Darth Vader

"What is thy bidding, my master?"

- Darth Vader awaiting orders from the Emperor. "You have controlled your fear. Now, release your anger! Only your hatred can destroy me!"

- Vader tries to goad Luke to the Dark Side "Luke, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training! With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy!"

- Vader attempting to convince Luke to join him.

Darth Vader (also known to be born as Anakin Skywalker) was a high ranking Jedi Knight turned powerful Sith Lord and is the most iconic villain of the Star Wars saga. He stands as one of the most iconic and greatest villains in fiction in general.

He was portrayed by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones. In the prequel trilogy, Anakin Skywalker, Vader's previous identity, was portrayed by Hayden Christensen as a young apprentice in Episodes II & III and by Jake Lloyd when he was a child in Episode I.

Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
The home planet of young Anakin Skywalker is Tatooine, a remote desert planet controlled by the Hutts. Anakin and his mother are poor slaves owned by Watto, a Toydarian junk dealer.

During the battle between the Galactic Republic and the Trade Federation, a Naboo cruiser's hyperdrive had been damaged, and it is forced to land on the planet. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn searches for a replacement, and finds the nine-year old boy. He sensed that the Force was very strong with Anakin, and sent a blood sample to his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The result came back as a reading higher than Yoda's midi-chlorian count. This suggested that Skywalker was the one who could bring balance to the Force.

Since Qui-Gon didn't have credits that were worth anything in Tatooine, he placed a bet with Watto in an attempt to win the needed hyperdrive, involving the pod race which Anakin was going to participate in. Before the race, Qui-Gon gave the boy advice about using his instincts, and to feel, not think. Anakin won, and he made the Jedi proud, as well as his mother, Shmi.

As soon as Qui-Gon acquired the needed parts for his ship, and as soon as Anakin brought home the winnings, the boy was freed. His new destiny was to become a Jedi. It was very difficult for him to leave his mother, and he knew there was much ahead of him.

Anakin was once a Jedi as Obi-Wan stated in A New Hope, but he turned to the dark side in the third episode/movie of the prequel trilogy in Star Wars. When he became one of the Sith, he was named Darth Vader by his master Darth Sidious. Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader became complete when Sidious told him, "It seems in your anger, you killed her (Padmé)." The devastating anger and despair that Vader went through, after he discovered the painful truth, forever bound him to the dark side of the Force, or so it seemed.

Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
Since Skywalker was a young Padawan he had been trained in the ways of the Jedi. But as he grew stronger and more powerful, he wanted more, yet he knew it was wrong. Anakin cared for the one thing too much in his life - Padmé. When he saw in a dream that Padmé was going to die, he swore that he would do everything he could to save her. He talked to Yoda and told him of his feelings of loss and pain. If the Jedi Council knew he had a wife which was strictly forbidden by the Jedi code, then he would be expelled from the Jedi Order.

When Count Dooku attacked with his supporting droids from the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which he led alongside Palpatine, by striking at planet Geonosis, the Jedi Order plunged into war with Dooku using the army of clones made from the DNA of mercenary Jango Fett. Anakin and Obi-Wan chased after Dooku as he tries to escape Geonosis, and in the battle, Anakin's right arm is cut off. Yoda fights Dooku and overpowers him, but the latter gets away when Yoda has to prevent a pillar from flattening the wounded Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Anakin found security and refuge in talking to Palpatine. The chancellor had been like a father to him and had made him a member of the Jedi Council. But while talking to his dear friend one day, Palpatine revealed to Anakin that he knew the ways of the dark side of the Force, and it was clear that he was indeed the Sith Lord. Anakin was nearly brought to kill him on the spot, but Anakin realized that the evil chancellor was the only person who might be able to help him save Padmé.

