Star Wars: 5 Things That Still Make No Sense About Darth Vader

In the opening minutes of 1977’s Star Wars, the stakes are made immediately clear, and one of the most iconic villains in film history was born as Darth Vader steps onto the screen. Played on screen by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones, Vader would transcend the movie itself, not only becoming an iconic character aesthetically (he’s still a popular Halloween costume) but defining the potential for the popularity of antagonists in movies for the rest of time. Even three years later, with The Empire Strikes Back, Vader solidified his place as one of the best of all time after delivering one of the most unexpected movie lines ever.

Three years after Empire, though, Return of the Jedi would start to unravel the mystique of Darth Vader, not only unmasking the character for the first time but giving fans a taste of who he really was before he became the villain fans knew. Time has continued to tell more and more tales of Darth Vader, filling out the margins of the character’s persona and history, but also creating plot holes and inconsistencies. Darth Vader is still one of the greatest villains in fiction, but he’s also been made pretty confusing over the years.

5) Meeting Leia and Having No Idea She’s His Daughter

In one of his first scenes, Vader confronts Princess Leia, knowing that she has the stolen plans to the Death Star in her possession and is secretly part of the Rebel Alliance. At the time, that really was the extent of their relationship, but as the lore of Star Wars has now made clear, this was a father meeting his daughter for the first time. Given Vader’s ability to acknowledge the force within others, it’s stunning that he would not only have no inkling that the person in front of him was not only force sensitive but that they’re his daughter. In the context of Star Wars being a singular movie that may have been the only story told in that world, the scene works, but with fifty years of franchise development all around it, this is one that sticks out like a sore thumb.

4) His Standing in the Empire

What is Darth Vader’s job in the Empire, exactly? If we’re going off his relationship with The Emperor from Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, he seems to be second in command to Palpatine himself, but in the context of the original Star Wars, he almost seems like a middle manager that doesn’t have any power over the likes of Grand Moff Tarkin or other imperial generals. Even in The Empire Strikes Back, when he has command over his own Star Destroyer, he’s still acting on orders. There’s also the military officer that Vader force-chokes in the original film, who appears not to care at all about Vader’s reputation, assuming he has one at all. Which leads us to…

3) How Many Apprentices He Had This Whole Time

Across all of Star Wars, much of which is perhaps no longer canon, Darth Vader has had multiple apprentices working under him in the Empire. Among them, Galen Marek from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the Corvax descendant from the Vader Immortal VR experience, and all of the Jedi hunting Inquisitorius (of which there are at least eighteen). Not only does it make no sense what Vader even really DOES within the Empire, but how he even has time to do whatever the Emperor tells him to, carry out his own ambitions and goals (like hunting Luke), while also working with a slew of direct reports sitting beneath him on the org chart. There are simply not enough parsecs in the day for all this.

2) “A Presence I’ve Not Felt Since…”

Another great character moment from the original Star Wars that has been rendered complicated by time and the larger franchise is Vader’s line on the Death Star after the Millennium Falcon has been pulled into the tractor beam: “I sense something; a presence I’ve not felt since…” It’s a moment that sets up his confrontation with Obi-Wan in the Death Star, and his eventual defeat and the larger progression of Luke Skywalker’s arc. Furthermore, it ends in such a way that you can actually hear his thoughts trail off, as Vader begins to connect the dots about what’s transpiring around him and who exactly he’s about to confront

With time, though, the line has become a loaded one. Thanks to the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series and the ambiguity of the original line, it’s one that actually has an answer. Fans KNOW that the last time Vader felt the presence of Obi-Wan Kenobi was nine years prior, and they actually confronted each other two times on two different planets. To make it even more confusing, Vader gets thoroughly beaten by Kenobi in their second rematch, making a vow to destroy Kenobi. As we know, he eventually carries that out, but this rage was seemingly put off for nine years by doing…whatever else it is he does for the Empire.

1) The Hallway Scene in Rogue One

Though this moment in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story may be a favorite for many fans because of how it redefined the villain in the modern era and utilized special effects to sell his power, it does more to damage his mystique than to entertain. Given the timeline between the conclusion of Rogue One and the start of Star Wars, which appears to be minutes if we’re being generous, it makes no sense at all for Vader to arrive on the scene in Rogue One with his lightsaber ignited and performing like a character from a video game. In the scene, Vader lifts, chokes, and swings Rebel soldiers around using the Force before slicing many of them to pieces with his saber. It’s a stark contrast to how he enters the ship in Star Wars, so much so that they feel like totally different characters. Fans may love this moment for how cool it is aesthetically, but it’s one that plays like a long-time fan’s idea of Vader, not one accounting for his current standing in the story itself.

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