Darth Vader is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise.
76 Facts About Darth Vader
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Darth Vader has become one of the most iconic villains in popular culture, and has been listed among the greatest villains and fictional characters ever.
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Darth Vader's masked face and helmet, in particular, is one of the most iconic character designs of all time.
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Darth Vader is lured to the dark side of the Force by Chancellor Palpatine and becomes a Sith Lord, assuming the name of Darth Vader.
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Darth Vader ultimately redeems himself by saving his son, Luke Skywalker, and killing Palpatine, sacrificing his own life in the process.
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Darth Vader is the secret husband of Padme Amidala, the biological father of Princess Leia, and the grandfather of Kylo Ren.
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Darth Vader appears in television series and numerous iterations of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, including video games, novels, and comic books.
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Lucas has said that he knew Darth Vader was Luke's father while writing the first film, though the relationship is not explicitly evidenced before said draft of The Empire Strikes Back.
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Author Michael Kaminski argues in The Secret History of Star Wars that it is unlikely that the plot point had ever seriously been considered or even conceived of before 1978, and that the first film was clearly operating under a storyline where Darth Vader was a separate character from Luke's father.
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Meanwhile, Obi-Wan hid Luke on Tatooine while the Galactic Republic became the tyrannical Galactic Empire and Darth Vader systematically hunted down and killed the Jedi.
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Darth Vader saw that the prequels could form the beginning of one long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his death, in what he has termed "the tragedy of Darth Vader".
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Movie trailers focused on Anakin and a one-sheet poster showing him casting Darth Vader's shadow informed otherwise unknowing audiences of the character's eventual fate.
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The original design of Darth Vader's costume did not originally include a helmet.
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The idea that Darth Vader should wear a breathing apparatus was first proposed by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie during preproduction discussions for Star Wars with George Lucas in 1975.
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McQuarrie's 1975 production painting of Darth Vader engaged in a lightsaber duel with Deak Starkiller depicts Vader wearing black armor, a flowing cape and an elongated, skull-like mask and helmet.
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The sound of the respirator function of Darth Vader's mask was created by Ben Burtt using modified recordings of scuba breathing apparatus used by divers.
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Commentators have often pointed to the influence of Akira Kurosawa's films such as The Hidden Fortress on George Lucas, and Darth Vader's samurai-inspired costume design is held up as a significant example of the Japanese influences on Star Wars.
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Darth Vader was portrayed by bodybuilder David Prowse in the original film trilogy, with fencer Bob Anderson performing the character's lightsaber fight scenes.
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Vader's character has been portrayed in several video games; in games such as Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire and Dark Forces, visual effects artist C Andrew Nelson appears in short sequences in the Vader costume, voiced by Scott Lawrence.
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Darth Vader's voice was digitally recreated by the company Respeecher for use in Obi-Wan Kenobi using artificial intelligence, and Jones later signed over the rights to his performance for future Star Wars productions.
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Darth Vader later reflected that he enjoyed his experience on the film and expressed particular surprise that an action figure was made of his portrayal.
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Darth Vader has a main and recurring role in games, comics, books and the non-canon Star Wars Legends material.
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Darth Vader first appears in Star Wars as a ruthless cyborg Sith Lord serving the Galactic Empire.
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Darth Vader is tasked, along with Grand Moff Tarkin, with recovering the stolen plans for the Death Star battle station, which were stolen by the Rebel Alliance.
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Darth Vader captures and tortures Princess Leia, who has hidden the plans inside the droid R2-D2 and sent it to find Darth Vader's former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet Tatooine.
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Darth Vader tells Luke that he is his father, and tries to persuade him to join the dark side and help him overthrow the Emperor.
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Darth Vader telepathically tells Luke that it is his destiny to join the dark side.
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Darth Vader takes Luke to the second Death Star to meet the Emperor.
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Furious, Luke overpowers Darth Vader and severs his father's cybernetic hand.
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The Emperor entreats Luke to kill Darth Vader and take his place.
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Darth Vader is even more convinced of this after learning Skywalker's midi-chlorian count was off the charts, revealing his potential to wield the Force was unparalleled.
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On Palpatine's orders, Darth Vader leads the 501st Legion to kill everyone in the Jedi Temple, including the children, and then goes to the volcanic planet Mustafar to assassinate the Separatist Council.
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Palpatine finds a barely alive Darth Vader and takes him to Coruscant, where his mutilated body is treated and covered in the black suit first depicted in the original trilogy.
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When Darth Vader asks if Padme is safe, Palpatine says that he killed her out of anger, devastating him.
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Darth Vader is voiced by James Earl Jones as Vader and Hayden Christensen as Anakin.
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Darth Vader confronts him about his handling of the Death Star project and the destruction of Jedha City, while Krennic asks Vader for an audience with the Emperor regarding the Death Star, which he lost command of to Tarkin.
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Darth Vader refuses, ordering him to ensure that the Death Star project has not been compromised.
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Darth Vader had a much different role in early versions of the film's story.
