Darth Vader Star Wars: Character Profile, Actors and Fate

Darth Vader is the Sith Lord who serves Emperor Palpatine as his apprentice and commands Imperial forces in the original trilogy, and he is the same person as Anakin Skywalker. So, is Anakin Skywalker Darth Vader? Yes. Revenge of the Sith (2005), directed by George Lucas, shows Anakin kneel to Palpatine and take the name Darth Vader, and its cast list credits Hayden Christensen as "Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader".

Because one character is credited under several names, the cast lists can look confusing. The credits use "Darth Vader", "Darth Vader (performer)", "Darth Vader (voice)" and "Darth Vader (voice) (uncredited)" for the armored figure, and "Anakin Skywalker" or "Anakin Skywalker (voice)" for the man before the suit. In Star Wars (1977), also called A New Hope, David Prowse is credited as the performer and James Earl Jones as an uncredited voice. In The Empire Strikes Back (1980), directed by Irvin Kershner, Prowse is credited as Darth Vader. In Return of the Jedi (1983), directed by Richard Marquand, Jones is credited for the voice, Prowse for the character, and Sebastian Shaw plays Anakin Skywalker.

The younger Anakin has his own cast. Jake Lloyd plays the boy in The Phantom Menace (1999), Hayden Christensen takes over in Attack of the Clones (2002), and Matt Lanter voices him in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), directed by Dave Filoni. Searchers sometimes pair Vader with The Mandalorian, but The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026), directed by Jon Favreau, has no Darth Vader role in its cast or its story. For the wider cast of villains and heroes, see Star Wars characters and Star Wars Jedi and Sith.

Anakin Skywalker turns to the dark side in Revenge of the Sith because Palpatine convinces him the dark side can save Padmé from dying, while the Jedi Council's distrust and his fear of loss push him away from the Jedi. His story spans nine films, and it reads most clearly in chronological order rather than release order. The Phantom Menace introduces Anakin as an enslaved boy on Tatooine whose unusual gifts lead the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn to believe he is the prophesied Chosen One. Anakin wins a dangerous podrace, gains his freedom, and later destroys the Trade Federation's droid control ship by accident from inside a starfighter. The Jedi Council hesitates to train him because of his age and fear, but Obi-Wan Kenobi takes him as a student after Qui-Gon dies.

In Attack of the Clones, Anakin is Obi-Wan's headstrong apprentice and falls in love with Padmé Amidala despite the Jedi rules against attachment. He finds his mother, Shmi Skywalker, captured on Tatooine, and she dies in his arms. In a rage he kills the Tusken Raiders who held her. Count Dooku later cuts off his right arm on Geonosis, so Anakin is fitted with a mechanical one, and he and Padmé marry in secret on Naboo. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) sits between that film and Revenge of the Sith in story order and gives him a young Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, who earns his respect and stays on as his partner.

So, why did Darth Vader turn evil? The films show a chain of pressures rather than a single cause. In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin kills the unarmed Count Dooku at Palpatine's urging, then is haunted by visions of Padmé dying in childbirth. The Council makes him the Chancellor's representative but refuses him the rank of Master, and then asks him to spy on Palpatine. Palpatine tells him the dark side can give him the power to save Padmé, and Anakin learns that the Chancellor is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. He tells Mace Windu, yet intervenes when Windu goes to arrest Palpatine, and Windu is killed. Anakin kneels and is renamed Darth Vader.

The fall is quick once it starts. Palpatine issues Order 66, clone troopers kill most of the Jedi, and Palpatine declares himself Emperor, turning the Republic into the Empire. Anakin murders the Separatist leaders on Mustafar, and when he believes Padmé has betrayed him, he chokes her. Obi-Wan and Anakin fight a long duel across the volcanic planet, and Obi-Wan leaves him horribly burned. Palpatine rescues him, and he is rebuilt in a black armored suit.

How powerful is Vader afterward? The films show it rather than rate it. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), directed by Gareth Edwards, he attacks the Rebel flagship and cuts through the soldiers, although a small ship still escapes with the Death Star plans. In Star Wars (1977) he captures Princess Leia, strikes down Obi-Wan in a duel, and hunts the rebel pilots until Han Solo sends his fighter spinning away. In The Empire Strikes Back he sends a large invasion force against the Rebel base on Hoth, hires bounty hunters, has Han frozen in carbonite, cuts off Luke's hand and says he is Luke's father.

