#anakin skywalker | death vader

[secretly-a-catamount]

Anakin Skywalker was Jesus

Darth Vader was the devil

[hmura-hmara]

“You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister…you were right.”

[tossawary]

So, it was not initially planned for Leia to be Luke's sister in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, and we can relatively easily come up with in-universe reasons as to why Bail Organa never told his daughter that her biological father was Darth Vader and that Darth Vader was arguably responsible for the death of her biological mother, without even needing to read any additional materials like novelizations or EU books.

Firstly, Bail presumably doesn't want his righteous daughter to have even more reason to try to murder Darth Vader. Secondly, Force-users are telepathic sometimes, and it's probably really hard to Not Think about the fact that you're Darth Vader's secret daughter when Darth Vader is right in front of you.

I can imagine for myself that Leia has at least always known that she was adopted, and also that she's aware that she should do everything in her power to keep her genetic material away from the Empire. Just going by the movies alone (in which the fate of Kamino and its cloning facilities is unknown), it seems reasonable to fear that the Empire might create and install clone puppet rulers of various planets. Kill Leia's parents, clone her a few times, and forcibly install a new Queen of Alderaan backed by the Imperial military for "security" reasons? Yeah, that sounds like something the Empire might do. Sure.

But now I'm thinking about what might have happened on the Death Star if Leia HAD known that she was Darth Vader's daughter, had known about Padmé Amidala, and maybe also that she had a twin brother out there somewhere. How well-known is Vader's tendency to murder military officers who piss him off? It's delicious to imagine Tarkin about to destroy a planet, and Leia turning to Darth Vader and, out of sheer, furious desperation, saying something like, "Padmé Amidala's child survived and was taken to Alderaan in secret. If it's destroyed, your child will die."

[turkwriter]

Those five or so seconds where young Ahsoka is watching Anakin walk through the smoke and her expression becomes horrified as he transforms into Darth Vader for just a moment as he and the rest of her Squad leave her behind, alive but alone-

[takadasaiko]

You lack conviction.

[pepperoniparadise]

“Your focus determines your reality.”

[banjodroid]

I think it’s equally heartbreaking and hilarious that obi-wan never quite says he misses Anakin, in fact often rues the fact that Skywalkers and their special brand of chaos seem to plague his life, but also every other line is reminiscent and nostalgic and sad about how anakin always forgot to pack his socks or the look on his face the first time he saw rain or how he’d use the chosen one thing to wheedle extra desserts

[tcards]

Star Wars - Return of the Jedi: The 40th Anniversary Covers by Chris Sprouse

[the-far-bright-center]

Anakin Skywalker by Victor Garcia (ArtStation)

[plj14]

Takeshi Obata

[byfulcrums]

Something I love about Star Wars is how Luke didn't fix Anakin, he gave him the courage to save himself.

Anakin Skywalker is both a villain (and an abuser. I mean he tortured his own daughter and cut off his son's hand, come on) and a victim, that much is obvious. He is, most importantly, a slave. There has never been a single moment of his life where he wasn't/hasn't felt like he was a slave to something. Watto, the Republic, Palpatine, maybe even himself — you name it. He has never been free.

When Luke goes to the second Death Star, he is going to his father, to the suffering Palpatine is putting Anakin through (he is the main victim of Sidious's abuse and torture, something many people tend to forget). To the suffering Anakin is making himself go through, because, while it was heavily influenced by Palpatine, Anakin's choice to never leave was his own.

He Fell, and that wasn't his fault, but he chose to stay there. Many people — namely Padmé — gave him second chances. Padmé gave Anakin the chance to leave and stay together, but he didn't take it. He did all of it to save her, and it the end, he ends up believing he was the one who killed her (he 'destroys' his goal, because that's what the Dark Side does. You may begin as a noble person looking to save someone, but the Dark Side isn't good, and you will lose track of yourself along the way.)

And now here he is, inside a prison that is seen as his own suit. A prison he was put in, a prison he chose to stay in. By the time of ROTJ, he truly believes that it's over for him. That nothing can save him. That there's no hope. Anakin, the lifelong slave, is resigned to his fate. “It is too late for me, son,” he tells Luke, who willingly came to him wearing shackles.

And Luke, still believing that there is some humanity in Darth Vader's armor, doesn't deter. He doesn't let his father's words stop him. He shows that he's willing to give himself away, to die, just to save him.

Luke Skywalker, son of Padmé and Anakin and the last Jedi Master left, shows a man turned monster that he loves him unconditionally. He shows him that no, it's not too late for him, not now and not ever. And this — his selflessness, his compassion — is what finally gets through Anakin. Someone loves him, and he loves them back. And he would do anything to keep them alive, including killing his own Master and breaking his chains.

It's Luke's own sacrifice that inspires Anakin to give up his life. It's Luke's undying hope that motivates Anakin to finally break his own chains. It's Luke's trust in him that gives Anakin the courage to save himself, and in that single act, he saves the entire galaxy.

The light comes to him in the form of one Luke Skywalker, extending his hand for the last time — the light comes to him when he takes it.

The Prophecy is fulfilled when Anakin kills Palpatine and leaves the dark. The galaxy is saved when a father dies for his son.

