Darth Vader from Star Wars is sad, but it's art. I'll put the issues in the description when I can be bothered, I don't owe you jack twitter: / lexanderlennen instagram: / alexlennen outro by patricia: • Angel Eyes cover - Mam...
I love how Vader never gets forgiven for the deaths he's caused, in a way he never gets redemption for them. However he gets understood, and that's pretty damn good writing
This reminds me of that poignant conversation between Theon and Jon in Game of Thrones, especially Jon's final lines to him in S7E7. "It's not my place to forgive you for everything, but what I can forgive you for, I do.
I liked how there was no real easy forgiveness for Darth Vader, most of the galaxy still remembers him as a black armored death machine who killed countless worlds. Even if Luke was able to get him to have that come to Jesus moment, the galaxy won't forget that.
@@WTFisTingispingis Which is fair, because he did a lot of really messed up things. But at the very least, Anakin was able to reform himself from that, even if the rest of the galaxy didn't forgive him.
The true tragedy of Anakin/Vader is that he was only ever free in the final moments of his life. He was a slave to Watto, a slave to the Jedi and a slave to the dark side before being freed by his son.
@@daffaramadaghifari6428 I don't think that spending your time in a somewhat toxic, affection dependant disorder addled passionate relationship with the five-years older woman *who groomed you since you were of age nine* is amything but freedom. George Lucas make a point along all of the Star Wars franchise to make people understand that _eros_ is self-destructive unlikely _philia_ and _strogae_ .
Best thing about the Darth Vader comics is that we not only see him being a total badass but we see his depressing moments like him reminiscing about his mom, the good times with his wife and what his kid/kids would’ve been like.
@@empac8631 there’s a comic I think called “Darth Vader and the lost command” Spoiler* Where Darth Vader dreams about a life if he had not fallen and where he’d actually helped kill sidious along mace windu, and finally he dreams of a son he would have with Padme named Jinn after Qui gon. It’s pretty fucked up to think pretty much the only happiness the man got in all those years in the suit was by thinking of situations that could’ve happened with his family.
@@WTFisTingispingis yeah but it’s always over super petty reasons. One time I remember him killing an officer whose family died and saying afterwards something along the lines of “you think that’s sad? Please my life is so much worse” like dude you didn’t have to kill him for no reason. Like he wasn’t even your enemy
2:44 I feel that not enough people truly realize that this is why he is Darth Vader; it’s not only that he possesses so much hate and anger, it’s that he is in too deep, if he faces his actions at face value, he wouldn’t be able to stand himself, so he lies to himself about what he is doing is right and must be done; that’s why it’s only Luke, the son of Padme, someone he loved, someone who can truly be afected by Vader’s actions that leads to his turn. Anakin removed himself from society, therby allowing him the ability to harm whoever he wants under the guise of Vader, but when the life of Anakin Skywalker comes back in the form of his son, he must accept what he has done and reevaluate what he must do now, for what’s left of his life and the love of his life; Overall great analysis, but this part specifically really stuck with me!
Yeah, that's why I don't like people thinking of Anakin/Vader as different people. That kind of just takes some of the blame and nuance away from his character.
@@lonebattledroid4474 Thank you. I actually hate that as well because it makes it seem like when Luke saves Vader, its an exorcism over actually Vader aka Anakin being redeemed if its a split personality thing like people seem to claim it is.
I want a one to one animated adaptation of this Darth Vader run. A one to one adaptation just like how manga is translated into anime. No massive changes, don't take just bits and pieces, just adapt the entire story. More people need to know and experience this Darth Vader comic run, to be perfectly honest.
It's great that the comics show his inner conflict, but doesnt shy away from showing the horrible shit he has done and how deep in the Dark Side he was. Dude was an absolute monster, but we catch glimpses of Anakin popping up here and there trying to break out.
Charles Soule's Darth Vader series is my favorite Star Wars comic series, like there are so many amazing things about his series that I can't express. Such a great series
I genuinely believe it might have turned out differently if qui-gon didn’t die. I think that’s why the fight and iconic song was called duel of fates. It’s talking about the fate of ani, not the fate of maul, obi or qui-gon. Loved this video people don’t talk about the Vader comics enough and I’m glad your covering them! I love your format! And humour!
To be fair, the reason the jedis never came back to save the other slaves is because all of them have explosive chips that only their masters can deactivate, they can't just take them away, before the chips were a thing they did free lots of them; there should be a comic or a novel about Padme trying to buy Anakin's mom, but becasue Watto disappeared, she was unable to do so. I'd say not allowing Anakin to become a master was the right choice: he is an amazing soldier, but he lacks the self control to become a true master, but I'll admit that Windu still acted way too much like a dick to him (and he dos it with basically everyone else). If I'm not mistaken the jedis are not even forced to be celibate, I think Lucas said that they just need to be ready to let go while loving people and not being possessive, which I admit is quite the vague definition. Still liked the video tho, good job.
