Darth Vader

Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, is the secondary villain of the Star Wars franchise. He was a high-ranking Jedi Knight who fought for the Galactic Republic and also "the Chosen One", the prophesied individual who would destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force. However, by the end of the Clone Wars, he turned to the dark side and would become a powerful Sith Lord in service to the newly-risen Galactic Empire. The American Film Institute listed him as the third greatest movie villain in cinema history on 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, behind Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.
== History ==
=== Star Wars: Tales of the Empire ===
In the main hall of Fortress Inquisitorius, the Grand Inquisitor introduced the Inquisitors to their new master Vader, who sat on the throne. Lord Vader invited them to rise while the Grand Inquisitor said "Long live the Empire." The Inquisitors followed suit in repeating the chant.
=== Star Wars: The Clone Wars ===
Some years into the Imperial Era, Vader traveled to a snowy moon that was home to the crash site of a Venator-class Star Destroyer. Investigating the wreckage with a contingent of snowtroopers, Vader discovered a memorial to the clone company that perished in the crash, as well as a lightsaber, partly frozen but still functional, that once belonged to his former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano. Looking up into the sky, Vader saw a strange bird soaring through the air. After gazing at the bird for a moment, Vader turned from the crash site and left, saber in hand, believing his Padawan to be dead and gone.
=== Obi-Wan Kenobi ===
In 9 BBY, Vader at last had a chance for his long-awaited rematch with Obi-Wan after an Inquisitor known as the Third Sister—who was obsessed with finding Kenobi because she was in fact the youngling Reva, who wanted to use Kenobi as bait to get close to Vader and enact revenge for his slaughter at the Jedi Temple years before—arranged for the kidnapping of Leia Organa to draw Kenobi to the planet Daiyu. Although he escaped with Organa, the Third Sister told Kenobi that Skywalker had survived his injuries. As Kenobi grabbled with the information, Vader awoke in his bacta tank in Fortress Vader on Mustafar. Assembling his suit, Vader moved to his throne room and spoke to the Third Sister via hologram, demanding to know where Kenobi was. Dismissing the apparent death of the Grand Inquisitor, whom Reva had stabbed in her desire to claim credit for Kenobi's capture herself, Vader ordered her to prove herself capable, with the position of Grand Inquisitor as her reward should she succeed. In truth, he knew the Third Sister was the youngling Reva and that she intended to betray him, but Vader kept her alive so long as she was useful.
Vader also warned the Third Sister that if she failed, she would not live to regret it. Later, Vader was informed that Obi-Wan was on Mapuzo. Vader arrived with his three Inquisitors and a squad of stormtroopers and walked through the streets of the settlement, terrorizing and killing random civilians in order to draw Obi-Wan out. Vader pursued the Jedi Master into the quarry. Horrified at what had become of his former apprentice, Obi-Wan tried to flee, but Vader ambushed him. Vader taunted Obi-Wan with regards to his lost strength, and Obi-Wan attempted to flee again. Once again, Vader caught up to Obi-Wan, this time lifting him with the Force, as he ignited flammable rocks with his lightsaber. Promising to make Obi-Wan suffer, Vader lowered Obi-Wan to the ground and dragged him through the flames, scorching him. Vader extinguished the flames as a squad of stormtroopers arrived. Vader ordered Obi-Wan brought to him, but before the stormtroopers could comply, a hidden Tala Durith opened fire, killing several stormtroopers and reigniting the flammable rocks. This gave NED-B the opportunity to retrieve Obi-Wan and for Tala to escape with the injured Jedi.
Following the successful rescue of Leia from Fortress Inquisitorius, Vader angrily made to kill the Third Sister, lifting her into the air with the Force and choking her while reminding her that she was warned what would happen if she failed. Vader allowed her to speak, which enabled her to reveal that she had planted a tracker on Leia's droid, Lola, which would reveal the location of the Hidden Path network. Vader acknowledged that he had underestimated the Third Sister, and spared her, though he warned her that he would not tolerate any further mistakes.
