Darth Vader

Darth Vader (41 BBY–4 ABY) is a fictional character in the Star Wars Universe. He is widely considered to be one of the most iconic movie villains of all time.

Darth Vader

Within the Empire, Vader is viewed as a cruel and frightening figure, frequently utilising his ability to choke people using the Force. In ', Vader's aggressive instincts are somewhat restrained with orders to serve under Grand Moff Tarkin for that time: when Admiral Motti challenges Vader's "sad devotion" to the Force, Tarkin does not allow Vader to choke Motti to death, only long enough to make his point. The death of Tarkin aboard the Death Star removes any apparent check on Vader's power, however; throughout the rest of the trilogy, Imperial officers universally react with fear and dread at Vader's presence. This fear is not unwarranted, as both Admiral Ozzel and Captain Needa die by Vader's hand in '. Admiral Piett curiously survives, despite failing to recapture the Millennium Falcon. In the DVD commentary, Lucas states that this is because Vader feels ambivalent about his son, Luke.

Related Topics:
Grand Moff Tarkin - Admiral Motti - Death Star - Admiral Ozzel - Captain Needa - Admiral Piett - Millennium Falcon

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Fighting the rebellion

Vader is on a mission to retrieve the stolen plans of the Death Star, and to locate the hidden base of the Rebel Alliance. He boards the Tantive IV, choking its captain, Raymus Antilles, to death while sending teams of stormtroopers to search the ship for the plans. Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan is captured and brought to the Death Star, only to be tortured by Vader and to see her home planet destroyed under Tarkin's orders. The elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with Luke, Han Solo, and Chewbacca are in the meantime engineering Leia's rescue and an escape from the Death Star aboard Solo's captured ship, the Millennium Falcon.

Related Topics:
Death Star - Rebel Alliance - Tantive IV - Raymus Antilles - Stormtroopers - Alderaan - Han Solo - Chewbacca

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Obi-Wan disengages the tractor beam holding the Falcon in one of the Death Star's hangar bays. On his way out, Vader stops him and engages him in a lightsaber duel. Obi-Wan vaguely warns Vader that striking him down will make him "more powerful than you can possibly imagine." As Obi-Wan sees that Luke and company have escaped, he leaves himself open to Vader's attack and becomes a spirit in the Force in order to guide Luke.

Related Topics:
Tractor beam - Lightsaber

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To determine the location of the rebel base, Vader allows Luke and Han Solo to rescue Leia and escape with the technical readouts of the Death Star, which follows them to Yavin IV. During the Rebel attack on the Death Star, Vader pilots a distinctive TIE/Advanced fighter in pursuit of the Rebel X-Wing starfighters. Just as Vader gets a lock on Luke's X-wing, Han then flies the Millennium Falcon into the fray and shoots down one of Vader's two support wingmen. This causes the other to veer into Vader's fighter, which is sent spinning away from the Death Star. Vader regains control and escapes.

Related Topics:
Han Solo - TIE/Advanced fighter

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Battling his son

The Dark Lord is now at the forefront of the continuing attempt to suppress the Rebellion, as he orders the fleet to prepare a full military assault on the rebel base hidden on the ice world of Hoth. Admiral Ozzel makes the mistake of jumping into the system too close, alerting the rebels to their presence and allowing them to activate their shield generator. This forces the Imperials into launching a ground assault, delaying them long enough for some of the rebel ships to escape. While surviving rebel ships gather at their rendevous point, the Millennium Falcons hyperdrive fails and tries desperately to escape through an asteroid field. Vader, obsessed with capturing the Falcon, orders the fleet to follow, despite the inherent risks and the ultimate loss of life.

Related Topics:
Hoth - Admiral Ozzel - Asteroid

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While on this pursuit, the Emperor contacts Vader via hologram, giving him a new mission: to capture Luke Skywalker, "the son of Skywalker." Vader suggests that he could be turned to the dark side of the Force, and the Emperor agrees, noting that he would be a "great asset."

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Vader continues pursuing the Millennium Falcon, resorting to hiring bounty hunters. Ultimately, the ship appears and just as quickly disappears, hiding in a blind spot on the back of the bridge tower of Captain Needa's Star Destroyer. Captain Needa takes responsibility for losing them, and apologizes to Vader. After Needa dies at Vader's hand, the fleet disperses and the Millennium Falcon breaks off, floating away as the Star Destroyer it was attached to dumps its garbage before going to hyperspace. The Falcon then sets course to Cloud City, a mining colony administered by Han's old friend Lando Calrissian. Boba Fett, one of the bounty hunters hired by Vader, had deduced their strategy and followed them to Cloud City, alerting Vader.

Related Topics:
Star Destroyer - Cloud City - Mining - Lando Calrissian - Boba Fett

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Vader lands on Cloud City, making a deal with Lando and awaiting the arrival of the Millennium Falcon. When it arrives, Vader captures and tortures Han Solo. Luke, training under Yoda on Dagobah, sees a vision of his friends in pain and rushes to Cloud City to save them, despite Yoda's stern warning that he would risk falling to the dark side. Meanwhile, promising to compensate Fett if the experiment fails, Vader freezes Solo in carbonite as a test subject to see if the method would be viable for Luke Skywalker. Luke arrives at Cloud City, but Leia warns him of the trap. Fett escapes with Solo's frozen body, transporting it to Jabba the Hutt, to whom Solo owed a large debt.