It's not even that. It's that the Jedi only let people be completely dead fish libido celibate, or heartlessly sociopathic to their partners. When you are a Jedi, You. Are. Not. Allowed. To. Love. Period. Literal androids in Nier Automata have a better understanding of sexuality, emotion and romantic attachement than the xeno scum run Jedi, because at least their policy is, even though it's stated as "Emotions are prohibited", it's enforced as "Yeah, we don't care who you're fucking off duty, just leave it at the door and don't let it compromise the mission or your ass is scrap."
@@AiluridaeAureus Not really, Jedis are encouraged to love. in fact they are supposed to love people, even Anakin admitted to that. What ddo you mean by "xeno scum"? I don't get it. Jedis can have romantic relationships , they just need to be ready to let go and don't be possessive (as I alredy said, it is a vague term, but it implies that the can have a romantic relationship with other people and not simply bang others when they are off duty). Emotions themselves aren't prohibited, what they can't do is beign controlled by them (and considering how a force sensitive person without self control can be, I can see why). People can also freely leave the order and have very succesful lives, Dooku was a count after all
@@toniocartonio5767 The Jedi council is run by non-human species capable of suppressing their emotions such as Ki Adi Mundi and Yoda, and they impose and demand humans in the order conform to their standard of emotionless serenity, and punish them when they cannot do that. It is an alien run institution that forces it's will on a human and humanlike population, and takes their kids to replenish their numbers to perpetuate the cycle of abuse.
@@AiluridaeAureus Humans can have that level of self control in SW actually, there have been many human jedi knights and masters in the history of star wars, the idea that they abuse/hate humans is simply not true. They also don't take the kids with force, the parents willingly gave them to the order. The institution that discriminated against other species was the empire, which legalized slavery against many species that weren't human.
So Padme actually did send agents to Tatooine to try to find and free Shmi. But when they got there Shmi had already been freed by Cliegg Lars and they couldn't find her. This courtesy of E.K. Johnston's Padme books
Anakin Skywalker: “I’m upset and I need to talk about it with you gu..” Jedi Council: “Hold up Space Jesus, we don’t care about any of that. Anyway we need you to go to this system and kill some dudes.” Anakin: 😥 Okay now to the serious stuff. The Marvel Vader series, especially the sub-series taking place right after ROTS, is one of the best things to come out of Disney Star Wars. Disney’s handling of Vader as a character has been all around phenomenal. The Marvel Vader series is unbelievably beautiful and pulls you into deep despair at the same time. It’s so good that it has become one of my favorite comic book series of all time. And of course as always excellent video Alex. You never fail to evoke so many different emotions in me just from a RU-vid video essay. Well done.
@@alexlennen @Enforcedformula personally I wouldn’t let a comment like that slide and I wouldn’t take that level of disrespect I mean…he just talked about your mom like that and YOU GO FOR THAT?? But idk that’s just me tho🤷🏾♂️
I love the comic where he kills a Darth Maul clone sent to kill him, and before he dies clone!Maul asks "what could you hate enough to destroy me?" And Vader simply replies "myself." Vader is a feedback loop of self-hatred: the more evil he commits, the more he hates himself, the stronger he becomes in the Dark Side. He believes that he has no choice and is unredeemable, so he continues. Being the monster he is, is his self-imposed punishment for his failures as Anakin. When he sees Luke, he sees everything he could have been, and he can't bear to let that be destroyed.
I’m sure some have seen that tweet with Rey that says “Name a character that’s gone through more tragedy”, this right here is the cure to such sick thoughts… Insightful as always Alex, never disappointed with the newest upload
There wasn't a tweet about Rey like that. The original tweet (In-fact, that entire quote of 'Name a character that's gone through more tragedy') was about Ellie from The Last Of Us 2, which got relentlessly mocked for being a dumb statement and became a meme. Rey was just edited on by some guy on Reddit. No-one at all seriously made that post with Rey.
I grew up reading and still am collecting the Dark Horse comics of the old EU, but I will admit, while im not a huge fan of the Canon marvel stuff, the Vader comics are pretty good, same with Jody Houser's Thrawn comic which is an adaptation of the first canon Thrawn novel. I also like how canon is exploring the post episode III era more as well. Its great seeing the transition of the Republic to the Empire. The Vader Immortal VR game is really cool as well.
