WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.580 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:05.179 strapping ourselves into the life support suit 00:00:05.179 --> 00:00:08.259 of maybe the greatest antagonist in cinematic 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:11.240 history, Darth Vader. Definitely one of the greats. 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:13.980 But just calling him a villain really misses 00:00:13.980 --> 00:00:15.640 the whole picture, doesn't it? It absolutely 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:18.800 does. Our mission today really is to go way beyond 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.800 just the black cape and that, you know, intimidating 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.460 breathing sound. We need to understand the duality 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:27.320 of this character, the complex sort of fractured 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:30.469 way he was created, his design. And the incredible 00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:32.350 drama that happened behind the scenes. Yeah, 00:00:32.390 --> 00:00:34.969 and the huge cultural legacy he left. It's enormous. 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:37.429 Colossal. When you talk about the central figure 00:00:37.429 --> 00:00:39.270 of the Star Wars franchise, you're really talking 00:00:39.270 --> 00:00:41.450 about two identities, aren't you? Wrapped up 00:00:41.450 --> 00:00:45.250 in one deeply tragic arc. It's the ultimate mythological 00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:48.130 fall, really. The duality is basically the engine 00:00:48.130 --> 00:00:50.509 driving the entire saga. On one side, you've 00:00:50.509 --> 00:00:53.210 got Anakin Skywalker. Right. The gifted, but... 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.259 profoundly troubled human slave from Tatooine, 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:01.259 liberated by the Jedi Order, becomes this morally 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:04.019 conflicted Jedi Knight apprentice to Obi -Wan 00:01:04.019 --> 00:01:08.819 Kenobi. And then, the transformation into the 00:01:08.819 --> 00:01:13.140 icon, Darth Vader, the terrifying cyborg Sith 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:15.510 Lord. Emperor Palpatine's loyal servant, Darth 00:01:15.510 --> 00:01:18.290 Sidious, who ruthlessly hunts down the surviving 00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:21.069 Jedi, tries to crush the Rebel Alliance. He's 00:01:21.069 --> 00:01:22.890 the fist of the Empire. And we can't forget, 00:01:23.010 --> 00:01:24.269 it's always personal, the stakes aren't just 00:01:24.269 --> 00:01:26.430 galactic war, it's about family. Always. He's 00:01:26.430 --> 00:01:28.590 Padme Amadalda's husband, he's Luke Skywalker's 00:01:28.590 --> 00:01:31.090 father, and Leia Organa's his twin sister. And 00:01:31.090 --> 00:01:34.129 ultimately the grandfather of Ben Solo, Kylo 00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:36.920 Ren, who... tragically kind of follows in his 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:39.180 dark footsteps. Exactly. The whole character 00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:41.519 journey is defined by that shift, that transition 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.180 from the Jedi Order, the Galactic Republic, these 00:01:44.180 --> 00:01:47.260 idealistic forces to the authoritarian power 00:01:47.260 --> 00:01:49.200 of the Sith Order and the Galactic Empire. It's 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:52.680 a complete ideological and existential flip. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:55.420 The man is tragic, definitely, but the machine, 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:58.560 instantly iconic. Let's maybe pivot now from 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.640 that complex emotional reality to the almost 00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:04.180 brutal genius behind Vader's look and sound. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.620 The design. Okay. What's really fascinating here 00:02:07.620 --> 00:02:11.180 is how that iconic look, Vader's whole visual 00:02:11.180 --> 00:02:14.360 presence, was born from this collision between 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.439 what George Lucas wanted aesthetically and some 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:20.039 really intense practical needs that popped up 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:21.800 in the early scripts. Oh, I love this story. 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:24.680 So Lucas gives the directive to Ralph McQuarrie, 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:27.259 the conceptual artist. He wanted, and I quote, 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:30.639 a very tall, dark, fluttering figure that had 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:32.819 a spooky feeling like it came in on the wind. 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:35.300 Sounds almost gothic, doesn't it? Like a phantom 00:02:35.300 --> 00:02:37.780 or something. But Macquarie, he immediately brings 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:39.939 in the practicality. He suggests the black armor 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:43.060 and helmet, specifically a full spacesuit. Why? 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:45.939 Because the script needed him to travel between 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:48.500 ships. Exactly. The earliest drafts had Vader 00:02:48.500 --> 00:02:50.819 crossing between spaceships, you know, in the 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:53.259 vacuum of space. So the need for survival gear 00:02:53.259 --> 00:02:55.900 became the bedrock, the foundation of that menacing 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:58.460 armor. Right, right. Necessity first. And the 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:01.550 final appearance is this incredible mashup. Historical 00:03:01.550 --> 00:03:04.810 villainy, sci -fi, the mask itself shielding 00:03:04.810 --> 00:03:07.349 his face. It's a fusion, isn't it? A full face 00:03:07.349 --> 00:03:09.590 breathing mask like you'd need in space, but 00:03:09.590 --> 00:03:12.270 combined with the silhouette of a Japanese samurai 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:15.129 helmet. That's it. The warrior stoicism mixed 00:03:15.129 --> 00:03:17.250 with the machine's inhumanity. It's brilliant. 00:03:17.669 --> 00:03:20.169 And then the costume designer, John Mollo, he 00:03:20.169 --> 00:03:22.750 layered in all these other details. If you look 00:03:22.750 --> 00:03:25.189 closely, the sources say it's this wild combination 00:03:25.189 --> 00:03:28.659 of real world stuff. Like what? Clerical robes 00:03:28.659 --> 00:03:31.139 for that flowing cape effect. Bits of a motorcycle 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:35.159 suit. A German military helmet structure underpins 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:38.379 the helmet. And even a military gas mask as the 00:03:38.379 --> 00:03:42.580 face part. Wow. So it's like fascist clerical 00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:45.520 warrior cyborg. That's quite a look. That's how 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:47.939 you get that distinct, terrifying presentation. 00:03:48.139 --> 00:03:49.780 Yeah, because you've got the visual, then you 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:52.539 need the sound. Vader's breathing. That heavy, 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:56.169 labored breath. It's probably the most instantly 00:03:56.169 --> 00:03:58.550 recognizable sound effect in movies. Oh, easily. 00:03:58.650 --> 00:04:01.009 It's so powerful, it's actually trademarked. 