Darth Vader

**Darth Vader**, born as **Anakin Skywalker**, is a major character in the *Star Wars* franchise. He is a high-ranking Jedi Knight-turned-powerful Sith Lord, and he stands as one of the greatest and the most popular fictional villains of all time. He is the former Jedi Padawan of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master to His Former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, the third and final Sith apprentice of Emperor Palpatine (after Darth Maul and Count Dooku), and the father of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, the protagonist and deuteragonist of the original trilogy respectively. In the Template:W, he has a grandson named Kylo Ren.

Vader is the secondary antagonist of the original trilogy and the protagonist of the prequel trilogy, the 2008 animated film *Star Wars: The Clone Wars*, and the *Star Wars: The Clone Wars* TV series. He also was one of the three main antagonists of *Star Wars: Rebels* (alongside The Grand Inquisitor and Grand Admiral Thrawn), a major antagonist in *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story*, and a posthumous antagonist in the sequel trilogy.

## Personality

Before Anakin became Darth Vader, he was a kind person who cared about all of his friends. He would not give up on them no matter what. Despite his compassionate and sympathetic demeanor, however, he was pretty ruthless and aggressive towards people he considered his enemies.

The deaths of his mother and his wife Padmé left a deep impact on him; feeling alone and failed, he ultimately embraced the dark side of the Force and his personality changed completely. He was utterly ruthless and terrifying now, driven by rage, though after his defeat and mutilation on Mustafar at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was no longer as arrogant and overconfident as he previously was. Although he regained confidence in himself, it was never to the point of being outwardly cocky or conceited.

Unlike most members of the Sith Order, Vader was capable of acknowledging and learning from his mistakes, due to the events on Mustafar as he was emotionally traumatized by the experience.

Vader remained as an impatient man, but generally presented himself as calm and level-headed, as he rarely lost his temper and usually had good control over his emotions, something he was not able to do in his early 20s. Due to his unstable mentality, Vader would often rest and meditate in either his meditation chamber or elsewhere where he would tap into the Force and focus on concentrating his mind.

He had an extremely low tolerance for failure and he did not get along at all with higher-ranking officers in the Imperial military. He had little to no tolerance for incompetence or for those who disrespected him, nearly choking Admiral Conan Antonio Motti to death when he disrespected Vader and challenge his powers of the Force. Many higher-ranking officers disliked the Sith Lord and his "sorcerer's ways" for no apparent reason. Despite his bad relationship with higher-ranking officers in the military, Vader did get along quite well with the stormtroopers because of his front line leadership.

As a general within the ranks of the Imperial Army of the Empire, Vader was renowned for his leadership skills and admired by stormtroopers, middle-ranking/low-ranking officers and politicians alike.

Because of his former status as a slave, Vader had distress when the concept of slavery was brought up. Despite what his actions wrought upon both himself and the galaxy, Vader apparently believed he was doing what was good for the galaxy. Deep down, however, he felt enormous guilt and remorse for his actions, whether he wanted to admit it or not. So much that he developed a deep self-loathing, and even nearly committed suicide at one point.

Upon his fateful reunion with his former apprentice and friend Ahsoka Tano, Vader expressed no desire to rekindle the bond he once shared with her and even told her that he had killed Anakin Skywalker, when he was in fact Anakin himself (though he may have been speaking ironically). Though he did offer to spare her if she told him where the other lost Jedi were hiding, he cruelly resolved to kill her when she refused and even when she found out that he was indeed her former mentor and offered him compassion.

Vader was cold, brutal and ruthless towards his enemies, as he was perfectly willing to tease, torture and even murder them in cold blood. He was seemingly unfailingly loyal to his master Palpatine; the latter was the closest thing Vader had to a friend. However, in truth, he hated his master for deceiving him and ruining his life, as he secretly planned to overthrow him one day with his own apprentice. The only reason Vader continued to serve Palpatine after losing his wife was because the Emperor was all he had left; he was the only one that would accept him. All in all, Vader was only truly loyal to people he still cared about, like his son Luke, as he did everything possible to protect him from Palpatine.

Upon discovering the existence of his son Luke, Vader became emotionally conflicted and displayed a sense of compassion for his son, revealing that some hint of him still held an attachment towards his family. This attachment ultimately led to his redemption.

Nearing the end of his life, Vader strongly believed he was irredeemable and there was no good left in him. However, when his son Luke was being tortured by Palpatine, he finally broke away from the dark side of the force, becoming the good person he once was, sacrificed himself to save his son from Palpatine. Redeemed by Luke's love, Anakin made peace with his son before he became one with the Force and was at last reunited with his loved ones.