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Darth Vader

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Films

   Star Wars character
   Darth Vader

   Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back
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   Position Dark Lord of the Sith, Imperial Commander-in-Chief (Military
   Executor)
   Homeworld Tatooine (since age of three), Coruscant (planet of
   residence)
   Species Human ( cyborg)
   Gender Male
   Height 1.85 meters (6 ft 1 in) adult; 2.02 meters (6 ft 7.74 in) [in
   armor] augmented
   Affiliation Galactic Empire, Order of the Sith Lords, 501st Legion,
   Death Squadron, crew of the Executor
   Portrayed by David Prowse (A New Hope- Return of the Jedi)
   James Earl Jones (voice, Revenge of the Sith- Return of the Jedi)
   Sebastian Shaw (Vader unmasked, Return of the Jedi)
   Brock Peters ( Star Wars radio dramas)
   Hayden Christensen ( Revenge of the Sith)

   Darth Vader is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is a
   principal character of the original Star Wars trilogy, and Star Wars
   Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. In the original trilogy, he was
   portrayed by David Prowse and a series of stunt doubles, while his
   voice was supplied by James Earl Jones.

   Vader is one of the most iconic villains in movie history and was
   ranked third on American Film Institute's top 50 villains of all time
   list. In A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Vader is depicted as
   an iconic epitome of evil; He is the cunning, brutal enforcer of the
   Galactic Empire's rule across the galaxy, and, on a more personal
   scale, he is the father of Luke Skywalker, also known as Anakin. A Dark
   Lord of the Sith, Vader serves at Emperor Palpatine's right hand, using
   the dark side of the Force to mercilessly pursue the Jedi and the Rebel
   Alliance to the ends of the galaxy.

In the Star Wars movies

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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 protagonists to prevent them from thwarting the Empire.

A New Hope

   Darth Vader is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope as a
   dark, menacing figure whose assault team has just taken control of the
   Tantive IV (a consular ship in orbit above the planet Tatooine), in an
   attempt to retrieve plans for the Empire's new weapon, the Death Star,
   which have been stolen by the Rebel Alliance. Vader makes his first
   appearance boarding the ship in order to directly assess the situation.
   Stormtroopers under his command capture Princess Leia Organa ( Carrie
   Fisher) of Alderaan (who is secretly a leader of the Rebel
   Alliance),but not before her robotic droids R2-D2 ( Kenny Baker) and
   C-3PO ( Anthony Daniels) escape with the plans to the planet below.
   Vader and his forces, with their prisoner, return to their transport,
   an Imperial Star Destroyer, which subsequently destroys the consular
   ship.

   Below on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill) witnesses the
   destruction of the ship through macro-binoculars. Later, Luke's Uncle
   Owen ( Phil Brown) and Aunt Beru are killed by stormtroopers who were
   attempting to track down the missing droids, which the family had
   purchased as farm help. Meanwhile, Luke (who has the missing droids)
   learns from "Old Ben" Kenobi ( Alec Guinness), a local hermit who once
   went by the name Obi-Wan, Vader's apparent role in the death of Luke's
   father. Luke and the droids, with Kenobi's help, avoid the
   stormtroopers, and eventually secure passage on board a smuggling ship
   known as the Millenium Falcon, intending on delivering the droids (and
   thus the plans) to the Rebel Alliance.

   Upon arriving at the Death Star, Vader tortures Princess Leia in an
   attempt to locate the hidden rebel base.

   Later, at a meeting on the Death Star, Admiral Motti ( Richard
   LeParmentier) ridicules Vader's "sad devotion" to the Force, saying
   that it has not helped in finding the plans, or the rebel base. Vader
   responds by using the Force to choke the officer, stopping only when
   Imperial leader Grand Moff Tarkin ( Peter Cushing) intervenes.

   Eventually the Millenium Falcon is captured by the Death Star's tractor
   beam. After attempting to disable the tractor beam machinery, Kenobi,
   who Luke has discovered is a Jedi master, is forced to face Vader in a
   lightsaber duel.