00:04:01.009 --> 00:04:03.729 Get out. Trademarked. The sound. At the U .S. 00:04:03.729 --> 00:04:06.069 Patent and Trademark Office. Yeah. That fact 00:04:06.069 --> 00:04:08.370 alone is just wild. How did they even make it? 00:04:08.569 --> 00:04:11.909 Sound designer Ben Burtt. He used modified recordings 00:04:11.909 --> 00:04:14.650 of a scuba breathing apparatus, like someone 00:04:14.650 --> 00:04:17.850 breathing through a regulator. Oh, okay. That 00:04:17.850 --> 00:04:19.689 makes sense. And it communicates two things at 00:04:19.689 --> 00:04:21.889 once, right? It signals the overwhelming danger 00:04:21.889 --> 00:04:24.509 of the character, but it also constantly reminds 00:04:24.509 --> 00:04:27.730 you, and Vader himself, that he's wounded. He 00:04:27.730 --> 00:04:30.569 needs that life support. It's both a threat and 00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:34.170 a sign of pain. Vulnerability, almost. Exactly. 00:04:34.209 --> 00:04:36.670 A constant reminder of his brokenness. Okay, 00:04:36.709 --> 00:04:38.329 let's move on to the name game. This is where 00:04:38.329 --> 00:04:41.329 George Lucas' early drafts get tangled up and, 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:45.500 well... Unexpectedly dark. Before Anakin and 00:04:45.500 --> 00:04:47.819 Luke were Skywalkers, their original last name 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:51.079 was Starkiller. Starkiller, yeah. And Lucas dropped 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:52.899 that name just a few months before they started 00:04:52.899 --> 00:04:56.060 filming the original Star Wars in 76. Why? The 00:04:56.060 --> 00:04:58.399 reason cited was it had unpleasant connotations. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.600 This was apparently a direct reference to Charles 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:03.459 Manson. Manson? How? Well, Manson murdered actress 00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:06.620 Sharon Tate in 1969, and the media at the time 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:09.379 often characterized him as a Starkiller, so Lucas 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:12.680 wanted to avoid that association. Wow. Okay, 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:16.360 that context is, yeah, astonishing. Real world 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:19.639 horror directly influencing this huge fictional 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:24.399 villain. So let's tackle Darth Vader. The story 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:26.300 here isn't straightforward either, is it? Not 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:28.819 at all. Lucas gave a few different accounts over 00:05:28.819 --> 00:05:31.040 the years. One claimed inspiration from a Dutch 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:34.600 phrase, dark water. We know Darth is just a title 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:38.699 for Sith Lords. Darth Sidious, Darth Maul. But 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:40.500 the interpretation that completely took over 00:05:40.500 --> 00:05:44.040 the character's legacy was the Dark Father idea, 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:46.079 right? Everyone thinks it means Dark Father. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:48.379 Absolutely. That belief just became canonical 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:50.519 in the public mind. And Lucas himself kind of 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:52.860 fueled that interpretation after the big reveal 00:05:52.860 --> 00:05:54.759 in The Empire Strikes Back. But the truth is, 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:57.300 well, according to sources, when they actually 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:59.319 chose the name Darth Vader for the first film. 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:01.500 The I am your father twist hadn't even been written 00:06:01.500 --> 00:06:03.959 yet, wasn't even planned. So it was purely retroactive 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:06.259 branding. Making it fit after the fact. Seems 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:07.860 like it. The name is probably just supposed to 00:06:07.860 --> 00:06:09.579 sound kind of dramatic and menacing, but the 00:06:09.579 --> 00:06:12.259 story later made it feel like destiny. It's a 00:06:12.259 --> 00:06:14.439 pretty amazing example of how creators can be 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:17.500 influenced by how fans react to their work. Definitely. 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:19.579 And speaking of language, there's some great 00:06:19.579 --> 00:06:22.779 international translation quirks here, too. Oh, 00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:25.180 these are fun. Yeah. We just assumed Darth Vader 00:06:25.180 --> 00:06:27.860 is universal, but nope. In France, for instance, 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:31.829 he was called Dark Vador. Vador. With an O. Yeah, 00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:33.810 and apparently that variation is still used in 00:06:33.810 --> 00:06:37.069 their current media. Huh. What about Italy? In 00:06:37.069 --> 00:06:39.930 Italian, he was originally Dart Fanner during 00:06:39.930 --> 00:06:43.509 the original trilogy era. F -E -N -E -R. Gert 00:06:43.509 --> 00:06:45.970 Fanner. Apparently, the dubbing director for 00:06:45.970 --> 00:06:48.709 the prequels tried to switch it back to the English 00:06:48.709 --> 00:06:50.689 Darth Vader, but the traditional Dart Fanner 00:06:50.689 --> 00:06:53.769 was so popular that fans resisted. So did they 00:06:53.769 --> 00:06:55.610 keep Fanner. Well, eventually they did switch 00:06:55.610 --> 00:06:57.569 back to Darth Vader for the sequel trilogy, so 00:06:57.569 --> 00:06:59.610 it seems the global standard won out in the end 00:06:59.610 --> 00:07:02.240 there. Interesting. Any others? The best one, 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:04.720 I think, is from Iceland. Darth Vader's name 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.899 there is Svartafidi. Svartafi, and that means? 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:11.500 Blackhead. Blackhead, seriously? Yep, no ambiguity, 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:14.660 no mythic weight, just calls it like it sees 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:17.120 it. He has a blackhead. Okay, that's pretty blunt. 00:07:17.579 --> 00:07:19.540 Hilarious, though. All right, so let's shift 00:07:19.540 --> 00:07:22.079 from the creation of the armor and the name to 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:25.819 the tragic making of the man inside. Anakin Skywalker. 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.199 And the groundwork laid in the prequels, starting 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:31.800 with the Phantom Menace. We meet him as a nine 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:34.839 -year -old kid, a slave on Tatooine with his 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:37.259 mom, Shmi. And he's immediately presented as 00:07:37.259 --> 00:07:39.800 incredibly gifted, right? Prodigy level, amazing 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:42.259 pilot, great mechanic. The sources mention he 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:44.980 built C -3PO. Yeah, built his own protocol droid. 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.899 Though later lore kind of clarifies it was more 00:07:47.899 --> 00:07:51.100 like a complex repair job that Anakin just perfected. 00:07:51.100 --> 00:07:52.740 He found the parts and put them together. Still 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:55.129 impressive for a nine -year -old. But it's his 00:07:55.129 --> 00:07:57.610 force sensitivity that really catches Qui -Gon 00:07:57.610 --> 00:08:00.509 Jinn's eye. Qui -Gon becomes convinced Anakin 00:08:00.509 --> 00:08:03.410 is the legendary Chosen One, destined to bring 00:08:03.410 --> 00:08:05.750 balance to the Force. And that conviction comes 00:08:05.750 --> 00:08:09.709 from Anakin's unusual conception. No father. 