10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Darth Vader

WhatCulture

You probably don't know Vader quite as well as you think.

Transcript

00:00 There's no denying that Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains in the history

00:03 of not only cinema, but pop culture and storytelling in general.

00:07 Even people who've never seen Star Wars can probably name him, and more than 45 years

00:11 since he made his debut, he remains about as popular as ever.

00:15 Yet, just because he's a beloved antagonist doesn't mean that fans have a 100% bead

00:19 on everything about him, and in fact, may have got some crucial facts about him totally

00:24 wrong.

00:25 Don't worry, I'm here to straighten the record.

00:27 As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 Things Everyone Gets Wrong

00:31 About Darth Vader.

00:32 10.

00:33 His Suit is Designed to Cause Him Pain

00:36 While there are no arguments that Vader's iconic armored suit helps keep him alive by

00:40 basically functioning as a mobile life support system, it is a mistake to assume that its

00:44 functions are all primarily curative.

00:47 In actual fact, the suit is also designed to cause Vader pain.

00:50 For starters, the helmet sticks needles into Vader's face whenever he's wearing it,

00:54 with the intent of feeding his brainwave activity back to the central computer on the suit's

00:58 chest.

00:59 Also, in the extended universe, it's stated that Palpatine designed the suit to be intentionally

01:03 uncomfortable in order to keep Vader's rage free-flowing, and also to ensure that he could

01:08 maintain a level of control over him while limiting his potential to rebel.

01:12 Though aspects of this have been technically jettisoned from the canon continuity and are

01:16 now considered legend factoids, it remains true that Vader's suit isn't an entirely

01:20 restorative piece of wardrobe because it also causes him agony for a number of reasons.

01:25 9.

01:26 He Actually Shouldn't Remember C-3PO

01:28 It's often cited as a plot hole by fans that Vader doesn't recognize C-3PO in the

01:33 original trilogy despite the fact that young Anakin was revealed to have built him in the

01:37 prequels.

01:38 You can chalk this up to George Lucas not having this revelation in mind when he made

01:41 the original Star Wars movies, but if you look at the facts, it actually makes total

01:45 sense that Vader wouldn't pay C-3PO any mind at all.

01:49 First and foremost, 3PO isn't exactly the most distinctive looking droid in the galaxy

01:53 - we've seen hundreds of similar looking droids throughout Star Wars media - so it's

01:57 absolutely believable that Vader wouldn't give him much of a second thought.

02:00 And even if that's not good enough, it's easy to accept that Anakin simply repressed large

02:04 swathes of his past following his transformation into Vader, whereby 3PO just simply wouldn't

02:09 exist in his mind.

02:11 After all, Vader told us in the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series that he killed Anakin when he

02:15 became Vader, so maybe all of his memories have gone as well.

02:18 8.

02:19 He's in the Original Trilogy way less than you remember

02:22 Now Vader casts such a long shadow, both literally and figuratively, over the Original Trilogy

02:27 in particular that it's easy to assume that he has tons and tons of screen time throughout

02:32 the three movies, but in actual fact, that's not the case at all.

02:35 Though precise timings vary, it's generally accepted that Vader has around 45 minutes

02:39 of screen time throughout the entire Original Trilogy, gaining slightly more in each successive

02:44 sequel.

02:45 Surprisingly, then, despite A New Hope being his introductory movie, he appears for less

02:49 than 12 minutes of the two-hour film.

02:52 But like so many of cinema's finest villains, it's a classic case of Vader having such a

02:57 show-stopping screen presence that it feels like he's in the movies so much more.

03:01 Like the Joker in The Dark Knight and Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Vader has

03:05 a haunting, spectral quality that allows him to linger around the periphery even when he's

03:10 not physically in a scene.

03:12 7.

03:13 Vader is not superior to Grand Moff Tarkin

03:16 Another mistake that casual Star Wars fans make is assuming that, outside of The Emperor,

03:19 who was only briefly mentioned in A New Hope, that Darth Vader holds rank as the Empire's

03:24 top villain.

