Darth Vader

Darth Vader (41 BBY - 4 ABY; born Anakin Skywalker became "Darth Vader" in 19 BBY) was a Sith Lord in the service of Emperor Palpatine.

Biography

 * "He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil." &mdash; Obi-Wan Kenobi

Darth Vader was the Sith title given to Anakin Skywalker after his transformation to the Dark Side. The personalities were made further distinct when Anakin suffered grievous wounds that caused a complete change in his appearance. As Darth Vader, Anakin became a powerful asset to the fledgling Empire, serving as an enforcer and Jedi hunter.

The Rebellion
Shortly prior to the Battle of Yavin, Vader was charged with tracing the stolen plans of the Death Star and finding the hidden base of the Rebel Alliance. In the process, he tortured Leia Organa and witnessed the deaths of billions during the destruction of the planet Alderaan, although Tarkin gave the order. Vader also battled the elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi in their second lightsaber duel. Despite Obi-Wan's vague warning that doing so would make him "more powerful than you can possibly imagine," Vader struck him down, and Obi-Wan became a spirit in the Force who continued to guide Luke Skywalker. To determine the location of the Rebel base, Vader allowed Luke and Han Solo to rescue Princess Leia and escape with the technical readouts of the Death Star. During the Battle of Yavin, he piloted a distinctive TIE/Advanced fighter and almost prevented Luke's successful starfighter attack on the Death Star. It was at this moment that Vader sensed that the young pilot in his sights was Force sensitive, putting into motion a series of events that culminated in the death of the Empire. When the Millennium Falcon shot down one of his two support craft, the other panicked and veered into Vader's fighter, sending him spinning away from the battle station. Vader was able to regain control and escape to Coruscant.

The Son of Skywalker
Although a subterfuge perpetrated by Obi-Wan Kenobi had caused Vader to believe that his unborn child had perished with his wife, Padmé Amidala, Vader eventually deduced that Luke was in fact this child. Vader became obsessed with hunting down Luke, an objective which, for the time being, neatly coincided with his task of destroying the Rebellion. Vader dispatched probe droids to remote regions of the galaxy, eventually detecting the Rebel Echo Base on Hoth. Admiral Ozzel incurred Vader’s wrath when he ruined Death Squadron's stealth attack by exiting hyperspace too close to the planet, allowing the Rebels to detect the attack and project shields against planetary bombardment. Thus Vader was forced to wage a terrestrial campaign, the deployment of which gave some of the Rebel forces time to flee. Vader himself entered Echo Base, reaching a hangar just in time to see the Millennium Falcon escape. When its hyperdrive failed, Vader ordered pursuit, even following the "Falcon" and her apparently unstable pilot into an equally unstable asteroid field.

While his fighters searched the asteriods for the "Falcon," Vader received a new mission from the Emperor&mdash;to capture Luke Skywalker, his own son and the pilot who had destroyed the Death Star. Vader suggested that he could be turned to the dark side of the Force, and the Emperor agreed, noting that he would be a "great asset." Meanwhile, as was the pattern with Sith Lords, and particularly with the Emperor, each secretly began planning to elimate the other and take Luke as his apprentice.

Vader continued pursuing the Falcon, resorting to hiring bounty hunters for the task. Ultimately, the Falcon appeared and then quickly disappeared, hiding in a blind spot on the back of the bridge tower of Captain Needa's Star Destroyer. Captain Needa took responsibility for losing them, and apologized to Vader. The Sith Lord accepted his apology--but only after Force choking him to his death. Death Squadron dispersed into hyperspace, each ship dumping its garbage before jumping. The Falcon, released from its perch, floated away amid the debris and then set a sublight course to Cloud City, a mining colony administered by Han Solo's old friend Lando Calrissian. Boba Fett, one of the bounty hunters hired by Vader, having deduced Solo's strategy and followed the "Falcon" to Cloud City, alerted Vader.

Vader landed on Cloud City, threatening Lando into an agreement and waiting for the Falcon's arrival. When the Falcon arrived, Vader captured and tortured Han Solo. Luke, training under Yoda on Dagobah, saw a vision of his friend's torture and rushed to Cloud City to save his friends, despite the sternest warnings from Yoda that by doing so, he would risk falling to the dark side. Meanwhile, Vader froze Solo in carbonite as a test subject to see if the method would be viable for the younger Skywalker, much to the chagrin of Boba Fett, who was already seeking Solo under the hire of Jabba the Hutt. Luke arrived at Cloud City, but Leia warned him of the trap within the corridors of Cloud City. Lando, Chewbacca, and Leia engineered an escape from Cloud City as Boba Fett took the frozen Han Solo to Tatooine to collect his bounty from Jabba the Hutt.

Luke found Vader, and they dueled, Luke not knowing his opponent's true identity. As Yoda and Obi-Wan had warned, the inadequately trained Luke was no match for the powerful and experienced Vader, who ultimately defeated him, cutting off his right hand.


 * Vader: "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."
 * Luke: "He told me enough. He told me you killed him!"
 * Vader: "No. I am your father."

Vader asked Luke to join him so that they could destroy the Emperor and rule the galaxy as father and son. Luke, however, profoundly shaken by the news that he was Vader's son, refused to join his father and leapt into the gas vents of Cloud City, managing to survive long enough to be rescued by Leia in the Millennium Falcon. It has also been noted that, while Vader killed two of his subordinates, he let Admiral Piett live even though he failed to capture Luke and the Millennium Falcon. This is considered by some to be evidence of Vader's human side starting to become visible--Vader was too upset to kill his own officer.