The Choice and becoming Darth Vader
Shortly after Obi-Wan Kenobi had dealt with General Grievous on Utapau, Anakin delivered the message to the chancellor. Palpatine began to talk calmly with Anakin, about how he was being excluded from the Council, and that they distrusted him. It was then that Palpatine revealed the truth about himself--he was Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Anakin pulled out his lightsaber to kill him, but he knew that since he was a Sith, he had the power to save his wife. In despair, he told Jedi Master Mace Windu about the news. In great shock, Mace needed to move quickly to make sure the Jedi Order survived. Ordering Anakin to stay at the Jedi Temple, he took various members of the Jedi Council, including Kit Fisto, to arrest the Chancellor. Anakin stared at the building which contained Palpatine's office, and his thoughts and emotions took control of his decisions. Anakin heard the Sith Lord's voice in his head: "If the Jedi destroy me, any chance of saving her will be lost." Anakin did not want to lose Padmé the way he lost his mother. He hurried as fast as he could to the Chancellor's Suite.

After going to the palace of Palpatine, the young Jedi found the Sith Lord on the ground, with Mace's lightsaber blade pointed at his chest. Mace told Anakin the only way to bring peace was to destroy the Sith Lord, but Anakin said it should not be done; it was not the Jedi way. Anakin had to make the choice, Jedi or Sith. As soon as the purple laser started its way to kill the Sith, Anakin's blue blade cut off Mace's hand. A smirking Palpatine yelled with power and threw the Jedi Master out the window with devastating Sith lightning. After helping the Sith Lord, Anakin realized that he had nowhere left to go and pledged himself to Palpatine's teachings. At this point, Palpatine then christened him as Darth Vader.

Knightfall and Battle of the Brothers
Palpatine convinced Vader that the Jedi were the enemy of the universe, including Obi-Wan. Vader then led Clone Troopers in Operation Knightfall and assaulted the Jedi Temple, killing even younglings in the process. However, Vader had no real regard for Palpatine and secretly planned to overthrow him. He then was sent to Mustafar and then killed the Separatist leaders, including Nute Gunray, and deactivated the battle droids. The CIS was no more and then Padme arrived. Vader then met her for the last time and offered her half the power that he would have after he betrays Palpatine. Padme could not believe what she was hearing and realized that the Anakin Skywalker she knew was no more. Obi-Wan, having stowed away on Padme's ship, appeared and Vader accused his wife of bringing his former master to kill him, lashing out at her with the Force. The Sith apprentice then accused Obi-Wan of turning her against him, when it was his own greed and power hunger that did that. Vader then attacked his former friend and mentor. The two battled it out on Mustafar, ending when Obi-Wan claimed the high ground and warned Vader not to attack. In a mixture of anger and pride, Vader attempted to continue the duel, only to have his legs and remaining organic arm severed by his former master's blade. Obi-Wan could only express his regret and disappointment in Vader's ways before the Sith was engulfed by a fire. Obi-Wan retrieved his former Padawan's lightsaber and departed.

Armored
Vader was then rescued by Palpatine and his clone troopers and brought to a medical facility. He then had prosthetics fitted into his legs and left arm before being outfitted with a life support suit of armor. Vader then inquired Palpatine of Padme's fate and the newly-crowned emperor lied that he killed her in his fit of rage. Vader then angrily lashed out with the Force, destroying the medical droids and his new purpose was to serve Palpatine.

Sometime before the Rebel Alliance was founded, Vader tasked the Sith assassin known only as "the Inquisitor" with hunting and killing any Jedi that survived Order 66's strike.

Training Marek
Darth Vader appears in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed as the true main antagonist, and master to Galen Marek. In the years that followed his abduction of Galen Marek, Vader trained the boy in the ways of the Sith, including dumping him unarmed onto Honoghr while sending a Noghri Death Commando hunting party after him with the intention of having Galen survive and defeat them as an ultimate test. At first, he controlled his student through fear, but then taught him to embrace emotions such as anger and hatred. In time, Galen forgot about his past; the memories of his childhood became repressed and he came to assume that he was merely one of his master's many experiments. In addition, the boy had forgotten his birth name, but soon came to know himself as "Starkiller," a codename provided to him by Vader.