03:25 But in actual fact, Vader isn't at all superior to Grand Moff Tarkin in the Empire's pecking

03:30 order.

03:31 After all, it's Tarkin who commands the Death Star, has Alderaan obliterated, and actually

03:35 gives Vader orders.

03:36 Now, that's not to say that Tarkin is superior to Vader, either.

03:39 Vader is basically outside of the Imperial chain of command and answers primarily to

03:43 the Emperor.

03:44 Yet it's reasonable to assume that he deferred to Tarkin on board the Death Star, both to

03:48 appease Palpatine and out of respect for Tarkin.

03:51 After all, Tarkin's position surely commanded a measure of admiration from even someone as

03:55 force-choke-happy as Vader, right?

03:58 In reality, they're basically separate but equal, and Vader knew that taking direction

04:02 from Tarkin on his own ship was probably the right call.

04:05 6.

04:06 He can actually survive without his helmet for a while

04:08 In Return of the Jedi, a dying Anakin asks Luke to help him remove his helmet, to which

04:13 Luke responds, "But you'll die."

04:15 Now, many fans have taken this as proof that Vader can't survive more than a few minutes

04:19 without his helmet, but that isn't actually the case at all.

04:22 In several Star Wars comics, Vader has shown himself to be able to last hours, even days,

04:27 with the help of the Force, using hate alone to keep himself alive, no matter that his

04:31 helmet and suit were compromised.

04:33 This isn't to say that Vader would want to be without his life support apparatus permanently,

04:38 given the obvious strain of using the Force to stay alive will take on his body, but he

04:41 can most certainly survive without the helmet for more than just a few minutes, even in

04:46 the most hostile of conditions.

04:48 5.

04:49 The "choke on your aspirations" joke wasn't out of character

04:53 One of the most polarizing lines in recent Star Wars history occurs in Rogue One, where

04:57 Vader summons Krennic to answer for the Death Star's attack on Jedha, and promptly Force-chokes

05:02 the hell out of him.

05:03 As Vader leaves, he cheekily tells Krennic, "Be sure not to choke on your aspirations,

05:08 Director," which was immediately met with a cringe-induced outcry from large swathes

05:13 of the fanbase, who felt that it was out of character for Vader to make such a cute and

05:16 punny quip.

05:17 But that's not really true.

05:19 Consider some of the wisecracks that Vader made in the original trilogy, perhaps most

05:23 memorably telling Captain Nida, "Apology accepted," after Force-choking him to death.

05:28 Plus, Vader isn't a literally robotic or inhuman entity, so what's the matter with a dark joke

05:32 or two?

05:33 The comic, like Anakin, was a total pillar of stoicism in the prequel trilogy, so it

05:37 follows that Vader would have a penchant for gallows humor.

05:40 4.

05:41 His Corpse Shouldn't Have Disappeared

05:44 Another thing often brought up as a plot hole is Anakin's death.

05:47 Namely, why doesn't his body disappear when he passes away?

05:51 After all, we saw the bodies of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and later Luke Skywalker vanish into the ether

05:56 upon their deaths.

05:57 So why not Anakin?

05:58 Moreover, why does his corpse remain in situ for Luke to burn?

06:02 The prequels actually explain this well enough, given that we see numerous Jedi die throughout

06:06 the prequel trilogy whose bodies remain in place without disappearing, most notably Qui-Gon

06:10 Jinn.

06:11 The vanishing act, it seems, isn't just something that all Jedi automatically know.

06:15 Obi-Wan and Yoda specifically learn to become one with the Force from Qui-Gon.

06:19 That said, in the Legends continuity, it's nevertheless stated that Anakin's body did

06:23 eventually disappear, and that Luke ended up burning his empty armor on Endor.

06:28 But even accepting that, despite its dubious canonicity, it isn't a given that those

06:33 at one with the Force must immediately vanish the moment they die.

06:37 3.

