Darth Vader isn't just the most iconic villain in the Star Wars universe, he's one of the
greatest movie bad guys of all time. But there's still a lot to be said about this legendary
Sith Lord. Here are a few things you might not know about Darth Vader.
When it comes to the most-revisited roles in Hollywood, Darth Vader is right up there
with the best in terms of providing work for actors. An awful lot of folks have done time
under that big, black helmet. Darth Vader has made official and unofficial appearances
in more than 200 different movies, video games and TV episodes, once you include parodies
and cameos. To give you an idea of just how big a big deal Darth Vader is, consider that
Han Solo has only around 100 screen credits to his name.
Between the prequels, the spinoffs, the games, the animated series, the trilogy that started
it all, and Vader's various crossover appearances, he's not just one of the most ubiquitous characters
in Star Wars-related projects. He's one of the most recognizable pop culture figures
on earth.
Which is kinda weird, considering he's barely in that first movie. That's right: Darth Vader,
the most iconic villain in all of sci-fi, was in 1977's A New Hope for just 12 minutes.
Even Chewbacca got more time in front of the camera than Vader. But those 12 minutes were
all it took to leave a lasting impression, and create a villain whose legacy will last
for generations.
While Anakin Skywalker might be known for his intense emotional anguish, Vader himself
has another cross to bear: outright physical torture, and most of that came courtesy of
his armor. Underneath his sleek cyber suit are several layers of rotting flesh that never
healed after his fateful lava bath on Mustafar.
"Aw man, I just don't get this. You know, it's not easy to find things that match this
mask."
As you might expect, the nerve damage to Vader was pretty immense, and he is forced to take
all kinds of numbing agents and sanitation baths on the regular. There's also the fact
that his helmet is bolted to his head and continually pierces him with needles to keep
his mind synced with the suit. Basically, not a second of Vader's life goes by without
him having to endure searing pain. His constant torture, however, allows him to drown in his
anger, becoming a stronger Sith Lord with every passing day.
When you think about it, any of Vader's numerous enemies could have taken him out pretty easily
if they managed to get the jump on him during his weaker, suitless state. And it's a testament
to his power and menace that nobody ever did.
While tradition tasks the Jedi with crafting their own lightsabers, the Sith tend to undergo
a much darker ritual. To create their red lightsabers, Sith Lords have to steal a Jedi's
Kyber crystal, warping the once-benign object with rage, fear, and loss, basically, all
the buzzwords of the Sith. 2018's Darth Vader comics reveal that Vader stole his crystal
and hilt from a Jedi named Kirak Infil'a.
But his original iteration of the weapon, as shown in the comics, isn't the one fans
have come to associate with Vader. After using the Jedi's stolen hilt for a while, he eventually
crafts one that matches up much better with his tech-driven armor. The change in the weapon's
aesthetic isn't by choice, though: Bounty hunters almost destroyed Vader's stolen saber
during an attempt on his life.
Palpatine explains the process to his apprentice by assuring him that there
isn't any real difference between the blades of the Jedi and Sith, except that the crystal
that powers the Sith version of the weapon, as he puts it, has been made to bleed.
Despite taking his saber in the Sith-approved manner, however, Vader's fighting style is
actually pretty unique. This comes across in the movies, too; Darth Vader's two-handed
lightsaber swordplay tends to be far more brutal than other Jedi, and even more brutal
than his younger self. As a young Jedi, Anakin Skywalker favored the same Form Five lightsaber
technique that Luke Skywalker would one day use against him. But once Anakin became Vader,
he modified his Form Five style to accommodate the limitations, and channel the full power,
of his life-supporting armor.
For Vader, choosing to build his imposing castle on Mustafar was less about marking
his spiritual birthplace and more about lamenting the loss of his wife, Padmé.