Though Vader was prohibited by the Rule of Two from training an apprentice while still apprenticed to a Master of his own, the Dark Lord discarded the ancient tradition and became the mentor of a child whose potential in the Force rivaled Darth Sidious. An outwardly loyal servant of the Emperor, Vader secretly harbored much anger and resentment for his Master, the Sith Lord who had orchestrated Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side of the Force. Vader devoted years to personally molding Starkiller into a highly trained Sith assassin with an array of Force powers—including Force lightning, which Vader was unable to harness due to his mostly machine condition—that made the young apprentice a formidable opponent and Sith in all but name. As time passed, Starkiller grew increasingly immersed in the dark side to his Master's approval, but also developed a strong sense of loyalty to the Sith Lord, whom he came to view as the closest example he had to a father figure. Starkiller's loyalty to Vader was rivaled only by his desire to fulfill the purpose of his existence, as stated by his Master: the assassination of Vader's own Master, Darth Sidious. The apprentice longed for years to be a true Sith Lord, providing him with the motivation and desire to become a greater Force-wielder in preparation for the day when he and his Master confronted the Emperor.

As a Sith Master, Darth Vader's training regimen was both physically and psychologically agonizing to Starkiller. Despite Vader's emphasis on an equation, obey and succeed versus fail and die, the apprentice detected no hint of malicious cruelty in his Master's instructions. The Dark Lord only wanted his disciple to learn as a Sith apprentice, or die as a failure. His callous treatment of the apprentice was motivated by the goal of creating the ultimate Sith warrior, rather than a sadist's desire to inflict pain on another for personal amusement.

Among the few items that Vader gave to Starkiller was a prototype holodroid named PROXY. Although Vader intended the droid to be a tool for helping the apprentice to refine his lightsaber skills, the Sith Lord unwittingly provided Starkiller with the only source of friendship he ever had throughout most of his short life. When Vader decided that his apprentice was ready to be sent on assassination missions in the galaxy, Starkiller was given the Rogue Shadow, an advanced starship equipped with state-of-the-art stealth technology, which served as his personal transport. Despite Starkiller's skills as a pilot, his Master preferred that he concentrate on his training while in-between missions. Vader therefore assigned several hand-picked individuals to serve as the pilot of his apprentice's ship. By 3 BBY, Vader had chosen a total of seven pilots; some had died during the apprentice's more chaotic assignments, while others were executed by Vader due to the perceived shortcomings in their performance.

Juno Eclipse's reassignment coincided with Starkiller's progression through his trials to the point where Darth Vader acknowledged him as a Sith apprentice for the first time. In recognition of his apprentice's increasing power in the dark side of the Force, Vader ordered Starkiller to kill his first Jedi target—Master Rahm Kota, a Jedi General who served in the Clone Wars, as well as a survivor of Order 66. According to his informants, Kota and his private army were in the process of conducting a raid on an important construction facility for TIE starfighters located above Nar Shaddaa. He also commanded the apprentice to use the utmost discretion while in the field in order to avoid detection by the Emperor's spies. Hence, the apprentice was instructed to kill everyone he encountered in the facility, both Imperials and Kota's insurgents alike. Shortly after his briefing, the apprentice met Juno Eclipse in the hangar that contained the Rogue Shadow. Given that none of his previous pilots were female, Starkiller believed that Vader selected a woman as the ship's latest pilot in order to test the apprentice, although Starkiller feared his Master too much to voice his suspicion.

Despite the destruction of the construction facility, Starkiller returned to the Executor and reported to his Master. With Kota blind and left for dead since their last encounter, the apprentice assumed that the Jedi Master would no longer be a threat to the Empire. He was also disinclined to admit that he hadn't actually killed his target, and merely confirmed what Vader wanted to hear—that Rahm Kota was dead. Afterward, Vader dispatched Starkiller to hunt down Kazdan Paratus, a Jedi outcast who lived in self-exile on Raxus Prime; and Jedi Master Shaak Ti, one of the last members of the Jedi High Council whom Vader discovered to be hiding on Felucia.

At the same time, Vader believed that his apprentice required further training, and thus sent him to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant with orders to participate in the Jedi Trials, particularly the lessons regarding skill and insight. In addition to the apprentice's completion of the tests on Coruscant, Vader was also satisfied by the deaths of Paratus and Ti, both of whom had been slain by Starkiller in single combat.

