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'Darth Vader' is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' universe. He is the pivotal character to the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and ''. In the original trilogy, he was portrayed by David Prowse and a series of stunt doubles, most notably Bob Anderson, while his voice was supplied by James Earl Jones. Vader is one of the most iconic villains in film history and was ranked third on American Film Institute's 100 Heroes and Villains list.^[1] and Wizard Magazine rated him the 11th greatest villain of all time.
In '' and '', Vader is depicted as the cunning, brutal enforcer of the Galactic Empire's rule across the galaxy. A Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader serves as Emperor Palpatine's apprentice, using the dark side of the Force to mercilessly pursue the Jedi and the Rebel Alliance to the ends of the galaxy. The prequel trilogy recounts the heroic rise and tragic fall of Vader's former self, Anakin Skywalker. Anakin was portrayed by Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen in the prequel trilogy, while Sebastian Shaw played the role in ''Return of the Jedi''.

Contents

History

Prequel trilogy

Original trilogy

Battling the Rebellion and his son

Redemption

Expanded universe

Music

Behind the scenes

Portrayals

Character creation and concepts

Cultural figure

The name ''Darth Vader'' as a cultural metaphor

See also

Notes and references

Sources

External links

History

Prequel trilogy

Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, noted Jedi Knight who, tempted by Palpatine/Darth Sidious through the Dark Side of the Force, became the Dark Lord of the Sith. Obi-Wan Kenobi, upon learning what Anakin had become, engaged in a lightsaber duel with his former friend and Padawan learner on the lava planet Mustafar, ending in severe injuries that resulted in his being encased in black armour and mask that sustained him for almost the rest of his life.

Original trilogy

In the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, Darth Vader is the primary antagonist: a dark, ruthless figure, out to capture, torture, or kill the films' heroes to prevent them from thwarting the Empire.
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Battling the Rebellion and his son

:''Events in this section occur in the films '' and ''.
In ''A New Hope'', Vader is charged with recovering the stolen plans of the Death Star and finding the Rebel Alliance's secret base. He captures and tortures Princess Leia and, along with Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin, destroys her home world of Alderaan. Shortly afterward, he duels his former master, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has arrived at the Death Star to rescue Leia, and cuts him down, turning him into a spirit in the Force. He then encounters his son, Luke, during the Battle of Yavin, and senses in him a great strength in the Force; this is confirmed moments later when the boy destroys the battle station. He was about to shoot Luke down using his TIE-Fighter, but Han Solo disabled his ship using the guns on the Millennium Falcon, and sent Vader spinning into space.
In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Vader captures Leia, Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), and C-3PO on the planet Bespin to lure Luke into a confrontation. He strikes a deal with the administrator of Cloud City, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) to give Han over to the bounty hunter Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch), and has Solo frozen in carbonite. Luke, who has been partially trained by Yoda, duels Vader, but is eventually defeated, losing his right hand to Vader's lightsaber. Vader then reveals his true identity as Luke's father and offers Luke the chance to overthrow Palpatine and rule the galaxy as father and son. Luke refuses, throwing himself down a mine shaft. He is sucked into a garbage chute and rescued by Leia, C-3PO, Chewbacca and Lando. He is fitted with a robotic hand to replace the one Vader had cut off.

Redemption

:''Events described in this section occur in the film ''Return of the Jedi''. More information is available in the ''.
In ''Return of the Jedi'', Vader is charged with overseeing the completion of the second Death Star. He meets with Palpatine on board the half-constructed station to plan Luke's turn to the dark side.

