‘When I first encountered your father,’ Ben con-
tinued, ‘he was already a great pilot. But what amazed
me was how strongly the Force was with him. I took it
upon myself to train Anakin in the ways of the Jedi. My
mistake was thinking I could be as good a teacher as
Yoda. I was not. Such was my foolish pride. The
Emperor sensed Anakin’s power, and he lured him to
the dark side.’ He paused sadly and looked directly into
Luke’s eyes, as if he were asking for the boy’s forgive-
ness. ‘My pride had terrible consequences for the gal-
axy.’ROTJ Novelization.
Then they also talk about the quick and easy path in TESB movie. Vader took the quick and easy path and became an agent of evil. Described as easier, quicker more seductive. Luke says how will I know the good side from the bad. Yoda suggests calm reflection, and be at peace, passive. The force must be used only for knowledge and defense, never for attack. Once you start down the dark path consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.
He was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, Ben’s words in ROTJ. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became 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.
In Episode IV Obi Wan says:
“Yes. I was once a Jedi knight, the same as your father. I understand that you’ve become quite a good pilot yourself. He was the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior. I understand that you’ve become quite a good pilot yourself. And he was a good friend.
Luke asks how did my father die.
And Obi Wan says. A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force.
All 3 OT films talk about Vader’s seduction. where is it in the prequel? other than in the midichlorian scene in the opera house about plagueis. Is it possible to learn this power. Not from a Jedi. His impatience is more than implied in Episode II Obi Wan’s, jealous he is holding me back. I promise you I’ll learn to stop people from dying, someday i’ll be the most powerful Jedi ever. Well, he was arguably the most lethal and powerful Sith Lord, I’ll give him that, JEDI hardly. He lost on Mustafar, he never won a single duel against Ben Kenobi. Not even on the Death Star. Kenobi let him cut him down. He beat Luke in TESB, because Luke was a neophyte, and not even a Padawan. He loses to him in ROTJ, because he was seduced by the light, according to the Disney trilogy and Kylo Ren.
I thought he’d be like a superhero who turns evil. Someone just, someone moral. The prequel doesn’t show that.
I had this great mythology in my head for years based on what Ben said. The JEDI were the guardians of peace and justice in the old republic for a thousand generations. and the Clone Wars was going to be this galaxy defining moment. its not even onscreen. or only the start and the end. I never wanted or ever pictured Yoda with a lightsaber. Like at all.
The opening prologue of the Alan Dean Foster novel told me an amazing tale we didn’t receive.
ANOTHER GALAXY, ANOTHER TIME.
The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that … it was the Republic.
Once, under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi Knights, the Republic throve and grew. But as often happens when wealth and power pass beyond the admirable and attain the awesome, then appear those evil ones who have greed to match.
So it was with the Republic at its height. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand any external attack, the Republic rotted from within though the danger was not visible from outside.
Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic.
Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears.
Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy. Many used the Imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.
But a small number of systems rebelled at these new outrages. Declaring themselves opposed to the New Order they began the great battle to restore the Old Republic.
From the beginning they were vastly outnumbered by the systems held in thrall by the Emperor. In those first dark days it seemed certain the bright flame of resistance would be extinguished before it could cast the light of new truth across a galaxy of oppressed and beaten peoples …
From the First Saga
Journal of the Whills
The history of the Star Wars Universe was more interesting before Vader and Anakin Skywalker became the same person. It opened up the idea of a much earlier starting date for the Empire than we got. Maybe the Jedi had already been on the run for a generation before Vader tracked down Anakin in the Outer Rim and killed him?