Crafting a New Plot
"Yes, my Master." "Now go. And remember that the dark side is always with you."
 * "Save for PROXY, you must sever all ties to your past. No one must know that you still serve me."
 * ―Darth Vader and Starkiller, shortly before dispatching the apprentice to create the Rebel Alliance

With Shaak Ti's death, the last of Starkiller's trials had been completed. Darth Vader recalled his apprentice back to Executor, where Vader assured Starkiller that they would finally kill Emperor Palpatine and rule the galaxy together as Master and Apprentice. But unknown to Starkiller, the Emperor's spies had been following him since Raxus Prime, tracing him back to Vader's flagship. Vader, faced with certain death for his "betrayal," in turn betrayed his shocked apprentice by impaling him through the chest with his lightsaber. After a moment of pause, Vader threw Starkiller into the vacuum of space by hurling him through the bridge window, at his master's command. However, Vader made sure that Starkiller's body was retrieved and brought to his science vessel, the Empirical. Upon the apprentice's full recovery, Vader excused his betrayal as a necessary course of action, both to save their lives and to fool Palpatine into believing that the secret apprentice was dead. Starkiller, although clearly bitter over the betrayal and denied a chance to finally become a true Sith Lord, nevertheless resigned himself to his fate and obediently submitted once more to his master's will.

With his every move under close observation, Darth Vader charged his apprentice to create a distraction that would divert the Emperor's attention away from him. To that end, Starkiller was ordered to create an alliance of rebels and dissidents. To that end, he ordered the apprentice to take great care in maintaining the secrecy of his mission, so as to not alert the Emperor of his survival, nor reveal his Sith identity to his imminent rebel allies. Before cutting off his transmission through PROXY, Darth Vader left the apprentice with one last reminder—the dark side would always be with him.

When Starkiller found a valuable ally in Bail Organa, Starkiller was told that he needed a target to show that the Empire was vulnerable to those that silently opposed it. Seeking his master's council, Vader suggested that the Star Destroyer shipyard over Raxus Prime would be a perfect target, as the Empire's rule through fear was embodied by the awesome might of the Star Destroyers. Although his apprentice remained loyal, Vader could sense that Starkiller was developing feelings for his supposed allies. He sternly reminded the apprentice of where his allegiance truly belonged, a statement which Starkiller solemnly accepted.

Afterward, Vader informed the apprentice of the extent of his successful mission, claiming that Palpatine was greatly displeased at the events on Raxus Prime. Starkiller advised that he couldn't maintain communications with Vader for the time being, mainly so that the Rebels wouldn't suspect his identity or his past under Vader, which could potentially undo all that he had accomplished in forming the Rebellion. Although Vader initially intended to betray Palpatine with his apprentice at his side, for unknown reasons he later changed his mind and made other plans. He swiftly captured the Rebel senators when they met and signed the Corellian Treaty on Corellia. After revealing to the leaders of the seemingly short-lived Alliance to Restore the Republic that Starkiller was the Sith Lord's secret apprentice, Vader once again assaulted his pupil, only this time with true lethal intent. Unable to bear a second betrayal, Starkiller bitterly lamented that he had been played a fool once again, to which Vader informed him that he never intended to destroy the Emperor—at least, not with Starkiller at his side. It was then that the apprentice realized the truth; credits, starships, Imperial lives, and even Starkiller himself had no value to Vader outside of their use in fulfilling his plans. Having lured the Rebel leaders into one place so they could be revealed and arrested, Starkiller had outlived his usefulness. Just as he was on the verge of killing his apprentice, PROXY, under the holographic guise of Vader's former master Obi-Wan Kenobi, distracted him in a short duel. Although Vader easily defeated the holodroid, Starkiller was gone, having fallen off the cliff outside the rebel site.

The Master Defeated by the Apprentice
"You have nothing left to teach me!"
 * "I've trained you well, but you still have much to learn."
 * ―Darth Vader confronts his former apprentice on-board the Death Star.

Vader brought the Rebel senators to the Death Star I, where they would be interrogated through torture in order to reveal the location of their friends and allies, only to be publicly executed by the Emperor in order to silence further opposition to Sith domination. To everyone's surprise, Starkiller was still alive and had infiltrated the incomplete battle station with the intention of rescuing the Alliance leaders, as well as to seek revenge against his former master. As a sign of his bitterness toward Vader's repeated betrayals, the apprentice dropped the code name and persona of Starkiller, thus accepting his birth name Galen Marek as his new identity. At the Emperor's order, Vader reluctantly went to confront his former apprentice. As they came face to face, Vader taunted Marek that he still had much to learn. Vader then let loose with an all-out offensive barrage, assured of his own superiority as a duelist and believing he would quickly defeat Marek. However, much like Obi-Wan had done decades prior, Marek adopted a defensive stance against Vader, countering and dancing around his assault.