06:38 James Earl Jones Didn't Voice Him in Obi-Wan Kenobi

06:41 Vader, of course, appears throughout the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, with many commending

06:46 the great James Earl Jones for once again reprising his vocal role as Vader with sure

06:51 villainous relish.

06:52 Except, it's not quite true to say that Jones played Vader in the show, or at least

06:57 not in the conventional sense.

06:58 Indeed, that is Jones' voice that we hear throughout the series, but the lines weren't

07:02 performed by the 91-year-old actor, who recently announced his retirement from voicing Vader.

07:07 As a result, Vader's voice for Obi-Wan Kenobi was produced by Ukrainian machine learning

07:11 startup Respeecher, whose software used Jones' voice from existing Star Wars media to generate

07:17 new dialogue.

07:18 It's a testament to the quality of Respeecher's efforts that the end result is basically seamless,

07:24 and it's easy to see why so many assumed that Jones, despite his age, was still performing

07:28 the part, and in a manner totally consistent with his decades-old portrayals, no less.

07:33 2.

07:34 The "I am your father" quote

07:36 Nothing separates an ultra-casual Star Wars fan from a more dedicated one quicker than

07:41 getting Vader's iconic "I am your father" line wrong.

07:45 Through pop culture osmosis, it's often repeated that Vader tells his son, Luke, "I am your

07:50 father."

07:51 In fact, Vader replies, "No, I am your father," in reference to Luke's belief from Obi-Wan

07:56 that Vader killed his dad.

07:58 Is it a nitpick?

07:59 Perhaps.

08:00 The context is more or less the same, and name-dropping Luke helps assure people that

08:04 you're making a Star Wars reference in polite conversation, but considering how much we've

08:07 surely all seen The Empire Strikes Back, we probably should know better by now.

08:12 But nobody's perfect.

08:13 If a friend of yours parrots the slightly incorrect quote, don't give them too much

08:17 hell over it.

08:18 Either way, you'll struggle to find a more misquoted movie one-liner or something that

08:21 more people have gotten wrong about Vader.

08:24 1.

08:25 Vader definitely kills Obi-Wan

08:28 As iconic as the climactic lightsaber duel between Vader and Obi-Wan is in A New Hope,

08:33 fans aren't all on the same page about the precise nature of Obi-Wan's exit from the

08:37 scene.

08:38 After all, Obi-Wan basically appears to give up fighting, and when Vader swings his saber

08:42 at him, he vanishes into thin air.

08:44 Then, the next time we see him, he's a Force ghost.

08:47 Some fans maintain that Obi-Wan left the physical plane before Vader struck him, but that's

08:51 not really true.

08:52 The ambiguous manner in which the scene is filmed doesn't really help provide fans

08:55 with clarity, but given that Obi-Wan literally tells Vader moments earlier, "If you strike

09:00 me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," it appears that

09:04 he was genuinely killed by Vader, and then near-instantaneously became one with the Force.

09:09 It's a hair-splitting debate at the end of the day, but given that a necessity for becoming

09:13 a Force ghost is, you know, dying, it's safe to say that Obi-Wan didn't find another way

09:18 to just evaporate into the ether.

09:20 He was, as he foretold, struck down.

09:22 And there we go, my friends.

09:24 Those were 10 things that everyone gets wrong about Darth Vader.

09:26 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in

09:29 the comments section below.

09:31 As always, I've been Jules.

09:32 You can go follow me over on Twitter @RetroJay, but the O is a zero.

09:35 Or you can swing by Instagram, where it's the same handle, RetroJay, but the O is a

09:39 zero.

09:40 Hope to see you over there.

09:41 Before I go, I just want to say one thing.

09:43 I hope you're treating yourself well with love and respect, my friend, because you deserve

09:47 all the best things in life, alright?

09:48 And do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise.

09:51 Big love to you.

09:52 Now go out there and smash your life goals today.

09:55 I believe in you.

09:56 As always, I've been Jules.

09:57 You have been awesome.

09:58 Never forget that.

09:59 I'll speak to you soon.

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