Darth Vader

Background

Anakin Skywalker

Before Darth Vader was a Sith Lord, he was a humble slave by the name of Anakin Skywalker. Born of virgin birth, Anakin Skywalker had a strong connection even as a young child. This connection draw a Jedi by the name of Qui-Gon Jinn who saw great potential in him. Believing that Anakin was the chosen one that was foretold in a prophecy to bring balance to the force, Qui-Gon Jinn requested that Anakin be trained in the ways of the force. Anakin was accepted as a Jedi reluctantly by the Jedi Council and assigned to Obi-Wan Kenobi as his padawan, or Jedi apprentice. As a Jedi, Anakin was considered gifted but reckless. He excelled in swordsmanship and was proficient with the force. While Anakin was learning the ways of the force, he fell love with Padmé Amidala, the queen of Naboo. Together, they kept their romance a secret because Jedi were forbidden from taking a partner or spouse. While all seemed well, there was trouble in paradise. Anakin would have a vision that Padmé would die in child birth. To save his wife, Anakin would join Chancellor Palpatine and betray the Republic as Darth Vader. His betrayal had great consequences for the galaxy that included the creation of a dictatorship and the near extermination of the Jedi. At the end of the Clone Wars, Anakin is confronted by his teacher and former master. They duel and Anakin is defeated. Having suffered serious burns and losing 3 limbs, Anakin is forced to have surgery and is fitted into his iconic black suit.

Darth Vader

As a Sith Lord, Anakin is known more popularly as Darth Vader. More machine than man, Vader's only purpose after he dons on his black suit is too obey his new master, Emperor Palpatine. Cader carries out Palpatine's orders and makes sure that all his plans are executed correctly. During the original Star Wars movies Darth Vader oversees the construction of the death, a weapon that is built to solidify the Emperor's control over the galaxy. Despite his outward obedience to the Emperor, Darth Vader wishes to betray him and take over the galaxy for himself. He tries many times to convince his son Luke to join him and overthrow the Emperor.

Major Plot

The Phantom Menace

Anakin Skywalker was found by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine as a slave to Watto. He has built a droid to help out around the house, called C-3PO. He is freed from this slavery by winning a podrace by also providing parts for Queen Padme Amidala to escape Tatooine. Then he is taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant where it is discovered through a blood test that he has the highest midiclorian count of any Jedi who had ever lived. Yoda, head of the Jedi Council, refuses to train him, however, saying he is too old and has too much anger in his heart. Qui-gon then says he will train him after swiftly "graduating" his current apprentice, Obi-Wan. Anakin is then whisked off to Naboo, Padme's home planet, to be a part of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's initial mission to free it from the evil Trade Federation. While on Naboo he hides in a Naboo starfighter and accidentally activates the auto pilot. The auto pilot takes him up to the Trade Federation blockade where a space battle is in progress. Anakin manages to blow up the main Trade Federation ship which ends up deactivating the droids on the surface, winning the battle. Sadly, Darth Maul had killed Qui-gon in the fighting, so he becomes the apprentice of the younger and less experienced Obi-Wan.

Attack of the Clones

Ten years after the events of The Phantom Menace, Anakin is still training under Obi-Wan. The Jedi Council assigns them to protect Padme (who is now the senator of Naboo) who is the target of an assassination attempt. Anakin's childish feelings for Padme are still present and Obi-Wan notices this. After discovering who is behind the assassination attempt, Obi-Wan goes off to do some more investigation and tells Anakin to stay with Padme. Anakin and Padme end up traveling to Tattooine in order to free his mother from the same slavery Qui-Gon freed him from a decade previous. Anakin finds out that she was sold to a tribe of Tuskan Raiders and he goes off to save her. But he arrives too late as she dies in his arms. Anakin, overcome with rage, kills the entire Tuskan Raider tribe. After that, Padme and Anakin talk about what happened and he begins to whine and complain about how Obi-Wan is only holding him back from unleashing his true potential and that how he could end up being "the greatest Jedi ever." After this childish rant, Anakin and Padme find out that Obi-Wan has been captured on Geonosis, they travel there to rescue him. They end up also getting captured and Count Dooku sentences them to be executed. All 3 of them escape from an execution arena with help from the Jedi Knights and the clone army. It is here that the Battle of Geonosis begins. Obi-Wan and Anakin chase Dooku into a hanger where they fight. Dooku ends up getting the upper hand on both of them and chops off Anakin's arm in the process. They are saved by Yoda but Dooku escapes.

Revenge of the Sith

Three years have passed since Attack of the Clones and Anakin has become a Jedi Knight. At the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin and Obi-wan are tasked with saving Chancellor Palpatine who was captured by General Grevious and taken aboard Grevious' ship. Once on board the ship, Anakin and Obi-wan make easy work of the droids and quickly advance to the room where the Chancellor is held. Before they could free the Chancellor, they are interpreted by Count Dooku, who enters the room with two droids. Count Dooku exchanges some words with Anakin and Obi-wan; then he ignites his lightsaber. Anakin and Obi-wan respond by igniting their lightsabers and they clash swords with Dooku. Despite being outnumbered, Count Dooku is able to easily hold his own against both Anakin and Obi-wan. The battle reaches its climax when Dooku uses the force to throw Obi-wan across the room and knock him out. Anakin, who believes that his friend was killed, draws upon his anger the ferocity of his attacks. Immanently, he is able to gain the upper hand and manages to dismember Dooku's, rendering him defenseless. It is at this point that Chancellor Palpatine orders Anakin to execute Dooku. Anakins hesitates, but Palpatine gives the order again. Anakin complies by beheading Count Dooku. With Dooku vanquished, Obi-wan and Anakin free and Chancellor and attempt to escape. However, things do not go according to plan as usual when they are all caught in a trap.