For a time, neither combatant was able to gain any sort of advantage. During the duel, Marek came to realize that he had much in common with his master; they were both slaves to a Dark Lord, but while Marek possessed the strength to break away from Vader, Vader couldn't do the same with Sidious. Marek then proceeded to taunt Vader with this knowledge, hoping to break his concentration. In addition, he informed Vader that with his new understanding of Vader's life circumstances came pity, and that he intended to end Vader's life as an act of mercy. Marek's taunts, particularly his professions of pity, enraged the already frustrated Sith Lord and caused him to redoubled his attack. Close to being overwhelmed, Marek surprised Vader with a sudden blast of Force lightning, breaking the momentum of Vader's furious onslaught and forcing him onto his back foot. This move allowed Marek to both catch his breath and seize the offensive.

Marek pressed his advantage, scoring two hits on Vader with his lightsaber before telekinetically hurling objects at him from every direction. The final such missile was an energy field generator, which detonated upon contact with Vader. Barely surviving the explosion, his armor and life support systems critically damaged, Vader was unable to continue fighting. However, as Marek moved in for the kill, he saw Vader's face uncovered for the first time and was shocked into pausing. His master, rather than the terrifying cybernetic monster he appeared to be, was a pitifully deformed old man, exhausted and in agony.

Darth Sidious was greatly pleased by the outcome of the duel. Shortly after his reign began, Sidious gradually became as bitter and spiteful of his apprentice as Vader was with him. He had spent more than a decade engineering Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side, only to see his perfect apprentice crippled, with both his injuries and emotional instability limiting his powers. After seeing Vader humbled and beaten by a superior opponent, Sidious wasted no time in encouraging the young apprentice to kill his weak and broken master, thus finally becoming a true Sith Lord and taking his rightful place at the Emperor's side. Though sorely tempted by the thought of revenge and the power he could have as a true Sith Lord, Marek chose to follow the light side of the Force by confronting the Emperor. Catching him by surprise, Marek quickly attacked the Emperor with a telekinetic blast. Far from accepting defeat and, much less, death, Sidious goaded the apprentice one last time to give in to the dark side—by slaying the Emperor himself in anger and hatred. With General Kota's help, the apprentice resisted the dark side one last time. Outraged, Sidious struck Kota with Force lightning, refusing to let the Jedi and Rebels have someone as powerful as Marek on their side. However, Marek thrust himself in the way to protect the Jedi and the former senators.

The Death of the Secret Apprentice
"Then he is now more powerful than ever. He was meant to route out the Rebels. His sacrifice will only inspire them."
 * "He is dead."
 * ―Darth Vader and Sidious, after confirming the death of Galen Marek

By this time Vader had recovered enough to muster a squadron of stormtroopers in order to kill the Rebels and his former disciple. As the stormtroopers pursued Kota and the senators, Vader could do nothing more but watch as his master and apprentice locked with each other in a chain of Force lightning. Marek, knowing that he could not survive against the full fury of the Emperor, sacrificed his life and with one last defiant yell, he caused a massive Force explosion that killed all of the stormtroopers in the room and incapacitated the Sith Lords long enough for the Rebels to escape.

After regaining his senses, a severely injured Darth Vader slowly approached the body of Galen Marek, just as Sidious also recovered and looked down at Marek's corpse with shock and disappointment. Darth Vader, his voice solemn, noted that the secret apprentice was truly dead this time.

Darth Sidious was displeased and frustrated at having suffered such an unusual setback. Not only had he failed to kill the leaders of the newborn Rebel Alliance when he had the chance, he also realized that Marek's selfless act of sacrifice would inspire the Rebels and bolster their morale to the point where silent opposition would be replaced by an all-out rebellion through force of arms. Vader swore that he would hunt down and put an end to this new threat, and crushed Marek's lightsaber under his boot heel. In addition, he feigned ignorance at his master's betrayal, making it sound as if the Emperor had planned for the events surrounding the formation of the Rebellion to occur as they had. Having failed to replace Darth Vader with Galen Marek, the Emperor had no choice except to tolerate Vader's existence for a while longer, at least until he could find a new apprentice of the same caliber as Starkiller.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
To Be Continued!

