Darth Vader is the ultimate villain, mostly because we can easily see ourselves in him. Instead of him being born evil, we watch Darth Vader slowly transform into the monster we all enjoy watching on the big screen. Darth Vader is one of those characters that is unforgettable. Everyone who has seen these movies at the theatre can remember the ominous march that begins to play when this tall, masked man enters the scene; He is unrecognizable. At over seven feet tall, he seems too powerful to be human. Everything he wears is black, including the cape that swishes behind him as he walks past those he terrorizes.
His motorized breathing has become something of a joke for many people, but the idea of a mechanical man is actually quite scary. That breathing mixed with the actor’s deep bass voice made for the perfect on-screen villain. He is able to control people with his mind, he is able to pick up and throw things with a motion, and he is a master with the light-saber; He seems unstoppable. (maybe add something about how he is harsh or non loving) However, like many of us, his childhood is filled with love for his family.
This was shown in detail, in the first three movies with his mother. Anakin has a personality a lot like t mine; he would do anything for his family. He is hardworking and willing to do whatever it takes to save the people he loves. Even though he had to leave his mother as a very young age to start training as a Jedi. He was willing to do that in order to help her and his people. Starting at a very young age, Anakin was always different. He would tinker with inventions, like C3PO. He was also very instinctive when it came to racing pods; it was as if he had a sixth sense.
His sixth sense can be attributed to being born with an incredible amount of midi-chlorians (the way to communicate with the force). That was why Obi Wan was so excited to train him after testing his blood. He was destined to make an enormous impact, the problem was that he is weak because of his fear of losing his loved ones. Even though he always has the right intentions, he continuously misuses his powers due to his immaturity and pent-up anger. In fact, that is what he attempted to use to convince his son, Luke Skywalker, to join him on the Dark Side.
Before they fought a light saber battle, Darth Vader told Luke that he could give him power to protect those he loves-even though Darth Vader himself had lost everyone he loved; Darth Vader was driven by a false hope. He hoped that commitment to the Emperor would provide order and safety. But under the shiny, black mask was a withered, sad man that was no longer able to live apart from the role that he was playing. The turning point in Anakin’s life comes early, as a teenager, when he discovers his mother after she had been taken and killed by the Tusken Raiders.
This tragic event planted a seed in Anakin. In that moment he took the loyalty he has for his mother, and decided he would never allow anyone he cared about to be hurt again. His commitment was a real vulnerability. Anakin was very susceptible to Emperor Palpatine’s – who had not yet revealed himself for the evil man he was- manipulation. He continually exploits Anakin’s desire to be important and to use his powers sooner-rather than-later. Anakin was constantly seeking approval; so Palpatine played him with flattery and Anakin completely fell for it contradicting Obi-Wan’s instructions.
Ultimately, Anakin bought into Palpatine’s lies because of his desire to protect his love, Padme, from dying. As Anakin’s transition to becoming Darth Vader reached its peak, he went so far as to choke , Padme as she carried their twin children in her womb. In an attempt to protect her, Anakin had handed his soul over to a man who actually turned him against her and everything else he stood for. The movie doesn’t make clear how Padme dies, but it is clear she died with a broken heart. When Darth Vader discovered Padme dead, he assumed that his two unborn children, Luke and Leia were dead.
However, she gave birth before she died and both children were immediately taken and hidden in different places so that Anakin would not be able to interfere with them. Obi-Wan and Yoda decided to send Leah to Alderaan and Luke to Tatooine to be raised by his father’s step brother, Owen Lars. Luke was raised in Tatooine by his father’s stepbrother who was a moisture farmer and his wife Beru. Luke and Owen clashed almost the entire time before Owen died because of Luke’s adventurous tendencies and Owen disliking any adventure.
While Luke shared similar traits with his father, he lived a different life given the circumstances. Like Anakin, Luke was an exceptional person and there was an enormous amount of potential that could be used for good if he was trained in the right way but Owen was very overprotective of him because of his fear of Luke’s potential and the outside world. He seemed to be just as reckless as his father. He ran away when he was ten years old when Owen wouldn’t tell him who his real father was. Luke, just like Anakin his father, was very adventurous, confident, hardworking and loving towards his family and friends.
He constantly finds himself in trouble more often than not because of how impatient and careless he is about his own personal safety. Like his father, he cares very much about his loved ones and when he set his mind to doing something he gets it done at all costs. During his raising, Luke took more after his mother than his father. As mentioned above, there were some similarities he shared with his father, but his upbringing was much more calm and collected. Even his green lightsaber (green being more of a calm color) shows more of a calm personality.
Luke’s childhood was a lot different than his father’s; His father grew up without his father present and his mother in slavery, but Luke grew up with a fairly normal life, (school, work, 2 good parents) and that obviously helped him contain his recklessness. He doesn’t really have a very exciting upbringing in the story and he isn’t really introduced to the Empire during his childhood. He shows more of his mother’s traits in that he is more optimistic and trusting; he sees the good in people. When he finds out whom his father is he is willing to trust him as well.
An example of where their similarities end comes toward the end of Episode VI, when Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker meet and engage in a light-saber duel. When the fight first started, Luke seemed angry and Emperor Palpatine was cheering him on to engage that emotion. However, Luke’s battle was within. When he allowed his anger to drive him during the battle he would gain an upper hand against his father, but then he would pull back knowing what he was doing wasn’t right. Luke recognizes that there is still some good in Darth Vader-mainly because when Vader had the opportunity to kill Luke earlier, he did not.
Throughout the scene, Vader continually spoke about how the dark side should not be underestimated. I am not sure if he was trying to convince Luke or himself. Vader begins to treat his son Luke, the same way that Palpatine treated him,by manipulation. By taunting him, he attempts to play off his anger-causing Luke to be more like Vader. It appeared to work, as Luke gets more angry, he beats up darth vader while Palpatine cheers him on; luke stops short.. Luke tells Palpatine that he is a Jedi, this causes Palpatine to try to destroy luke.. Darth Vader looks on as Palpatine begins to injure his son Luke.
It is impossible to read Vader’s expression since his face is covered, but there is a change that comes over him. It is as if the very thing that he joined Palpatine for in the first place was within reach for him. And so he picks up the withered, evil emperor and throws him down what seems like a bottomless shaft to his death. The emotional scene ends with Darth Vader wanting to connect eye to eye with his son by removing his helmet. He knew doing this would end his life, however reconnecting with his own flesh and blood son was more important to him than carrying on as the less-than-human Darth Vader.
In the end, Darth Vader ends up being a tragic hero. The ending where Luke is almost killed by the corrupt Emperor Palpatine and he intervened and saved his son’s life symbolized purification with the realization of his mistakes. Darth Vader’s character kind of hits home for a lot of people because of how he portrays good and bad qualities. We can see ourselves in him and I think that one of the reasons these films are so successful, even today, is because of how Darth Vader redeems himself at the end. These days, the news is usually pretty depressing so when we see a villain change his ways it can be really refreshing for people.
