#iz-00t

[cienie-isengardu]

Vader and droids

dragonmonday45 replied to your post: Anakin and marginalized groups (p. I)

And yet when he BECAME a machine (Vader) he had no respect for machines. Though he did treat droids better than his own living crew. Ah, irony.

As much as I agree that Vader treats people and droids different than he did as Anakin, I wouldn’t say he has no respect for machines. Of course, all depends on sources we take account, but Vader in general is quite pragmatic person who can and is willing to use everyone around him for his own purposes - yet that doesn’t mean he is doing it for his own pleasure (as, for fun) or is unable to feel connection to others. As much as Vader is usually presented as ill-mannered, brash person ready to kill and destroy anyone or anything standing in his way, there are various examples through Expended Universe (of new canon and Legends) that provide more complex view of Vader. Including the way he treats droids.

I mean, it’s one thing how Vader interacts with droids like Triple Zero (0-0-0) and Bee Tee (BT-1) - a dangerous, very inteligent machines who love killing living organisms and who a) could betrayed him any moment and b) couldn’t be left unchecked for too long because of their psychotic behaviour. But then the same Darth Vader series gives us moments like that:

This is an unnamed droid that Vader used during his mission that allowed the Darth Lord of the Sith to gain important informations AND erase all traces of his own illegal activities. At first, it’s just a droid used in Vader’s shemes. Here, the way he put a hand on droid is the same thing Anakin did with Artoo. Even if this is just a old habit (and those die hard), this is physical show of familiarity / affection that Vader rarely shows to anyone. Of course, the droid must die to secure Vader’s secrets, but before the machine ends in cosmic space and destroys itself, there is that moment:

Vader is kneeling, to be “face to face” with the droid. He did something similar for his own men, who were either dying (clone trooper CT-4981 / Contrail) or seriously injured (Erv Lekauf). This droid - a machine - get from Vader much more respect than most people around him, especially during that comics storyline. Imperial officers, particularly those corrupted, incompetent or selfish were usually political threat to his plans or Empire’s welfare in general. Most of them were seen by Vader just as a tools to use. The difference between them and droid(s) is that Vader could trust machines.

Droids. One can always trust droids is very powerful thing coming from someone who has a long list of reasons why trusting anyone is a bad idea. Of course, Vader may be seen as a lone wolf, but even he has his own men (and droids) that gained his respect and limited trust. The Darth Vader series isn’t the only one that shows that.

I already complained about this short non-canon story, but still the mouse droid was the only one character who was praised by Vader as competent, while three - THREE! - imperial officers have died. The little mouse droid failed in the end too, but the contrast how Vader feels about imperial officers and machine(s) is clear.

In the much older sources like classic Star Wars comics (#74 - 76)  a droid K-3PX was one of Vader’s trusted agents. K-3PX kept Vader informed about situation on Iskalon and on Sith’s orders imprisoned admiral Tower. And we talk about a droid giving commands to stormtroopers and imperial officers on Vader’s behalf when in general machines (even the inteligent ones!) were seen as lesser beings during Empire era. And those issues of classic star wars comics were written around 1983. What is also worth to mention, the stormtroopers who learned that K-3PX is Vader’s agent didn’t question it. Their reaction - how  easily accepted by them was the idea of droid directly working for Vader - makes me think that imperial soldiers didn’t think it was something too unlikely for Vader’s unusual behaviour. It raises question, how many other droids were working as agents of Dark Lord.

And let’s no forget about Vader “meeting" C-3PO on Bespin (Star Wars Tales #6: Thank the Maker). The comics covers missing scenes from The Empire Strikes Back, focusing on imperial forces & Boba Fett working together to capture Luke.The droid was destroyed by stormtroopers and its parts were presented to Vader who recognized C-3PO. That brought also memories from the past - in which the readers have a chance to see how Anakin found the damaged and abandoned on the dumpster droid, how Shmi allowed him to smuggle it to home and kept as his own. At first, Vader declared that destroyed droid was useless and  ordered his men to destroy it completely (how much of that was not caring and how much Vader protected his own secrets / connection to this rebel protocol droid is debatable) but when imperial officer reported that droid was saved by Wookie, Vader reconsidered situation and changed mind about C-3PO’s fate.