Redemption
Shortly thereafter, the Death Star II was built under the command of Moff Jerjerrod as an elaborate trap for the Rebellion. Vader was sent to oversee the later stages of the construction. Vader soon sensed Luke Skywalker on board a shuttle heading for the Endor moon, while the Emperor, present during the final stages of construction, did not. On Endor, Vader once again attempted to persuade Luke to join the dark side, but this time Vader's interests were tinged by a desire to protect his son. When this failed, Vader took him to Emperor Palpatine himself on the incomplete Death Star II. Luke reluctantly fought a lightsaber battle with Vader, all the while attempting to persuade Vader to renounce the dark side of the Force.

During a lull in the fighting, Vader telepathically examined Luke's mind and realized that Leia was Luke's sister (and thus Vader’s daughter). Vader threatened to turn her to the dark side if he should fail to do so with Luke. Hearing this threat to his sister, Luke's rage was finally unleashed, and he attacked Lord Vader using the dark side of the Force, driving him back with a whirlwind of blows. Severing Vader's right hand, Luke's fury was suddenly cut short--as he stared at his own cybernetic hand, he realized with a visceral horror that he had already begun transforming into Vader's successor. As the Emperor approached, Luke threw down his lightsaber, abandoning the dark path and his new powers. Palpatine, his hate for the Jedi resurging, struck Luke down with Force lightning.

Luke writhed in agony as the Emperor slowly tortured him. He begged his father for help; Vader turned and, with his remaining hand, lifted the Emperor and threw him down a shaft into the Death Star's reactor core, where he exploded in a storm of dark energies. Unfortunately, Vader was fatally wounded in the process. In his final moments, he pleaded with Luke to remove his mask so that he could "look on him with his own eyes." Vader finally found redemption in the light side of the Force. Darth Vader was no more; Anakin Skywalker had returned.


 * "You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister... you were right."

Post-mortem
Luke escaped the dying Death Star with Anakin's body, which he cremated that night on the forest moon of Endor.

It is not clear what happened to Anakin's body on his death. Production information says that being a redeemed Jedi, his organic body was dematerialised and became on with the Force, as happened with Obi-Wan and Yoda. What Luke cremated was just his suit. On the other hand, Anakin could not know about Qui-Gon's secret of joining the Force, and this is why he looked surprised when Obi-Wan's body vanished right before slaying him.

Later that night, during the celebration on Endor, Luke was able to see the spirit of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, once again standing alongside his old friends, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.

No matter how loyal to the Empire Vader was during his reign, after his repentance and killing the Emperor, the Imperials saw him now as a symbol of ultimate treachery. Sometimes they didn't dare even pronouncing the traitor's name, and when they did, they did so in disgust. In the Bast Castle of Vjun, once stood a statue of Vader which in the game Jedi Academy appears vandalised and desecrated by the Imperials and Sith who passed by, indicative of Vader's reputation after his death.

Darth Vader's 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. His talent with the lightsaber was well known. 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, after all of his limbs were severed and he was extremely burned on Mustafar he lost much of his Force potential. As Darth Vader, Anakin was believed to have had roughly 80% of the strength of the Emperor. Had he sustained none of his injuries on Mustafar he would have been twice as powerful.

Darth Vader's Appearance
As the Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader's irises would turn fiery yellow when he immersed himself fully in the Dark Side and the passions of hate and anger, but return to normal in his remorse. At first, Vader continued to dress as a Jedi to hide his new identity. After losing an epic duel with his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin was horribly disfigured by injuries and burns suffered on the lava-planet Mustafar. In addition to his horrific scars and maimed torso, Anakin's lungs were seared, leaving him barely able to breathe. Only his burning hatred and lust for revenge kept his will to live intact.

After his rescue by Darth Sidious, it was realized that a cybernetic life support system would be required to sustain Anakin. New mechanical limbs were attached and a breathing modulator was incorporated into an imposing obsidian armored suit. He was forced to wear the armor at all times, except for when meditating or healing in his pressurized containment chamber. Also making him even more intimidating than his ruthless reputation alone, the suited Darth Vader was a towering figure, standing nearly 6 feet 8 inches (2.02 meters). Even amongst his Imperial subordinates, Vader's frightful presence invoked terror. Ahead of his portentous footfalls, Lord Vader's distinctive, cold, raspy breathing sent chills down the spine as it heralded his villainous presence.

Behind the scenes
“However, after all of his limbs were severed and he was extremely burned on Mustafar he lost much of his Force potential. As Darth Vader, Anakin was believed to have had roughly 80% of the strength of the Emperor. Had he sustained none of his injuries on Mustafar he would have been twice as powerful.” -Source: George Lucas

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 the 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 also worth noting that "Vader" is the Dutch word for "father", 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. However, it is 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.

Darth Vader as a 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.

Darth Vader's head gear appears to be modelled on a Japanese kabuto (&#20828;), 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.

Many people say that Darth Vader is loosely inspired by the Marvel Universe villain Doctor Doom. Considered the greatest comic-book villain of all time, he is similar to Vader. Both have a commanding presence, both are physically deformed thanks to tragic accidents that cause them to wear armor, both are very highly intelligent, and both were, in a way, good once.

Portrayal
The distinctive voice of Darth Vader was played by James Earl Jones. In Episodes IV-VI David Prowse - The Green Cross Code Man played the body of Vader, and his face (as his redeemed self), seen only in Return of the Jedi, by Sebastian Shaw. Legendary fencer Bob Anderson stood in as a stunt double for David Prowse in Episodes V and VI. In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Hayden Christensen is in the Vader suit, while James Earl Jones reprises his role as the voice of Vader.