Hey if you liked the Charles soule vader comics that are covered in this video, you should check out the high republic! He wrote the first of the big novels for the era and it holds up to the rest of his work, i quite enjoy it
My favorite thing about Charles Doyle’s run was his use of perspective. As you said, in the grand scheme of things, the original trilogy was still about Vader, but told through the perspective of Luke and the Rebellion. Keeping in theme with that, Soule’s Vader comics are hardly ever told from the perspective of Vader, but from Tarkin, The Inquisitors, or whatever Jedi he’s hunting, up until the last arc where we get a glimpse of pre-Vader Anakin, and it switches to his perspective, much like the prequel trilogy.
I always hated it when I told someone when i was a little kid, that darth vader was my favorite charecter... and they'de just say "Why Darth Vader? He's evil!"
hey! super super great video! i don't know much about star wars but this made me want to watch all the movies and observe who darth vader really is behind the ever iconic menacing theme song ! also, thank you so so much for using my Angel Eyes cover for the outro and giving credit! :') it means so much! and i apologize for just seeing this now bc i took a break from checking my channel :'D thank you so much again, your videos are awesome!
The final of the run of 2017 is really sad no matter what he could never bring padme back, thanks for the video you are making a great job. (Also I would love you talk about the clone wars show if you can, I think you would really like talk about this era and characters like Ahsoka)
Fuck me. There is something different about the work you do, Mr. Lennen. Something much more captivating than the countless other comic book channels I've come across. StarWars has recently become one of my favorite stories, and today I thank you for deepening my love for it. Your analyses succeed in capturing the soul of a story, and in just thirteen minutes, you distilled the core of one of the most tragic and iconic characters in all of fiction, making your channel as one to watch out for. Thank you for this. This actually made my eyes well up.
honestly i love your videos, each time i walk around or study i love hearing your voice and your thoughts in the background, keep the content up man ❤️
This was great. I never truely realized and appreciated the arc and tragedy of Vader until you explained it how you did. It makes me appreciate Star Wars and Vader a lot more than I had previously. So thank you for making me enjoy Star Wars and life more than I did before. Thank you
Vader is one of the most relatable and compelling characters ever. I understand intimately what it’s like to feel alone and isolated, not dealing with trauma and letting it fester. Then seeing all the terrible choices I’ve made wreak havoc on my life and those I love In a way that is impossible to go back and fix. There is only what I choose to do today that stop the nightmare. In the end it’s not my pain that is most important, but the pain I HAVE CAUSED.
Without having read any of the comics or any more than a few books of the EU, I feel Ican safely say that Anakin Skywalker is the best representation of the “fallen hero” archetype, and Darth Vader is the best embodiment of that archetype combined with the philosophical concept of “regret” I have ever come across.
this is such a good video man, it sets up this harrowing tone about how depressing most of these stories are and has an incredible ending segment that just makes everything depressing you saw flush away without forgetting what it all meant
Loved the video Alex! Been on a Star Wars kick lately and was just what I needed! I’m sure we’d all love some more Star Wars content, so keep it up and take it easy!
Anakin is far braver than I could ever be; having to live for decades with the torment of life unlived, or life failed every step of the way, would break me down again and again.
@@johnweak_ You can still choose to believe in the themes and ideals fiction presents, mate. Superman can inspire someone to be good to people and do better in their lives, or the Bible can grow an entire following of people who want to believe in _something_ greater than themselves, and that faith can carry people through difficult times when nothing else makes sense. I choose to believe in a fictional man that perseveres through the most horrid life imaginable. Every day, he imagines what his life could've been, with happiness and light, had he not been coerced down his path of destruction. Somehow, he carries on despite the overwhelming pain in his heart and soul, and in the _very end_ , when his own flesh and blood needs him, he betrays the evil that saved him and casts it down. I choose to believe in the perseverance presented through Anakin Skywalker, and the belief that good can return after having been through hell. I choose to believe that redemption is possible, and that even the lowest among mankind is not beyond salvation. That's what I see presented through a fictional story. Sorry for sounding like a video essayist, but I had to type out how I feel about this. It's easy to see the cool swords and not look deeper, but it doesn't have to be the _only_ takeaway. Every story has something to say, mate. I hope I could impart some of that to you :)
i haven’t been into vader as a character before but your description of the comic has really gotten me back into the series thanks man i might watch the show now
Dude this is already my favorite comic book channel. Your analysis' are thorough and thought provoking and help me appreciate this art form much better. Keep up the great work. And maybe consider going into the music industry, you've got some pipes on ya man
There is something I feel everyone ignores about anakin. He was INCREDIBLY possessive so loss is gonna hurt him way more. This is seen in clone wars and ROTS. With ahsoka and padme respectively. He doesn’t tell ahsoka to stay because it’s what’s best for her he wants her to stay because he wants her too. Hence why he says “what about me” trying to appeal to her by throwing himself as the main reason. With padme it’s obvious he yells “you will not take her from me” is the main proof but honestly the whole movie is proof. I say this because we think anakin had attachments like you or I but he didn’t he was possessive. This possessiveness is there even as vader “he will be mine” when he talks about Luke. He seeks to control and have those around him strictly with him. Because truthfully he loves them but love isn’t possession. Anakin was living proof of the Jedi teachings being right his fear led to his anger to hate and finally to his suffering. His attachments led to possessiveness.