In Darth Vader issues 22 to 25, Vader begins building the first version of his castle with
the help of the Sith Lord Momin, whose spirit is contained inside a helmet that Palpatine
had given his apprentice. Momin promises that building a castle on Mustafar would give Vader
the chance to make contact with his lost love. So, with the dead Sith Lord's help, Vader
constructs several different designs of his fortress, on the site of his greatest defeat.
After a battle with the locals and a sudden yet unsurprising betrayal from Momin, Vader
sends his assistant back into the abyss. He then succeeds in his mission to cross the
veil between life and death, departing from his body and going on a journey into the Force
itself.
Here, Vader's spirit melds between his life as Anakin and his current state as Vader,
and he even receives a few fuzzy snippets from the future. He finally reaches Padmé,
though whether it's her spirit or Vader's memory of her isn't really clear. Unfortunately
for the Sith Lord, she immediately rejects him, insisting that Anakin is dead, and that
she doesn't know the man standing before her. Padmé then plummets into an abyss of fire,
and Vader is finally forced to let her go, which was most likely Palpatine's plan all
along.
For decades, fans have debated whether or not Grand Moff Tarkin knew of Vader's former
identity as Anakin Skywalker. The Clone Wars series shows Anakin fighting alongside Tarkin,
where he witnesses the young Jedi's skills and his deep relationship with the Force.
A mutual respect forms between the two before either became entangled with the Empire. The
canonized novel Tarkin takes the theory a step further, however, as the Imperial stooge
mulls over the similarities between Anakin and Vader.
At one point, Tarkin outright theorizes that Vader may well be the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.
Later in the novel, Palpatine queries whether Tarkin knows the secret, and uses it to test
his follower's loyalty. And Tarkin passes the test, as a regional governor, he could
have done anything with this information, but chooses to keep silent instead. Subsequently,
Tarkin becomes the only character to have shown any kind of genuine respect for both
Anakin and Vader…despite his skepticism of the Force.
Leia Organa was the first of the Skywalker twins to meet Darth Vader in A New Hope, so
it's only fitting that she was the first to face him in battle, on the planet of Vrogas
Vas.
In the 2016 comic storyline Vader Down, Leia orders the rebels to drop a fleet of Y-Wing
bombs on Vader. The showdown takes place between the aftermath of New Hope and the beginning
of The Empire Strikes Back, fresh off the back of the destruction of Alderaan. And while
the films never adequately address Leia's sense of loss when Tarkin and Vader destroy
their home planet, here, she is willing to die to avenge her people, and her family.
When C-3PO points out that ordering the bombing of Vader will certainly kill Leia too, she
accepts it, willing to do anything to bring down her opponent. Obviously, though, Leia's
attempt on Vader's life fails quite dramatically, and Leia's father lives to fight another day.
Before he succumbed to the power of the Dark Side, the young Anakin Skywalker created the
fussy, squeamish droid fans know as C-3PO. Unfortunately, he also simultaneously created
one of the more notable plot holes in the Star Wars universe: if Anakin made C-3PO,
why didn't he recognize the droid when they ran into each other during the original trilogy?
Well, in the now-defunct legends continuity, the two do actually have a reunion, of sorts.
In the comic Thank the Maker, Vader finds 3PO's dismembered body on Cloud City and shares
a brief, tender moment with his old droid.
But even in Disney's new canon, these two have a connection that goes beyond the movies.
In the comic Star Wars #75, the Sith Lord finds himself helping his old creation, albeit
unknowingly. In a selfless effort to de-power a set of bombs in an earlier issue, C-3PO
elects to face deactivation himself to save a planet and the rock creatures living there.
Meanwhile, Vader, who was injured in a scuffle, retreats to tend to his wounds. When Vader
uses an energy blast to power back up, he unwittingly revives his old droid. Unraveling
a slight Easter egg reference to his origins, the C-3PO says, "Thank the maker!" as Vader's
blast breathes life back into him. If only he knew how right he was….
It's not exactly a secret that George Lucas was telling fibs when he claimed to have plotted
out every major detail of his Star Wars saga from the beginning. Between the many continuity
discrepancies and early scripts popping up over the years, fans have debunked his claim
repeatedly.
