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Rise of the Empire eraRebellion era

A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father.
—Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker[src]

Darth Vader was a Human Jedi in the final days of the Old Republic. His fall to the dark side of the Force, and his subsequent betrayal and murder of numerous Jedi—including his close friend Anakin Skywalker—contributed to the downfall of the Republic and the formation of the Empire.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Darth Vader was born into a life of slavery, and frequently bought and sold throughout his young life. Though considered little more than property, he learned of the benefits and mechanisms of power by observing his various masters, and believed that he could improve his life (and the lives of those around him) by gaining power for himself. He realized that, despite being a slave, he could nevertheless wield power by serving powerful masters. As a child, he began arranging to pass into the service of increasingly powerful masters. On at least one occasion he allowed one of his masters to die in order to achieve this aim. With each new increase in station, he used what little new influence he had to improve the lives of his fellow slaves, e.g. arranging for more or better food or accommodation.

When he was twelve, Darth was freed from slavery by a young Jedi named Obi-Wan Kenobi. Unaccustomed to being free, and recognizing Obi-Wan as the most powerful person he had ever met, Darth chose to become Obi-Wan's apprentice and learn the ways of The Force for himself.

Life as a Jedi and fall to the dark side[]

Padmé: “What are you doing? No, stop, this is wrong! I love my husband, not you. I have to go.
Darth Vader: “Wait! Don't go! You don't want to go.
Padmé: “I don't want to go.
Darth Vader: “You want to stay with me.
Padmé: “I want to stay with you.
— Darth Vader using The Force to seduce Padmé

For many years, Darth Vader learned the ways of the Force as Obi-Wan's apprentice. He also befriended another Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, who taught the young Darth to pilot a starship. Darth and Anakin became as close as brothers, but their relationship was tested when Darth became infatuated with Anakin's wife, Padmé.

One night, when Anakin left Padmé under Darth's protection, Darth attempted to seduce Padme. She rebuffed his advances and in desperation he used the Force to cloud her mind and persuaded her to sleep with him. This union produced a child, Luke, whom everyone except Darth and Padmé believed to be Anakin's son.

Having used the Force for personal gain, Darth realized that The Force was more powerful than Obi-Wan or the other Jedi would tell him. He was approached by the Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine, who was in secret a Sith Lord. Discovering that he had finally found a Master more powerful than any Jedi, Darth forswore all loyalties to the Jedi and pledged himself to Palpatine. Darth turned against the Jedi, slaying many of them, including Anakin Skywalker, before being mortally wounded in a duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was saved from death by Palpatine—who had by then taken the title of Emperor—but Darth's body required considerable repair. He was enclosed in a life-sustaining cybernetic suit that he would wear for the rest of his life.

Darth Vader was made a Lord of Palpatine's new Empire and, for many years, he served as Palpatine's enforcer. He hunted down and exterminated many surviving Jedi, and sought to uncover and destroy the nascent Rebel Alliance.

Seeking the Rebel base[]

Vader: “I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the Master.
Kenobi: “Only a master of evil, Darth!
―Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi[src]

When the plans for the Empire's Death Star battle station were stolen by the Rebels, Darth Vader was charged to recover them. He tracked the transmissions to the Tantive IV, a consular ship belonging to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. Before Vader boarded the Tantive IV, Organa was able to load the Death Star plans aboard R2-D2 and send the droid to Tatooine. Vader therefore failed to recover the plans, but now that he had proof of the Princess's involvement with the Rebel Alliance, he captured her and took her to the Death Star, where he used a floating interrogation droid to question her about the location of the secret Rebel base.[1]

When Organa refused to surrender the Alliance's actual base's location while under torture, Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin, the Death Star's commanding officer, threatened to destroy her homeworld of Alderaan. When she told them that the base was on Dantooine, they destroyed Alderaan anyway as a show of force - Dantooine was later revealed to be a wild goose chase.[1]

When the Millennium Falcon carrying Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca and Obi-Wan Kenobi was seized by a tractor beam and brought aboard the Death Star, Vader sensed the presence of his former master and confronted him outside the hangar. Challenging him to a second lightsaber duel, the two engaged one another. Ignoring Obi-Wan's vague warning that killing him would make him "more powerful than you can possibly imagine", Vader viciously struck him down. However, as Vader struck the final blow, Kenobi's body vanished and he became a spirit in the Force.[1]

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 fighter and almost prevented Luke's attack on the Death Star from being successful. Vader sensed that the young pilot in his sights was Force-sensitive. 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, and leaving Luke free to destroy the Death Star.[1]