Related Topics:
Dagobah - Jabba the Hutt - Debt

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Luke finds his way to the carbonite freezing facility, where Vader is planning to freeze him for transport to the Emperor. Lord Vader appears behind Luke. and Luke turns to confront Vader. Vader and Luke battle until Luke falls into the freezing chamber?however, he uses the Force to escape from the chamber just as Vader activates it. Attempting an escape from Cloud City, Luke is ultimately cornered by Vader. As Yoda and Obi-Wan warned, the inadequately trained Luke is in the end no match for the powerful and experienced Vader who ultimately defeats him, cutting off his right hand.

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:Vader: "There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you. Luke, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy."

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:Luke: "I'll never join you!"

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:Vader: "If you only knew the power of the dark side...Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."

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:Luke: "He told me enough! He told me you killed him."

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:Vader: "No. I am your father."

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Vader then tries to persuade Luke to join him so that they can destroy the Emperor and rule the galaxy as father and son. Luke, however profoundly shaken by this stunning claim, refuses to join Vader and escapes.

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As the Millennium Falcon tries to escape with Luke aboard, Vader plans to recapture it, his troops having disabled the hyperdrive. He telepathically asks Luke again to join him, while Luke struggles with his own conflicting feelings and wonders aloud why Ben Kenobi didn't tell him the truth about his father. R2-D2 repairs the hyperdrive at the last moment and the Falcon escapes, leaving Vader uncharacteristically drained.

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The redemption of Anakin Skywalker

Six months later, Vader is charged with overseeing the completion of the second Death Star, with Moff Jerjerrod as his immediate subordinate. He later meets with Palpatine onboard the half-constructed battle station to plan turning Luke to the dark side. Unbeknownst to Vader, Palpatine plans to sacrifice him so that Luke can take his place.

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Luke, by now an almost full-fledged Jedi, helps Leia, Lando and Chewbacca rescue Solo from Jabba's clutches, and then returns to Dagobah, where both a dying Yoda and Kenobi's Force ghost tell him that Vader is indeed his father. He then joins Solo, Princess Leia, and Chewbacca on their mission to the forest moon of Endor. On the sanctuary moon, he surrenders to Imperial troops and is brought to Vader. Luke acknowledges that Vader was "once Anakin Skywalker, my father". Vader replies, "That name no longer has any meaning for me." Luke continues trying to turn Vader away from the dark side, but Vader ultimately refuses, saying "It is too late for me, son," and delivers Luke to the Emperor onboard the new, incomplete Death Star.

Related Topics:
Force ghost - Forest moon of Endor

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Aboard the Death Star, the Emperor tells Luke that the rebel attack on the Death Star at Endor is a trap he had set to destroy the Rebellion once and for all. Luke resists the temptation to anger with the patience of a Jedi, but ultimately attempts to attack the Emperor. Vader draws his weapon to protect his master, engaging Luke in a lightsaber battle.

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Eventually, however, Luke decides to hide instead of fight, not wanting to destroy his father. Vader uses the Force to discover that Leia is Luke's sister, and thus his own 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 his father, driving him back with a whirlwind of blows. Vader collapses on a causeway, allowing Luke to finally sever his right hand.

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Luke's fury is suddenly cut short—as he stares at his own cybernetic hand, he realizes with a visceral horror that he has done the same thing that Vader once did to him and has already begun transforming into Vader's successor. As the Emperor approaches, encouraging Luke to finish Vader and take his place, Luke throws down his lightsaber, refusing to perform the killing blow.

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Enraged, the Emperor uses Force lightning to attack Luke. Luke writhes in agony under the Emperor's torture, begging his father for help. Unable to bear the sight of his son's torture, Vader turns on his master and saves his son by throwing Palpatine into a deep shaft where he explodes in a fury of dark energies. In the process, however, he is mortally wounded by the Emperor's lightning.

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As the Death Star crumbles under Rebel attack, the dying man pleads with Luke to remove his mask.

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:Vader: "Luke, help me take this mask off.""

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:Luke: "But you'll die."

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:Vader: "Nothing can stop that now. Just for once? let me look on you with my own eyes."

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Luke removes Vader's mask and sees the ghostly pale visage of a sad and withered man in his late forties. His head bald and browless, Anakin's skin is pasty white from not having been exposed to sunlight for more than two decades, his face still carrying the scars of the tragic duel with Obi-Wan. His weary eyes stare out from dark, sunken sockets at his son, and back at a life filled with sorrowful regret. In his dying breaths, Anakin Skywalker is redeemed, finally admitting to Luke that the goodness within him was not destroyed after all.

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:Anakin: "Now go, my son. Leave me."

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:Luke: "No. You're coming with me. I'll not leave you here, I've got to save you.""

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:Anakin: "You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister you were right."

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:Luke: "Father? I won't leave you."

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At this point, "Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker...Luke's father, dies." http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Wars-Return-of-the-Jedi.html

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That night, Luke burns his father's body in the manner of a Jedi's funeral. During the victory celebration on the forest moon of Endor, Luke is able to see the redeemed spirit of Anakin Skywalker, standing once again with Obi-Wan and Yoda, having become one with the Force.

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