Darth Vader remains one of the most recognizable villains in the history of cinema, given how influential the character has been ever since his first appearance. Perhaps one of the most, if not the most, popular characters to come out of the Star Wars franchise, his history and lore have been heavily expanded on across multiple mediums, such as books, comics, television shows, and video games.
However, Vader did not come easily as a villain to George Lucas, and there was one key struggle that the creator of Star Wars had with the concept of the character. Given the rich amount of backstory that we have about the character, Vader commands a lot of respect in the fandom. However, when the character first appeared, George Lucas had the burden of making the character scary and feel like a threat, without the backing of the massive back story that the character had.
The key was in how Darth Vader would carry himself
While George Lucas did not have the luxury of communicating the backstory of Darth Vader to first-time viewers of Star Wars, the creator found the solution in how the character presents himself to others. The costume of the character might seem a little menacing, with the black color and the samurai helmet, but it might not have been enough to make the character appear as menacing as Lucas wanted him to. Speaking with Rolling Stone, he said:
His character’s got to go beyond that — that’s how we get his impersonal way of dealing with things. He’s done a lot of horrible things in his life that he isn’t particularly proud of. Ultimately, he’s just a pathetic guy who’s had a very sad life.
The idea was to allow Vader to be a dynamic character and to have an animated sense of authority to him. He was very much a cross between a traditional fantasy dark lord and a mythic monster, that had manifested itself in a cyborg lord of the Empire’s troops, who dressed in all black and marched with his troops into battle with considerable skill and power.
Darth Vader has become an integral part of Star Wars
While the Skywalker Saga might have come to an end, Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader have remained integral parts of the franchise, making an appearance in almost every installment of the franchise, to much fanfare and celebration. Be it the animated series like Star Wars: The Clone Wars or a one-off Anthology series like Rogue One, Vader’s presence almost always elevates the show or film that it is incorporated into.
Darth Vader remains one of fiction’s most well-written characters, with a tragic backstory that makes him fall from grace that much more believable, and has an entire section of the fandom wanting an episode dedicated to his happy ending in the rumored Star Wars What If..? type show that is rumored to be in development at Disney.
Star Wars can be streamed on Disney+.
