Question: After one of the Imperial officers told Vader that the Millenium Falcon's hyperdrive had been deactivated, and then Luke and the others escaped anyway, why didn't Vader get angry? He killed a couple of officers earlier for losing track of the Falcon.
JC Fernandez
31st Jul 2009
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Answer: In addition, Vader has a habit of showing more patience and tolerance for those under his command who came from similar poor backgrounds as him (in EU canon Piett was revealed to be from a common family that got displaced and then suffered under the Confederacy during the Clone Wars). Given Piett did exactly as he was told, and Vader likely considering him a second priority at that moment, it's not entirely out of character for him to give Piett a pass so he can go and sort through his conflicting feelings on what to do next.
Answer: Well, he killed *one* officer (Captain Needa) for losing track of the Falcon. But all we can do is speculate... Perhaps it was the final failure, since his plan to turn Luke to the dark side didn't work. Perhaps he had second thoughts after meeting his son face to face. Perhaps Vader was concerned that if he was too aggressive, he might tip his hand that he had tempted Luke by suggesting the murder of the Emperor. Whatever the reason, Admiral Piett seems just as surprised as the audience that he wasn't executed.
JC Fernandez