I just watched the arm scene. It wasn’t primarily calculating IMO. He was going to end the battle before, then Luke gets in a good hit, then Vader has an incoherent yell of rage and cuts his hand off.
Yes, he uses his anger. For a calculated act to end the conflict with Luke. That’s what I mean, he wields his anger like a blunt weapon.
And while the choking of an officer might be making a point, it is still quite hotheaded. Imagine if Tarkin choked out that same guy if that guy called him frail or something in a meeting.
The guy was insulting his power in the force and so he showed it to him.
Also I could totally imagine Tarkin doing that.
Villains attack their underlings to show their strength all the time. Like Gus killing Victor in Breaking Bad. Gus may be mad but he remains collected and cold.
And that’s the difference. They use their anger with cunning in a way that always furthers their interests.
Well I think the thing is, the dry wit that he displays in the PT would only congeal into the nastiness of Vader after he gives himself to the dark. I think of moments like “If you’ll excuse me!” or “I say patience.” as the kind of humor that would become nastier in Vader.
“I say patience” was not a joke.
You make a fair point about his sense of humor. I think the disconnect comes from the fact that he never jokes in a way that asserts dominance over another person. “We would be honored, if you would join us.” is such an awesome and funny line because he’s dryly lording over Han, gloating that he has them trapped. It’s such a great showcase of his wit.
The mature Vader persona of the OT isn’t yet complete in the PT, we are left to fill in the gap from freshly traumatized ex Jedi to comfortable middle aged Sith lord. Which i’m fine with, but I think some fans are not. This is also why I think the volatile, “whiny” nature of his PT character isn’t incongruent, Vader in the OT and the Sith in general are basically what happens when you just let your worst, immature impulses take the wheel. Don’t like this underling? Kill him. Don’t like Obi Wan reminding you of the past? Kill him. Don’t like the Rebels pooping on your party? Kill them all.
That’s the issue. The audience is forced to head canon 20 years of character development instead of just having Anakin be more like Vader.
I don’t even mind a younger Vader being a bit more emotional. He is that way in the 2017 Marvel comics by Charles Soule and I love his characterization in that series. But he’s still mostly cold and never explodes.
I agree that the Sith are about giving into their worst impulses, but if they constantly let their anger overcome them and stab themselves in the foot they wouldn’t get very far.
People say this, but I disagree. Going off that scene, Anakin clearly has a pretty clear understanding of the Sith ideology (as taught by the Jedi at least). If the Jedi are about letting go, the Sith are about holding on, so holding onto your life in perpetuity seems like something a Sith would attempt.
That should’ve been explored in the movie itself. We know the Sith attempted to cheat death from EU novels but not the film. And I’m talking about something other then Palpatine’s words which for all we know could be lies. Maybe Anakin even finds a Sith holocron Plagueis created that teaches the power but he can’t open it until he indulges enough in the dark side. So he opens others and learns the ways of the dark side, gradually being seduced by it’s power.