# Was Darth Vader a sadist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416 "2005-05-18T15:08:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/1 "2005-05-18T15:08:49Z")
Clearly, the films and the other source materials have shown Vader as the type to kill without hesitation. Failure, combat, protection of secrets or even to save face. All could bring out the lethal power of the artist formerly known as Anakin. But did he get off on it? There are somewhat rational reasons why he would kill in those situations (well, rational if you are an intergalactic warlord). But did Vader go around and kill people for shits and giggles? When he landed on a conquered site, did he kill the common folk at random? Did he kill when he didn’t feel he needed to? Did he kill at random just to keep up his reputation as a killer (which is “rational” at some level)? Did he have torture chambers for reasons OTHER than extracting information to snuff out resistence? Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/2 "2005-05-18T15:14:44Z")
I wouldn’t think so. Vader was efficient as hell, but I don’t think he got his jollies torturing people. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/3 "2005-05-18T15:26:55Z")
I bet he was into hardcore dominant kink. And Amidala really dug it. That’s all the more reason to tell Luke his father was dead. “Luke, your father whacked millions of men to death in an afternoon. No, he literally _whacked_ them to death.” Better the kid grow up on some little backwater than know that. Remember the heat lamp they used on Han Solo in ESB? Yeah, maybe he used that on her. You gotta wonder about a guy who would wear that crazy black outfit. Yeah, yeah, walking iron lung, yada yada. He was into hardore dominant kink, he was a top, a sadist. In years to come, Lucas will sell someone a license for a website or series of flicks called _Darth Vader’s Torture Chamber_. Maybe Rob Zombie will buy it and oversee production. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/4 "2005-05-18T15:27:16Z")
I’m not sure that he took pleasure from it, other than it being a release of rage and anger. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/5 "2005-05-18T15:39:18Z")
I think what was so scary about the Sith is that they weren’t dumb, uncontrolled, passionate villains… they knew their shit and got it done, and _that_’s why they were able to wipe out the Jedi. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/6 "2005-05-18T16:10:35Z")
I know this is the game, and not the movie, but bear with me. There is a point. Small Spoiler: In the Knights of the Old Republic game, there’s a section where the main bad guy is torturing your woman. Well, he’s got her strapped to a slab, and he leans in really close, close enough almost to breathe in her ear, and whispers something, I forget what. My thoughts immediately jumped to two things: 1. Is he \*enjoying \* it? :eek: 2. Would Darth Vader have done it, and would he have enjoyed it? I don’t think he would have, but I’ve wondered ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Elysian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Elysian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/7 "2005-05-18T16:17:28Z")
Here you go, in LEGO form! [http://www.geocities.com/duder\_jim2001/part1.html](http://www.geocities.com/duder_jim2001/part1.html) (possibly not work safe, keep clicking next to see the rest of the story) ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/8 "2005-05-18T18:32:17Z")
The Emperor, OTOH, would enjoy the torture. Vader just seemed so dispassionately evil. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/9 "2005-05-18T18:46:34Z")
I got the sense Vader did nasty things to people primarily to make a point. The Galactic Empire was evil, but it wasn’t wanton, and neither was Vader. Do what the Emeror wants, and things will go swimmingly for you. Show disrespect, inefficiency, or essentially fuck up in any other way that ticks the Emperor off, and Vader will get medieval on your ass. And don’t mouth off to Vader, either. Those, essentially, were The Rules. It seems anyone abiding by them was reasonably safe from harm. That would never be true if Vader were a _bona fide_ sadist. I imagine the Empire would have fragmented immediately if Vader and the Emperor reined as wantonly cruel tyrants, instead of brutally pragmatic technocrats. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/10 "2005-05-19T00:26:45Z")
No, not really sadist. Vader & Palpatine seek to bend the universe to his will, and if it takes killing and torturing, so be it. But Vader does not seem to derive personal pleasure from the actual cruelty, it’s just a tool in his kit – as mentioned, it’s a release of anger, rage, and dark emotion that he needs to keep up in order to more readily tap into the Dark Side. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/11 "2005-05-19T00:55:36Z")
Lawful Evil, man - that’s the words you’re all looking for. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/12 "2005-05-19T04:33:29Z")
Not a sadist, but a leather freak and possibly a “Bear”. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/13 "2005-05-19T04:56:29Z")
You know, I do not understand why Sith Lords have such a bad rap. I can’t think of anything evil they did: Darth Maul: Yeah, he killed Qui-Gon, but he was ganged up on 2 to 1. They made the first move. Count Dooku: Disillusioned by the Republic, he broke away from them. What’s so bad about that? Darth Vader: Here’s the tricky one. I cannot think of anything he did that was “evil”. He didn’t blow up Alderaan, he was just in the room when Tarkin blew it up. He choked a rebel leader, tortured Leia, and froze Han; but he was working against a rebellion that was trying to usurp the government he worked for. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/14 "2005-05-19T04:58:17Z")
Hayden Christensen is definitely no “bear”. Anyhow, any hair the poir SOB may have had was burned off by the lava. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-darth-vader-a-sadist/304416/15 "2005-05-19T14:19:17Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > You know, I do not understand why Sith Lords have such a bad rap. I can’t think of anything evil they did: > > Darth Maul: Yeah, he killed Qui-Gon, but he was ganged up on 2 to 1. They made the first move. Other than that whole, “Tracking them down on Tatooine and attempting to kill Qui-Gon in a surprise ambush,” part that happened well before the scene you’re talking about. 🙂