Taking a step beyond speculation, an actual deleted scene from A New Hope sheds further
doubt on Lucas' claim. In an extended version of the scene in which Luke reunites with his
old buddy Biggs, Red Leader reveals he once met Luke's father.
"I met your father once, when I was just a boy. He was a great pilot. If you've got half
the skill he had, you'll do alright."
Red Leader isn't exactly forthcoming with any information regarding where he met Luke's
father, so you could technically argue that it still works for continuity's sake. For
example, he could easily have met Anakin before he turned to the Dark Side. Since few people
knew that Anakin was Vader, those who remembered the former Jedi likely assumed that he was
dead. And Red Leader could well have figured out the connection between Anakin Skywalker
and Luke Skywalker.
Then again, that doesn't account for the fact that Anakin Skywalker's ghost actually shows
up in an early draft of the script for The Empire Strikes Back. All in all, it's probably
best to just assume Lucas has been Indiana Jones-ing it from the beginning.
"How?"
"I don't know, I'm making this up as I go."
Darth Vader's game-changing revelation at the end of The Empire Strikes Back is one
of the most misquoted moments in cinematic history when Darth Vader responds to Luke's
accusation that Vader killed his father:
"No. I am your father."
Countless fans misremember the quote as "Luke, I am your father." The site Lovefilm.com once
polled over 1,500 film buffs to determine which misquote rules the galaxy. Survey says?
It's Vader's reveal. Even James Earl Jones himself says the line incorrectly in the documentary
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy.
Of course, you can kinda see why the misquote came about, it contextualizes the scene in
question and makes the sentiment even more personal and dramatic. Given the Skywalkers'
flair for the dramatic, it's almost a shame that the altered line isn't the canonical
version. In fact, since the wrong quote is so ubiquitous, there's a good chance that
a lot of fans will have heard the incorrect version before they've even seen the movie,
making the actual reveal somewhat of a letdown.
Although Vader's appearance midway through Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was written into
the script from the get-go, his more famous scene was very much a last-minute addition.
Everyone knows this scene by now: it's the intense hallway battle sequence in which a
besieged ship full of rebels race to escape with their stolen blueprints for the Death
Star, while Darth Vader hunts them down. This sequence has since become a fan-favorite,
made that much more remarkable by the fact that it was tacked on at the last possible
moment, after the editor on Rogue One argued that Vader needed more screen time. As director
Gareth Edwards explains:
"We were cutting the film together and my editor, Jabez Olsson, he said, 'I think you
need to see one last moment with Darth Vader,' like one more bad-ass moment with him."
But the timeline to get this scene done was extraordinarily tight. According to Edwards:
"When he mentioned this, it was about four months maybe from release."
Ultimately, the sequence was shot in three days, an incredible feat for a last-minute
edit that ended up being among the most memorable scenes in the entire film. What's more, every
movement Vader makes in that scene is totally faithful to his past appearances. As Edwards
says:
"I think the golden rule was not to let Vader do anything that hadn't been seen or established
in the original trilogy."
As a result, Vader wields his lightsaber and uses the Force to choke his foes, all stuff
he had done during those first three films. There certainly wasn't any of this going on.
For most of the original Star Wars trilogy, the man behind the mask was David Prowse,
a bodybuilder whose six-foot-five-inch build was perfect for bringing Vader's imposing
physical presence to the screen. But thanks to an unfortunate communication breakdown
between Prowse and George Lucas, the actor apparently didn't realize that his voice would
be replaced by James Earl Jones' in post-production, and he wasn't exactly happy when he learned
the truth.
Prowse was rumored to be difficult on the set thereafter, refusing to learn lines for
The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi, and his feud with George Lucas eventually
reached the point at which Prowse was no longer invited to participate in events with the
rest of the cast. However, Prowse does deserve credit for his contributions to the series,
particularly the climactic scene in which Darth Vader redeems himself to save Luke;
the athletic actor needed only one take to pluck the Emperor off the ground and pitch
him overboard.