   While Vader fights Kenobi, eventually striking him down, the other
   characters use the opportunity to escape with the recently rescued
   Princess Leia. However Vader had anticipated this eventuality, and had
   a homing beacon hidden aboard the Millennium Falcon in order to trace
   them to the rebel base.

   Using the plans, the Rebel Alliance makes a desperate attempt to
   destroy the Death Star through a weakness in its design. Vader and his
   flight team join the defense of the station, intercepting any rebel
   fighters attempting to exploit the weakness. At the climax of the film,
   Vader, in his TIE fighter, is about to destroy Luke's X-wing fighter
   enroute to destroy the Death Star, when the Millenium Falcon intervenes
   sending Vader's fighter hurtling into space, after which, Luke destroys
   the Death Star.

The Empire Strikes Back

   In Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Vader is at the
   forefront of the continuing attempt to suppress the Rebellion, as he
   orders the fleet to approach the ice world of Hoth and prepare a full
   military assault on the hidden rebel base there. Admiral Ozzel (
   Michael Sheard) made the mistake of jumping into the system too close,
   alerting the rebels to their presence and allowing them to evacuate and
   escape. While most of the rebels escape to the safety of the rebel
   fleet, the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive fails, and after killing
   Ozzel for his mistake, Vader orders the fleet to pursue the Falcon.

   While in pursuit, Vader receives a new mission from the Emperor ( Ian
   McDiarmid)- to capture Luke Skywalker, the pilot who destroyed the
   Death Star. Vader suggests that he could be turned to the dark side of
   the Force, and the Emperor agrees, noting that he could be a "powerful
   asset".

   Eventually, the Falcon appears and just as quickly disappears, hiding
   in a blind spot on the back of the tower of a Star Destroyer. Captain
   Needa ( Michael Culver) takes responsibility for losing them, and
   apologizes to Vader. After Needa dies at Vader's hand, the fleet
   disperses and the Falcon breaks off, escaping by floating away from the
   Star Destroyer in the midst of its garbage, which it dumped before
   going into hyperspace.

   Through the aid of a bounty hunter, Boba Fett, Vader finds and captures
   the Millenium Falcon. He tortures Luke's friends, presuming that Luke
   would be able to sense their suffering through the Force, essentially
   using this as bait.

   Luke ultimately finds Vader, and they engage in battle. In the end,
   Vader defeats Luke, cutting off his right hand. Vader then reveals his
   true identity as Luke's father, and entreats him to turn to the dark
   side. Although shaken by this stunning claim, Luke refuses to join
   Vader and instead chooses death by throwing himself down a reactor
   shaft. However, fate intervenes to allow him to survive and eventually
   escape.

Return of the Jedi

   In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Vader is charged with
   overseeing the completion of the second Death Star, with Moff Jerjerrod
   ( Michael Pennington) as his direct subordinate. 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 and 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 to the dark side instead. Enraged,
   Luke nearly kills Vader, severing his father's mechanical hand.
   However, he controls his anger at the last minute as he looks at
   Vader's mechanical 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 finish Vader and take his place, Luke
   throws down his lightsaber, refusing to perform the killing blow.
   Seeing that the young Jedi is a lost cause, the Emperor attacks Luke
   with Force lightning. Luke writhes in agony under the Emperor's
   assault, begging his father for help. Unable to bear the sight of his
   son in pain, Vader turns on his master and throws him into a deep
   shaft, where he explodes in a fury of dark energies. In the process,
   however, errant bolts of Force lightning strike Vader, shorting out his
   suit's life support systems.