00:08:09.949 --> 00:08:12.550 Right. Lucas was definitely aiming for that mythological 00:08:12.550 --> 00:08:15.269 resonance here. Placing Anakin in that tradition 00:08:15.269 --> 00:08:17.870 of heroes with unusual origins, though he did 00:08:17.870 --> 00:08:20.470 clarify it wasn't meant as a direct parallel 00:08:20.470 --> 00:08:24.290 to, say, Jesus or anything. But what's crucial 00:08:24.290 --> 00:08:26.970 is the Jedi Council's reaction right away. They 00:08:26.970 --> 00:08:29.670 refuse to train him initially. Why? Because of 00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:31.910 the fear they sense in him. That fear of loss, 00:08:32.009 --> 00:08:34.470 his attachment to his mother, his vulnerability 00:08:34.470 --> 00:08:37.549 to the dark side. That's the reason they bar 00:08:37.549 --> 00:08:40.029 him. And that refusal becomes this tragic sea, 00:08:40.129 --> 00:08:42.389 doesn't it? The very thing they feared is maybe 00:08:42.389 --> 00:08:44.610 amplified by their rejection. Exactly. If they 00:08:44.610 --> 00:08:46.690 hadn't been so afraid of his fear, maybe things 00:08:46.690 --> 00:08:48.669 turn out differently. Who knows? Okay, fast forward 00:08:48.669 --> 00:08:52.330 10 years. Attack of the Clones. Now we see the 00:08:52.330 --> 00:08:56.429 arrogant, conflicted knight emerging. Definitely. 00:08:56.970 --> 00:09:00.029 Anakin feels Obi -Wan is holding him back, hindering 00:09:00.029 --> 00:09:02.370 his immense power, and he's breaking the Jedi 00:09:02.370 --> 00:09:06.350 code big time by starting this forbidden, really 00:09:06.350 --> 00:09:08.610 passionate romance with Padme. And the first 00:09:08.610 --> 00:09:11.899 real moral crack. appears when his mother is 00:09:11.899 --> 00:09:14.799 taken. Yeah. Shmi gets kidnapped by Tusken Raiders. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.720 Yeah. Anakin finds her, but only moments before 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:20.500 she dies in his arms. The scale of his reaction. 00:09:20.740 --> 00:09:23.440 Yeah. It's horrific. He just snaps. Completely. 00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:27.059 Grief, unimaginable rage just overwhelms him. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.700 And he doesn't just kill the kidnappers. He massacres 00:09:29.700 --> 00:09:32.080 the entire tribe. The men, the women, the children. 00:09:32.259 --> 00:09:34.279 Yes. Everything. It's the first time the source 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:37.120 material really shows him crossing that definitive 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.059 line into just indiscriminate. dark side violence. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.139 It's born from trauma, sure, but the Jedi offer 00:09:44.139 --> 00:09:48.200 him no real way to process it. And Padme. She's 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:50.559 disturbed when he confesses, but she still comforts 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:53.120 him? Doesn't condemn him? Which maybe enables 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:56.559 it further. Hard to say. But the film ends with 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:59.120 them getting married in secret, cementing that 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:01.840 forbidden attachment the Jedi warned about. And 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:04.360 this is right after Anakin gets his robotic arm 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:06.799 from the duel with Count Dooku. So the stage 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:08.700 is set for the final betrayal and revenge of 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:10.840 the Sith. The narrative really hinges on his 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:13.019 desperation to save Padme, doesn't it? Absolutely. 00:10:13.139 --> 00:10:15.139 His nightmares about her dying in childbirth 00:10:15.139 --> 00:10:17.539 become the driving emotional force behind his 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:20.240 turn. And it's documented, right, that Luke has 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.659 actually changed the script during reshoots in 00:10:22.659 --> 00:10:25.879 2004. Yeah, he specifically emphasized that desperation 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:28.779 to save her as the primary reason. Even maybe 00:10:28.779 --> 00:10:30.720 more than his political belief that the Jedi 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.039 were plotting against Palpatine. His fear of 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:35.399 loss, of abandonment. That's the fatal flaw of 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:37.179 Palpatine. Palpatine exploits. The point of no 00:10:37.179 --> 00:10:41.059 return is so dramatic, so quick. Mace Windu goes 00:10:41.059 --> 00:10:43.399 to confront Palpatine. And Anakin makes his choice. 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.659 He betrays Mace Windu, cuts off his hand, allows 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:49.460 Sidious Palpatine to just blast him with force 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:52.480 lightning, kill him. And that single act. That's 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.799 it. He pledges himself to the Dark Lord, receives 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:58.159 the title Darth Vader. His first orders as Vader 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.919 are just genocidal. Slaughtering the Jedi at 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.799 the temple, including the younglings. That scene 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:06.860 is still shocking. Truly horrific. And then he 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:08.960 goes straight to Mustafar to assassinate the 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:11.580 Separatist Council, wipe the slate clean for 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:13.980 Palpatine's new empire. He's fully the instrument 00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:16.299 now. And that transformation culminates in that 00:11:16.299 --> 00:11:19.679 tragic duel. Obi -Wan on Mustafar. The Lava Planet. 00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:23.159 The fight leaves Vader horribly mutilated. Burned 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:25.879 alive on the lava banks, Sidious scoops up what's 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.019 left, takes him back to Coruscant. For the final 00:11:28.019 --> 00:11:30.299 step, the installation of the Black Life Support 00:11:30.299 --> 00:11:33.340 Armor. That's the moment the man, Anakin, effectively 00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.340 dies and the machine Vader is born. But there's 00:11:36.340 --> 00:11:40.620 one final, cruel, psychological twist. Palpatine's 00:11:40.620 --> 00:11:43.799 lie. Right. Vader wakes up in suit, asks about 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:48.080 Padme, asks if she's safe. Ansidious lies, bald 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:51.139 -faced lie, claims that Vader, in his rage when 00:11:51.139 --> 00:11:53.600 he force -choked her earlier, killed her. Oh, 00:11:53.700 --> 00:11:56.000 that's brutal. The source material notes Vader 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:58.360 just screams in anguish. It's not just loss, 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:01.779 it's this instant, overwhelming guilt that Palpatine 00:12:01.779 --> 00:12:04.279 expertly heaps onto him, makes him completely 00:12:04.279 --> 00:12:07.259 dependent on his new master, trapped by his own 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:10.039 perceived actions. So the original trilogy kicks 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.639 off, and Vader is immediately presented as this 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:15.600 established Imperial commander, the terrifying 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:18.919 face of the Empire. In the first film, Star Wars, 00:12:19.100 --> 00:12:22.580 1977, he's just relentlessly pursuing those stolen 00:12:22.580 --> 00:12:25.370 Death Star plans. Yeah, he's the enforcer. That 00:12:25.370 --> 00:12:28.029 film also gives us the lightsaber duel with Obi 00:12:28.029 --> 00:12:30.509 -Wan Kenobi as Old Master. Maybe not as flashy 00:12:30.509 --> 00:12:32.590 as the prequel fights, but hugely important. 