylo Ren runs out of patience for Agent Tierny and Commander Pyre's repeated failures to re-capture the Colossus. He holocalls them and uses the Force to make them [[PsychicAssistedSuicide almost shoot each other]] to prove his point... before he lets them go. At the end of the episode, after Team Fireball gets away, Kylo makes good on his threat and holocalls Tierny again and begins to Force-choke her to death for messing up one too many times.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Aresko and Grint]] repeatedly fail to deal with rebel operations on Lothal. In response, Governor Tarkin has the Grand Inquisitor execute them in front of Agent Kallus and Minister Tua, making it clear that they're next if they screw up as well.

* In the finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'', [[spoiler:Kylo Ren runs out of patience for Agent Tierny and Commander Pyre's repeated failures to re-capture the Colossus. He holocalls them and uses the Force to make them [[PsychicAssistedSuicide almost shoot each other]] to prove his point... before he lets them go. At the end of the episode, after Team Fireball gets away, Kylo makes good on his threat and holocalls Tierny and begins to Force-choke her to death for messing up one too many times.]]

* In the finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'', [[spoiler:Kylo Ren runs out of patience for Agent Tierny and Commander Pyre's repeated failures to re-capture the Colossus. He holocalls them and uses the Force to make them [[PsychicAssistedSuicide almost shoot each other]] to prove his point... before he lets them go. At the end of the episode, after Team Fireball gets away, Kylo holocalls Tierny one more time and begins to Force-choke her to death for messing up one too many times.]]

* The trope name originates from ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', and possibly the most famous instance: Darth Vader's "You have failed me for the last time" before choking Admiral Ozzel to death for botching the fleet's approach to Hoth. Ozzel had brought the Imperial fleet out of hyperspace too close to Hoth, which gave the Rebels enough advance warning to activate their shield generator and begin evacuating before the fleet was in position to attack. Ozzel's death deserves special mention, as Vader wasn't even in the same room and killed him ''over the intercom/viewscreen'', promoting Captain Piett to Admiral before the body hits the floor.

** Towards the end of the series this is strongly implied by Thrawn towards Governor Pryce after she ends up destroying most of the planet's fuel supply in an attempt to kill the escaping rebels, [[EpicFail a blunder so colossal]] that unlike the sole example of him doing this in Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy, he is visibly ''seething'' with so much rage that he [[PunctuatedForEmphasis can't even use full sentences]].

** Hilariously, ''ComicBook/DarthVaderDarkLordOfTheSith'' has a scene where ''Palpatine'' of all people feels the need to tell Vader to chill out and stop killing people over every little slight. “I do not wish to rule over a galaxy of the dead”. It’s [[PragmaticVillainy a reasonable complaint]], but also delightfully hypocritical given what's mentioned below.
* In direct contrast to Vader was [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]], Pellaeon's superior, who deconstructs the whole idea of this trope. Throughout the Thrawn Trilogy we are shown just how widespread the practice of killing people for failure was, not just for for Vader but the Empire in general, with Pellaeon still expecting it to happen even long after Vader was dead. The poor captain was so thoroughly conditioned by this treatment that he kept expecting Thrawn to go ballistic and kill him or ''anyone'' every time something went wrong, but with the sole exception of the tractor beam operator mentioned below he never did, which results in Pellaeon ''intellectually'' realizing Thrawn won't do it but still instinctively bracing himself for an eruption every time something goes wrong. The result of Thrawn's refusal to kill underlings wantonly for failures beyond their control and rewarding them if they showed initiative and cleverness meant that his crew followed Thrawn out of genuine respect and loyalty rather than fear. Thrawn's entry at the Star Wars Wiki says he was ''appalled'' at the "Vader style" of command, and a large part of this is that Thrawn, unlike many Imperial officers and leaders, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knew how to admit defeat]]. In the Thrawn Trilogy, after the New Republic bested him in battle, Thrawn outright said (not in so many words), "Okay, we've been beaten this time. Let's shake it off and have another go."
** The best examples of Thrawn's management style can be seen after the heroes manage to escape being caught in a tractor beam. He had the officer manning the tractor beam station executed, but ''only'' after he quizzed said officer about his performance and the officer's answers confirmed Thrawn's initial hunch that the man was impossible to salvage due to his incompetent and insubordinate nature. When it happened ''again'', Thrawn grilled the replacement officer in the same way, but ''this'' officer's description of how the trick was pulled off and how he ''almost'' managed to counter it resulted in Thrawn deciding the officer acted to the best of his abilities, ''promoting'' him, and telling him to keep looking for a way to counter the maneuver so that their tractor beam emitters don't eat any more proton torpedoes. And in a later story, the maneuver ''is'' countered, suggesting that he eventually succeeded.
*** Basically, the first officer failed to counter the heroes' maneuver and then tried to blame the training his superiors gave him. The second one saw the heroes' maneuver, made a conscious decision to deviate from standard protocols in an attempt to counter it, and took responsibility for his actions despite knowing that Thrawn had the previous officer executed.

