Inspiration Monday
Earliest Memories
One of my earliest television memories involved watching Darth Vader step onto the rebel ship with the music that changed my life… I like to think I was three years old, but realistically, I couldn’t tell you if I was two, three or four. It’s a vague memory that impacted me in ways many other stories did not.
Darth Vader has remained an important fixture in modern movies even after the prequel trilogy was shown, and not too many people have a lot of nice things to say about it. How about you? Do you remember your first movie or villain?
I have said it before and will repeat it: I am a big fan of the prequel trilogy.
Maybe not in the way you would imagine… though as a child, I did like Jar Jar Binks.
Even though… and this is a spoiler if you haven’t seen the prequels (shame on you) … he did help bring about the Empire and the destruction of the Old Republic when he represented Naboo… But we can discuss this some other time.
A Villian’s Origin Story
For now, I want to focus on Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader’s journey.
When I first got to know Darth Vader, he was an imposing and scary figure with power beyond what anyone around him had. He was dangerous and intimidating and had the Force powers to match. He would kill without consideration, participate in the destruction of a planet and choke the life out of his subordinates if they displeased him.
The admission that Luke Skywalker is his son brings a sense of humanity to this villain.
To date, Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back is my favourite movie in the series.
What’s yours?
Opposite Events
His presence changes in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi as we slowly begin to see him try to convince Luke to join the dark side and ultimately sacrifice his life to save his son.
Look back on how Revenge of the Sith ends: he killed the love of his life in his anger… the fleeting life Padme had by the end of her movie was enough to save the lives of two innocent babies, but they often say she died of a broken heart after losing her husband.
There is a significant contrast between the two movies; telling the story in reverse makes a huge difference.
How to Tell a Story
You may say what you want about the prequel trilogy, but it is the birth of villain background stories. We know very little about Darth Vader throughout the originals.
Even his mentor lies in New Hope when he reveals bits and pieces about who Anakin is, even omitting a horrible truth we learned through Revenge of the Sith – Anakin became Darth Vader the way we know him because of Obi-Wan’s actions… because they fought on Mustafar, Anakin became more machine than human.
Stories are often shown from start to finish, but in creating a story that showed the end before revealing the beginning, George Lucas created a beautiful piece of art that will forever remain in my heart… and in the hearts of others.
Another Great Origin Stories
I have read some of the books written after and even watched the latest trilogy. As much as it was enjoyable to learn ways Star Wars could have expanded and did expand, it still doesn’t match the story of Anakin and Darth Vader.
The villain backstory revealed became part of modern media later. If you have watched Once Upon a Time, you would have seen many of the villains’ backstories. My favourite is that of the Evil Queen or Regina, but it isn’t a story I would have rooted for from the beginning. I never really had too much interest in the character when I was little, as she was very one-dimensional.
Darth Vader was never that.
Who’s your favourite villain?
What’s your favourite villain story arc?
Much of my love for Darth Vader’s story arc comes through in my writing. Even when I create my villains, I want to know their origins. Even when I wrote about Sith characters in the Star Wars universe, I understood that almost no villain is a villain in their own lives, but this is represented through the eyes of the Jedi in the story.
Villians in the Just One series
In the Just One universe, I began with a couple of villains but soon came to understand that a) their villainy begins with the actions of another and b) they are somehow redeemable because what they have become in the original story was due to the influences from others.
The one I particularly love one villain from Just One, who not only got a chance to see the truth of her actions through the second book but was also able to start from scratch in Just One: Weight of the World (book three) because much of her life was influenced by what her ancestor did three generations ago (spoiler alert: Her mother was banished for be an illegitimate child of a royal sibling, and the entire culture is based on the fact that only the ruling couple was allowed to have children).
Nothing about the development of Just One makes it out like the ancestors of my heroine were the good guys. Some of them had done horrible things to their blood, thinking they were doing right because for hundreds and possibly thousands of years, this was the way… much to do with them, even erasing parts of history because it did not suit the current regime. This is nothing else I have invited, but it is a storyline I plan to explore further…
And much of this is thanks to the fantastic story written by George Lucas.
Until next time, like and follow for more… and say hi so I know you’re out there.
~ Love, L.V.
L.V. Luca 