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Darth Vader is set to appear in the upcoming spin-off film Rogue One, set between A New Hope and Revenge of the Sith. The film will be about Rebel fighters stealing the plans for the Death Star, so naturally, Vader would likely appear to stop them and set in motion the opening to A New Hope.

Star Wars IV: A New Hope
In A New Hope, Vader is charged with recovering the stolen plans of the Death Star and finding the Rebel Alliance's secret base. He captures and "interrogates" Princess Leia and, along with Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin, destroys her home world of Alderaan. Shortly afterward, he duels his former master, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has arrived at the Death Star to rescue Leia, and cuts him down, turning him into a spirit in the Force. He then encounters his son, Luke, during the Battle of Yavin, and senses in him a great strength in the Force; this is confirmed moments later when the boy destroys the battle station. He was about to shoot Luke down using his TIE-Fighter, but Han Solo disabled his ship using the guns on the Millennium Falcon, and sent Vader spinning into space. The Death Star was then destroyed by Luke's torpedo, forcing construction of a second one.

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
In The Empire Strikes Back, three years after the last film, Vader leads an assault on a rebel base on planet Hoth, dispatching probe droids to confirm this. Though the Empire takes the base after a while, they fail to stop Leia, Han, C-3PO and Chewbacca from escaping in the ship, the Millenium Falcon. In the second and third acts of the film, he captures Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and C-3PO on the planet Bespin to lure Luke into a confrontation. One scene shows Vader speaking with Emperor Palpatine via hologram, when Palpatine senses a feel in the Force that confirms the rebel Luke Skywalker to be Vader's son. In Cloud City, Bespin, he strikes a deal with the administrator of Cloud City, Lando Calrissian to give Han over to the bounty hunter Boba Fett, and has Solo frozen in carbonite. Luke, who has been partially trained by Yoda, duels Vader, but is eventually defeated, losing his right hand to Vader's lightsaber. Vader then reveals his true identity as Luke's father and offers Luke the chance to overthrow Palpatine and rule the galaxy as father and son. (Note that Vader never says the now famous line, "Luke, I am your father" but rather, "No, I am your father".) Luke refuses, throwing himself down a mine shaft. He is sucked into a garbage chute and rescued by Leia, C-3PO, Chewbacca and Lando. He is fitted with a robotic hand to replace the one Vader had cut off.

Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
"You already... have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister... you were right."

- Anakin's famous last words

In Return of the Jedi, Vader is charged with overseeing the completion of the second Death Star. He meets with Palpatine on board the half-constructed station to plan Luke's turn to the dark side.

Final Battle
By this time, Luke has nearly completed his Jedi training, and has learned from a dying Yoda that Vader is indeed his father. He learns about his father's past from Obi-Wan's spirit, and also learns that Leia is his sister. On a mission to the forest moon of Endor, Luke surrendered to Imperial troops and is brought to Vader. Aboard the Death Star, Luke resisted the Emperor's appeals to his anger and fear for his friends, but snapped when Vader telepathically probes his mind, learns of Leia's existence, and threatens to turn her instead. Enraged, Luke nearly killed Vader, severing his father's right hand. He controlled his anger at the last minute, however, as he looked at Vader's cybernetic hand and then at his own; he realizes that he is perilously close to suffering his father's fate.

Redemption and Death
As the Emperor approached, encouraging Luke to kill Vader and take his place, Luke threw down his lightsaber, refusing to perform the final blow. Angered, the Emperor attacks Luke with Force lightning. Luke writhes in agony under the Emperor's lightning, begging his father for help. Unable to bear the sight of his son in pain, Vader spiritually ceases to exist and the Anakin Skywalker persona returns. Anakin turns on his master who was really the true enemy of the Galactic Republic and in the Clone Wars and throws him into the very core of the Death Star, where Palpatine's body explodes in a wave of dark side energy, though it didn't destroy Darth Sidious (In the Legends Universe), he ended up killing Palpatine.