They are escorted to General Grevious who takes Anakin and Obi-wan's lightsabers for his collection. Then Anakin and Obi-wan free themselves by using the force to grab their lightsabers and freeing themselves by cutting their bonds. Then a small battle erupts between the Jedi and the droids. Anakin and Obi-wan are able to defeat the the droids and are able to confront General Grevious. Seeing that he was outnumbered, Grevious breaks a window with an electrostaff and heads to his escape pod. Meanwhile, the ship is in free-fall and Anakin is foreced to crash-land the ship.

After saving Chancellor Palpatine from General Grevious, Anakin is praised for his heroics by the Jedi Council. Later Anakin sneaks out with Padme and they share a kiss. She tells Anakin that she is pregnant with his child. Later, Anakin is awakened from a nightmare; he had dreamed that Padme had died during child birth. Fearing a world without her, Anakin vows that he shall never let that dream come true.

The Chancellor summons Anakin to his office. There, he confesses his mistrust of the Jedi Council. He decides to appoint Anakin as his person representative. The Jedi Council accept the Chancellor's appointment unwillingly, they do not give Anakin the rank of master. Viewing this as a sign of disrespect, Anakin reacts angrily in an outburst.

Anakin is told by the Jedi Council to stay on Coruscant to spy on Palpatine because they are greatly disturbed about how long he has been in office. Anakin reluctantly agrees to this. He gets in close to Palpatine who senses Anakin's anger. Palpatine begins to twist Anakin to join the dark side. Once the Jedi Council figures out that Palpatine is a Sith Lord, Mace Windu is sent to kill him. Anakin ends up saving Palpatine by blocking the killing stroke. Windu gets Lightninged out the window by Palpatine. Anakin finally embraces the anger and rage and turns to the dark side. Palpatine gives him the moniker of Darth Vader and orders him to kill the Jedi inside the temple. Anakin goes and does this. He is then sent to Mustafar to get rid of the Trade Federation leaders and "end" the clone war. Obi-Wan finds out about Anakin's turn and goes off after him. Anakin and Obi-Wan fight and Obi-Wan ends up winning and leaving Anakin for dead. Palpatine arrives on Mustafar and saves Anakin. He is then given the classic Darth Vader armor.

A New Hope

Anakin (now known as Darth Vader) is tasked with finding the Death Star plans that the Rebels stole. He captures Leia and detains her aboard the Death Star. Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, R2, and C-3PO go off to save her. Vader faces off against Obi-Wan. Vader gains the upper hand when Obi-Wan sacrifices himself to allow everyone else to escape, with Leia in tow.

The Empire Strikes Back

Vader is hunting the Rebels from Hoth. He sends bounty hunters off to find Han Solo and goes to Bespin to set up a trap for Luke. The gang falls into this trap, with Han frozen in carbonite and Luke and Vader fighting. Vader chops off Luke's hand and drops the bombshell: He is Luke's actual father. Luke escapes Bespin soon after.

Return of the Jedi

Palpatine orders Vader to bring Luke to him, in order to turn Luke to the dark side. Luke, knowing this, gives himself up to Vader. Luke is brought to Palpatine and he tries to turn him to the dark side. Luke is very resilient and refuses to join him. Luke and Vader fight again, this time Luke beating Vader up really bad. Just as Luke is about to give in to his anger, Vader has a sudden realization and musters up enough strength to throw Palpatine into a reactor. Anakin dies a redeemed man.

Character Traits

Following the release of the original Star Wars, Darth Vader became a symbol of evil. His actions throughout The Empire Strikes Back seem to reinforce this fact, though he is played as a much more sympathetic character in most of the other movies. Regardless, he is still among the greatest film villains ever to don black and slaughter underlings who displease him. Due to his nearly robotic nature and strength in the Dark Side of the Force, Vader is shown to have amazing power, both physically and metaphysically, throughout the films. He is shown lifting men off their feet with his hands, dueling one handed with a lightsaber against Luke (who was using both hands) and hurling large objects with the power of the Force.

Trivia

• AFI elected Vader as the third greatest movie villain of the 20th century.
• The fact that Vader was Luke Skywalker's father was a closely kept secret. Only George Lucas, director Irvin Kershner, Mark Hamill (informed shortly before cameras rolled on the shot) and James Earl Jones (who provided Vader's voice) knew prior to the release of Empire. David Prowse, who provided Vader's imposing physical figure while on the set, was not aware of this fact until he saw the premier. A false page was inserted into the script to keep the cast & crew from revealing the information accidentally. As a result, the phrase, "Luke, I am your father" has become synonymous with Vader's character, despite the fact that Vader never actually uttered that exact phrase (he actually says, "No, I am your father").
• David Prowse and James Earl Jones, who portrayed Vader's body and voice, repsectively in the original trilogy, have never met each other in person.
• The iconic breathing sound Vader makes was produced by sound effects maestro Ben Burtt breathing into a SCUBA mask with a microphone mounted inside the mouthpiece.
• Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker is one of only four characters to appear in all six Star Wars films. The others are R2D2, C-3PO and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• Vader/Anakin has been portrayed by 7 different actors in the movies: Jake Lloyd (Episode I), Hayden Christensen (Episodes II, III, and VI), Matt Lanter (The Clone Wars) David Prowse (Episodes IV, V & VI), Sebastian Shaw (after his unmasking in Episode VI), swordmaster Bob Anderson (all sword & stunt work in Episodes V & VI) and James Earl Jones (voice work in Episodes III, IV, V, & VI).