Aboard the Devastator, Vader reflected on a long ago training duel against Kenobi in the Jedi Temple as the Jedi's Padawan before his captain alerted him to the Third Sister's arrival. Ordering the pleasantries dispensed with, Vader demanded to know Obi-Wan's location. The Third Sister reported that he had been tracked to Jabiim. Satisfied, Vader demanded that the Third Sister kneeled before him, and he promoted her to the rank of Grand Inquisitor. He then ordered the bridge captain to set a course for Jabiim.
En route to Jabiim, Vader ordered the Path's base locked down. The Third Sister warned Vader that if they trapped them, their opponents could hold out for several days. Vader responded that he did not intend to break their enemies. After the Third Sister and her forces secured the Path's hangar, Vader arrived on the surface. The Third Sister told him that Kenobi was inside, but Vader stated that he wished to bring him in himself. Vader forced his way into the hangar and found a transport attempting to leave. He used the Force to ground it and rip it apart, only to find that it was a decoy and the real transport with the Path—and Kenobi—aboard took off successfully. The Jedi Master had remembered the old training duel where his Padawan had shown shortsightedness because of his anger, which inspired him to exploit Vader's ruthlessness and single-minded focus.
The Third Sister attempted to use that moment as a distraction to stab Vader, but Vader used the Force to stop her blade, stating that Kenobi was wise to use her against him. Vader hurled her aside, but she charged at him again, and he used the Force to deflect her blade and throw her. The Third Sister activated her lightsaber's twin blade spinning mode, but Vader used the Force to stall the blades rotation, and then ripped her saber from her grip. Vader detached her lightsaber into two singular hilts, and tossed one on the ground at the Third Sister's feet, taunting her. She retrieved the weapon and continued to attack Vader, but the Sith Lord quickly disarmed her again, before stabbing her in the abdomen. As she collapsed, the Grand Inquisitor arrived, revealing he had survived, and Vader stated that he had known her intent for some time, but had decided to allow it because it was useful in the hunt for Kenobi. Vader declared that the Third Sister was no longer useful, and he and the Grand Inquisitor left her to die.
Vader returned to the Devastator as it pursued the Path's freighter. Kenobi left the Path's freighter on a drop ship with Lola. Against the advice of the Grand Inquisitor, who stated that he should continue the pursuit of the Path's ship, Vader ordered the Devastator after Kenobi to a rocky moon. Vader departed the Devastator alone aboard a shuttle and chased Kenobi above the moon's moon's dry lands before landing in those dry lands, where he confronted Kenobi and asked if his former master was there to destroy him. Kenobi replied that he will do as he must before igniting his lightsaber. Vader vowed that Kenobi would die and the two engaged in a lightsaber duel, with Vader utilizing a combination of one-handed and two-handed combat, that passed from the dry lands into a labyrinth of rock pinnacles. During the duel, Kenobi attempted to collapse a pinnacle on Vader, who stopped it with the Force. Remarking that Kenobi's strength had returned since their last duel but that his weakness remained, Vader hurled the pinnacle at Kenobi before resuming their duel.
Vader collapsed the ground beneath Kenobi and hurled rocks to keep him down there. Before leaving, Vader taunted Kenobi for thinking that he could win against his former apprentice. However, Kenobi, drawing on his desire to protect Anakin's children, managed to break free and charged at Vader again. On the offensive, Kenobi used his superior use of Soresu and the more aggressive Ataru utilized by his late master, Qui-Gon Jinn to overwhelm the Sith Lord before using the Force to hurl Vader against a rock. With Vader stunned, Kenobi then pummeled him with a maelstrom of rocks. Kenobi then resumed his lightsaber duel with Vader, critically damaging Vader's chest plate with multiple strikes from his lightsaber's pommel and slashing him across the back before pushing him back with the Force again, and then leaping at him, striking the left side of Vader's helmet with his lightsaber and revealing the scarred face of Anakin beneath. Kenobi addressed him as Anakin Skywalker, prompting Vader to respond that Anakin was gone and that he was what remained.
