Darth Vader capture Leia at the start of the movie, accusing her of being a Rebel. She feign ignorance and claims to be on an official mission for the Imperial Senate. Vader immediately calls the bluff.
In the meeting scene on the Death Star, we learn that Vader and Tarkin knew about the Emperor dissolving the Senate. the news surprises the Imperials in the meeting, showing how this was not yet common knowledge.
This is an interesting detail seeing how this was a stand-alone movie when released with no immediate plans of Prequels.
by barunedpat
4 Comments
Didn’t they specifically say they were dissolving the Senate *because* of Leia being caught aiding the Alliance?
Kind of.
When the plans for the Death Star were stolen, Palpatine sent Vader to get them back from the rebels. During which, the incident showed that Leia Organa was found out to work with the enemy Rebel Alliance, something Vader and the Empire knew already but could not prove, and resulted in her arrest above the planet Tatooine.
With the threat of public knowledge of the Death Star still possible so long as its plans remained out of Vader’s hands but a justification found in claiming rebel infiltrators sat among the Senate, the Emperor finally issued the dissolution order and was confident the finally-completed Death Star would take its place in maintaining his rule.
While being detained aboard the Star Destroyer Devastator, Organa invoked her status as an senator in hopes she would be released. However, Vader informed her that the Senate was being disbanded as they spoke. Aboard the Death Star, gathered leaders of the Empire, the Joint Chiefs, were informed of the situation by Grand Moff Tarkin.
Your logic is flawed, unless Vader is a moron. It’s also possible that Leia was sent on the diplomatic mission before the dissolution of the senate, and that the news of the dissolution just hasn’t reached her yet.
I think people need to step back and pretend Rogue One doesn’t exist. Think of what OP is saying purely through the lens of the 1977 original and it makes sense. Later films and media recontextualize ANH.