   In his dying breaths, Vader begs Luke to remove the hideous breath-mask
   that has caged his face for more than half his life. Luke complies and,
   for the first and only time, sees his father's real face — that of a
   sad, withered man in his mid-40s, ravaged by the dark side, whose
   sunken eyes look up at his son and back at a lifetime of regret. In
   death, Anakin Skywalker is finally at peace, having admitted to his son
   that the good within him was not destroyed after all. Luke barely
   escapes the doomed battle station before Rebel forces destroy it. Later
   that night, Luke burns his father's Sith armor (and whatever remains
   inside ) in the manner of a Jedi's funeral. During the victory
   celebration on the forest moon of Endor, Luke is able to see the
   redeemed spirit of Anakin Skywalker, standing once again with Yoda and
   Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Anakin Skywalker (Prequel trilogy)

   Following up on the revelation in The Empire Strikes Back that Vader
   was once Anakin Skywalker, the Star Wars prequel trilogy (consisting of
   The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith)
   focus on his life before he became Darth Vader, both his heroic rise
   and tragic fall.

The Phantom Menace

   In The Phantom Menace, Anakin ( Jake Lloyd) is introduced as a
   nine-year-old boy, living on Tatooine with his mother, Shmi ( Pernilla
   August), as a slave to the trader Watto. He has no father, and is
   apparently a virgin birth; it is suggested that he is a creation of the
   midi-chlorians, but his exact origins are left ambiguous. Even at his
   young age, he is a gifted pilot and a talented engineer, having built
   his own protocol droid, C-3PO. He is discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon
   Jinn ( Liam Neeson) and his apprentice, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi ( Ewan
   McGregor), who are convinced that Anakin is the " Chosen One" foretold
   by the prophecy to bring balance to the Force. Qui-Gon wins Anakin's
   freedom to take him on as an apprentice Jedi (a "padawan learner".) The
   Jedi Council rejects him, however, sensing in him a great deal of fear
   and anger. Shortly afterward, Qui-Gon is killed in the Battle of Naboo,
   and, in his dying breaths, pleads with Obi-Wan to train the boy. The
   Council reluctantly approves, and Anakin is apprenticed to Obi-Wan.
   Palpatine, newly elected as the Republic's Supreme Chancellor,
   befriends the boy, promising to "watch his career with great interest."

Attack of the Clones

   In Attack of the Clones, set 10 years after Anakin is initially
   discovered, he is assigned to protect Senator Padmé Amidala (Natalie
   Portman) from the Confederacy of Independent Systems, aka the
   Separatists. The two eventually fall in love, even though Jedi are
   forbidden to form emotional attachments.

   After suffering visions of his mother dying in agony, he travels to
   Tatooine and discovers that his mother has been kidnapped by Tusken
   Raiders. He finds her, but it is too late; she dies in his arms. Anakin
   is seized by a violent rage and he slaughters the entire camp,
   including the women and children. He confesses to Padmé, who forgives
   him. They later go to Geonosis to save Obi-Wan, who has been kidnapped
   by the Separatists, but are themselves captured and sentenced to death.
   Moments from execution, they pledge their love to each other. They are
   saved at the last moment, however, by a cadre of Jedi reinforcements
   led by Mace Windu ( Samuel L. Jackson), who do battle with the
   Separatists in the opening salvo of the Clone Wars. Anakin fights
   Separatist leader (and fallen Jedi) Count Dooku ( Christopher Lee), but
   is easily defeated, losing his right forearm. Back on Coruscant, he is
   fitted with a prosthetic arm, and marries Padmé in a secret ceremony.

Revenge of the Sith

   In Revenge of the Sith, which is set three years after Attack of the
   Clones, Anakin has been made a full-fledged Jedi Knight, and his
   exploits in the Clone Wars have earned him the title "The Hero With No
   Fear."

   During the Battle of Coruscant, Anakin and Obi-Wan attempt to rescue
   Palpatine from General Grievous ( Matthew Wood), a Separatist warlord
   who has (apparently) kidnapped him. In the course of this rescue on
   Grievous' flagship Invisible Hand, the two confront Count Dooku, a
   battle in which Obi-Wan is knocked unconscious, consequently forcing
   Anakin to fight Dooku alone. Anakin gives into his anger and takes both
   hands off his opponent. At Palpatine's urgings, Anakin kills Dooku in
   cold blood. Anakin is instantly remorseful, but Palpatine reassures
   Anakin that Dooku "was too dangerous to be kept alive."