Kenobi was visibly distraught and apologized to Anakin. Vader replied that he was not Kenobi's failure and that Kenobi did not kill Anakin: instead, Vader replied that he killed Anakin and vowed to destroy Kenobi as well. With that, Kenobi was left to believe his friend was truly dead before bidding Vader, whom he simply called "Darth," farewell. As Kenobi left, Vader called out to him while trying to rise to his feet, unable to catch Kenobi before he slipped through his grasp once more. Vader was left with the belief that he had been but a learner in their latest duel, convincing him to increase his strength to cement his power over Kenobi for whenever their next encounter came. Vader's suit was repaired and he returned to Fortress Vader, where he conferred with the Emperor via hologram, stating that he had dispatched probes along all possible routes and that Kenobi would not escape him again. The Emperor noticed Vader's agitation and suggested that Vader could not move beyond his past. Vader, seeing the threat hidden in Palpatine's reply, affirmed that Kenobi meant nothing to him and that he only served the Emperor.
=== Star Wars Rebels ===
Following the escape of a rebel cell consisting of crew members of a VCX-100 Light Freighter called the Ghost that led to the Grand Inquisitor's death above Mustafar, rumors of what had happened became known, riots and uprisings begun to occur on several worlds. Concerned at the rise in rebel activity, the Emperor sent Lord Vader to Lothal with Governor Tarkin to end the growing rebellion.
Lord Vader met with Agent Kallus and Minister Maketh Tua to discuss his plans with dealing with rebels. Vader then had Kallus escort the Minister to her shuttle, where she was killed and the incident was blamed on the rebels. When the Rebels tried to steal a ship to make their escape, the Vader and his Stormtroopers confronted them. The Sith Lord then dueled with the leader of the rebels, a former Jedi trained under Master Depa Billaba and her apprentice, Vader was easily able to overpower them with his own lightsaber until Kanan intervened. Their fellow rebels used thermal detonators to cause an AT-DP to fall on the Sith Lord, but he survived and used the Force to lift the burning walker off him. The Rebels fled the scene in a stolen shuttle and instead of pursuing them, their adversary chose let them go.
Vader then allowed the rebels to escape through the blockade, letting them lead him to his true target; the Rebel fleet. The Sith Lord took his TIE Advanced x1 fighter to attack the Rebel fleet, destroying most of the fighters and severely damaging the command ship. During the fight, Vader sensed that his former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, was alive and part of the Rebel fleet. The Sith Lord tried to capture her, but was unable to get past the Ghost. When two Star Destroyers arrived, Vader tried to stop the Rebels, but lost them when they jumped into hyperspace and he was caught in the tractor beam instead.
Following his victory, Lord Vader contacted the Emperor and informed him that Skywalker's apprentice was still alive and working with the rebels. Both Imperial leaders were pleased by this revelation, knowing she could lead them to other Jedi survivors, even Obi-Wan Kenobi, whom Vader was still obsessed with seeking revenge upon for his defeat on Mustafar. The Emperor urged his apprentice to to be patient when searching for his former master, and then ordered him to send another Inquisitor to hunt the rebels down.
Vader did as the Emperor instructed, with only a slight alteration: instead of one he assigned two Inquisitors, the Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister, to finish what he and the Grand Inquisitor had started. Vader arrived on the Lothal Jedi Temple, descending into the site and telling the Inquisitors that both he and the Emperor were impressed with their discovery. The Fifth Brother revealed that the Jedi are growing in their power, to which Lord Vader calmly retorted; 'it will be their undoing'.
It was mentioned by Maul that Vader would be coming. He arrived on Malachor on top of his TIE Advanced x1 and approached Ezra, the Sith Lord questioned the boy as to how did he open the path to the Malachor Sith Temple; Ezra told him to find out himself and engaged Vader in battle, but the Sith Lord was too strong and easily destroyed the young Jedi's lightsaber. But before he could finish the boy off, Ahsoka arrived and engaged Vader. He eventually managed to knock Ahsoka out of the Temple and attempted to stop Ezra and a blinded Kanan from escaping. The recovered Togruta charged up behind the Sith Lord and slashed half of his mask off, knocking him down to the floor and exposing a considerable amount of his disfigured face, including his yellow right eye. Seeing that he really was her old master, the former Padawan refused to leave him again. For a few moments, Ahsoka's compassion appeared to have reached Vader, but he then shrugged it off, for she reminded him of his past, a past he wanted to eradicate from history. Coldly declaring that she would die, the Sith Lord ignited his lightsaber and moved to attack her again. As the pair resumed their battle, the temple collapsed and exploded around them, with barely managing to escape.
