Star Wars showed Darth Vader longing for one specific thing that Emperor Palpatine eventually achieves. As Sith master and apprentice, Vader and Palpatine have a very complicated relationship. Beginning as a Jedi apprentice with the Chancellor as his mentor, their dynamic constantly shifted, but there was always one constant.
Darth Vader always sought the power that Sidious had from him. Vader’s initial motivation for following the ways of the Sith in general was to save Padmé’s life, which is why he began acting so rashly – even to the point of killing younglings. It was all a desperate attempt to prevent Padmé’s death, which Vader still couldn’t do. But he never stopped trying to bring her back.
Sith have always sought to conquer death… & Vader is no exception
The dark side of the force is a way to many abilities some consider to be unnatural
One of the core tenets of The Force is that the dark side embodies decay. It can give a user power, but it always leads to death and decay, not the eternal life and peace the light side can guarantee. This, however, does not stop Sita from desiring it. Most Sith have always sought to cheat death, much like Vader and Palpatine.
Related
This cheating of death can come in many ways, all of which boil down to some sort of power. Some Sith tried to build vast empires, gathering as much power as they could politically and militarily. Others focused on spiritual aspects of immortality, or even technological ways of cheating death, like the Sith King Ommin in the Old Republic. Vader’s attempt at this was even more interesting, as it recontextualizes a now very popular location in modern Star Wars.
Darth Vader’s Mustafar Fortress was a failed attempt to conquer death
Vader & Momin’s Dark Side Collaboration
Darth Vader’s now-iconic Mustafar Fortress is actually his way of trying to cheat death. As seen in the final arc of the Darth Vader (2017) Comics by Charles Soule & Giuseppe Camuncoli, Fortress Vader was a project built with the intention of resurrecting Padmé from the Netherworld of the Force. In order to do this, Vader built his castle on top of a Force vergence on the barren lava world where he completely fell to the dark side.
Related
With the goal of resurrecting Padmé from the dead, and still living the beginning of his Sith tutelage, Vader needed help. To get it, Vader used the mask of Darth Momin, an ancient and twisted Sith artist, who had Imperial officers design his fortress. This specific design was built to channel the dark side, tearing a hole between life and death. Ultimately, this plan failed, pushing Vader further to the dark side.
This brings a whole new dimension to Vader’s character, especially considering the idea of ​​the Sith Lord being resigned to his fate. Knowing that Anakin didn’t simply give up on his lost love once she passed, only to leave, makes his story even more tragic. Even more tragic, however, is the fact that While Vader tried for years to bring Padmé back from the netherworld of the Force, his greatest ally and enemy actually accomplished this very specific feat..
Palpatine’s agents succeeded where Darth Vader failed
A return from the netherworld of the force
Many years later, Palpatine succeeded where Vader’s efforts on Mustafar failed. Between his physical death over Endur in Return of the Jedi And his discovery on Exegol, the late Emperor’s servant drew his spirit back from the netherworld of the Force. Palpatine is actually able to cheat death using the Essence Transfer Force abilityAnd some Sith technologies – but with one specific condition.
Palpatine’s consciousness did what Vader did not, but it had to be placed in a clone body on the Sith world of Exegol. This led, as mentioned earlier, to more decay. The clone bodies began to decay even more, leading to the Emperor clinging to his last chance at eternal life – transferring his spirit into another body. This proves that Palpatine is undoubtedly the most powerful Sith of all Star Warswas yet another victim to the mortality guaranteed by using the dark side of the Force.