A STAR WARS PAGE
Darth
Vader
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After Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark
Side of the Force, he became Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, and brutal
apprentice to Palpatine/(Darth Sidious), the Emperor
of the Galactic Empire. According to Obi-Wan Kenobi as soon as Vader turned to
the Dark Side the good man that was Anakin Skywalker ceased to exist. This
takes place in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on the planet Mustafar.
Vader/Skywalker killed Mace Windu to protect Palpatine from the Jedi, launched
the Great Jedi Purge with the destruction of the Jedi Temple, killed the rest
of the Confederate Separatist leadership on Mustafar, caused the death of Padmé
Skywalker, was seriously wounded in a duel with Obi-Wan, and by the time
Palpatine rescued Vader and had him rebuilt, he had sown the seeds of the Galactic
Civil War.
By the time of
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Vader has
been charged with tracing the stolen plans of the Death Star and finding the
hidden base of the Rebel Alliance. In the process he (unknowingly) tortures his
own daughter and is complicit in the deaths of billions by the destruction of
the planet Alderaan, although that deed was Grand Moff Tarkin's idea. Vader
kills (in fact helps force the ascension of) the now-elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi in their
second lightsaber battle against each other, whilst Luke Skywalker and his
motley crew assist Princess Leia to escape with the plans to the Death Star,
though this is also a ploy conceived by Vader to determine the location of the
Rebel Base. He then appears again piloting a distinctive TIE/Advanced fighter
and almost prevents Luke's successful starfighter attack on the Death Star.
Vader
confronts Luke in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire
Strikes Back on
Star Wars
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi sees Vader in charge of the construction of a
Second Death Star. When Vader detects the presence of Luke Skywalker, but the
Emperor does not, it is the first indication that the Force is rising in Vader.
Vader attempts to persuade Luke to join him in the Dark Side but this time
Vader's interests are tinged by a desire to protect his son. When this fails, Vader
takes him to Emperor Palpatine himself, onboard the incomplete Second Death
Star. Luke reluctantly fights an extended Lightsaber battle with Vader, all the
while attempting to persuade Vader to renounce the Dark Side of the Force.
Finally, Vader
telepathically examines Luke's mind and realizes that Leia is Luke's sister
(and thus his daughter), and threatens to turn her to the Dark Side if he
should fail with Luke. Realizing the threat to his sister, Luke's rage is
finally unleashed, and he attacks Lord Vader with the Dark Side of the Force, driving
him back with a whirlwind of blows. Severing Vader's right hand, Luke's fury is
suddenly cut short -- as he stares at his own cybernetic hand, he realizes with
a visceral horror that he has already begun transforming into Vader's
successor. As the Emperor approaches, he throws down his lightsaber, abandoning
this path, and his new powers. Gravely disappointed, Palpatine draws on pure
darkness, in the form of force lightning, to destroy the unturnable Luke.
As Luke
writhes in agony, begging his father for help, Vader finally turns back from
the Dark Side to once again become Anakin Skywalker, and, with his remaining
hand, lifts the Emperor and throws him into a shaft where he explodes in a fury
of dark energies. The shock of this nearly kills Anakin. In his final moments,
he pleads with Luke to remove his mask, and in his dying breath, finds
redemption in the Light Side of the Force. In his final breaths, he tells Luke
that he was right about him, and to tell this to his sister. He later dies and
becomes one with the Force. There is some debate as to whether or not Anakin's
body disappeared when he died: some argue that the movie would have shown his
disappearance explicitly if that were the case. On the other hand, Steve
Sansweet and the script for the Return of the Jedi Special Edition states that
Anakin did indeed disappear. In any case, what remained of Anakin/Vader was
burned by Luke (in the manner of a Jedi's funeral) on the forest moon of Endor.
Sebastian
Shaw (left) as the spirit of Anakin Skywalker: replaced.
Later that
night, during the celebration on Endor, Luke is able to see the spirit of the
redeemed Anakin Skywalker, along with the deceased Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
(Note that in this final scene, Anakin was played by Sebastian Shaw, who played
Anakin in his death scene, yet in the 2004 DVD release he is replaced by Hayden
Christensen who plays Anakin/Vader in Attack of the Clones and Revenge
of the Sith.)
Behind the Scenes
The character
of Darth Vader was not originally planned to be a suited cyborg. This was
created when the concept artist drew the opening scene where the Rebel ship Tantive
IV was being boarded. It was initially imagined that Darth Vader would fly
through space to enter the ship, necessitating a suit and breathing mask. This
was later made permanent and incorporated in the story.
It is
interesting to note that "Vader" is similar to the German word for
"father" (Vater), and it may be tempting to read the character
name "Darth Vader" as "Dark Father", a word-play that may
well be the root of the Sith title. However judging by the origin of the other Sith names, Vader may also possibly be a derivative of the
word invader. It is also worth noting that in the original scripts for Star
Wars, the name "Darth Vader" was given to a normal Imperial general.
Vader's leitmotif
is The Imperial March.
Talents
Darth Vader
was a brilliant strategist and one of the greatest pilots in the galaxy. Vader
still possessed his former persona's amazing engineering skills, having
overseen the design of the TIE/Advanced fighter. Also, his talent with the lightsaber
was legendary. All of these skills, however, are secondary to his incredible
mastery of the Force. As Anakin, he had the greatest known midi-chlorian count
(a measure of Force-aptitude) in the galaxy, surpassing both Yoda and the
Emperor's count. However, George Lucas states that after all of his limbs were
severed and he was extremely burned on Mustafar he lost much of his Force
potential. Lucas claims that as Darth Vader, Anakin had roughly 80% the
strength of the Emperor. Had he sustained none of his injuries on Mustafar he
would have been twice as powerful.
Appearance
The Dark Lord
of the Sith is horribly disfigured and requires his
life support systems to sustain him; hence he must wear his daemonic armor at
all times when he is not in his pressurized containment-chamber. Also making
him even more fear-evoking and intimidating than his ruthless reputation alone,
the warlord Darth Vader is a towering figure, standing nearly 6 feet 8 inches
(2.02 meters) in his armor. Even amongst his Imperial subordinates, Vader's
frightful presence invokes dread.
Some have
noted that Vader bears more than a passing resemblance to the classic Marvel
Universe super villain Doctor Doom. Darth Vader's head gear appears to be modeled
on a Japanese kabuto (兜), which is consistent with the samurai-like order of the
Jedi and kendo-like lightsaber duels. It also resembles a German World War II-era
Stahlhelm.
Cultural Figure
Due to his
central role, Vader has entered the public consciousness as the quintessential
frightening villain; the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movie
villains placed him third, after Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates. Lord Vader's
powerful, baritone voice coupled with his heavy breathing is easily
recognizable to moviegoers-- it is symbolic of his transformation from a man of
the light to an evil cyborg. He has been parodied by such figures as "Dark
Helmet" from Spaceballs and countless other parodies from cartoons,
such as "Duck Vader" from Tiny Toon Adventures and "Darth
Koopa" from Super Mario Bros. (TV), and his name has become a synonym for
frightening evil; for example, political strategist Lee Atwater was known as
"the Darth Vader of the Republican Party". During a major renovation,
Washington National Cathedral held a competition for children to design new gargoyles
for the west towers. One winner was a design featuring Darth Vader (see
external links). Darth Vader's "Imperial Theme" is sometimes used as
the leitmotif for Mr. Burns on "The Simpson’s" to show a comical
comparison between the two fictional characters.
See Anakin Skywalker
From
Wikipedia
The Phantom Menace
| Attack of the Clones
| Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: A New Hope
| The Empire Strikes Back
| Return of the Jedi
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