[nkp1981]

Egyptian Galaxy Wars

from a tee

[robynator]

looking at the list of deaths wiki's star wars kill count page is frankly hilarious. the first three, even four, are unsurprising.

there's obviously armitage hux with his lovely 155 billion (which damn, i didn't know it was that much, i'd expected like half that). then there's darth nihilus, whom i had not heard about, as im not up to date with legends, at 6 billion. and then there's tarkin with the death star at 2 billion. those are the big three with their absurdly but unsurprisingly high numbers

after that there's krennic with 11 million and then...

get this...

ahsoka tano with 4 million...

there were apparently 3.5 million droids in the factory her and barriss blew up, who all count. that absolute icon killed 3.5 million droids at age 14

barriss, my dear, is of course right after her with the 3.5 million. then wrecker with 2.5 million and lando with 1.8 million.

and next is luke skywalker, because he blew up the death star and killed 1.6 million people with it. again, a way higher number than id expected but i also live in a country with a population less than that so i have a really hard time imagining that amount of people. still, it's insane

and after that we have count dooku with a slightly lower number of 1.5 million. that one's, again, not surprising and in this case id even expected more

the most shocking thing to me is actually the fact that anakin skywalker, darth vader, is in 14th place. apparently he killed only 150k people on screen. i mean we all know his kill count is probably in the millions by the end of his life but damn, 150k is a shockingly low number considering who he is and what he's done. and most of that is droids anyway

(rex, holdo, hardcase, grievous, rey and saw gerrera are other notable characters in the top 20)

[skywalkerela]

ANAKIN SKYWALKER WAS...

Best pilot,

A strong man,

A man afraid of losing,

A man who lost everything,

A man who was convinced all his life that he killed his wife

A man who visited his wife's grave even when he was a Sith Lord

AND..

A father who sacrificed his life to save his son..

[marvelstars]

I have been reading time travel post ROTJ Vader fics and it´s been such a treat for me, they have a certain charm and allow for such awesome character work, especially when he goes back to the PT.

Because by all rights post ROTJ Vader is the most unaligned character your will ever find on star wars and at the same time the one who worries the most about the other characters given what he knows and his own experiences with both sides of the force picture his perspective, he understands and wants to protect people he feels a kinship for their experiences, including sith like Count Dooku, Ventress and Maul just as he tries to protect his family and the Jedi Order out of guilt and remorse and because it´s the right thing to do, inspired by his Son example that I want to hug him.

He even has some very complicated and intrincate feelings for Palpatine, as he should, because wether he likes it or not, he spend more than 20 years with him and genuinely liked him for a good period of that time. He was there with him even if they killed each other in the end and that isn´t easy to forget.

One of those fics, the "force of many sights" is one of the best because there Vader comes back as baby Anakin and its just so cute to imagine terribly menacing Vader in the body of a small, cute and even more traumatized kid than he was originally, but more than that, the changes he did to the past there, like getting himself into the creche instead of being trained by Obi-Wan as a way of getting close to Palpatine and convince Dooku of not falling to the darkside, it´s so nuanced and so well thought.

His love and care for Obi-Wan but also his hurt at remembering him abandoning him on mustafar so he avoids developing a close relationship with him this time around while also making sure he is getting over losing his Qui-Gon because he can´t help but worry, he definitely didn´t miss having feelings!! (he says with feeling XD) For this same reason he avoids Padme because he wants her to have a happy and long life without him even if only he will remember their kids :(

This context allows Vader/Anakin to be hurt, afraid and angry over so many of his young experiences but now understood as an adult what was done to him and what he did, like remembering killing the younglings while living with younglings and teaching them how to play hide and seek so they learn how to protect themselves(ouch my heart) or remembering his father figure leaving him to die but without hating or blaming Obi-Wan while also considering him family and loving him so he does his best to protect him from Palpatine, such a fresh take.

All of this mixed with his own mental games with Palpatine´s "mentorship" their "power games" he used to enjoy as Vader, now fully aware of what he is doing, doing his own kind of playing the "innocent victim" being fully aware and angry/sad/afraid of his old mentor, while undoing all of Palpatine´s plans and at the same time fight himself to stay in the light for the mere fact he was a Sith for 20 years and it´s actually hard to get over that without some time to process.

Such awesome reads everytime.

[marinamar4]

i know there are a lot of stories where padmé survives and they do a fake burial like the one in the movie, but… what if there was no burial? i mean, padmé dies, but instead of a mausoleum and publicizing her death, bail and yoda and obi-wan decide to burn her (because i once read that that was the tradition on naboo) and even though they tell padmé's parents and family and naboo… well, there's no body so, palpatine tells vader that padmé is missing, he'll probably tell him that padmé decided to run away from him and that she doesn't know anything about the baby. and what's worse than a vader who's guilty and furious with himself? a furious vader with the few rebels that are forming and thinks that they "stole" padmé from him, that she is with them now, this could very well be that palpatine really doesn't know and prefers to lie to vader, or he lies to him because he knows the truth and thinks he is perfect for his parents, or we can go along the lines of palpatine stealing padmé's life, in that, it would mean that he probably knows that padmé is dead so, for twenty years, vader has been hunting rebels, believing that his wife is still alive, running away and hiding from him, who knows who she is with and if there is a man in her life, or what happened to the baby… then the name luke skywalker comes to him, but, did he grow up on tatooine with the lars? and he didn't have a mother? was padmé so upset with her husband that she abandoned her own child? then he can keep investigating. and he can insist on talking to luke, like in those fics where after bespin they have a mental connection, and luke may or may not know it, may or may not tell him that his mother is dead, may or may not know his name. probably obi-wan told him at the same time he told him that his father was a jedi knight and that vader killed him. That a senator of the old republic was too much of a danger for the emperor Vader, because of his master's lies, has been chasing a ghost for twenty years, and unable to properly mourn his wife