00:12:32.870 --> 00:12:35.009 Absolute pivotal. Vader strikes down his mentor. 00:12:35.250 --> 00:12:37.169 Seems like he's extinguishing the last spark 00:12:37.169 --> 00:12:39.110 of the Jedi Order's hope right there. Then he 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:41.929 chases Luke down in the Battle of Yavin. Nearly 00:12:41.929 --> 00:12:44.330 gets him in the trench run. Until Han Solo swoops 00:12:44.330 --> 00:12:46.809 in, sends Vader's TIE fighter spinning off into 00:12:46.809 --> 00:12:49.549 space, allows Luke to make the shot, destroy 00:12:49.549 --> 00:12:52.909 the Death Star. But Vader survives. Which leads 00:12:52.909 --> 00:12:56.139 us to The Empire Strikes Back. And this is where 00:12:56.139 --> 00:12:58.799 Vader gets really complex. Definitely. He goes 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:00.919 from just being a commander to this obsessed 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:03.700 hunter, singularly focused on Luke Skywalker. 00:13:04.100 --> 00:13:05.720 And he's the one who convinces the Emperor, right, 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:07.419 that Luke shouldn't just be killed, he could 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:10.259 be turned, become an ally. Yeah, a powerful asset 00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:12.919 for the dark side. So Vader hires bounty hunters, 00:13:13.220 --> 00:13:16.279 leans on Lando Calrissian to set that trap in 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:19.200 Cloud City. Tortures Han Solo as bait. He's using 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:23.059 fear, manipulation, cruelty, anything to draw 00:13:23.059 --> 00:13:26.480 Luke out. And then... They? The moment. The cinematic 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.980 inflection point. After he overpowers Luke, cuts 00:13:28.980 --> 00:13:31.519 off his hand, the revelation drops. No, I am 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:34.019 your father. Just four words that completely 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:36.620 change everything. Turns a space opera into this 00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:39.240 profound, almost Greek tragedy. And he doesn't 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:41.940 just say it. He falls up telepathically, telling 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:44.279 this horrified, wounded Luke that joining the 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:46.779 dark side is his destiny. The whole dynamic just 00:13:46.779 --> 00:13:49.000 flips instantly. It's not just good versus evil 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:51.440 anymore. It's about family, loyalty, heritage, 00:13:51.879 --> 00:13:54.899 destiny. So by return of the Jedi, Luke knows 00:13:54.899 --> 00:13:57.559 the truth and he takes this incredibly brave 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:01.179 defining risk. He surrenders to Vader, believing 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:03.919 there's still good, still Anakin Skywalker buried 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:06.279 somewhere inside that armor. Which leads to the 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.940 final confrontation on the second Death Star. 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:13.220 Palpatine watching, goading them on. Luke, enraged 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:15.940 when Palpatine threatens Leia, finally overpowers 00:14:15.940 --> 00:14:19.000 Vader, cuts off his hand. A clear mirror of his 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:21.820 own injury on Bespin and Vader's loss to Dooku. 00:14:22.139 --> 00:14:24.779 But then Luke stops. He refuses the Emperor's 00:14:24.779 --> 00:14:27.639 command to kill his father. Throws away his lightsaber. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.100 Declares, I am a Jedi, like my father before 00:14:30.100 --> 00:14:34.059 him. That refusal. That's the catalyst, isn't 00:14:34.059 --> 00:14:36.320 it? That's the moment of redemption. When Palpatine 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.059 starts torturing Luke with forced lightning, 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:40.519 Vader finally makes his choice. He turns on his 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:42.679 master. Picks Palpatine up. And throws him down 00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:44.580 the reactor shaft. To his own mutual distinction, 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:47.120 really. Fulfilling the prophecy in the end. And 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:51.779 that final scene. Oh man, so emotional. At Vader's 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:54.460 request, Luke takes off the mask. Luke looks 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:56.779 on the face of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker 00:14:56.779 --> 00:14:59.679 for the first and last time. Anakin tells Luke 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:02.940 he saved him. Then he dies peacefully. Luke honors 00:15:02.940 --> 00:15:06.139 him, burns Vader's body on a traditional Jedi 00:15:06.139 --> 00:15:09.379 funeral pyre on Endor, and the sources confirm 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:12.360 Anakin's spirit appears later, alongside Obi 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:14.899 -Wan and Yoda. showing his return to the light. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.460 And this legacy, it just echoes powerfully into 00:15:17.460 --> 00:15:20.159 the sequel trilogy, too. Absolutely. In The Force 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.279 Awakens, Vader's burn helmet is basically this 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:26.519 dark religious relic. Kylo Ren Ben Solo, his 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:29.500 grandson, talks to it, vows to finish what Vader 00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:32.519 started, destroy the Jedi. And even in The Rise 00:15:32.519 --> 00:15:35.899 of Skywalker, Anakin's voice is there, among 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:38.419 the past Jedi encouraging Rey in her final fight. 00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:40.950 Telling her to bring balance back to the force. 00:15:41.110 --> 00:15:43.590 Yeah. His sacrifice resonates across generations. 00:15:43.870 --> 00:15:46.590 Okay. Bringing Vader to life in the original 00:15:46.590 --> 00:15:48.710 trilogy. It wasn't just one person. It took this 00:15:48.710 --> 00:15:50.990 really complex, sometimes kind of tense collaboration 00:15:50.990 --> 00:15:53.250 between four different men to create the full 00:15:53.250 --> 00:15:54.870 presence. Right. First, you have the physical 00:15:54.870 --> 00:15:58.809 body. David Prowse. Huge guy. Six foot six bodybuilder. 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:00.950 He was inside the suit for all three original 00:16:00.950 --> 00:16:02.649 films. And apparently he was offered Chewbacca 00:16:02.649 --> 00:16:04.929 first, but he chose Vader. Thought the villain 00:16:04.929 --> 00:16:06.629 was always more memorable. Probably a good call 00:16:06.629 --> 00:16:09.200 for him, legacy wise. But for the really intense 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:12.440 lightsaber fights, Lucas hired someone else, 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.620 a former Olympic fencer, Bob Anderson. Olympic 00:16:15.620 --> 00:16:18.019 fencer, okay. Yeah, he handled the choreography 00:16:18.019 --> 00:16:20.779 and actually doubled Prowse for the action sequences 00:16:20.779 --> 00:16:23.500 in Empire and Jedi. So Prowse was the presence, 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:26.419 Anderson was the duelist. Then came the voice. 