Unfortunately, you can definitely see why Lucas wanted to dub over Prowse's voice. While
the bodybuilder had the perfect build to play a Vader, his speaking voice, which was high-pitched
and West Country-accented, didn't fit the bill at all. If you're wondering what Lord
Vader would have sounded like as an Englishman, there are a few pre-dub scenes still floating
around that feature Prowse speaking Vader's lines.
"This ship carries the crest of Alderaan. Was there any of the royal family on board?
Who are you carrying?"
Carrie Fisher, in true Carrie Fisher fashion, even began referring to Prowse on set as "Darth
Farmer." It's not exactly terrifying.
The drama between Lucasfilm and David Prowse extends further than on-set shenanigans and
a ban from official events, though. Prowse had a minor appearance in the documentary
The People vs. George Lucas, which interviewed fans and people officially affiliated with
Star Wars, encouraging them to gripe about Lucas' failings. In this documentary, Prowse
discusses the idea that the franchise sold out to make money in merchandising, saying:
"Return of the Jedi was the beginning. The merchandising raised its ugly head, and then
the whole thing became super commercial from then onwards."
According to The Daily Beast, however, Prowse didn't even know the purpose of the documentary.
It's entirely plausible that the filmmakers didn't give any background on the project,
as they appear to have interviewed him on the fly in the middle of an autograph line.
The film cuts out any prelude to Prowse's answer, making it possible that the interviewer
insinuated the desired response within the question without much context.
Mark Hamill almost suffered the same fate, admitting to Vulture:
"I almost got hornswoggled into that documentary. They weren't calling it The People vs. George
Lucas at the time. But I could tell from the questions they were asking me that it was
an open invitation to trash George."
Return of the Jedi producer Howard Kazanjian claims that only three completed scripts of
the film ever existed. They belonged to Lucas, Kazanjian, and director Richard Marquand.
Regarding Prowse's access to sensitive dialogue in the script, Kazanjian says:
"For delicate information lines, he would simply count one, two, three, four, or read
a fictitious line in character to the real dialogue."
But this secrecy didn't save Prowse from paying the price for leaking Vader's death to a tabloid.
According to Prowse, a reporter contacted him at the gym to set up an interview about
his weightlifting career, but the journalist turned the tables on the actor, telling him
that Vader was getting killed off. The reporter also claimed that another actor would appear
behind the mask. When Prowse looked at his call sheet, it read: 'Dave Prowse, Darth Vader,
Studio 1' and 'Sebastian Shaw, Anakin Skywalker, Studio 10'.
Just one day after the interview, The Daily Mail published an article revealing Vader's
death, suggesting that Prowse himself had leaked the information. Decades later, the
documentary I Am Your Father set the record straight, getting the journalist to admit
that Prowse didn't spoil anything, and that the leak came from another source. But the
massive spoiler was the final straw for Lucasfilm. His stuntman Bob Anderson mostly donned the
Vader armor in Return of the Jedi, and Prowse was nearly cut out of the movie altogether.
The final betrayal for Prowse, however, came in the form of Vader's helmet reveal, because
when a redeemed Anakin Skywalker looks on Luke with his own eyes, it's not Prowse's
eyes that are doing the looking. Actor Sebastian Shaw appeared in the small scene, a slap in
the face to Prowse, who was under the impression that he would be unmasked at some point during
the series.
To make matters worse, Prowse told Equity Magazine that he still hasn't received residual
payments from Return of the Jedi, because it hasn't made a profit, and added:
"If there's a pot of gold somewhere that I ought to be having a share of, I would like
to see it."
Despite the drama, however, Prowse still has a positive outlook on his Star Wars experience.
As he told The Void:
"Well, I'm grateful for everything that's happened to me from Star Wars. It altered
my career completely."
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