George Lucas has claimed that he named Darth Vader for the Dutch word for father, and wikipedia mostly focuses on this etymology, but briefly mentions two alternative theories:
He then “added lots of last names, Vaders and Wilsons and Smiths, and … just came up with the combination of Darth and Vader”. After the release of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Lucas stated that the name Vader was based upon the German/Dutch-language word vater or vader (‘father’), suggesting “Dark Father” and the character’s relationship with original-trilogy protagonist Luke Skywalker.[5] Other words which may have inspired the name are “death” and “invader”,[6] as well as the name of a high-school upperclassman of Lucas’s, Gary Vader.[7][8]
(From the wikipedia article on Darth Vader)
On the other hand, wiktionary prefers the origin via ‘invader’:
“Vader” is traditionally explained as being from Dutchvader (“father”). However, the idea of Vader’s fatherhood was only developed for The Empire Strikes Back (after the character was introduced), making this improbable. It is more likely a shortening of invader or from the surname Vader .[1]
(From the wiktionary article on Darth Vader)
I was able to read the Business Insider Australia article cited as #6 in the wikipedia article, but it doesn’t seem to have evidence for the claim, and I haven’t read The Secret History of Star Wars cited in the wiktionary article. Apparently the evidence for the question hinges on whether Darth Vader was even Luke’s father before the script for The Empire Strikes Back was written (odd that wiktionary seems to claim Darth Vader first shows up in ESB, he was clearly a named and important character in A New Hope) and what early versions of A New Hope might have as a different name for Darth Vader before the final version.
I bet there’s people here who know a hell of a lot more about Star Wars than I do - what do you all know?
Oh, I get caught away from home for a question I can handle! I just have to look at my pre-May 1977 Starlog magazines. I think there is a different name for Vader in pre-production press materials. But it wasn’t that different.
I don’t care what Lucas may claim now, Vader wasn’t Luke’s father in Star Wars No Number.
The common scoop at the time was “Vader” was a shortening of “invader”. I have no idea what George Lucas was thinking at that time, but he is not a reliable narrator of Star Wars history. (I do not mean this as an insult–writers absolutely should rewrite.)
The only person who knows for certain is George Lucas, and he’s already given his answer. Different names for the character in pre-production doesn’t really prove anything, he may have always planned on having that character be Luke’s father, and just came up with the name idea later.
I don’t read it that way - I think they’re saying he was already an established character before ESB came out - “after the character was introduced” means that ESB was written after the character was first seen and named in ANH.
There’s rewrite, and then there’s Lucas’ MiniTrue version. Changing the films for DVD and claiming “it was always that way, and you can’t prove different” just doesn’t cut it.
And maybe not even he, since (1) human memory is not 100% reliable, and (2) writers/creators have all kinds of influences that they are not consciously aware of.
Yeah, in the absence of a notebook that’s clearly written before 1977 stating “Obi-wan lies to Luke, the sith lord is actually Luke’s dad, big reveal in next movie”, there’s no certainty of anything.
I’m sure we can trust the post-“fame and fortune” recollections of the man who gave us Darth (In)Sidious
ETA: this is the man who gave us “General Grievous” and “Count Dooku” as antagonists, “Han Solo” and “Chew-baccy” as part of the band, and eventually thought better of naming the hero “Luke Starkiller”. Methinks fans like to overthink just how much thought he put into some of these names.
I have read The Secret History of Star Wars. A few things worth pointing out, as sourced in that book:
The earliest appearance of the name “Darth Vader” was in an early draft of the script, where it is applied to a fairly minor Imperial officer, who was not really similar in any way to the Sith Lord that we all know now. It seems unlikely that Lucas would deliberately develop a name meaning “Dark Father,” and then give it to a minor one-off character. It should also be noted that in that draft, the hero’s father was still alive.
The second thing: in the earliest draft script of Empire, written by Leigh Brackett, Luke’s father appears to him as a Force ghost on Dagobah, along with Obi-Wan. Supposedly Lucas had told Brackett the basic plot that he wanted to convey in the movie, but it seems odd that he wouldn’t have mentioned the fact that Vader was really Luke’s father to her. More likely is that he hadn’t come up with that idea at that point in the writing process.
The third thing: Lucas had a friend in high school named Gary Vader. That is probably the most immediate source of the name.
The fact that “Vader” is similar to the Dutch word for father (the pronunciation is different) may have been one of the contributing factors that influenced Lucas to make Vader into Luke’s father, but the evidence that this was the plan all along is pretty thin on the ground. There’s nothing wrong with changing your plans when you get a better idea–all writers do that–but I’m not crazy about the way Lucas has maintained (and maybe convinced himself) that this was the idea from the beginning.
“Yoda” is a perfectly cromulent family name in Japan. So Japanese people basically watch a movie where Luke is trained by the mysterious Jedi master Smith (or whatever).
When it’s planned form the beginning, you don’t need to add clunky expository retcons like:
Luke: Ben! Why didn’t you tell me? You told me that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered my father.
Obi-Wan: Your father… was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and “became” the Sith Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So, what I told you was true… from a certain point of view.
Luke Skywalker: A certain point of view?
Obi-Wan: Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
Just as you have Darth Sidious (for Insidious), Darth Maul, Darth Plagueis, Darth Bane (from a Phantom Menace deleted scene), and so on. Every Sith name is alluding to something nasty. The idea that it means “father” and not “invader” is silly. Lucas was either making a joke, or trying to pull one over on people. The names are fairly consistent in theme.
Were any other Darths even mentioned in Episode IV (no further name)? I remember thinking that Darth was his first name and Vader his last name, and when Ol’ Ben called him Darth, it wasn’t as a title but as his first name.
