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After the ESB events, Vader knows that Han was sent to Tatooine, and that Luke will do everything possible to save him (as he did previously, where he went to Bespin to save Han and Leia).

Why did Vader not wait for Luke to come and save his friend in Jabba's palace?
Why did he not dispatch any troop and/or spy on the spot?
Is there any canon information about this?

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    Because it's deep in Hutt space
    – Valorum
    Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 16:03
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    @Valorum Empire was in Tatooine when they were looking for the droids... And Luke (and his friends Leia, Chewie, Lando) have parked the Flacon and a X-Wing near the palace, and no one noticed it... Vader could have engaged Fett again to inform him of Luke's return
    – iammg
    Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 16:14
  • I'm trying to decide if this is a great question or not... wait for him to do what? They'd already met at Bespin and Luke had flat our rejected him. He didn't get back in touch, Luke reached out to him? He wasn't tracking him in RotJ the same way he was in ESB
    – Liath
    Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 16:14
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    Fett seems to be working for Jabba again. We know from the comics that Vader (and his troops) were deeply unwelcome on Tatooine and during the events of the film, Vader himself had been dispatched to oversee production of the Death Star II
    – Valorum
    Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 16:15
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    @Liath As Vader said "He Will join us or die..." ... Luke is a threat to Vader and the Emperor
    – iammg
    Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 16:15

1 Answer 1

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There's a few reasons

  1. There's about a year between ESB and ROTJ. That's a long time for a top guy in the Empire to just wait around. Moreso for any Imperial resources.
  2. Luke sent scouts (Lando) to check it out. Luke wouldn't have come had there been even a hint of a trap or Imperials.
  3. We don't know that Bobba Fett told Vader exactly what he was doing with Solo. One of Fett's few lines is protesting that a dead Solo was worthless to him, but we don't see that Vader was interested in Solo's fate.
  4. Death Star II was a far better bet to draw Luke in the long run. Vader knew full well the Emperor was setting a trap for the Rebels. It would make sense to wait for that plan to come to fruition.
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    I think your first point makes the most sense Commented Aug 22, 2018 at 18:13

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