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Screenwriter Gary Whitta stated that in his initial pitch, Darth Vader would appear on Scarif and slaughter the Rebel blockade there.
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James Earl Jones reprises his role from previous films as the voice of Darth Vader, who is physically portrayed by Spencer Wilding during the meeting with Krennic and aboard the Star Destroyer, and by Daniel Naprous for the end scene.
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Darth Vader is voiced by Mat Lucas as an adult and Frankie Ryan Mariquez as a child.
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Darth Vader investigates the crash site of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal, which was destroyed during Order 66.
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Darth Vader appears in Star Wars Rebels, which takes place 14 years after The Clone Wars concluded.
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Darth Vader makes minor appearances throughout the first season, and serves as the main antagonist for most of the second season.
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At the beginning of the series, Darth Vader leads a squadron of Force-sensitive Imperial Inquisitors who actively search for and kill any remaining Jedi and Force-sensitive children.
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Darth Vader makes a final voiceless cameo in the late fourth-season episode "A World Between Worlds", in which it is revealed that Ahsoka escaped from her previous duel with Darth Vader by entering a Force-realm that exists outside of time and space.
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Shortly afterward, Darth Vader's voice is heard echoing in the void.
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Christensen returns in flashback sequences, both as a newly minted Darth Vader carrying out the massacre at the Jedi Temple, and as Padawan Anakin Skywalker, training with Kenobi in the years preceding the Clone Wars.
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Darth Vader plays a central role in the Legends game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, where he is playable in the first level and later serves as the penultimate boss.
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Darth Vader appears in the sequel, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, as the final boss.
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Darth Vader makes a minor appearance at the end of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, after the main antagonist, the Second Sister, is defeated.
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Darth Vader kills the Second Sister for her failure to secure a Jedi Holocron that could lead the Empire to a number of Force-sensitive children, and then attempts to take the Holocron himself from the protagonist, Cal Kestis, who barely manages to escape from him.
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Darth Vader is a playable character and boss in Disney Infinity 3.0, and was available to unlock for a limited time in Disney Magic Kingdoms.
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In video games, Darth Vader is often voiced by Scott Lawrence or Matt Sloan, while Anakin is voiced by Mat Lucas and Matt Lanter.
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The game, titled Darth Vader Immortal, is set between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One and comprises three episodes, the first of which became available with the launch of the Oculus Quest on May 21,2019, while the last was released on November 21,2019.
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In 2015, Marvel released a 25-issue series called Darth Vader, written by Kieron Gillen.
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The first few issues deal with Darth Vader carrying out his revenge on those who concealed Luke; he visits Padme's tomb on Naboo and encounters her handmaidens.
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Darth Vader is featured prominently in novels set in the Star Wars universe.
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Shadows of the Empire reveals that Darth Vader is conflicted about trying to turn his son to the dark side, and knows deep down that he still has good in him.
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In Luceno's Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, set a few months after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Vader disavows his identity as Anakin as he hunts down surviving Jedi and cements his position in the Empire.
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Darth Vader appears in a series of tongue-in-cheek children's books by Jeffrey Brown.
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Darth Vader appears in several comic books such as Marvel Comics' Star Wars.
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In Darth Vader's Quest, set soon after A New Hope, the dark lord encounters Luke for the first time.
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Anakin and Vader appear in the non-canonical Star Wars Tales ; in the story Resurrection, Darth Maul is resurrected and faces Vader in battle.
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The Star Wars Holiday Special, a television special broadcast by CBS in 1978, features a brief appearance of Darth Vader, who appears on-screen speaking with Imperial officer "Chief Bast" in footage cut from the original 1977 film.
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Darth Vader makes his first appearance on the planet Ralltiir, where he treats Princess Leia with suspicion.
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Darth Vader has appeared in non-Star Wars video games as a guest character, for example Soulcalibur IV.
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An action figure of Darth Vader comes to life alongside RoboCop and Jurassic Park toys in The Indian in the Cupboard.
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Darth Vader had a brief cameo in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, in which he and Oscar the Grouch try unsuccessfully to join the army formed by Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon and Al Capone.
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Psychiatrists have considered Darth Vader to be a useful example for explaining borderline personality disorder to medical students.
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Darth Vader is parodied as "Dark Helmet" in the Star Wars parody Spaceballs.
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In Chasing Amy, Hooper X speaks at a comic book convention about Darth Vader being a metaphor for how poorly the science fiction genre treats Black people; he is especially offended that Vader, the "Blackest brother in the galaxy", reveals himself to be a "feeble, crusty old white man" at the end of Return of the Jedi.
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The slime-mold beetle Agathidium vaderi is named after Darth Vader, as is the louse Ricinus vaderi.
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In 2009, George Lucas stated that Cheney is more akin to Palpatine, and that a better stand-in for Vader would be George W Bush.
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In Ukraine, the Internet Party of Ukraine regularly lets people named Darth Vader take part in elections.
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On December 2,2020, a figurine of Darth Vader appeared on the plinth where the statue of Edward Colston once stood in Bristol, United Kingdom, in what was seen as a tribute to David Prowse, who died on November 29,2020.