Why No One Talks About Darth Vader’s Redemption
Source: Game Spot
In 1983, fans saw Darth Vader sacrifice himself for his son after years of ruling the galaxy with terror. A decade later, they saw Anakin Skywalker’s descent to darkness in the prequel films. The idea of the prequels was to tell Anakin’s story and to show how he was manipulated by dark forces. And yet, in every film shown after the Sith Lord’s redemption, he is still viewed as a villain. Even his grandson, Kylo Ren, tries to model his life after Darth Vader and would rather forget Anakin’s final choice.
Fans tend to agree with Kylo. There are several reasons for this; the first is that Darth Vader is a much more compelling character. Star Wars fans have come to associate the series with the villain’s iconic heavy breathing and theme music. At this point, Darth Vader is as essential to the series as lightsabers and the Force.
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Another possibility is that fans refuse to forgive Darth Vader for his past actions. The massacre known as Order 66 and the subsequent genocide throughout the galaxy makes it difficult to forgive a character. However, certain characters like Padme can sense goodness in him. Even the official Star Wars website mentions the good within.
The lack of acknowledgment of the character’s redemption could just come from poor memory. The scene in Return of the Jedi was a memorable moment, but many films have followed that focus more on Darth Vader than Anakin Skywalker. Even the prequels served more as a Darth Vader origin story than a story about Anakin learning the ways of the Jedi. Countless other movies and TV shows reference the Vader character as well, treating him like an eternal villain. Even after the Force grants him the privilege to stand beside Yoda and Obi-Wan in death, Darth Vader is memorialized as a villain while Anakin is lost to history.
Source: Desimartini
Anakin isn’t the first iconic character to be treated this way. Christmas humbugs often get called Scrooge, although the character learned to keep Christmas in his heart all year round at the end of the story. By the end of A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is more like Father Christmas than a humbug, yet the term “Scrooge'“ is still used to mean “crank and crotchety”. By the end of Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader has sided firmly with the light. The movie’s title could even be referring to Anakin Skywalker’s final moments.
One final possibility is the ownership fans feel toward certain characters. They don’t actually want Darth Vader to change. Even fans who side with the Jedi tend to appreciate Darth Vader more than Anakin. Fans get far more excitement out of rooting for Darth Vader to lose than for the Rebel forces to win. If the shadow of Darth Vader leaves the series, the stakes are much lower. Even with Anakin’s conversion, Palpatine and Kylo Ren make use of the Sith Lord’s image to complete their plans. A Star Wars without Darth Vader would be like a Batman series without the Joker. In a movie saga about war, there needs to be a villain to root against.
In the Star Wars series, Jedi are tasked with preserving the balance of the force. Darth Vader serves the same role in a meta sense; he doesn’t bring balance through his actions as a Sith Lord or his actions as a Jedi, but he brings balance to the series through his mere presence. When The Imperial March plays and the sound of heavy breathing grows louder, fans don’t shake in fear. They tremble in excitement. Darth Vader exists to balance out the series.
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Sources: Cinema Blend, Digital Spy, Star Wars