Anakin Skywalker present in work Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
Skywalker saga
Original trilogy
Darth Vader first appears in Star Wars as a ruthless cyborg Sith Lord serving the Galactic Empire. He is tasked, along with Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), with recovering the secret plans for the Death Star battle station, which were stolen by the Rebel Alliance. Vader captures and tortures Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), who has hidden the plans inside the droid R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and sent it to find Vader's former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) on the planet Tatooine. During Leia's rescue by Obi-Wan's allies Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Vader strikes down Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel. Having placed a tracking device aboard their ship, the Millennium Falcon, Vader is able to track down the Rebel base on the planet Yavin 4. During the Rebel attack on the Death Star, Vader boards his TIE Advanced and shoots down Rebel X-wings, but Solo intervenes and sends Vader's ship spiraling off course, allowing Luke to destroy the Death Star.
After the Battle of Yavin, Vader is granted special powers usually reserved for the emperor alone, for particular military operations against the Rebel Alliance, and was made senior to all other generals and officials in their sphere of operations, no matter what their seniority otherwise, which allowed Vader to lead troops across provincial boundaries. In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader becomes obsessed with finding the Force-sensitive Luke and leads his stormtroopers to attack on the Rebel base on Hoth, but the Rebels escape. While conversing with the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid) via hologram, Vader convinces him that Luke would be a valuable ally if he could be turned to the dark side. Vader hires a group of bounty hunters to follow Luke's friends, and negotiates with Bespin administrator Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) to set a trap for them to bait Luke. After Han, Leia, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) arrive, Vader tortures and freezes Han in carbonite and gives him to the bounty hunter Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch). When Luke arrives, Vader overpowers him in a lightsaber duel, severing his hand. Vader tells Luke that he is his father, and tries to persuade him to join the dark side and help him overthrow the Emperor. Horrified, Luke escapes through an air shaft. Vader telepathically tells Luke that it is his destiny to join the dark side.In Return of the Jedi, Vader and the Emperor supervise the final stages of the second Death Star's construction. Thinking that there is still good in his father, Luke surrenders to Vader and tries to convince him to turn from the dark side. Vader takes Luke to the second Death Star to meet the Emperor. While there, the Emperor tempts Luke to give in to his anger, which leads to Vader dueling with Luke once again. Realizing that Leia is Luke's twin sister, Vader threatens to turn her to the dark side if Luke will not submit. Furious, Luke overpowers Vader and severs his father's cybernetic hand. The Emperor entreats Luke to kill Vader and take his place. Luke refuses and the Emperor tortures him with Force lightning. Unwilling to let his son die for the same reasons he once stood for, Vader grabs the Emperor, picks him up and throws the Emperor down a reactor shaft to his death, but is mortally electrocuted in the process. The redeemed Anakin Skywalker asks Luke to remove his mask, and admits that there was still good in him after all as he dies peacefully in his son's arms. Luke escapes the second Death Star with his father's body and cremates it in a pyre on Endor. As the Rebels celebrate the second Death Star's destruction and the Empire's defeat, Luke sees the spirits of Anakin, Yoda (Frank Oz), and Obi-Wan watching over him.In the original trilogy David Prowse physically portrayed Vader while James Earl Jones voiced him. Sebastian Shaw portrayed the unmasked Anakin in Return of the Jedi, as well as the character's spirit prior to the 2004 re-release when he was replaced by Hayden Christensen as Anakin's Force spirit.
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