The "son of Skywalker"[]

Palpatine: “The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi…
Vader: “If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally…
―Palpatine and Darth Vader[src]

Vader survived the destruction of the Death Star and soon discovered that the Force-sensitive pilot he had sensed was Luke Skywalker, his son whom he had believed dead. Vader became obsessed with finding Skywalker and the new Rebel base. He dispatched probe droids to remote regions of the galaxy. One such probe eventually detected Echo Base on Hoth, and Vader ordered the Imperial Fleet to advance. However, Admiral Ozzel exited hyperspace too close to the system, allowing the Rebels to detect the fleet and raise an energy shield to protect them from bombardment. It also gave the Rebels time to evacuate the base. As punishment for his failure, Vader choked Ozzel to death and promoted Captain Piett to Admiral in his place.[2]

Instead of an aerial attack, General Veers led a ground assault on the base. Veers was able to destroy the shield generator, allowing Vader's ship to land. Vader himself entered Echo Base and reached a hangar just in time to see the Millennium Falcon escape. When the Falcon's hyperdrive failed, Vader ordered the fleet to pursue, even into an unstable asteroid field.[2]

While his fighters searched the asteroids for the Falcon, Vader received a new mission from the Emperor—to capture Luke Skywalker, whom the Emperor had sensed through the Force. As far as Vader knew, the Emperor was unaware that Luke was really Vader's son, and had no knowledge of Vader's own plot, already in motion, to do just that. To deceive the Emperor, and thus allow him to continue making motions toward his own plan, Vader suggested that Luke could be turned to the dark side of the Force. The Emperor agreed, noting that Luke would be a "great asset."[2]

Vader continued pursuing the Falcon, and resorted to hiring bounty hunters to complete the task. Ultimately, the Falcon appeared and then quickly disappeared by hiding in a blind spot on the back of the bridge tower of Captain Needa's Star Destroyer. Captain Needa paid for losing the vehicle with his life. The fleet 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 sub-light course to Bespin. Boba Fett, one of the bounty hunters hired by Vader, deduced Solo's strategy, alerted Vader to his destination, and followed the Falcon to Cloud City, a mining colony located on the gas giant.[2]

Vader landed on Cloud City and coerced its administrator, Lando Calrissian, a friend of Han's, into an agreement to detain the Falcon's crew. When the Falcon arrived, Vader captured the crew with Calrissian's cooperation, and tortured Solo, knowing that Solo's suffering would be felt by Luke through the Force. Indeed, Luke had already seen a vision of his friend's torture while training under Yoda on Dagobah, and rushed to Cloud City to save his friends. Meanwhile, Vader froze Solo in carbonite as a test subject to see if the method would be viable for the younger Skywalker.[2]

Luke arrived at Cloud City just in time to take the bait of the trap set for him by Vader. He was lured to the carbonite freezing chamber, where Vader confronted him. Despite Luke's lack of training, he was able to hold his own for much of the duel. Ultimately, however, the inadequately trained Luke was no match for the experienced Vader, who ultimately defeated him and hacked off his right hand. With Luke at his mercy, Vader finally revealed that he was Luke's real father. Vader asked Luke to join him so that they could destroy the Emperor and rule the galaxy as father and son. Profoundly shaken by the news that he was Vader's son, Luke refused to join his father and plunged into the gas vents of Cloud City. Luke was able to survive long enough to be rescued by Leia and Lando in the Millennium Falcon. Vader, who had insured that the hyperdrive motivator on the Falcon would malfunction, gave orders to Admiral Piett to capture the freighter. At the same time, he contacted Luke telepathically aboard the Falcon, again urging Luke to join him. However, the Falcon managed to escape when R2-D2 reversed the sabotage and the Falcon jumped into hyperspace. While Vader had previously killed two of his subordinates, he let Admiral Piett live even though he failed to capture Luke in the Millennium Falcon.[2]

Behind the scenes[]

Darth Vader originally appeared in the original Star Wars, portrayed physically by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones. This version of the character was created by Supermorff as part of an exercise to see how different the Star Wars saga may have been if the franchise had taken a different direction after The Empire Strikes Back. In particular, the concept of Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker being the same person was not firmly established until Return of the Jedi, so this version of the character explores the possibility that the two characters were distinct. This necessitated numerous changes, completely altering the character's backstory and personality, although Vader's appearances in the original Star Wars (also known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) and The Empire Strikes Back (also known as Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) were included unchanged.

Appearances[]

Sources[]

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