   Anakin returns to Coruscant, where Padmé tells him she is pregnant. He
   is initially overjoyed, but is later tormented by prophetic visions of
   her death in childbirth — similar to those he had of his mother just
   before her death. Meanwhile, Palpatine sponsors Anakin to the Jedi
   Council, but the Council, suspicious of Palpatine, in turn denies
   Anakin the rank of Jedi Master, and asks him to spy on Palpatine.
   Sensing Anakin's impatience and anger, Palpatine tempts him further
   with "hidden" secrets of the Force, including the ability to prevent
   death indefinitely — which could thus save his wife.

   These tempations reach a boiling point when Anakin finally realizes
   that Palpatine is in fact Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord that the Jedi
   have been searching for since the beginning of the war. He reports this
   treachery to Mace Windu, but he then intrudes on Windu's attempt to
   apprehend an apparently helpless Palpatine. He pleads for his mentor's
   life, but Windu says the Sith Lord must be immediately destroyed, as he
   is too politically powerful to receive a fair trial. As Windu is about
   to kill Palpatine, Anakin cuts off Windu's saber arm, leaving him
   defenseless for Palpatine's sudden burst of Force lightning, which
   sends Windu plummeting to his death in the streets of Coruscant. Anakin
   then pledges himself to the dark side, and is given the Sith title and
   name Darth Vader.

Anakin Skywalker as Darth Vader

   Vader's first task as a Sith Lord is to assault the Jedi Temple with
   the 501st Legion and kill everyone inside, even the younglings. He does
   this without question. He is then sent to Mustafar to assassinate Nute
   Gunray ( Silas Carson) and the other members of the Separatist
   Leadership.

   After completing this task, he is met by Padmé, who pleads with him to
   flee Palpatine's grasp with her. He refuses, saying that he can
   overthrow Palpatine and the two of them can rule the galaxy together.
   Obi-Wan, who had hidden himself on Padmé's ship, suddenly emerges and
   confronts Vader. Suspecting betrayal, Vader angrily uses the Force to
   choke Padmé, leaving her unconscious on the landing platform. The
   former partners and friends then engage in a ferocious lightsaber duel
   throughout the mining complex and onto the banks of a lava river. Vader
   tries to further pursue his master with a Force jump despite Obi-Wan's
   superior positioning. Obi-Wan severs his remaining organic limbs in
   midair, and leaves him to the "will of the Force." Vader then catches
   fire, sustaining near-fatal burns and lung damage. He uses his last
   strength to reach higher ground until he is rescued by Palpatine, who
   sensed Vader's impending defeat after his own duel with Yoda.

   Palpatine revives Vader with extensive cybernetic enhancements,
   including a respirator, black body armor, and a fearsome breathing mask
   that alters his weakened voice into an intimidating mechanical
   baritone. Palpatine then tells Vader that, in his anger, he had killed
   his own wife (Padmé had in fact died in childbirth on Polis Massa after
   delivering healthy twins). Overwhelmed with grief and bitterness by the
   belief that he had killed his wife (and, presumably, his unborn child),
   Vader breaks out into a rage which destroys most of the medical droids
   in the room. Consequently, the only thing that remains in his life is
   his service to his master, the new Emperor of the galaxy.

Portrayals

   During filming of A New Hope, David Prowse played the role of Darth
   Vader. To his dismay, after filming, James Earl Jones was hired to read
   Vader's lines over Prowse's performance. 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."

   In 1978, Jones returned as the voice of 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 Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game, 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 videogames Rebel Assault II 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.
   While the body actor had changed, James Earl Jones still served as the
   voice of Vader.

Behind the scenes

   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 Tantive IV
   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.