---> '''Thrawn:''' I. Will deal with ''you''. When I ''return''. '''Governor'''.

---> '''Pryce:''' Thrawn will return soon, and if I do not have the Rebels, I will be executed. But before that happens to me, do you know what I will do to ''you'' for failing?

* While Vader had a reputation for this, Emperor Palpatine was far, ''far'' worse. It isn't explicitly shown in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', but Vader heavily implies ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.") that if the officer and the crew working on the second Death Star don't make sure that the station is fully operational by the time of the Emperor's arrival, the crew will end up suffering a punishment so horrific that Vader's use of the trope will seem like a sympathy-induced pat on the back in comparison. The ExpandedUniverse went into more detail, and reveals that [[NightmareFuel he wasn't fucking kidding]]:

** In others, he's evil, not stupid - while he's brutal to those he's decided are useless, "the last time" was ''never'' the first time; you had to screw up habitually, badly, or in Ozzel's case, ''both.'' According to Franchise/StarWarsLegends, Ozzel was a [[TheNeidermeyer Neidermeyer]] who loved to [[NeverMyFault blame subordinates for his own mistakes]] and kept his job mainly through family connections, meaning that Vader was looking for any excuse to get rid of him. Indeed, in ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]'', Mara Jade asks Vader to keep an eye on then-Captain Ozzel, with the implication that his promotion to Vader's flagship is Vader's way of doing exactly that. Vader was certainly harsh but he wasn't ''completely'' unreasonable; if your failure was the result of something you had control over (e.g. you didn't utilize resources properly, you gave up too quickly, you had poor judgement, [[RunningGag you were Admiral Ozzel]]) then you said goodbye to your trachea. However, if the failure was a result of something you had no control over (you lost a battle because of unexpected enemy reinforcements) he'd let you live, but you ''damn well better'' plan for whatever tripped you up the next time. This would seem to be the intended characterization from the films, as seen when Vader ''didn't'' kill Piett when the ''Falcon'' escaped. In this case his trap failed because R2 arrived with Luke and repaired the sabotage to the Falcon--something that Piett couldn't have expected, and was in fact partially ''Vader's'' fault because he'd drawn Luke there in the first place and just locked the R2 out and let the droid go instead of destroying him.

** {{Subverted}} in the new EU novel ''Literature/StarWarsTarkin'', when Vader tells a Stormtrooper that he has failed for the last time, but ''doesn't'' kill him. Immediately afterward, Sergeant Crest captures the warehouse of a crime lord and Vader promotes him. It's implied that for the rest of his life, Lieutenant Crest never fails Vader again, so it really was "for the last time."

*** Basically, the first officer failed to counter the heroes's maneuver and then tried to blame the training his superiors gave him. The second one saw the heroes' maneuver, made a conscious decision to deviate from standard protocols in an attempt to counter it, and took responsibility for his actions despite knowing that Thrawn had the previous officer executed.
* While Vader had a reputation for this, Emperor Palpatine was, far, ''far'' worse. It isn't explicitly shown in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', but Vader heavily implies ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.") that if the officer and the crew working on the second Death Star don't make sure that the station is fully operational by the time of the Emperor's arrival, the crew will end up suffering a punishment so horrific that Vader's use of the trope will seem like a sympathy-induced pat on the back in comparison. The ExpandedUniverse went into more detail, and reveals that [[NightmareFuel he wasn't fucking kidding]]:
** Bevel Lemelisk, lead designer of the Death Star, was executed by Sidious having him EatenAlive by piranha beetles as punishment for overlooking such a massive design flaw...and then brought back to life with a clone body and [[BlackMagic Sith Alchemy]] because despite this mistake Lemelisk was too much of an asset to throw away. Sidious proceeded to make a point of [[AndIMustScream executing and resurrecting Lemelisk]] every time something went wrong with the Death Star II's construction, with [[CruelAndUnusualDeath a new and unique method of execution]] every time. The punishments we learn about are the aforementioned Piranha Beetles, getting ThrownOutTheAirlock, lowered inch by inch into a vat of molten copper ("It was what the smelter used that day."), and being chained in a drive tube while the engine was slowly powered up. This happened ''six times'', meaning there were two more punishments that we never learned the details about. When the New Republic finally got ahold of Lemelisk and sentenced him to death, his request to the firing squad was that they "do it right this time." At least Vader is business-like about killing you; Sidious will make sure you ''suffer''.
** It gets even worse when you read various stories from the old Expanded Universe which showed that Vader would kill you for failing him, but the Emperor would not only kill you in any number of agonizing ways - as Lemelisk could attest - he would also [[AndYourLittleDogToo kill your entire family]]. One story from ''Tales of the Bounty Hunters'' took it even further by implying that even if Vader would off underlings for many reasons, he always had a definite reason for killing them, but the Emperor...he would straight-up kill for pleasure, something Vader '''never''' did.