00:16:26.539 --> 00:16:29.539 That was the big issue, right? Prowse was British. 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:32.980 But his accent. Yeah, he had a West Country English 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.440 accent. Think Bristol or Somerset. George Lucas 00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:40.779 felt it was just completely wrong for this imposing 00:16:40.779 --> 00:16:44.039 cosmic Sith Lord. So who did they consider? Lucas 00:16:44.039 --> 00:16:45.899 initially thought about Orson Welles, apparently, 00:16:46.059 --> 00:16:48.779 but ultimately chose James Earl Jones. And the 00:16:48.779 --> 00:16:51.000 rest is history. That voice is Vader. It is. 00:16:51.019 --> 00:16:53.960 But here's the wild part. Jones initially chose 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.759 to be uncredited for the first two films. Uncredited? 00:16:56.779 --> 00:17:00.019 Why? He felt his role was too small. Just a voiceover 00:17:00.019 --> 00:17:01.940 for a character someone else played physically. 00:17:02.139 --> 00:17:04.859 He didn't think it warranted screen credit. It 00:17:04.859 --> 00:17:06.680 wasn't until Return of the Jedi that he finally 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:09.079 accepted it. Wow. So the voice that defines the 00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:11.380 character was basically a secret contributor 00:17:11.380 --> 00:17:14.500 for years. Pretty much. Now let's talk about 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:17.380 the other big secret. The mother of all movie 00:17:17.380 --> 00:17:20.849 twists. The I am your father reveal in Empire. 00:17:21.130 --> 00:17:23.990 The security around this was intense. Like spy 00:17:23.990 --> 00:17:27.670 thriller level. Absolutely. David Prowse. Well, 00:17:27.809 --> 00:17:30.210 he had a reputation for being a bit loose -lipped, 00:17:30.309 --> 00:17:33.170 prone to leaking info to the press. Uh -oh. Not 00:17:33.170 --> 00:17:35.150 good when you have the biggest twist in cinema 00:17:35.150 --> 00:17:38.190 history on your hands. Exactly. So the filmmakers 00:17:38.190 --> 00:17:40.049 couldn't risk it getting out. What did they do? 00:17:40.170 --> 00:17:42.910 They gave Prowse completely fake dialogue to 00:17:42.910 --> 00:17:45.650 read during filming. Fake dialogue. For that 00:17:45.650 --> 00:17:47.849 scene. For the critical confrontation on Bespin. 00:17:48.009 --> 00:17:50.869 On set, Prowse actually delivered the line, Obi 00:17:50.869 --> 00:17:54.250 -Wan killed your father. No way. Way. Only a 00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:56.890 handful of people knew the real line. The director, 00:17:57.049 --> 00:17:59.609 Irvin Kershner, the producers, and Mark Hamill. 00:17:59.710 --> 00:18:02.049 And Hamill only found out moments before they 00:18:02.049 --> 00:18:04.490 shot the scene. Oh my God. Imagine finding that 00:18:04.490 --> 00:18:06.950 out right before you have to react to it. Intense. 00:18:07.130 --> 00:18:09.789 Jones dubbed in the actual line later in post 00:18:09.789 --> 00:18:12.319 -production. Prowse himself didn't know the truth 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:14.079 until he saw the finished movie in the theater. 00:18:14.299 --> 00:18:16.940 That is absolutely insane. Performing the climax 00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:19.799 of the film with no idea of the real stakes. 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:23.279 And the secrecy continued for the unmasking scene 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:26.000 in Return of the Jedi. They needed a different 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.900 actor for the face reveal, right? The dying Anakin. 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:33.160 Someone with more gravitas, perhaps, whose face 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:35.420 wasn't known as Vader. So they cast Sebastian 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:38.380 Shaw. Correct. And Shaw's presence on set was... 00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:41.559 kept almost totally under wraps. He had strict 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:44.640 contractual obligations, do not discuss anything 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.259 about the film, especially the unmasking, not 00:18:47.259 --> 00:18:49.559 even with his own family. All to preserve that 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:52.319 emotional punch for the audience. Exactly. We 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:54.299 should probably note, though, while Shaw played 00:18:54.299 --> 00:18:57.069 the unmasked Anakin originally, His face in the 00:18:57.069 --> 00:18:59.049 forced ghost scene at the very end was later 00:18:59.049 --> 00:19:01.150 replaced. Right, by Hayden Christensen in the 00:19:01.150 --> 00:19:04.490 2004 DVD special edition to create continuity 00:19:04.490 --> 00:19:07.170 with the prequels. A controversial change for 00:19:07.170 --> 00:19:09.670 some fans. Very controversial. Speaking of Christensen, 00:19:09.890 --> 00:19:12.450 he really is the definitive Anakin for the modern 00:19:12.450 --> 00:19:14.329 era, isn't he? Yeah, he came back not just for 00:19:14.329 --> 00:19:16.789 Revenge of the Sith, but reprised the role much 00:19:16.789 --> 00:19:19.569 later in the Disney Plus series. Obi -Wan Kenobi 00:19:19.569 --> 00:19:22.549 and Ahsoka. And even won a Saturn award for Ahsoka, 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:24.819 which is pretty cool. The Ahsoka series used 00:19:24.819 --> 00:19:27.980 flashbacks to the Clone Wars, right? How do they 00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:30.420 manage that with Christensen being older? That's 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:33.180 where modern film tech comes in. Industrial light 00:19:33.180 --> 00:19:35.980 and magic use sophisticated de -aging technology, 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:39.079 made the 42 -year -old Christensen look just 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:41.700 like he did back in the prequel era. Pretty seamless, 00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:43.779 actually. Okay, but here's where it gets really 00:19:43.779 --> 00:19:46.339 interesting. Future of IP level interesting. 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:50.220 The voice. James Earl Jones retired from voicing 00:19:50.220 --> 00:19:53.460 Vader in September 2022. A monumental retirement, 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.519 the end of an era. But not the end of the voice. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.420 What happened next is, well, revolutionary. His 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:03.079 voice is now digitally recreated by a company 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:05.359 called Respeecher, based in Ukraine. So it's 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:08.200 AI, an AI James Earl Jones. Essentially, yes. 00:20:08.650 --> 00:20:10.890 And Jens didn't just retire. He signed over the 00:20:10.890 --> 00:20:13.349 rights to his vocal likeness for use in future 00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:15.450 Star Wars productions. Wait, he signed over the 00:20:15.450 --> 00:20:17.890 rights to his voice completely? That's huge. 00:20:18.009 --> 00:20:19.829 That's not just a special effect. It's a massive 00:20:19.829 --> 00:20:22.329 legal and technological precedent. It really 00:20:22.329 --> 00:20:25.029 is. For modern intellectual property, for generative 00:20:25.029 --> 00:20:28.430 AI, the icon literally lives on through an AI 00:20:28.430 --> 00:20:30.829 copy of his human voice. Has this tech been used 00:20:30.829 --> 00:20:33.509 already? Oh, yeah. It was first deployed in the 00:20:33.509 --> 00:20:35.609 Obi -Wan Kenobi series. That's how Vader's voice 00:20:35.609 --> 00:20:37.869 sounded consistent, even though... Jones had 00:20:37.869 --> 00:20:40.529 retired. And it's been used since then in other 00:20:40.529 --> 00:20:44.509 media, like there was a Darth Vader NPC in the 00:20:44.509 --> 00:20:47.710 game Fortnite that used it. Wow. So the legacy 00:20:47.710 --> 00:20:49.809 is now literally being preserved by artificial 00:20:49.809 --> 00:20:51.890 intelligence. That's something else. Right. We 00:20:51.890 --> 00:20:53.750 really can't get the full picture of Anakin's 00:20:53.750 --> 00:20:56.670 life, especially his path to the dark side, without 00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:58.589 talking about his relationship with his apprentice, 00:20:58.829 --> 00:21:01.970 Ahsoka Tano. introduced in the Clone Wars animated 00:21:01.970 --> 00:21:04.750 series. Right. Yoda assigned Ahsoka to Anakin, 00:21:04.970 --> 00:21:07.529 and Anakin was reluctant at first, didn't want 00:21:07.529 --> 00:21:09.869 a Padawan. But they clicked, didn't they? Immediately. 