Tag: Star Wars Villains

Star Wars Chat Pack: What is your favorite Darth Vader moment?

Welcome to Day 11 of my NaBloPoMo Challenge, in which I pick a random card from the Star Wars Chat Pack and answer the question.

Today’s question is: What is your favorite Darth Vader moment?

Huh, this is the perfect complement to yesterday’s question (what is your favorite Luke Skywalker moment).

So there are plenty of awesome (evil) Darth Vader moments, like:

The light at the end of the tunnel.

Rogue One hallway scene. I think we had all forgotten just how terrifying Darth Vader was supposed to be. This scene in Rogue One cured that, lol. Vader inexorably chasing down the Rebels with the Death Star plans, slaughtering as he goes, is chilling and horrifying.

“Now you will suffer, Obi-Wan.”

Basically anytime he shows up in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Vader is determined and merciless in this series as he hunts down Obi-Wan. The street scene, in particular, in which he tries to lure Obi-Wan out of hiding by killing innocent bystanders, is a shocking reminder of what lengths he’ll go to. Burning Obi-Wan, nearly choking Reva, and burying Obi-Wan with boulders add to his relentlessness. Oh, and pulling down that transport he believes is filled with the refugees and ripping it apart with the Force is impressive. Most impressive. He’s just a monster in this series, driven by rage and his need to destroy Kenobi.

There are some more poignant scenes, however, such as:

“Anakin is gone.”

“I am not your failure, Obi-Wan.” This exchange between Vader and Obi-Wan in the Kenobi series is just so heartbreaking. Obi-Wan is in tears, telling Anakin he’s sorry for everything, and Vader says this, adding, “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker. I did.” At first, I thought maybe he was trying to make Obi-Wan feel better. Then I thought: nah. This is Vader we’re talking about. He’s boasting, confirmed by that evil little smile as he said it. Despite accusing earlier in the series, “I am what you made me,” he does a 180 here, taking responsibility. Basically, he’s a mess, a big wad of pain and suffering wrapped up in a dark cloak of evil. I found it unutterably sad.

But I think my favorite moment is this one, for obvious reasons:

Killing the Emperor. I suppose you could say this isn’t Vader anymore; it’s Anakin Skywalker saving his son. Still, Vader or Anakin, the man in the suit and mask decided he was done with Palpatine’s bullsh*t and wasn’t going to let him destroy his son. I can tell you that was the most electrifying (no pun intended) moment of the Original trilogy for me. I left the theater stunned and changed. I was 13 years old and I thought I’d seen the height of cinema, lol. Nothing’s come close since, except maybe The Lord of the Rings trilogy twenty years later. And I do think it’s held up over the years; I still get emotional watching it. I don’t think it needed the “Nooooo!” added onto it. Actions speak louder than words, George. But oh well. Still a good scene.

So that’s my favorite Darth Vader moment. What’s yours? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!

Star Wars Chat Pack: Who is your favorite Star Wars villain?

Welcome to Day 2 of my NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) challenge, in which I pick a card from the Star Wars Chat Pack.

This time the card I picked asks, “Who is your favorite Star Wars villain?” A pretty basic Star Wars question, but I do have to think about it a bit.

My first thought would be Kylo Ren. He’s a fascinating character to me, and of course, Adam Driver’s performance is flawless. But is he truly a villain? Well, yes, he does do some evil stuff. But throughout the whole sequel trilogy, he seems to be trying so hard to be a villain. He’s not necessarily embracing the darkness as much as fighting the light inside him. So to me, Kylo’s a bit too complex to be an easy answer to this one.

Recently, Royce Hemlock, the super-creepy doctor from The Bad Batch, has fit that bill. Everything from his weird whispery voice, the way he holds his black-gloved hand, and his sheer coldness and calculation, make him a perfect villain. Frankly, he scares me, and I worry about our boys from Clone Force 99 encountering him (and Crosshair, who’s already at Mt. Tantiss and has suffered at his hands). But he’s new to the villain scene, and I don’t know enough about him to say he’s my favorite one.

Palpatine? Seems the obvious answer; he’s the over-arching villain of the entire franchise. He is evil incarnate. There are no redeeming qualities to this being–the glee he experiences in his depraved acts makes that clear (cue evil cackling). But because of this, he’s not boring, exactly, but not particularly interesting.

He knows what he did.

So I think my answer has to be Darth Vader. Who else? Here is a man who has fallen from the light and has embraced the darkness, but he takes no real pleasure in that darkness. He is a man in pain who lashes out. His evil is undisputable–from choking the woman he went to the dark side for in the first place, to killing the babies, to murdering pretty much anyone who displeases him, to blindly following the orders of Palpatine–he’s terrifying. But what really punches you in the gut is that he was once a good person. Anakin Skywalker was a hero, an amazing Jedi, a loving husband, a friend and ally to Obi-Wan. He was also impatient, arrogant, and fearful. Terribly flawed. Just like we all are. And so his fall is our fall, and it terrifies us. He’s an extreme example, but he is what we all could be, given the right circumstances. Which makes his eventual redemption that much more satisfying.

And now he pays…and makes others pay, too.

There’s a lot of villains to choose from in Star Wars. From those above, to Thrawn, General Grievous, Darth Maul, Jabba the Hutt, Admiral Tarkin, Snoke and any number of Sith Lords and Imperial baddies, villains abound. Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!