Awesome / Wilhuff Tarkin, Hero of the Rebellion

• The very first, and the Point of Divergence of the series: Mace Windu giving Tarkin the information that made him realize Palpatine was behind everything.
• Ahsoka's utter trolling of Darth Vader on Malachor, allowing her companions to escape while the Sith tried to kill her. She also managed to get away with it.
• The junkyard planet Ronyards is actually an Abominor, a Killer Robot from another galaxy, who had escaped detection until it had grown to planetary size, and is worshipped by the droids living on its surface. An Imperial Navy squadron led by admiral Terrinald Screed takes on it... And wins, shutting it down by applying the standard procedure of throwing fire-retardant missiles and comets in its furnace before sending in mining ships to dismantle it before someone can reactivate it.
  Also, send this message to headquarters: contacted Living God, killed same.
• In a pre-war segment, Tarkin and his sector's Senator go talk with Padme to try and put some bugs in her office, hoping to find some dirt to blackmail her into supporting the Military Creation Act... And then Jar Jar Binks walks in with an overpowered EMP generator he got from Anakin and fries any active electronic device, before explaining that since the Trade Federation wants to spy on them he decided to fry all their bugs by activating the EMP generator at random times, also foiling any attempt to spy on Padme.
• Back in his Republic sector governor days, Tarkin tracking down a slaver gang, releasing all prisoners, and wiping out the surviving slavers from orbit. The event is also implied to be what eventually got corrupt Senator Tikkes ousted.
• During their first meeting, Jabba offers Tarkin a beverage he had been given as tribute for keeping some peace in the desert, namely Sand Wine - the sacred beverage the Tusken Raiders make for specific ceremonies and get messy when outsiders try and steal it. Tarkin can't figure out how is it even possible, but this is enough to impress him and make him understand why the Hutt is often called the Mighty Jabba.
• How Rivoche reveals how smart she is (based on her activities as a Rebel spy in Legends):
  • Tatooine has been a planet-wide desert since the Rakatan bombed it, and stayed so for millennia in spite of multiple attempts at terraforming. After meeting Darth Vader and realizing the Force is real, Rivoche Tarkin, having read a book of Tusken folklore written by A'Sharad Hett, correctly guessed the Rakatan had left behind a Force device to keep the water underground... And multiple locations of where it could be. Once this information is passed to Vader and acted on, healing Tatooine became possible.
  • After the Ruling Council refuses to even verify that Tatooine can be terraformed, Rivoche starts asking herself questions about the Empire and her uncle's activities... And then sneaks into Tarkin's cabin on the Carrion Spike and looks at his database of evidence about Palpatine's villainy, and decides to join the future Rebellion as a spy then and there. She then turns in circumstantial evidence about Leia's activities as a Rebel agent and Ahsoka Tano's location.
• Well before the Clone Wars, a survivor of the Q'anah's Marauders, a pirate gang whose destruction was Tarkin's first claim to fame, tried to take revenge by assassinating his wife Thalassa and their baby child. Thalassa beat him into submission with the grip of his own blaster while holding their son with the other hand.
• At one point Vader almost succeeds in assassinating Palpatine - and was subtle about it, giving him carbon monoxyde poisoning. He'd have succeeded if he hadn't grown angry at Palpatine making a gross remark at Leia and getting the timing wrong, and it was so close the Emperor is proud of him and pretends not knowing he did it.
• When Sizhran City on Falleen is infected by a flesh-eating disease that threatens the entire planet, there are multiple heroic actions:
  • Haxim, king of the city, invokes Contingency Order 1, giving the Imperial Army full authority to do anything to contain the contagion, starting from establishing an exclusion zone and ending with Orbital Bombardment - and he was in Sizhran and fully aware he'd die if the Imperial medical officer gave the order.
  • The chief medical officer, major Argus Ozzel, quickly verifies the bacteria can't be contained, and alongside his colonel does give the order, with both of them in the city and no time to evacuate. It's implied major Ozzel was posthumously promoted three ranks rather than the customary two.
  • The corrupt planetary governor countermands the orders, as he gets kickbacks from an unnamed wealthy local, but a ship sterilizes the city anyway. The enraged governor calls the ship, ready to deal with whoever dared to go against his orders... And finds Darth Vader. Who painfully executes him without even moving from his ship.
    "Governor, the power closing about your throat is the Force. It is my anger reaching out to end your life. It would be pointless to merely punish someone so ''useless''. You would have killed the entire population of this planet, have forced me to take action and justify myself in front of the Senate, and for what?"
  • There is of course a Senate inquiry about Darth Vader bombarding a loyal city, and with Vader's poor patience for politics Tarkin has to speak for him and defend his actions. Tarkin successfully does so in about two minutes.