   Vader's headgear resembles a Japanese kabuto, which is consistent with
   the samurai-like order of the Jedi and kendo-like lightsaber duels. It
   also resembles a Nazi helmet. An American Football helmet made by
   Riddell, with a distinctive approx. 3cm wide middle seam elevated by
   approx 3 millimeters that connected the two shell halves and
   accommodated air valves, was most likely used as the basis for Vader's
   helmet

   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. A likely inspiration
   for this famous theme was the similar-sounding leitmotif composed by
   Alfred Newman for the villainous Nazi spy Quive-Smith (played by George
   Sanders) in the 1941 Fritz Lang thriller Man Hunt.

   In a 2005 interview, George Lucas was asked the origins of the name
   "Darth Vader", and replied: "Darth is a variation of dark. 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" (the Dutch word
   is instead pronounced "fah-der"), and the German word for "father"
   (Vater) is similar (fans also believe that the Vader is meant to sound
   like Invader). However, in the earliest scripts for Star Wars, the name
   "Darth Vader" was given to a human Imperial general.

   Some believe that the revelation of Vader as the father of Luke
   Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back is a case of retroactive
   continuity. As originally depicted in the first film, Vader was a
   student of Obi-Wan Kenobi's who was seduced by the dark side of the
   Force, betraying and murdering Luke's (then unnamed) father, who seemed
   at that time to be a separate character from Vader. Much of the
   criticism from sceptics of Lucas is aimed at the fact that Obi-Wan's
   story about the death of Luke's father in A New Hope became an outright
   lie after the later films were produced. It is unclear when Lucas
   decided to merge Luke's father and Darth Vader into one character or
   divert him into two characters (Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader). Some
   accounts have indicated that Empire screenwriter Leigh Brackett was the
   first to suggest that Vader was Luke's father during story meetings. As
   it stands, there is currently no behind-the-scenes evidence that Vader
   was intended to be Luke's father from the very start. Thus, that
   concept may very well have originated after the original theatrical
   release of A New Hope. Lucas has claimed in recent years that Vader's
   story arc (being revealed as Luke's father and then being redeemed) was
   planned from the beginning. Certainly the 'motif' of the villain
   turning out to be the hero's father is present in the 'Star Wars'
   outline as early as 1974 ('The Adventure of Anikin [sic] Starkiller')
   although the 'hero' and 'villain' of this outline are not necessarily
   Vader or Luke in the forms that the audience currently understands
   them.

   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
   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.

Armor and cybernetic enhancements

   Even before his transformation into Vader, Anakin was a cyborg: he had
   a prosthetic hand installed after his natural right forearm was severed
   while dueling with Count Dooku on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones.
   Before the release of Attack of the Clones, the 1994 Expanded Universe
   novel The Last Command by Timothy Zahn claimed that Vader's hand had
   been amputated by Palpatine as punishment for the destruction of the
   first Death Star. However, in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, it is
   declared that Luke Skywalker severed Vaders sword arm. Until Attack of
   the Clones, this was the canonical version of why Vader had a
   prosthetic arm during Return of the Jedi. As a result of his later
   disfigurement on Mustafar, Vader was substantially augmented with
   cybernetic implants: he is depicted as wearing his armor at all times
   when he is not meditating in his pressurized containment-chamber. A
   towering figure, the suited Darth Vader is nearly 6 feet 7 inches (2.03
   meters) tall. This transformation is apparently essential to Obi-Wan's
   judgment, cemented after the fight on Mustafar and expressed to Luke in
   Return of the Jedi, that Vader is "more machine now than man, twisted
   and evil."

   According to Star Wars Technical Commentaries, Vader's armor is built
   around a plastoid girdle that protects his organic and synthetic
   internal organs. More visible durasteel plates cover his shoulders,
   upper body and shins. He wears a suit of quilted, flexible,
   blast-dampening, multi-ply padding, and a cloak of armor weave. His
   gloves and hands are made with a unique micronized iron that can
   deflect anything short of a lightsaber blow. His famous mask and
   helmet, resembling the head of an ancient Sith droid, contain various
   vision- and auditory-enhancing equipment, as well as the respirator
   that causes the Dark Lord's ominous breathing sound.