When i was around 9 I remember watching revenge of the sith and thinking that anakin was going to turn to a good again…. and u would not believe my shock when i found out at the end that he becomes the bad guy with the black suit that ive seem in other star wars stuff…darth vader wich caught me offguard and made me mad cause at the time i nver saw shit like that but uk its pretty goated stuff
You always make videos about whatever I'm thinking about at the time and honestly you always put everything so well. 10/10 Video as always, Alex. Never stop making your videos.
Love your vids. So happy to see you expanding your horizons and making content on stuff like star wars and power rangers. If i sat thru your full analysis of the wall, i’m p sure i’d sit thru just about anything now. Keep up the good work 👍
Great video. Palpatine created the perfect Sith. Even as was being thrown into a reactor you have to think a part of him had to feel a twinge of pride. As far as the Emp knew, Vader was FINALLY taking his rightful place as the Master of the Sith with a new apprentice. :-)
Dude I started watching your videos when I stumbled on your JMS Spider-Man essay. And you make some good stuff. And I really enjoyed the Marvel Star Wars comics so far (catching up slowly) but the Vader series have been top tier.
I hate that your non-spiderman stuff is either performing poorly or gets deleted from existence, I hope it doesnt discourage you too much man, you've got a knack for entertainment and I hope to see you continue to branch out like this
Honestly, thank you for this video. I've been saying for a while that the Marvel Darth Vader comics have been some of the best but most overlooked Star Wars content for a while. I love the deep dive into Vader's persona, thoughts and goals between Episodes 3 and 4, and then 4 and 5. Not to mention, they definitely don't hold back with the violence, which is a nice touch. If it were a TV series instead of a comic it would have received much more attention.
I use to read Darth Vader comics in my teens, and I really loved this video! I loved how the artists managed to show so much emotion with the character, and these stories are a major factor on why Vader is my favorite Star Wars character. Also you take on Anakin’s lack of a choice throughout his whole life was really interesting and gave me a perspective on the character I’d never thought of in that way!
Anakin was a slave his whole life, first to Watto then to the Jedi and lastly to the Emporer only in the last few minutes of his life was he really free
My only note is that at the very least Obi-wan and Qui-Gon did care about Anakin. If Qui-Gon was still alive Anakin probably would have turned out better because of his grey Jedi sensibilities.
This channel made me fall in love with comics again . Years ago I left this media being disappointed with American writers and how inconsistent the writing was . Now, 4 years later I found your channel and can appreciate these comics more
My favorite part of a Darth Vader comic. Has always been when he reconises C-3PO on cloud city. And in a flashback Anakins mother says "If you aren't prepared to care for something. You don't deserve to have it". As Vader puts his head against C-3POs broken one. Really powerful stuff in my opinion.
ive watched a lot of deep lore comic videos, a lot of “top 10 most dark comics you’ve never heard off.” but this is the first channel i’ve subbed to and yes it was cuz of that fucking slapper at the begining
I think the idea of him attempting to resurrect Padme is the perfect explanation for why he stayed with the Empire, too. He had hope of using the power of the Empire to resurrect her, and so was able to more easily overlook his crimes.
I’ve tried many times to get into Star Wars aside from the Lego games and this is one of the most entertaining videos on it I’ve seen. Your ways of teaching and storytelling is so amazing. From lesser known marvel heroes, to Star Wars, to the power rangers video I wasn’t able to see you always keep me intrigued for every second of the video. Thanks for uploading don’t stop anytime soon
What appeared as a two dimensional bad guy in the movies was actually an incomprehensibly complex man riddled with flaws and a rich story of anguish that runs deeper than any other.
Now when I hear excuses for the master chief’s character in the halo show, like “you can’t do a completely masked traumatized protagonist who speaks mostly in dramatic one-liners!” I direct them here
I think the saddest part is that Anakin really spent his entire life in slavery. First on Tatooine, and then he served the Jedi masters who forbid him from love, and then Palpatine.
Disney has the budget, the opportunity, and enough support from the audience to make this all live action and I hope they do so. It will be something to see Palpatine force choke Vader on screen.
