Star wars showed Darth Vader striving for one specific goal, which Emperor Palpatine ultimately achieves. As Sith master and apprentice, Vader and Palpatine have a very complex relationship. Since their Jedi apprenticeship under the Chancellor, their dynamic has constantly changed, but there has always been one constant.
Darth Vader always sought the power that Sidious withheld from him. Vader’s initial motivation for following the path of the Sith in general was to save Padmé’s life, which is why he began to act so recklessly – even killing younglings. This was all a desperate attempt to prevent Padmé’s death, something Vader still couldn’t do. However, he never stopped trying to win her back.
The Sith have always strived to conquer death… and Vader was no exception
The dark side of the Force is the path to many abilities that some consider unnatural
One of the core elements of the Force is that the dark side represents corruption. It can give the user power, but always leads to death and destruction rather than the eternal life and peace that the Light Side can guarantee. This, however, does not stop the Sith from wanting it. Most Sith have always sought to cheat death, like Vader and Palpatine..
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This deception of death can manifest itself in many ways, all of which come down to a certain amount of power. Some Sith attempted to build vast empires by amassing as much power as possible politically and militarily. Others focused on the spiritual aspects of immortality or even technological ways to cheat death, such as the Sith King Ommin in the Old Republic. However, Vader’s attempt to do this was even more interesting because it recontextualizes a now very popular place in modern history. Star wars.
Darth Vader’s Mustafar Fortress was a failed attempt to defeat death
Vader and Momin’s collaboration on the Dark Side
Darth Vader’s now famous fortress of Mustafar was actually his way of cheating death. As seen in the last arc Darth Vader (2017) comics by Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli, Vader’s Fortress was a project built to resurrect Padmé from the netherworld of the Force.. To do this, Vader built his castle on top of the Vergence of the Force in a barren lava world, where he completely turned to the dark side.
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With the goal of bringing Padmé back from the dead and still early in his tenure under the tutelage of the Sith, Vader needed help. To obtain it, Vader used the Mask of Darth Momin, an ancient and twisted Sith artist who had Imperial officers design his fortress. A special design was created to channel the dark side, bridging the gap between life and death. This plan ultimately failed, pushing Vader even further to the dark side.
This brings a whole new dimension to Vader’s character, especially given the idea that the Sith Lord has accepted his fate. Knowing that Anakin didn’t just give up on his lost love once she died, only to fail, makes his story even more tragic. But what’s even more tragic is that While Vader spent years trying to bring Padmé back from the underworld with the Force, his greatest ally and enemy actually achieved this very specific feat..
Palpatine’s agents succeeded where Darth Vader failed
Return from the underworld of the Force
Many years later, Palpatine succeeded where Vader’s efforts on Mustafar failed. Between his physical death over Endor in Return of the Jedi and his discovery on Exegol, the servants of the late Emperor brought back his spirit from the netherworld of the Force. Palpatine was actually able to cheat death using the Essence Transfer Power ability.and several Sith technologies – but with one specific condition.
Palpatine’s consciousness did what Vader could not, but he had to be placed in the body of a clone on the Sith world of Exegol.. This led, as mentioned earlier, to even greater disintegration. These clone bodies began to decompose further, leading the Emperor to cling to his last chance at eternal life – transferring his spirit into another body. This proves that Palpatine, being undoubtedly the most powerful Sith in the entire universe Star warswas still a victim of the mortality guaranteed by the use of the dark side of the Force.