   Vader's life support system includes a chest-worn, computerized control
   panel unit that regulates his respiratory functions. Three slot-like
   dataports offered diagnostic checks of his pulmonary, respiratory and
   neural systems. Upon closer examination, the chestplate has Hebrew
   lettering which has been translated as, "His deeds will not be
   forgiven, until he merits." On his belt, Vader wears two small system
   function boxes. The one on his right featured a temperature regulation
   system. On his left, he wears a respiratory sensor matrix. The centre
   buckle features an audio enhancement unit built into the
   electromagnetic clasp. The armor also enables him to breathe in vacuum
   while protecting him from the coldness of space. The reason for his
   cloak is to protect a small oxygen pack he wears on his back.

   At first, Vader found his new cybernetics and armor to be bulky and
   unresponsive, especially in comparison to the Force-enhanced athletic
   ability he enjoyed as Anakin Skywalker. In Revenge of the Sith, his
   first steps as Vader are awkward and uncoordinated; in the novel Dark
   Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, Vader struggles to adapt his combat
   skills to the new limitations imposed by his prosthetics. In the course
   of Dark Lord, Vader is depicted considering various improvements to his
   support systems to improve their mobility and responsiveness, drawing
   on the engineering and electronic skills that he has possessed since
   childhood.

Expanded Universe

   The Cartoon Network microseries 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.

   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 is expected to at least
   make cameo appearances in the upcoming Star Wars live-action TV series,
   which is slated for either a 2007 or 2008 release and will run 100
   episodes.

   As chronicled in James Luceno's book Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth
   Vader, Vader sheds his identity as Anakin Skywalker shortly 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) and, in the process, 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, in an impressive display of adaptation
   (showing Luke is very much like his father) Luke nearly defeats Vader
   in a duel, afterwards Vader suffers massive injuries when he falls into
   a pit. The extent as to which these new injuries may have worsened his
   condition (if at all) is somewhat disputed among the Star Wars fanbase.

   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
   Shadows of the Empire, 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 gives more
   insight into Vader's thoughts and ambitions as it reveals that he knows
   there is some good left in him and that he wishes to heal his body
   through the Force in an attempt to return his physical appearance to
   that of his former self, Anakin Skywalker. At one point in the novel,
   Vader is in his chamber with his suit completely removed as he attempts
   to heal his body.

   Vader also makes occasional appearances in Dark Horse's Star Wars comic
   books set between the movies, especially Star Wars: Empire.

   In the Thrawn trilogy, it is explained that Darth Vader was the first
   representative of the Empire to find the Noghri, a race with
   exceptional combat skills, whom he manipulated into serving as his
   personal commandos and revering him as their master. Later, Vader
   transferred their services to Grand Admiral Thrawn.

   Leia Organa Solo, who was initially horrified to learn that Vader was
   her father, eventually forgave him after learning her family's full
   history, as chronicled in the book Tatooine Ghost. She named her
   youngest son Anakin in remembrance of her father's redemption.

   In the novel The Unifying Force of the New Jedi Order series, set 30
   years after the Battle of Yavin in 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.

Archetypes and role models for Darth Vader

   There are many well-known mythological and literary precedents that may
   have provided George Lucas with the inspiration for Darth Vader.

   The work of Joseph Campbell is known to have been a major influence on
   Lucas in the conception of the Star Wars saga, and it is highly likely
   that he drew on Campbell's writings when creating Anakin/Vader. In
   Creative Mythology, the fourth and final volume of his masterwork The
   Masks of God, Campbell examines at some length the numerous myths and
   stories involving the Holy Grail and the legends of King Arthur. Star
   Wars of course draws heavily on these mythic archetypes. Of particular
   interest are Campbell's discourses on the densely interconnected
   complex of legends about the Holy Grail including the famous tales of
   the "star-crossed lovers" Tristan and Isolde and Lancelot and
   Guinevere, and the real-life medieval tale of Abelard and Hèloise.