Once again, we learned more of Anakin’s memories from childhood. Not only how he cared for unwanted droid (whose life seemed similar to slave’s) but though he was allowed to keep C-3PO, Shmi warned him that “droid is your responsibility. And unless you’re prepared to care for something... you don’t deserve to have it.”

Shmi’s words still “echoed” in Anakin’s mind, even many years after he became merciless Dark Lord of the Sith. This is important scene, because Vader is not in position to care for C-3PO, not like he used to do as Anakin. Even if he allowed himself the luxury to care for his long lost friend droid, his political AND apprenticeship situation wouldn’t allow that. Vader acknowledges that change, so he is giving droid to the one person that cares and protect it - to Chewbacca. For imperial soldiers it may seems like some unexcepted Vader’s whim, but he made a decision to spare C-3PO and gave him to someone who already proved that he cares for the droid in a way Anakin can’t anymore. C-3PO could have an important information about rebellion (like the lieutentant assumed was a reason why rebels kept destroyed machine) yet Vader gifted (returned) the droid to his enemies. When imperial officer asked why, Vader’s answer is similar to the words of his mother:

Vader gives the Wookie what he deserves. For observer, it may looks like Wookie deserves destroyed machine, blasted into pieces. But from context one may think Vader gave something more than that - his own creation that he doesn’t deserve anymore.

Frankly, this is one of few(?) examples of Vader returning droid to its caring owner. Of course, usually he did that for reasons that I like to call “pragmatic kindness”, but still it required some effort on his part. In SW "what if...?” comics he gave C-3PO to captured princess Leia. There is also case of Falco Sang, bounty hunter imprisoned by Vader, who wanted to use Falco’s skills for his own plans. The bounty hunter wasn’t empathetic person, but he was very fond of his droid, IZ-00T. However the droid was destroyed by Jedi Dass Jennir (that Falco tried to capture for bounty) before Falco himself were captured by Darth Vader. At some point, Vader gave to his prisoner repaired IZ-00T, what really suprised and pleased the man. Falco’s reaction, how he was looking after the Sith Lord, showed how much such gesture meant.

In all cases, Vader gave to his enemies / prisoners something more than a droid; he allowed them to keep their mechanical friends / close allies. This is my personal feeling, but I think Vader did so - beside all selfish motives - because he understood the importance of friendship with droids, even though his own situation didn’t allow him to have such relationship with them.

And since I already mentioned bounty hunters, let’s not forget the famous scene from TESB, when Vader called the best bounty hunters to catch Luke Skywalker / rebels. Among the best, there was IG-88B and 4-Lom. The second one worked with alien, Zuckuss, but IG-88 was one of rebelled assassin droid that even Empire didn’t want to deal with; there was even an imperial order to "dismantle [IG] on sight" but since the droid was one of the best, Vader didn’t care for the fact that IG was just a machine. To be fair, Dark Lord of the Sith rarely cared for someone’s gender, race or origin. Only someone’s result meant something for him.

There is also one thing worth to mention: Vader’s life depended a lot on machines. Be it his mechanical suit to keep him alive, or his meditation chamber (that allowed him to breathe outside helmet/armour) or his modificated personal starfigher(s). Despite being so busy with Empire’s bussiness he still had time to work with machines. If he not personally constructed them, then at least he designed droids (like his personal training droids) or space ships (his own starfighters, Legends!Executor). 

In short: Vader’s relationship with droids is much complex than one may think, but a lot depends on sources taken into account. Vader does not treat others nice most of the times, he lacks patience for “civilized behavior”, quite often sounds angry or cynical / ironic. Vader’s behaviour in general is very unusual, sometimes brash compared to imperial norms. Still, droids (the same as common troopers) have bigger chance to be respected in his own ways than most imperial high-ranking officers. Because droids are less likely to betray him and are willing to take any, even suicide mission for his benefit. While most imperial officers want either get rid of Vader or get his patronage for their own political career. So the presence of machines create for Vader much safer and more stable environment than dealing with people on daily basis.

At least that’s how I see Vader’s relationship with droids & machines.