By this time, Luke has nearly completed his Jedi training, and has learned from a dying Yoda that Vader is indeed his father. He learns about his father's past from Obi-Wan's spirit, and also learns that Leia is his sister. On a mission to the forest moon of Endor, he surrenders to Imperial troops and is brought to Vader. Aboard the Death Star, Luke resists the Emperor's appeals to his anger and fear for his friends, but snaps when Vader telepathically probes his mind, learns of Leia's existence, and threatens to turn her instead. Enraged, Luke nearly kills Vader, severing his father's right hand. He controls his anger at the last minute, however, as he looks at Vader's cybernetic hand and then at his own; he realizes that he is perilously close to suffering his father's fate.
As the Emperor approaches, encouraging Luke to kill Vader and take his place, Luke throws down his lightsaber, refusing to perform the killing blow. Angered, the Emperor attacks Luke with Force lightning. Luke writhes in agony under the Emperor's torture, begging his father for help. Unable to bear the sight of his son in pain, Vader spiritually ceases to exist and the Anakin Skywalker persona returns. Anakin turns on his master and throws him into the very core of the Death Star, where the evil emperor was engulfed and killed.

Moments from death, he begs his son to take off his breath-mask so he could look at Luke "with [his] own eyes". Luke complies and for the first (and as it turned out, the only) time, father and son truly see each other. In his dying breaths, Anakin Skywalker is redeemed, finally admitting to Luke that the good within him was not destroyed after all. Luke escapes with his father's body as the Death Star explodes, destroyed by the Rebel Alliance.
That night, Luke burns his father's Sith armor in the manner of a Jedi's funeral. During the victory celebration on the forest moon of Endor, Luke sees the redeemed spirit of Anakin Skywalker, standing once again with Obi-Wan and Yoda.

Expanded universe

The Cartoon Network micro series ''Star Wars: Clone Wars'' chronicles Anakin's adventures and trials in the many battles of the Clone Wars. The series, which covers the period between just after ''Episode II'' and just before ''Episode III'', sees Anakin become a Jedi and galaxy-renowned war hero, and foreshadows the temptations to power and fear of loss that would transform him into Darth Vader. Among his most noted moments in the series are a battle with Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress in Chapters 6 and 7, which leaves him with a scar on his right temple. In Chapter 22, he singlehandedly liberates the Nelvaanians from the Techno Union. During the latter mission, he goes on a spiritual journey which gives him a cryptic glimpse of his future. The ordeal costs Anakin his prosthetic arm, though he later creates a modified version with help from R2-D2.
In the young adult series ''The Last of The Jedi'', Boba Fett, at the age of 14, is hired by Imperial leader Inquisitor Malorum to investigate Padmé Amidala's death at Vader's request. Vader may make a cameo appearances in the upcoming Star Wars live-action TV series, which is slated for a 2009 release, and will run approximately 100 episodes.
As chronicled in James Luceno's book '', Vader sheds his identity as Anakin Skywalker after incurring his injuries on Mustafar. In the months afterward, he systematically pursues and kills the survivors of the Great Jedi Purge (save Obi-Wan and Yoda); in the process, he fully embraces his new identity as a Sith Lord and disavows any connection to his former Jedi self. The novel also reveals that Vader plans to eventually overthrow Palpatine and rule the Empire himself, and that his primary motivation for betraying the Jedi was that he resented their supposed failure to recognize his power.
In the comic book ''Vader's Quest'', he hires bounty hunters to bring him information about the pilot who brought about the destruction of the Death Star, ultimately meeting his son Luke for the very first time. Later on, in the Alan Dean Foster novel ''Splinter of the Mind's Eye'' (which takes place shortly after the events in ''A New Hope''), Vader meets Luke for the second time and combats him in a lightsaber duel on the planet Mimban. On Mimban, Vader is nearly defeated by Luke, who severed his right arm. After falling into a pit, Vader is left with massive injuries.
In ''The Star Wars Holiday Special'', Vader searches for the Rebels responsible for the destruction of the Death Star, almost thwarting Han and Chewbacca's goal of reaching Kashyyyk in order for Chewie to reach his family for Life Day.
Vader also has a prominent role in the 1996 novel/comic/video game '', which takes place between ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi''. In the story, Prince Xizor, leader of the crime organization Black Sun, plots to overthrow Vader and take his place as the Emperor's second in command. The story also reveals that he knows there is some good left in him, and that he wishes to use the Force to return his physical appearance to that of his former self.
Vader also makes occasional appearances in Dark Horse's ''Star Wars'' comic books set between the movies, especially ''.
In the Thrawn trilogy, it is explained that Darth Vader is the first representative of the Empire to find the Noghri, a race with exceptional combat skills, whom he manipulates into serving as his personal commandos and revering him as their master. Later, Vader transfers their services to Grand Admiral Thrawn.
In the novel ''The Unifying Force'' of the ''New Jedi Order'' series, set 30 years after ''A New Hope'', Anakin's voice would speak to his grandson, Jacen Solo, telling him to "Stand firm" in his battle with the Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong.
In the new series ''Legacy of the Force'' Jacen Solo uses the force to travel back to watch Anakin as he begins his journey to the Dark Side and slaughters the children at the Jedi Temple.