   Vader's physical size, power and unnatural cyborg nature have obvious
   parallels with the famous Creature of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, who
   is an aberration against nature, yet who also similarly possesses a
   redeeming spark of humanity in spite of his monstrous attributes.

   Another probable inspiration/referent from modern popular culture is
   the character of the evil scientist Rotwang in Fritz Lang's classic
   silent film Metropolis. In the original storyline (which was heavily
   altered in most post-1927 edits of the film) Rotwang is insanely
   obsessed by the death of his wife Hel, who dies in childbirth, like
   Anakin's wife Padme. Notably, Rotwang loses his right hand in his
   scientific quest to create a female cyborg replicant of Hel and he
   reconstructs the missing limb with a prosthetic replacement, which is
   always shown covered by a sinister black glove.

   In the realm of graphic design, another source of inspiration for Darth
   Vader might be Winslow Leach, a.k.a. "The Phantom", the main character
   from Brian De Palma's 1974 movie Phantom of the Paradise. In "Paradise
   Regained", a documentary included in the French special edition of the
   Phantom of the Paradise DVD, De Palma, an old friend of Lucas', claims
   that some design elements of Darth Vader's suit of armor might have
   been inspired by the Phantom. De Palma specifically refers to the
   control panel unit worn by Vader on his armor, which is reminiscent of
   the Phantom's synthetic voice speaker. It shall also be noted that
   Winslow is disfigured in a freak accident and his voice destroyed,
   forcing him to hide his appearance under a dark costume and mask, and
   to use a voice synthesizer to speak (making him, effectively, a
   cyborg). Also, the Phantom has to ally himself with the evil record
   producer Swan, a scheming, power-hungry villain much like Palpatine,
   all that for the sake of his loved one Phoenix (similarly to what
   Anakin does for Padme in Revenge of the Sith).

   In addition, some have noted that Vader bears more than a passing
   resemblance to other ficticious villains. One is the classic Marvel
   Universe supervillain Doctor Doom (who also had a face mask that
   obscured disfiguring burns). That this appears true to the observer, is
   suggested by Stephen King's Dark Tower novels in which so-called
   "Doombots" appear that wear green hoods and iron wolf masks, much like
   Doom, and carry lightsabers. Another is Sinestro, a former member of
   the Green Lantern Corps of the DC Universe who was corrupted by his
   power. Third, the Superman supervillain Darkseid from Jack Kirby's
   Fourth world storyline resembles Vader in a number of ways; like Vader,
   his home base is a black, metallic planetoid ( Apokolips), and the name
   Darkseid itself prefigures Star Wars terminology. Darkseid is also
   eventually challenged by his son, who is unaware that he is fighting
   his father.

Cultural figure

   Due to his central role, Vader has entered the public consciousness as
   the quintessential villain. His powerful baritone voice, coupled with
   his heavy breathing, is easily recognizable, and the American Film
   Institute's list of the greatest movie villains placed him third, after
   Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates. He has been parodied by such figures
   as " Dark Helmet" from Spaceballs, "Duck Vader" from Tiny Toon
   Adventures, "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 Odd Parents, an episode of Codename:
   Kids Next Door where President Jimmy dressed in black and, now devoted
   to evil, takes over the school and country singer Darth Brooks in Late
   Night With Conan O'Brien. Also, Chef from South Park became Darth Chef
   in 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 dad to date his mom.

   When Episode 1: The Phantom Menace DVD was released, " Thumb Wars" was
   also released. It’s a parody of Episode 4, only that all the characters
   in the film are human thumbs with digitally added faces. In this film
   Darth Vader is represented as Black Helmet Man.

   In 2006, Blame Society Productions created a series of short videos
   that became popular on the Internet 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.
     * 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.

     * 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.
     * 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."

     * In 1990 Roger Taylor's band The Cross released the album Mad, Bad
       and Dangerous to Know, featuring the song "Penetration Guru", which
       has the line "Contact me, I'm no Darth Vader" in the verse before
       each chorus .

     * Political strategist Lee Atwater was known by his political enemies
       as "the Darth Vader of the Republican Party".

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