The Sith Lord survived the collapse and later limped away from the ruins, until getting picked up by an Imperial shuttle.
His voice as both Anakin and Vader was heard in the World Between Worlds. The conclusion of Vader and Ahsoka's battle was shown by one of the portals of the World Between Worlds. Before the Sith Lord was able to strike down his former Padawan, who was attempting to create a hole under him, Ezra Bridger pulled her out of the past to the mystical world. A confused Vader then fell through the hole under the temple and was able to survive the blast.
=== Ahsoka ===
In 9 ABY, when Anakin Skywalker fought Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds, his form shifted back and forth to his helmeted Sith persona.
== Personality ==
Ruthless, enigmatic, cold, staunch, tenacious, and brutal, Darth Vader is a civilian general who commands a frightening presence that makes virtually anyone, ally or foe, shiver at his approach. The Stormtroopers and a few of the competent or brave Imperial Officers are doggedly loyal to him to the point of "worship" due to his effective, though cruel, command style and his fighting on the front lines. Although he carries out his master's whims without question, Vader yearns to one day occupy Sidious' seat of Emperor.
He views every action he takes as a means to an end and has no sympathy towards those oppressed by the Empire, and is utterly merciless towards his enemies. In addition, Darth Vader is infamously intolerant of failure and insurgency, and those who fail or show ineptitude under his command often fear for their lives and rightly so.
Darth Vader is also more than willing to deal with threats himself if necessary as he arrived at Lothal, upon the Darth Sidious' orders, to deal with the rebels and the Jedi leading them. He followed the rebels to their fleet and nearly destroyed them alone rather than sending a fleet, showing that he doesn't let others do what he can do himself.
Once, he was a Jedi villain named Anakin Skywalker. Brave, compassionate, he was a daring warrior. He cared deeply his allies and friends, and would support them to the very end. That man is lost, buried within a pathetic, wretched shell of life-supporting armor, prosthetic limbs and a dampened spirit that has lost all hope of ever returning to the light, and so has more-or-less made peace with his lot in life. As such, Vader intends to follow the ways of the Sith, specifically the Rule of Two, and so find a worthy apprentice and one day kill Sidious to assume his place as ruler of the galaxy.
A key factor to Vader's evil is his refusal to truly acknowledge his own sins and what his actions wrought upon both himself and the galaxy, instead shifting blame onto those he feels betrayed him, because the truth is too painful to accept. It is for this reason he had no desire to restore the bond he once shared with his former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano; she was a living memory of the man he once was, and, in his own twisted way, he was angry at her for leaving him and the Jedi Order, something he perceived later on as a form of betrayal. Thus he sought to destroy her and wipe his past away completely. He also did not want to have any reminders of his old self as he felt that any reminders of that would weaken him.
However, despite his ruthless atrocities and apparent refusal to truly acknowledge his own sins, Vader secretly carries a deep self-loathing and many regrets, as he was haunted for the rest of his life for failing to save his mother, as well as for causing the death of his wife and apparently his unborn child and as a result of these events, Vader was severely depressed. With nothing else to live for, he turned to the only one who would ever accept him out of a longing for companionship, but also to patiently wait for his chance to usurp his master and make him pay for ruining his life.
== Gallery ==
== Trivia ==
* Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at the University of Toulouse Hospital, argued at the 2007 APA convention that Anakin meets six of the nine diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD), one more than necessary for a diagnosis. He and a colleague, Rachel Rodgers, published their findings in a 2010 letter to the editor of the journal Psychiatry Research. Bui says he found Anakin Skywalker a useful example to explain BPD to medical students.
* Darth Vader's iconic status has made the character a synonym for evil in popular culture and one of the most popular fictional villains of all time. As noted above, psychiatrists have even considered him a useful example to explain borderline personality disorder to medical students.
* While the original evil Legends General Grievous was meant to be a face of Darth Vader, the heroic Canon General Grievous has nothing in relation with Vader in Star Wars: The Clone Wars itself as Grievous is a hero who does heroic actions and wasn't forced into a cyborg. Some idiots like to compare the heroic Grievous to the evil Vader when it doesn't make ANY factual sense.
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