Music

Vader's appearance is usually heralded by Imperial March, to portray his powerful influence and strength.

Behind the scenes

Portrayals

During filming of ''A New Hope'', David Prowse played the role of Darth Vader. To his dismay,^[2] after filming, James Earl Jones was hired to read Vader's lines over Prowse's performance; Orson Welles was originally considered for the role until Lucas decided he was too recognizable. He was instead chosen to voice-over the teaser trailer for ''A New Hope''. Prowse was originally given the choice between the roles of Chewbacca and Darth Vader. He chose Darth Vader because he said "people would remember him." Prowse wore the Vader suit and Jones provided Vader's voice for all of the films in the original trilogy. Jones has since been closely identified with the role.
The character of Darth Vader was also played by several stunt doubles, most notably fencing instructor Bob Anderson. Anderson handled all of Vader's fight sequences in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' and ''Return of the Jedi''. Mark Hamill (who portrayed Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy) noted in a 1983 interview in Starlog #72: "Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn’t think it was fair any more. Bob worked so hard that he deserves some recognition. It’s ridiculous to preserve the myth that it’s all done by ''one'' man."^[3]
In 1978, Jones returned as the voice of Darth Vader (footage of Prowse in the suit is actually unused footage from ''A New Hope'') in ''The Star Wars Holiday Special'', as well as to shoot new footage that was released with the '', when it was released in 1996.
Actor and former Industrial Light & Magic visual effects artist C. Andrew Nelson has also portrayed Vader at a number of events for Lucasfilm, as well as the video games '' and ''Dark Forces'', and in new footage filmed for the Special Edition releases of the original three ''Star Wars'' films in 1997. Over the years Nelson has also appeared as Vader on various television shows and in numerous commercials.
For ''Revenge of the Sith'', Hayden Christensen (who had played Anakin Skywalker since ''Attack of the Clones'') wore the Vader suit, instead of Prowse. However, as he is shorter than Prowse, certain perspective trickery was used to make him seem as physically large as Prowse: a slightly scaled-down costume was created for him; the costume had extensions built into the boots and helmet; and some of the shots of Vader standing next to Palpatine were filmed using forced perspective. James Earl Jones again supplied Vader's voice.

Character creation and concepts

The character of Darth Vader was not originally planned to be a suited cyborg. The current image of Vader was created when concept artist Ralph McQuarrie drew the opening scene where the Rebel ship was being boarded. It was initially imagined that Darth Vader would fly through space to enter the ship, necessitating a suit and breathing mask. This was later made permanent and incorporated in the story.
The iconic breathing sound of his respirator was created by sound designer Ben Burtt, who created the sound by simply recording himself breathing into an old Dacor scuba regulator. Vader's musical leitmotif is "The Imperial March".
In a 2005 interview, George Lucas was asked the origins of the name "Darth Vader", and replied: "Darth is a contraction of '''Dar'''k Lord of the Si'''th'''. And Vader is a variation of father. So it's basically Dark Father." (''Rolling Stone'', June 2, 2005). "Vader" is the Dutch word for "father", which featured in some explanatory theories of Darth Vader's (the Dutch word is instead pronounced as name. However, in J.W. Rinzler's 2007 book, ''The Making of Star Wars'', a vintage quote from Lucas states that the name came "out of thin air", and may have been a corruption of "dark water". In the earliest scripts for ''Star Wars'', the name "Darth Vader" was given to a human Imperial general.
Vader's revelation to Luke that he is his father is one of the most famous movie plot twists of all time. An IMDb poll on 10 November 2003^[4] asked users to choose which one of a set of movie spoilers was too infamous to be considered a spoiler anymore; Vader's true identity was a clear winner, by a 40% margin.
Vader is called "Dart Fener" and "Dark Vador" in Italy and France respectively. The French name may have been for dubbing lip sync purposes (as is the case with C-3PO), although he seems to keep his original name in some francophone territories outside France. In a China-produced badly-subtitled DVD version of Episode III known as ''Star War The Third Gathers: The Backstroke of the West'', his name was displayed as "Reaching the west reaches". This was translated from "Daxi Weida", a Chinese phonetic rendering of Vader's name.

