Home
Darth Vader epitomized the Emperor's New Order. Standing nearly 2 meters tall and dressed in black Sith robes and black body armor, Vader was a tangible evil and symbol of the Emperor's doctrine of rule through fear and terror.
He was the servant and emissary of the Emperor, and later commanded the vast fleet charged with finding and destroying the Rebel Alliance. Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, expert pilot, and hero of the Clone Wars, and disciple of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Through impatience and pride, Anakin fell from the path to become a Jedi and embraced the path Palpatine offered, the dark side of the Force. He gave in to anger, fear, and aggression and stepped into the dark side's embrace and became Darth Vader.
When Kenobi saw what had become of his friend and student Anakin Skywalker, he tried to draw him back from the dark side. But Vader wanted none of that. The two engaged into a lightsaber battle, and afterwards Vader was forced to wear life-supporting armor to stay alive. Kenobi then helped Anakin's wife and newborn twins (whom Vader was not aware of) escape into hiding-Luke to Tatooine to live with Owen and Beru Lars, and Leia and her mother to hide with Bail Organa on Alderaan. Vader then helped the Emperor hunt down and exterminate the Jedi Knights, leaving 2 remaining alive, Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine and Yoda on Dagobah.
When Luke and Leia grew up and joined with the Alliance to restore the Republic, the Emperor and Vader decided to try to convert his son Luke to the dark side. The first time that father and son met was on Cloud City. Luke rejected Vader's claims and offers, electing to fight him. But Vader was too powerful for the still-developing Jedi. Luke barely escaped with his life, though he lost his right hand to his father's lightsaber, and gained knowledge that he was the son of Anakin Skywalker, now known as Darth Vader.
Vader was confronted by his son a second time on Endor. Luke did not arrive as a half-trained apprentice Jedi this time, but as a full-fledged Jedi Knight. Luke's faithin his father's innate goodness won the day, bringing Anakin Skywalker out of the darkness of Darth Vader and into the light.
Vader saved his son Luke from the Emperor, and destroyed Palpatine himself, flinging him off into a Death Star reactor, but at the cost of his own life.
Vader's final act-as Anakin Skywalker and not as Darth Vader the Sith Lord, was to look upon his son with his own eyes, and while his son told him that he wouldn't leave him and that he had to save him, Anakin answered, "You already have Luke, tell your sister, you were right..."
On Endor on the night of the battle, Luke lit a funeral pyre for his father, Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi remdeemed from the dark side of the Force and brought back to the light.
Anakin Skywalker
Padme Amidala
The Sith
The Jedi Knights