00:21:09.970 --> 00:21:12.309 It became very familial. Anakin nicknamed her 00:21:12.309 --> 00:21:14.490 Snips because she was sassy. She called him Sky 00:21:14.490 --> 00:21:17.250 Guy. They really bonded over being reckless and 00:21:17.250 --> 00:21:20.309 eager. And having her around arguably helped 00:21:20.309 --> 00:21:22.430 Anakin mature a bit from just being impulsive 00:21:22.430 --> 00:21:24.529 to having responsibility for someone else. But 00:21:24.529 --> 00:21:26.470 that affection. Yeah. It was also part of his 00:21:26.470 --> 00:21:28.900 downfall, wasn't it? His attachment. Definitely. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.140 His fierce, almost fatherly protectiveness of 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:35.380 Ahsoka often made him bend or break the Jedi 00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:37.339 code, like he was willing to torture prisoners 00:21:37.339 --> 00:21:39.819 to find her if she went missing. That attachment 00:21:39.819 --> 00:21:42.559 was always his weakness. And the animated series 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:46.119 really leaned into foreshadowing his fate. Masterfully 00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:48.680 done. It included visions of his future as Vader. 00:21:49.180 --> 00:21:51.619 But the biggest push towards the dark side in 00:21:51.619 --> 00:21:54.000 that storyline was how the Jedi Council treated 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:56.299 Ahsoka. And that he was wrongly accused of bombing 00:21:56.299 --> 00:21:59.380 the Jedi Temple. Exactly. Their unjust handling 00:21:59.380 --> 00:22:02.740 of that whole situation created this deep disillusionment 00:22:02.740 --> 00:22:04.980 in Anakin. It proved to him that the Council 00:22:04.980 --> 00:22:07.539 was flawed, hypocritical, pushed him further 00:22:07.539 --> 00:22:09.839 away. And their dynamic continues even after 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.099 his fall, right? Yeah. In the later Rebels animated 00:22:13.099 --> 00:22:16.259 series, which is set about 14 years after Revenge 00:22:16.259 --> 00:22:18.839 of the Sith, Vader confronts Ahsoka. She's a 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:20.740 leader in the rebellion by then. That must have 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:23.220 been devastating for her. It was. She's overwhelmed 00:22:23.220 --> 00:22:25.859 when she finally realizes her old master is trapped 00:22:25.859 --> 00:22:28.579 under that layer of hate, as she puts it. She 00:22:28.579 --> 00:22:31.099 recognizes his voice, fights him, tries to reach 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:33.700 the man inside. It's heartbreaking. And this 00:22:33.700 --> 00:22:36.240 complex relationship got revisited again recently 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:39.599 in the live action Ahsoka series from 2023. Right. 00:22:39.950 --> 00:22:42.269 Anakin appears to her, kind of in spirit form, 00:22:42.410 --> 00:22:44.609 within this mystical place called the World Between 00:22:44.609 --> 00:22:47.309 Worlds. He guides her through visions of their 00:22:47.309 --> 00:22:50.029 past, his dark choices, trying to teach her one 00:22:50.029 --> 00:22:54.549 last lesson. About life and death. Legacy. Okay, 00:22:54.609 --> 00:22:57.329 shifting back to live action. The Obi -Wan Kenobi 00:22:57.329 --> 00:23:00.650 series on Disney Plus Mill. Set a decade after 00:23:00.650 --> 00:23:03.309 Mustafar. The core there is Obi -Wan's trauma, 00:23:03.490 --> 00:23:05.630 right? Yeah, Obi -Wan believed Vader was dead. 00:23:05.789 --> 00:23:08.069 A horrible tragedy, but one he'd sort of come 00:23:08.069 --> 00:23:10.410 to terms with. It takes the Imperial Inquisitor, 00:23:10.470 --> 00:23:13.349 Reva Savander, revealing the truth. Anakin Skywalker 00:23:13.349 --> 00:23:16.150 is alive. For Obi -Wan to have to confront that 00:23:16.150 --> 00:23:17.930 horror all over again. And this series gives 00:23:17.930 --> 00:23:19.730 us another duel between them. A second round. 00:23:19.809 --> 00:23:22.109 A really dramatic one. Vader is just ruthlessly 00:23:22.109 --> 00:23:24.269 powerful at this point. He initially overpowers 00:23:24.269 --> 00:23:27.089 Obi -Wan quite easily. Toys with him. But Obi 00:23:27.089 --> 00:23:29.680 -Wan rallies. In their final confrontation, yeah. 00:23:29.859 --> 00:23:32.279 Obi -Wan recovers his connection to the Force, 00:23:32.420 --> 00:23:34.539 his strength. He actually wounds Vader multiple 00:23:34.539 --> 00:23:38.380 times and even slashes open the helmet. Partially 00:23:38.380 --> 00:23:41.420 reveals Anakin's scarred face underneath. Before 00:23:41.420 --> 00:23:44.740 leaving him there, defeated and wheezing, unable 00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:47.400 to deliver a killing blow again. We also get 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:50.170 a glimpse of Vader's... Well, his daily life 00:23:50.170 --> 00:23:53.029 as a Sith Lord in Rogue One, his base of operations. 00:23:53.390 --> 00:23:55.569 Yeah, he summons Orson Krennic, the weapons developer, 00:23:55.690 --> 00:23:57.609 to his fortress. And where is this fortress built? 00:23:58.410 --> 00:24:00.789 Directly over the lava banks of Mystafar, where 00:24:00.789 --> 00:24:02.950 he was defeated. Talk about dwelling on the past. 00:24:03.029 --> 00:24:06.049 Super gothic. Right. He confronts Krennic there 00:24:06.049 --> 00:24:08.089 about the Death Star project. And, of course, 00:24:08.150 --> 00:24:09.890 Rogue One gives us that incredible, terrifying 00:24:09.890 --> 00:24:12.829 action sequence at the very end. Oh, yeah. The 00:24:12.829 --> 00:24:15.970 hallway scene. Vader boards the rebel ship, ignites 00:24:15.970 --> 00:24:18.250 the lightsaber, and just carves through those 00:24:18.250 --> 00:24:20.200 rebels. soldiers trying to get the plans away. 00:24:20.299 --> 00:24:23.700 It's brutal. It totally cemented his status as 00:24:23.700 --> 00:24:26.480 this unstoppable force right before the original 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.339 1977 film begins. Okay, lastly in this section, 00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:31.339 we had to touch on the comics. The Marvel comics 00:24:31.339 --> 00:24:32.880 have added a lot of lore, some of it kind of 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:36.380 contentious, right? Definitely. The 2015 series 00:24:36.380 --> 00:24:38.920 picks up right after the first Death Star is 00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:41.180 destroyed, shows Vader finding out about Luke. 