Cultural figure

Due to his central role, Vader has entered the public consciousness as the quintessential villain. His powerful bass voice, coupled with his heavy breathing, is easily recognizable, and the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movie villains placed him third, beating the Wicked Witch of the West and coming just after Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates. He has been parodied by such figures as "Duck Vader" from ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', "Darth Benkyou" in an episode of Doraemon, "Dearth Nadir" as played by Gonzo on The Muppet Show's "Pigs in Space" sketch, "Girth Plotz" from an episode of ''Animaniacs'' that parodied the first trilogy, "Darth Koopa" from ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show'', "Dark Laser" from ''The Fairly OddParents'', an episode of '' where President Jimmy dressed in black and, now devoted to evil, takes over the school, country singer Darth Brooks in ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien'', and Chef from South Park as Darth Chef in the episode The Return of Chef. Another kind of tribute to Darth Vader comes from ''Stargate SG-1'', in which there are similarities between Anubis and Vader, played for both dramatic and comic effect (complete with Death Star-esque spaceship and superweapon), and his name is mentioned when the issue of Vala's immaculate birth is brought up. Marty McFly in ''Back to the Future'' (dressed up in a radiation suit) pretended to be "Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan" in an effort to get his science fiction-loving father to date his mother.
In the Science Fiction parody Spaceballs, Darth Vader is parodied as Lord Dark Helmet (as played by Rick Moranis), a short man with an over-sized Darth Vader-like helmet, who occasionally opens it to reveal his face. Instead of using a Lightsaber, he has a ring that gives him abilities similar to The Force (called the "Schwartz"). The Schwartz ring allows Dark Helmet to produce a lightsaber-like projection at the tip of the ring. In Spaceballs, one of his lines is an allusion to a quote from Darth Vader in - "I see that your Schwartz is as big as mine. Now— let's see how well you can handle it." Darth Vader's relationship to his son, Luke Skywalker, is also parodied; during their climactic battle, Dark Helmet declares himself to be Lone Starr's "father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate," before admitting that this means that they have no familial ties whatsoever.
''Robot Chicken'' did a scene of Luke (voiced by Mark Hamill) and Vader in Cloud City. The scene goes from Vader stating he's Luke's Father, to how the empire will be defeated by Ewoks. The final part has Vader drinking coffee and Luke smoking a cigarette. When Vader says the force is just microscopic organisms call metachlorian, Luke butts out the smoke and says "If you're not going to take this seriously I'm leaving," and he walks out.
In 2006 Sky One aired a program Ultimate super villains showing the top 20 fictional villains as chosen by a panel of experts. Darth Vader came first, followed by The Joker at 2 and The Terminator at 3. Fellow Star Wars villain Jabba the Hutt was 20th on the list.
In 2006, Blame Society Productions created a series of short videos featuring ''Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager''. Chad Vader is ostensibly the younger brother of Darth Vader, who wears the same armor and cape, and uses phrases and concepts associated with Darth Vader in the context of a modern-day grocery store.

