With his menacing mechanical breathing, his
signature black helmet, and his crimson lightsaber, there is no questioning why
Darth Vader is the most iconic movie villain in the world. His reputation as a
cold-hearted killer composed of nothing more than machinery and hatred, only
further cements this as we see Vader strangle, maim, dismember, and slaughter
men, women, children, enemies and even allies all throughout his time as a Sith
Lord. With all of this in mind, how could anyone think that this ruthless
bastard is anything but evil, pure unadulterated evil?
Before he was Darth Vader, he was Anakin
Skywalker, a boy born a virgin birth on the desert planet of Tatooine. On
Tatooine, Anakin was a slave and was forced to work in a junkyard for most of
his childhood. It was only when Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn learned of the boy's
unusual birth, that Anakin was freed from slavery. Soon after Skywalker's
liberation, Jinn brought him before the Jedi Counsel as the Chosen One and
wished to take the boy as his apprentice. The Jedi Master's request was denied
at first, but upon his death, the Counsel allowed Jinn's former apprentice,
Obi-Wan Kenobi, to train Anakin.
During his time as a padawan , Anakin began
to have dreams about his mother in danger. Going against the Counsel's orders,
Anakin ventured to Tatooine to discover that his mom was captured by Tusken Raiders.
Tracking her down to the raider’s village, Anakin found her too late. Anakin,
enraged at the loss of his mother, used the Dark side and slaughtered everyone in
the camp. After this, Anakin began pursuing the knowledge to cheat death.
After serving the order as a one of the most
successful Jedi Knights, training an apprentice, and being the chosen one,
Anakin, who was already a member of the counsel, wished to be promoted to Master,
but was declined. Adding to his distrust of the counsel, they instructed him to
spy on Supreme Chancellor Palpatine who, as Anakin’s confidant and the
hidden Sith Lord, decided to take advantage of this. When Anakin started
getting dreams of his wife dying, Anakin became increasingly paranoid and would
become obsessed with learning how to stop her death. Palpatine would use this
paranoia to seduce Anakin over to the Dark side, and have him turn against his Jedi
compatriots resulting in the destruction of the Jedi Order and Anakin’s
transformation into Darth Vader.
Darth Vader
didn’t just come into being because Anakin was evil, but because Anakin was
mentally unstable. Throughout his entire life, Anakin was not in control of
himself. As a kid, he was actual slave. As a jedi, he was expected to follow
his destiny as the Chosen one and to adhere to their strict doctrine. Later,
his fear of death was used by Palpatine to control him. And then, the dark side’s
influence made him kill his own wife. After being disremembered and burned,
Palpatine would control him through Skywalker’s faulty life support system.
