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Palpatine was Star Wars’ most conniving villain, but it took Vader a while to see the truth. Here’s where the Sith Lord put two and two together.
Although Star Wars comics have recently been infatuated with a new Dark Side cult called the Ascendant, there’s no question that the Sith remain the most despicable beings in the galaxy. Darth Sidious, especially, was one of the best at being bad. The way he infiltrated and manipulated the Republic while destroying the Jedi is impressive in its loathsomeness. And the cherry on top? Recruiting Anakin Skywalker — the Jedi’s poster boy, war hero, and Chosen One — to serve as his apprentice, twisting him into a terrifying, mechanical Sith Lord.
Darth Vader was unlike anything the galaxy had seen in a millennium — a cold, powerful killing machine. While Vader suffered extraordinarily — physically and mentally — following his fiery fight with Obi-Wan, he nonetheless gained an aura of command and dread upon his “rebirth” in his infamous and domineering suit. No one ever dared to disrespect him as the Jedi Council once had. But did Vader ever regret his transformation?
The short answer is yes, without a doubt, Vader regretted becoming a cybernetic monstrosity. First, there’s the constant pain and discomfort from his suit. Worse, however, is the psychological pain. Vader destroyed everything he had ever known for a chance to save Padme. However, it was all for naught. He literally crashed and burned during his duel on Mustafar.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Palpatine continued not telling him the whole truth. Maintaining his manipulative MO, Sidious told Vader that Anakin Skywalker had killed Padme in anger. At that moment, the one in which Vader screamed, “No!” in Revenge of the Sith, the Sith apprentice believed himself to be his own worst enemy. Vader hated himself. It likely only grew worse when Vader realized that Palpatine had absolutely played him.
The comic series Star Wars: Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith (by Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Joe Caramagna, and David Curiel) picks up immediately after Revenge of the Sith. Its first few issues show Vader tracking and defeating Jedi Master Kirak Infil’a on the river moon of Al’doleem. Vader’s motivation was to claim the Jedi’s lightsaber crystal as his own. In Star Wars: Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith #5, Vader starts to bleed the Kyber crystal.
During that hate-filled process, the crystal pushes back against Vader, showing him all of his memories at once. It was seemingly at that moment that Vader realizes how Palpatine has played him like a Bith’s Kloo Horn. All of the bad things in his life were because of Palpatine.
The crystal also seems to suggest a means of redemption. If Vader would only oppose Sidious and eliminate him, the galaxy would be saved. From there, repenting his ill-informed but still heinous actions and apologizing to Obi-Wan should reset the scales and stop Vader’s long slide into darkness.
Vader, however, was clearly not ready for that vision. He hated his master like every Sith apprentice, but he couldn’t turn on him. Vader’s life was already ruined, after all, so why not just continue to pursue more and darker powers. It was the only course. Press on in service to the Dark Side as an act of personal punishment. His self-hatred was simply too strong to be overcome, even for the promise of redemption. Until his son. Luke’s arrival, and courage, gave Vader a path to redemption and a reason to take it.
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