The name ''Darth Vader'' as a cultural metaphor

Vader's name has become a synonym for evil. Lucas has pointed to Vader's iconic status as a reason he made the prequel movies, since he felt the icon overshadowed the fact that Vader was intended to be a tragic character.

★ John Thompson during the 1980s was called the Darth Vader of college basketball

★ On June 22, 2006 U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney called himself the Darth Vader of the Bush administration. Discussing the need to vigorously pursue intelligence, Cheney said to CNN's John King, "It means we need to be able to go after and capture or kill those people who are trying to kill Americans. That's not a pleasant business. It's a very serious business. And I suppose, sometimes, people look at my demeanor and say, well, he's the Darth Vader of the administration."^[5]Jon Stewart put on a Darth Vader helmet to 'talk' to Dick Cheney as a 'kindred spirit' on The Daily Show on January 25, 2007. Also, in the satiric cartoon show "" , Dick Cheney's father is portrayed as being Darth Vader.

★ In 2005, former Cornell University entomologists Quentin Wheeler and Kelly Miller named 65 new species of slime-mold beetle of the genus ''Agathidium'', with one named after Darth Vader.^[6]

★ During a major renovation, Washington National Cathedral held a competition for children to design new gargoyles for the west towers. One winner was a design featuring Darth Vader.^[7]

★ Two significant office buildings in Brisbane, California are highly visible landmarks by the San Francisco Bay. The ominous looking one made of all dark reflective glass has been dubbed the Darth Vader building. The other is the architecturally acclaimed Dakin Building, a brilliant white futuristic antithesis, and is known in the San Francisco Bay area as the Luke Skywalker building.

★ Then-Vice President Al Gore referred to TCI's John Malone as "Darth Vader of cable."^[8]

★ Political strategist Lee Atwater was known by his political enemies as "the Darth Vader of the Republican Party".^[9]

★ In late 2006, in Warsaw, Poland, President Lech Kaczynski's tried to remove the ruling chief of the capital city (Hanna Gronkiewicz) out of the office. If that was to happen, the president could appoint his own representative. The opposition held a campaign portrating the presidential commissar as Darth Vader (visiting the city council with an actor dressed as a Sith Lord). Kaczynski was also addressed as Emperor Palpatine.

See also

★ Skywalker family

★ Naberrie family

★ Hasbro Darth Vader Voice Changer

Notes and references

1. AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains''", American Film Institute, last accessed October 20, 2005
2. theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/012399.asp
3. www.theforce.net/jedicouncil/editorials/012399.shtml
4. www.imdb.com/poll/results/2003-11-10
5. transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/22/sitroom.03.html
6. www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April05/slime-mold.Bush.Cheney.ssl.html
7. http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/darth.shtml
8. money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/08/22/8270018/index.htm
9. politics.netscape.com/story/2006/11/07/harvey-leroy-lee-atwater-was-a-republican-political-consultant

Sources

★ '', 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, ISBN 0-345-43411-0

★ '', 2003. R. A. Salvatore, ISBN 0-345-42882-X

★ '', 1st edition hardcover, 2005. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, ISBN 0-7126-8427-1

★ ''The New Essential Guide to Characters'', 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2

★ ''The Dark Side Sourcebook'', Wizards of the Coast, 1st printing, 2001. Bill Slavicsek, J. D. Wiker, ISBN 0-7869-1849-7

★ ''Vader: The Ultimate Guide'', 2005.

★ ''Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary'', hardcover, 1998. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-3481-4

★ ''Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary'', hardcover, 1999. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-4701-0

★ ''Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary'', hardcover, 2002. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-8588-5

★ ''Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary'', hardcover, 2005. James Luceno, ISBN 0-7566-1128-8

★ Shooting script of '' as available at Internet Movie Script Database

★ Shooting script of '' as available at Internet Movie Script Database

★ ''Star Wars Technical Commentaries'', Dr. Curtis Saxton, 1995-2005. Available at TheForce.net

★ ''Star Wars Databank''. Skywalker, Anakin, Vader, Darth

External links

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★

★ The Vader Project Platform Show