A chronological reading shows a pattern the release order hides. The prequels build the fall out of a fear of loss: first his mother's death in Attack of the Clones, then the visions of Padmé's death in Revenge of the Sith, and Palpatine offers the same answer to both, power. The original trilogy then reverses the structure. Vader is introduced in Star Wars (1977) as a finished villain, and only Return of the Jedi, which came out in 1983, supplies the redemption, with Luke offering himself to try to turn his father back to the light. The prequels, released between 1999 and 2005, were written to explain a man the audience had already known for more than two decades, which is why the Mustafar duel in Revenge of the Sith ends on the image that the 1977 film assumes: the black suit. By comparison, Rogue One, released on December 16, 2016 and leading directly into Star Wars (1977), uses Vader only as an enforcer, in the final minutes, and adds no new motive.

Darth Vader is the father of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, the husband of Padmé Amidala, the former student of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the apprentice of Palpatine. Those ties explain most of the choices he makes across the saga, so they are worth setting out one at a time.

Starting with the question many searchers ask, Darth Vader's son is Luke Skywalker. Padmé gives birth to the twins Luke and Leia at the end of Revenge of the Sith and dies, and the children are hidden: Luke with Owen Lars on Tatooine under Obi-Wan's watch, and Leia with Bail Organa on Alderaan. Vader tells Luke the truth in The Empire Strikes Back, and in Return of the Jedi Luke gives himself up so he can try to turn his father back to the light. Leia Organa is Vader's daughter, the twin of Luke, and in Star Wars (1977) he is the officer who captures her.

Padmé Amidala is the relationship that drives his fall. Anakin and Padmé marry in secret at the end of Attack of the Clones, with only C-3PO and R2-D2 as witnesses, and his fear of losing her is what Palpatine exploits in Revenge of the Sith.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is both mentor and opponent. He takes Anakin as his student at the end of The Phantom Menace, defeats him on Mustafar, and in Star Wars (1977) lets himself be struck down in a duel with Vader so the others can escape the Death Star.

Palpatine is Anakin's master, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who becomes Emperor. He appears first as Senator Palpatine and then as Chancellor, and he has the longest hold over Anakin of anyone in the saga. Ahsoka Tano, his apprentice in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), is the one major bond from his Jedi years that ends on a note of respect rather than betrayal.

Yes, Darth Vader dies at the end of Return of the Jedi, after he turns on the Emperor to save his son. He survives the Death Star battle in Star Wars (1977), where his fighter is sent spinning away into space, and he is alive at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, so his death comes only in the third film of the original trilogy.

In that film, Luke duels Vader and refuses to kill him, even when pushed to anger. The Emperor attacks Luke with lightning, and Vader finally turns on his master and kills him, but he is fatally wounded. So, who finally kills Darth Vader? Nobody defeats him in a duel: he is fatally wounded in the act of killing the Emperor.

How old was Vader when he died? Was Vader 45 when he died? None of the films in the saga states an age for Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader at his death, so 45 is not a figure the films give. What the films do fix is the order of events: he dies in Return of the Jedi (1983), after the fall in Revenge of the Sith and after the films of the original trilogy in which he serves the Emperor.

Darth Vader's face is revealed only when Luke removes his mask in Return of the Jedi, where Sebastian Shaw is credited as Anakin Skywalker; Hayden Christensen's Anakin is burned on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith, which is why he needs the suit.

After Vader dies, Luke takes his body away and honors him with a funeral pyre. The Rebels destroy the second Death Star and the Emperor dies with it. Luke then sees the Force spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker watching over his friends. Darth Vader's status is dead, and he appears last as a Force spirit in Return of the Jedi.

Darth Vader's best moment is his turn on the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, followed by the Rogue One flagship attack, the Mustafar duel in Revenge of the Sith and his duel with Obi-Wan in Star Wars (1977). That ranking is opinion, and the reasons rest on what each scene does for the character.

First, the turn on the Emperor. Return of the Jedi (1983) spends its final act asking whether Luke can reach his father. Luke refuses to kill Vader even when pushed to anger, the Emperor attacks Luke with lightning, and Vader kills his master and is fatally wounded. It works because it pays off a choice set up two films earlier, when Vader tells Luke in The Empire Strikes Back that he is his father. Of all his scenes, it is the only one that changes what the character is.

Second, the flagship attack in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which leads directly into Star Wars (1977) and was released on December 16, 2016. Vader cuts through the Rebel soldiers, yet a small ship escapes with the plans. The scene is short and gives Vader no new motive, but it shows his menace at the point where the first film begins. As a comparison, the prequels explain him, while this scene simply shows him.

Third, Mustafar. Obi-Wan and Anakin fight a long duel across the volcanic planet, and Obi-Wan leaves him horribly burned before Palpatine has him rebuilt in the black armored suit. It is the scene that makes the later films read differently, since every appearance in the original trilogy follows from it.

Fourth, the duel in Star Wars (1977), released on May 25, 1977. Vader strikes down Obi-Wan, who lets himself be struck so the others can escape. Later he hunts the rebel pilots until Han Solo sends his fighter spinning away, which keeps him alive for the sequels.