After regaining enough strength Luke dragged his father from the throne room to the docking bay holding Vader's shuttle. Moments from death, Anakin realized that he would die whether or not his son got him into the shuttle. He begged his son to take off his breath-mask so he could look at Luke "with [his] own eyes". Luke complied and for the first (and as it turned out, the only) time, father and son truly see each other. In his dying breaths, Anakin Skywalker is redeemed, finally admitting to Luke that the good within him wasn't destroyed after all and fulfilling the prophecy as the chosen one before Anakin/Vader dies of his wounds, forcing Luke to mourn for the loss of his father. Luke escapes with his father's body as the Death Star explodes, destroyed by the Rebel Alliance (thus Palpatine did twice as much in vain).

That night, Luke burns his father's Sith armor in the manner of a Jedi's funeral. During the victory celebration on the forest moon of Endor, Luke sees the redeemed spirit of Anakin Skywalker, standing once again with Obi-Wan and Yoda.

He and Padme were portumous grandparents of Luke's son Ben and Leia's children include Darth Caedus

Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
Though the character is long dead by this point, Darth Vader's damaged mask has appeared in trailers for the upcoming Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, set 30 years after Return of the Jedi, directed by J.J. Abrams.

Instead of Vader, the new villain Kylo Ren took Vader's place. Taking Vader's damaged mask aboard his flagship, Ren vowed to Vader that he would finish what Vader had started.

Trivia

 * Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at University of Toulouse Hospital, argued at the 2007 American Psychiatric Association convention that Anakin meets six of the nine diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD), one more than necessary for a diagnosis. He and a colleague, Rachel Rodgers, published their findings in a 2010 letter to the editor of the journal Psychiatry Research. Bui says he found Anakin Skywalker a useful example to explain BPD to medical students.
 * Darth Vader's iconic status has made the character a synonym for evil in popular culture; psychiatrists have even considered him as a useful example to explain borderline personality disorder to medical students.
 * "Vader" is Dutch for "Father", foreshadowing the reveal of his true relationship with Luke.
 * As of now, the upcoming sequel trilogy will be the only series to NOT include Anakin at any point, but instead focus on a new villain, Kylo Ren being the main antagonist.
 * Darth Vader's line "No, I am your father!" has become a well known memorable quotes ever in Star Wars, receiving many various parodies in many media, fan fiction or merchandise alike. One of the best & most memorable one would be in Toy Story 2 where Emperor Zurg that he is Buzz's father.
 * Although, most assume the line was, "Luke... I am your father."
 * Many parodies of Darth Vader appeared in many various media such as Dark Laser & Darth Stewie.
 * Darth Vader also made a guest appearance in Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian alongside with Oscar the Grouch as one of the fictional figures who wanted to join Kahmunrah's army, only to be refused due to that the latter can't understand Vader's breathing, thinking it as his language. Angered, he slams the lid of Oscar's trash can & is never seen again in the rest of the movie.
 * Darth Vader, alongside with Galen Marek & Master Yoda made a guest appearance in Soul Calibur IV as playable characters. In the game, Darth Vader was seeking on both the power of the Soul Edge & Soul Calibur where in his ending, he successfully found what he is looking for after he finishes off Algol & took both weapons with him, bringing the Empire to a whole new level of fear. Unfortunately, it received many criticism where many Star Wars fans complained about having Star Wars characters in the Soul Calibur universe being in the game & stated that they "didn't quite fit".
 * Darth Vader makes an appearance in the 2014 Disney special, Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars, where he serves as the master of Darthenshmirtz, the Star Wars version of Heinz Doofenshmirtz. He also serves as the master to Candace's C.O., whom he kills for his failure to bring socks.
 * Darth Vader appears in Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion and is the master of the Inquisitor.
 * Each villain in the Star Wars prequels foreshadows a different aspect of what Anakin will become:
 * Darth Maul -The deadly and merciless apprentice who enforces Sidious's will as well as surviving a terrible injury from Obi-Wan and becoming a cyborg.
 * Count Dooku -The Jedi turned to the Dark Side desiring to bring order to the Galaxy.
 * General Grievous -The wheezing, heavy-breathy, Jedi-hunting Cyborg.