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:44.140 The 2020 continuation has him seeking revenge, 00:24:44.299 --> 00:24:47.539 visiting Padme's tomb on Naboo, encountering 00:24:47.539 --> 00:24:50.599 her. handmaidens, lots of gap filling. But the 00:24:50.599 --> 00:24:52.500 most controversial bit came from the prequel 00:24:52.500 --> 00:24:54.960 era series Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, 00:24:55.099 --> 00:24:57.690 the one about Anakin's conception. Ah, yes. That 00:24:57.690 --> 00:25:00.529 comic strongly implies. Yeah. Well, it shows 00:25:00.529 --> 00:25:02.789 a vision where it looks like Palpatine is using 00:25:02.789 --> 00:25:04.769 the Force to manipulate the midichlorians in 00:25:04.769 --> 00:25:07.750 Shmi Skywalker's womb, basically implying Palpatine 00:25:07.750 --> 00:25:10.130 created Anakin. Fulfilling that old fan theory 00:25:10.130 --> 00:25:12.950 based on Palpatine's opera house story in Revenge 00:25:12.950 --> 00:25:15.430 of the Sith. So the comic basically said Palpatine 00:25:15.430 --> 00:25:17.650 was Anakin's father. It visually suggested it 00:25:17.650 --> 00:25:19.849 very strongly, which naturally created a huge 00:25:19.849 --> 00:25:22.069 debate among fans. Did this contradict the whole 00:25:22.069 --> 00:25:24.210 Chosen One prophecy, the Immaculate Conception 00:25:24.210 --> 00:25:26.450 idea? So Lucasfilm had to step in. Pretty quickly, 00:25:26.549 --> 00:25:28.609 yeah. A Lucasfilm story group member clarified 00:25:28.609 --> 00:25:31.170 things, stating that this whole revelation, this 00:25:31.170 --> 00:25:34.269 vision, it was all in Anakin's head. All in his 00:25:34.269 --> 00:25:38.490 head. Meaning, not objectively true. Exactly. 00:25:38.490 --> 00:25:40.910 And this is where they introduced a really important 00:25:40.910 --> 00:25:43.490 concept for understanding modern Star Wars canon. 00:25:43.910 --> 00:25:47.200 The dark side is not a reliable narrator. Okay, 00:25:47.220 --> 00:25:49.019 unpack that. What does that mean for us, the 00:25:49.019 --> 00:25:51.160 audience? It means that within the official canon, 00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:54.900 things a character sees, experiences, or is told 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.220 while under the influence of the dark side visions, 00:25:57.559 --> 00:26:01.299 whispers, claims made by Sith Lords, they might 00:26:01.299 --> 00:26:04.500 not reflect objective reality. Palpatine might 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:06.480 have wanted Anakin to believe he created him, 00:26:06.579 --> 00:26:08.559 maybe to further manipulate his guilt and loyalty. 00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:12.440 But the official stance is that vision wasn't 00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:15.720 literal truth. It was a dark side illusion or 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:18.299 interpretation in Anakin's mind. So Palpatine 00:26:18.299 --> 00:26:20.420 probably didn't create Anakin. The dark side 00:26:20.420 --> 00:26:22.700 just made Anakin think he did or fear he did. 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:25.400 Yeah. It's a pretty sophisticated, almost meta 00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:28.579 layer to add to the lore. Makes you question 00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:30.240 everything you see through a darksider's eyes. 00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:32.759 Precisely. It adds ambiguity, but it also protects 00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:34.519 the core mythology in a way. All right, let's 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:37.039 shift gears now to the real world. Vader isn't 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:38.839 just a character in a story. He's become this 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:41.700 massive cultural phenomenon, subject to serious 00:26:41.700 --> 00:26:44.579 analysis even. Oh, absolutely. For instance, 00:26:44.819 --> 00:26:47.579 French psychiatrist Eric Bouilly and his colleagues 00:26:47.579 --> 00:26:50.680 actually published work using Vader as a case 00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:54.099 study. A medical case study. For what? For explaining 00:26:54.099 --> 00:26:56.720 the complexities of borderline personality disorder, 00:26:56.980 --> 00:26:59.500 BPD, to medical students. They found him a really 00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:02.619 useful example. That's fascinating. What specific 00:27:02.619 --> 00:27:05.200 traits in Anakin's character did they point to 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:09.019 that align with BPD criteria? They cited quite 00:27:09.019 --> 00:27:11.720 a few. His overwhelming fear of abandonment, 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:14.180 especially regarding his mother Shmi and later 00:27:14.180 --> 00:27:17.420 Padme, that's central. Okay. His extreme impulsivity 00:27:17.420 --> 00:27:20.339 and difficulty controlling his anger. Think the 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:23.500 Tuscan Raider massacre, his attack on Padme betraying 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:26.309 Mace Windu. Right. It's a rage with huge consequences. 00:27:26.329 --> 00:27:29.329 And also that rapid switching between idealizing 00:27:29.329 --> 00:27:31.809 people like Obi -Wan or Padme and then suddenly 00:27:31.809 --> 00:27:33.809 seeing them as enemies, traitors, that black 00:27:33.809 --> 00:27:36.730 and white thinking, the derealization, plus potential 00:27:36.730 --> 00:27:40.130 dissociative episodes. But diagnosing a fictional 00:27:40.130 --> 00:27:42.789 character. You have to be careful, right? Absolutely. 00:27:42.970 --> 00:27:45.369 And there was a counterpoint from a Brazilian 00:27:45.369 --> 00:27:49.190 neurologist, Felipe Filardi de Rocha. He argued 00:27:49.190 --> 00:27:51.410 that you really have to consider Anakin's environment 00:27:51.410 --> 00:27:53.869 and culture before slapping a formal diagnosis 00:27:53.869 --> 00:27:56.990 on him. Meaning? Meaning he was a slave, taken 00:27:56.990 --> 00:27:59.829 from his mother, raised in a Jedi order that 00:27:59.829 --> 00:28:03.590 actively suppressed emotion and attachment. Then 00:28:03.590 --> 00:28:06.009 intensely manipulated by a master psychopath, 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:09.529 Palpatine. His actions could be seen as complex 00:28:09.529 --> 00:28:12.170 trauma responses amplified by the dark side, 00:28:12.269 --> 00:28:14.569 not necessarily solely down to an inherent personality 00:28:14.569 --> 00:28:18.450 disorder. Context matters hugely. That's a really 00:28:18.450 --> 00:28:20.289 important distinction. Trauma versus disorder. 00:28:20.490 --> 00:28:22.690 But regardless of the psychological label, his 00:28:22.690 --> 00:28:25.289 status as an icon is undeniable. The American 00:28:25.289 --> 00:28:27.900 Film Institute ranked him what? Third greatest 00:28:27.900 --> 00:28:30.240 movie villain ever? Third greatest, right behind 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:32.559 Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates. That's incredibly 00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:35.039 elite company, crossing genres. Wow. And its 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:37.160 influence pops up in the weirdest places. Oh, 00:28:37.180 --> 00:28:39.559 yeah. Like biology, naming animals after him. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:42.420 Yep. Several real -world species have been named 00:28:42.420 --> 00:28:44.380 after Vader, usually because something about 00:28:44.380 --> 00:28:46.420 their appearance, often the head shape, reminded 00:28:46.420 --> 00:28:48.500 the scientists of his helmet. Like, give me an 00:28:48.500 --> 00:28:50.839 example. There's a slime -mold beetle called 00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:54.400 Agathidium vadarii, a species of louse, Racinus 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:56.579 vadarii. A regional louse, okay. But maybe the 00:28:56.579 --> 00:29:01.079 best recent one is a giant sea isopod. It's this 00:29:01.079 --> 00:29:04.440 big deep sea crustacean. And the researchers 00:29:04.440 --> 00:29:06.980 explicitly said its head shape just screamed 00:29:06.980 --> 00:29:09.859 Darth Vader's helmet to them. That's amazing. 