Who thinks that when Lucas wrote the original Star Wars (epi 4), that Vader was Luke’s father?
And it also seems to me that Vader’s position completely changes in Empire. In epi. 4 Tarkin is in total control of Vader and in Empire Vader can just kill whomever he wants.
I think Vader was completely changed for Empire. In epi 4, he is the black knight, controled by the evil institution that the young hero has to destroy, before he can destroy the true evil of the black knight’s master. But in Empire he becomes something completely different.
I don’t think that Lucas had determined that Darth Vader was Luke’s father in the first movie.
The conception of the Empire also changed throughout the movies. I’ve read the novelization of the first movie, and you get the idea that the Emperor is corrupt and isolated, or as the prologue to the novel says:
Wasn’t Vader’s whole mission in STAR WARS to track down the plans to the Death Star so that the Rebel Alliance couldn’t use the information to defeat the Empire’s new super weapon?
Obviously, Vader fails miserably in his task, yet somehow someway when he gets back to the Emperor and presents himself as the only survivor of a disaster he failed to present, what does he get? Punishment? Torture? Execution? No – he gets a promotion!
I’m sure there’s a joke here somewhere, about this being the way most corporations work.
Considering that the German word for “father” is “Vater” (i.e. Vader), I think it’s pretty likely Lucas had it in mind. Also, the plot twist which has the hero and villian turn out to be brothers or father and son is an old one, and Star Wars isn’t exactly a stellar example of original scriptwriting.
mr ekers has the right of it. i’ve read that lucas was using the name darth vader as a stand in for dark father. all the other darths seem to have a more sinister last name, maul, tyrannis, etc. vader is a bit blah.
Well, sorta. I’ve always gotten the impression that it was completely serendipitous that Vader was involved. Most of the time, he acted as a free agent, and only reported to the Emperor about REALLY important matters.
Well… building the Death Star was Grand Moff Tarkin’s pet project (and he planned on using it to depose the Emperor, to boot). Vader was probably just hanging around to “assist” Tarkin… and to eliminate him if the Grand Moff began to get too feisty with his new toy.
However… EU material does mention that Vader supposedly lost his right hand after the failure at Yavin (of course, we know that’s gotta be bunk, since we saw him lose his right hand in AOTC. Maybe Mara Jade’s memory was screwy and that’s when Vader lost his left hand?).