Anghraine

Oh, thanks. Yes, Vader's reaction to that is -- probably one of his least reprehensible moments? And I think all the more because, initially, Leia's insult is pretty damn complimentary and he's the one who doesn't show any respect, so it does seem to be context-specific here.

And I think there's a hint of his perspective in the Alderaan scene too, because he seems to have checked out entirely and the only thing he does the whole scene is yank her away from Tarkin and hold her there. Also, there's that awful moment when she backs into Vader, seems to consider moving away, towards Tarkin, and then obviously decides Vader is the more preferable of the two.

Initially, I did tend to read his behaviour that way -- it's really when I got to his shock at her betrayal that I went "...um." Now I like to imagine that he's the reason Leia knew about the Death Star plans at all, which enabled the Rebellion to intercept them, and part of the reason he's so intent on her death is so she doesn't talk. (I'm also really interested in exploring how it affected her, idk, romance/sex arc -- from turning on ~seductive mode~ at a quarter-second's notice in ANH, to her discomfort with anything more aggressive than Luke's lie-back-and-think-of-the-Order approach to being kissed, to her easy confidence in ROTJ.)