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:12.680 When a deep sea isopod gets named after you, 00:29:12.740 --> 00:29:15.140 you know you've made it culturally. That's true 00:29:15.140 --> 00:29:17.920 saturation. And of course, Vader is just irresistible 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:19.940 for political commentary and parody. Everyone 00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:22.599 knows space balls, dark helmet. I see your shorts 00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:25.440 is as big as mine. Classic. But he's been used 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.880 seriously, usually as a negative comparison in 00:29:27.880 --> 00:29:30.480 politics, for decades. The sources mention Ronald 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:33.619 Reagan. Yeah, a German news magazine put Vader's 00:29:33.619 --> 00:29:36.380 helmet on Reagan's image in response to his strategic 00:29:36.380 --> 00:29:39.079 defense initiative, which critics called Star 00:29:39.079 --> 00:29:42.480 Wars. Al Gore famously called the cable mogul 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:44.980 John C. Malone the Darth Vader of cable. And 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:47.819 Lee Atwater, the political strategist. Known 00:29:47.819 --> 00:29:50.220 by opponents as the Darth Vader of the Republican 00:29:50.220 --> 00:29:52.890 Party. It became shorthand for a kind of ruthless 00:29:52.890 --> 00:29:55.789 political operator. But maybe the most insightful 00:29:55.789 --> 00:29:58.869 comment came from George Lucas himself when people 00:29:58.869 --> 00:30:01.329 started comparing Vice President Dick Cheney 00:30:01.329 --> 00:30:04.319 to Vader. Right. Lucas actually weighed in. He 00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:06.640 clarified his view, saying Cheney was actually 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:09.519 much closer in character to Emperor Palpatine, 00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:11.880 the manipulative master behind the scenes. So 00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:13.960 who did Lucas think was a better fit for Vader? 00:30:14.140 --> 00:30:16.700 He suggested President George W. Bush might be 00:30:16.700 --> 00:30:18.759 a better stand in for Vader, the more tragic 00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:21.720 figure, perhaps manipulated or led down a certain 00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:24.319 path. Interesting take from the creator. And 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:26.559 the political stuff gets even wilder in Ukraine. 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:29.140 Oh, yeah. Due to decommunization laws there, 00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:31.980 a statue of Vladimir Lenin in the city of Odessa 00:30:31.980 --> 00:30:35.039 was actually legally converted into a statue 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:37.319 of Darth Vader, complete with helmet. You kidding? 00:30:37.579 --> 00:30:39.920 Lenin becomes Vader. It happened. What's more, 00:30:40.099 --> 00:30:42.319 this political group called the Internet Party 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:45.339 of Ukraine has repeatedly had citizens legally 00:30:45.339 --> 00:30:48.220 change their name to Darth Vader to run in elections. 00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.839 Multiple Darth Vader's running for office. Yep. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:54.140 He's become this weird active symbol in their 00:30:54.140 --> 00:30:56.880 modern political landscape. Surreal. Okay, one 00:30:56.880 --> 00:30:59.819 last bizarre connection. Real world military 00:30:59.819 --> 00:31:03.400 gear. This one's strange. The Iraqi paramilitary 00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:06.359 group, the Fedayeen Saddam, were apparently issued 00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:09.319 fiberglass helmets starting in 1995 that were 00:31:09.319 --> 00:31:11.779 styled exactly like Vader's helmet. Why on earth? 00:31:12.059 --> 00:31:14.019 The story goes it was at the specific request 00:31:14.019 --> 00:31:16.559 of their commander, Uday Hussein, Saddam Hussein's 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.519 son, who was reportedly a huge Star Wars fan. 00:31:19.740 --> 00:31:22.460 Uday Hussein likes Star Wars, so his troops got 00:31:22.460 --> 00:31:24.779 Vader helmets. Apparently so. Pieces of this 00:31:24.779 --> 00:31:26.779 gear were later found and brought back by coalition 00:31:26.779 --> 00:31:30.359 forces after the 2003 invasion. A very weird 00:31:30.359 --> 00:31:33.160 intersection of pop culture and real world conflict. 00:31:33.500 --> 00:31:36.059 Wow. What an incredible journey we've just taken 00:31:36.059 --> 00:31:39.200 from, you know, the practical need for a spacesuit 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:42.259 and that scuba breathing sound to the uncredited 00:31:42.259 --> 00:31:44.519 voice of James Earl Jones shaping the character 00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:47.240 to these deep psychological analyses suggesting 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:50.460 profound trauma or maybe BPD. This character 00:31:50.460 --> 00:31:54.630 is just so layered, complicated. Eternally tragic. 00:31:54.890 --> 00:31:56.490 And we've seen the extraordinary lengths taken 00:31:56.490 --> 00:31:58.930 to create him and then protect his secrets. The 00:31:58.930 --> 00:32:01.130 fake dialogue for David Prowse, the contracts 00:32:01.130 --> 00:32:03.410 demanding silence from Sebastian Shaw. And now 00:32:03.410 --> 00:32:05.630 preserving his voice through revolutionary AI. 00:32:05.990 --> 00:32:08.990 It's mind boggling. It really is. And we learned 00:32:08.990 --> 00:32:11.690 that even core parts of his story, things we 00:32:11.690 --> 00:32:14.589 thought we knew, like where his name came from 00:32:14.589 --> 00:32:17.769 or the source of his birth. They're subject to 00:32:17.769 --> 00:32:20.170 change. Retroactive branding, maybe? Exactly. 00:32:20.289 --> 00:32:23.250 The name Darth Vader only really became Darkfather 00:32:23.250 --> 00:32:25.789 after the reveal made it fit perfectly. And that 00:32:25.789 --> 00:32:28.589 comic implication that Palpatine engineered his 00:32:28.589 --> 00:32:32.750 birth later clarified as just a dark side lie. 00:32:32.890 --> 00:32:35.579 Yeah. A manipulation. With that crucial takeaway, 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:38.500 the dark side is not a reliable narrator. And 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:40.740 that idea, that fallibility of knowledge within 00:32:40.740 --> 00:32:43.000 the universe itself, it raises a huge question, 00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:45.180 doesn't it? Something maybe for you, the listener, 00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:47.480 to think about. OK, what's the final provocative 00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:50.259 thought? Well, if the name that seemed to signal 00:32:50.259 --> 00:32:54.049 his destiny, Dark Father. was just invented retroactively, 00:32:54.289 --> 00:32:57.609 and if the ultimate claim about his origin, Palpatine 00:32:57.609 --> 00:32:59.849 creating him, was later declared a manipulative 00:32:59.849 --> 00:33:02.210 lie from an unreliable source, then what does 00:33:02.210 --> 00:33:04.670 all this constant revision, this unreliable narration, 00:33:04.910 --> 00:33:07.630 tell us about destiny versus free will in his 00:33:07.630 --> 00:33:11.049 story? If Palpatine wasn't his father in that 00:33:11.049 --> 00:33:14.470 sense, and the dark side lies, was Anakin truly 00:33:14.470 --> 00:33:17.960 destined to fall? Or did he simply make the choice, 00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:20.240 maybe free from specific cosmic interference, 00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:23.140 based entirely on his own fears, his own attachments, 00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:26.960 his own decisions? Hmm. Was it fate? Or was it 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:29.319 choice amplified by circumstance and manipulation? 00:33:29.579 --> 00:33:31.579 That's a great question to ponder. Thank you 00:33:31.579 --> 00:33:33.640 for joining us on this really extensive deep 00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:36.019 dive into the anatomy of Anakin Skywalker, the 00:33:36.019 --> 00:33:38.220 Dark Lord of the Sith, and just the sheer complexity 00:33:38.220 --> 00:33:40.359 of his cultural footprint. We'll see you next 00:33:40.359 --> 00:33:40.539 time.