* The trope name comes from ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', and possibly the most famous instance: Darth Vader's "You have failed me for the last time" before choking Admiral Ozzel to death for botching the fleet's approach to Hoth. Ozzel had brought the Imperial fleet out of hyperspace too close to Hoth, which gave the Rebels enough advance warning to activate their shield generator and begin evacuating before the fleet was in position to attack. Ozzel's death deserves special mention, as Vader wasn't even in the same room and killed him ''over the intercom/viewscreen'', promoting Captain Piett to Admiral before the body hits the floor.

** First, a terrified officer reports to Kylo Ren on how BB-8 and Finn have escaped aboard [[spoiler: the ''Millennium Falcon'']], the man fully expecting to be killed. Instead, Ren ignites his lightsaber and slashes a computer wall to pieces. When he's finished, he quite calmly asks "anything else?" as if nothing had happened. He does Force-choke the man when he starts to explain that BB-8 and Finn had the help of a girl (Rey), but said man is seen later, shaken but still alive.

* He does it ''again'' to the hapless Captain Needa before the film's even halfway done, despite the man having the foresight and backbone to personally apologize to Vader for losing track of the ''Millennium Falcon'' (hence Vader's line "Apology accepted, Captain Needa"). Needa's expression when he tells his men that he's going to apologize personally to Vader tells the whole story; he ''knows'' Vader will kill him--[[TakeMeInstead but if he takes the blame]], [[HeroicSacrifice none of his underlings will]].

* In direct contrast to Vader was [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Grand Admiral Thrawn]], Pellaeon's superior, who deconstructs the whole idea of this trope. Throughout the Thrawn Trilogy we are shown just how widespread the practice of killing people for failure was, not just for for Vader but the Empire in general, with Pellaeon still expecting it to happen even long after Vader was dead. The poor captain was so thoroughly conditioned by this treatment that he kept expecting Thrawn to go ballistic and kill him or ''anyone'' every time something went wrong, but with the sole exception of the tractor beam operator mentioned below he never did, which results in Pellaeon ''intellectually'' realizing Thrawn won't do it but still instinctively bracing himself for an eruption every time something goes wrong. The result of Thrawn's refusal to kill underlings wantonly for failures beyond their control and rewarding them if they showed initiative and cleverness meant that his crew followed Thrawn out of genuine respect and loyalty rather than fear. Thrawn's entry at the Star Wars Wiki says he was ''appalled'' at the "Vader style" of command, and a large part of this is that Thrawn, unlike many Imperial officers and leaders, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knew how to admit defeat]]. In the Thrawn Trilogy, after the New Republic bested him in battle Thrawn outright said (not in so many words), "Okay, we've been beaten this time. Let's shake it off and have another go."
** The best examples of Thrawn's management style can be seen after the heroes manage to escape being caught in a tractor beam. He had the officer manning the tractor beam station executed, but ''only'' after he quizzed said officer about his performance and the officer's answers confirmed Thrawn's initial hunch that the man was impossible to salvage due to his incompetent and insubordinate nature. When it happened ''again'' Thrawn grilled the replacement officer in the same way, but ''this'' officer's description of how the trick was pulled off and how he ''almost'' managed to counter it resulted in Thrawn deciding the officer acted to the best of his abilities, ''promotes'' him, and tells him to figure out how to counter the maneuver so that their tractor beam emitters don't eat any more proton torpedoes.