Darth Vader's Redemption

We are in the Easter Tridium! That means that it’s not Easter yet, but it’s darn close!

I am almost caught up on my reading list, which means… I have to pick up new books to read. The library’s got me covered, though. I should be able to finish up Assassin’s Creed II soon, and after that, we’re doing Brotherhood I think?

Allergies haven’t been as bad these last couple of days, so I think pollen levels are going down? Hopefully I haven’t spoken too soon.

I watched a lot of Star Wars last weekend so this is on my mind, and with Easter and everything, redemption’s on my mind.

Darth Vader’s Redemption

I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this somewhere, but I can’t find it. Maybe I just talked about it with someone? Maybe it’s in my Revenge of the Sith review?

Do you have any idea how bonkers it is that Darth Vader gets a redemption arc? That he gets to choose the side of good and become a Force ghost at the end of the Original Trilogy? This is a man who slaughtered all of his coworkers (both Jedi and Imperial officers), tortured Rebel spies (including one who turned out to be his daughter), carried out the Emperor’s evil orders all over the galaxy… and still Luke brings out the good in him at the very end. The one guy who knew him best before he turned evil, Obi-Wan, insists that he’s ‘more machine than man’ now, a servant of evil.

And that’s not even getting into the Prequel Trilogy! Even before the man becomes a Sith Lord, there’s that village full of Tusken Raiders that he murders. Then he DOES become a Sith Lord, and promptly kills a bunch of children. I’ve seen it said that murdering children is probably too far over the line to make us care about Anakin, and there was a short while when I agreed with this, but right now–no. Because the point we’re supposed to get out of Anakin is that he is seemingly irredeemable when he turns evil. Lucas does not want you to think that Anakin is just misunderstood, or that the blame should go elsewhere. In Revenge of the Sith, Padme insists that there’s good in Anakin still, but Obi-Wan is more doubtful because unlike her, he has actually seen the bodies Anakin left behind.

I see in fandom a lot this discourse about which characters deserve redemption arcs, which is kind of nonsense? The point of redemption is that you don’t deserve it. If a character is to be redeemed, he or she has to have done something bad, and the worse it is the more interesting and complex it is. Vader was instrumental in genocide and setting up the fascist regime to end all fascist regimes. 

The scene where Luke tells Leia that Vader’s his dad, and that they’re twins–this is where it really hit me how insane this idea is, that Darth Vader could possibly be redeemed. Because yeah, Luke and Leia are close, but imagine one of your closest friends revealing that A), you’re siblings, and B), also your real dad is one of the leaders of the fascist military. And also, hey, he tortured you. I cannot stress this enough: Vader tortured his daughter. He didn’t know it was his daughter, but can you imagine what Leia has to go through once she learns the truth. It’s astounding that she doesn’t have a complete nervous breakdown.

“That fascist guy that tortured you, and stood by while your planet was destroyed? Yeah, him. He’s your dad. And there’s good in him, I know it.”

Any reasonable person would conclude that no, there’s no good in that guy. I think there is a lot of good drama to be wrung out of Leia coming to terms with Vader being her father, though the only presently canon work I can think of that deals with it is Bloodline by Claudia Gray. I think the general consensus is that while Luke has it in him to forgive Vader–and it’s not like he had it easy from Vader, either, the man cut off his hand–Leia doesn’t, because her experiences with Vader, and her upbringing in general, are entirely different from her brother’s.

But she still has to deal with this, because Vader was redeemed! This isn’t subjective, either, the Force apparently declared it. Yes, we the audience know that it works out (until the Sequel Trilogy where Palpatine is back for Reasons), especially because Vader dies and doesn’t have to go to trial or anything like that. But to Leia, this is a giant emotionally complex mess she’s been handed to deal with.

[And then her son starts idolizing Vader for reasons that EU writers have to work out, as the movies don’t really explain well, and that must hit like a repeated series of gut punches.]

By rights of ‘deserve’ we shouldn’t want to have Vader redeemed. 

Then again, we have the question: do we want Luke to kill his father? Because the story isn’t just about Anakin/Darth Vader. It’s about Luke, and his triumph over evil isn’t just stopping the Empire (though that’s a very big part of it). It’s about being able to bring out the good in someone who was once a champion of the Light. It’s about Luke winning in his own way, not the way he’s told he has to. It’s about defeating evil in a way that isn’t just taking up a weapon and killing it.

And it’s also very, very satisfying to have Vader chuck Palpatine down a giant, seemingly endless shaft.

It seems like the Star Wars Original Trilogy is often characterized as being way too simplistic in its morality. Which maybe it is–but this is sticking out like a weird thorn, because when you look at the whole it doesn’t make moral sense to a lot of people. Darth Vader doesn’t deserve a happy ending. He gets one anyway, though–one of the most famous in film history!

It’s gutsy. I don’t think we all fully appreciate how insane this ending to Vader’s character arc is.

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