Darth Vader/Relationships

The relationships of Darth Vader from the Star Wars universe.


 * See also: Anakin Skywalker/Relationships

Padmé Amidala
Even as Darth Vader, Anakin still loved Padmé very much but felt great guilt for his actions against her. Despite his love for his wife, Padmé's life and their children was one of the main reasons Anakin had become the merciless Sith Lord Vader in the first place. After her husband became Vader, Padmé was heartbroken but tried to reason with Vader to stop his crusade. Vader believed she had sided with Obi-Wan (unaware that she did not know the latter had been on her starship and she did not betray Vader) and, blinded by his anger, he Force choke her. However, he released her from it when she lost consciousness, but was still horrified to see what he had done afterwards. Before her death, Padmé still believed there was still good left in Vader, and that one day he could be saved with the help of their children. During his time as the Emperor's enforcer, Vader suffered from grief over Padmé's death and guilt over his supposed hand in it; until he finally forgave himself.

Luke Skywalker
Luke, along with Leia, is Vader's surviving child, and the source of the humanity inside Vader.

Though unaware that his unborn child was actually going to be twins, Anakin sought after a way to save them and Padmé after seeing a vision of their deaths. After Anakin had become Vader, the twins were miraculously born before Padmé died. After being told that Padmé had died, Vader becomes devastated by the death of his wife and apparent death of his unborn child, ultimately completing his transformation into a Sith.

Vader did not meet his son until nineteen years later when he sensed that his connection to the Force was unusually powerful. The two would become mortal enemies over their differing viewpoints of freedom and the Force, both unaware of the other's true identity as Luke had believed Vader had murdered his father. However, when Vader discovered the truth behind his ties with Luke, their relationship as enemies took a different turn; the discovery rekindled the love he had as Anakin for his family and sought to protect Luke from Palpatine, but Vader's influence still led him to desire turning Luke to the dark side. Luke had a hard time coming to terms that Vader was his father, but wished to redeem him instead, even though Anakin was believed to be lost forever. Seeing Luke tortured at the hands of Palpatine was the catalyst that revived Anakin from Vader and, in an act of love, Anakin killed Palpatine to save his son. Luke, presented with Anakin in his last moments, saw who his father was at last and Anakin thanked him for never giving up hope in saving him.

Leia Organa
Leia was the second twin born without Vader's knowledge; Vader did not meet his daughter until she was in her late teens. By the time he met her on the Death Star, the encounter with his daughter was a cruel twist of fate, as Vader, unaware that Leia was his own child, treated her as an enemy to the Empire and severely tortured her aboard the Death Star, all before letting Wilhuff Tarkin destroy her surrogate home Alderaan. Leia in turn saw Vader as a monster that was willing to destroy the weak. However, after learning of his relationship with Leia when he probed Luke's mind, Vader came into shock that he had two children who survived, feeling extremely guilty and remorseful as a result for what he did to Leia. Before dying, Vader told Luke to tell his sister that he was right that there was still good left in him, as Vader did not want Leia to believe he was a monster, but as a man who had now redeemed himself for the freedom of the galaxy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Prior to his conversion to the dark side, Obi-Wan was Anakin's mentor and friend. Obi-Wan was also responsible for Vader's later condition as their epic battle against each other caused him to lose three of his limbs and sustain severe burns that led to his requirement of the suit.

When Anakin fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader, killing many Jedi and younglings, Obi-Wan was heartbroken and at first refused to confront Vader, but reluctantly agreed to do so when Yoda insisted that he needed to put his "brother" out of his misery. When it appeared that Padme had led Obi-Wan to Mustafar to kill him, Vader mortally choked the former and engaged the latter in combat, his previous love for his former master replaced by pure hatred. During their duel, Obi-Wan kept trying to find a trace of his former pupil in the monster that he had become, but as Vader coldly rebuffed all his pleas and made vicious attempts to murder his former master, he eventually accepted that Anakin was gone. After Obi-Wan dismembered Vader and won the battle, he could not bring himself to murder his defenseless enemy in cold blood and remorsefully left Vader to be consumed by the fires of Mustafar.

Over the years, Vader's hate for Obi-Wan grew even more as he became obsessed with revenge against him and all Jedi. Vader was so obsessed that he became dedicated to locating him, but did not succeed because Palpatine was convinced that Obi-Wan was not worth the effort. He finally encountered Obi-Wan nineteen years later on the first Death Star. Vader engaged Obi-Wan in a final lightsaber duel, expressing contempt for his former master because of his advancing age. When Obi-Wan left himself wide open, Vader cut down his former friend without mercy or remorse.

It was very likely that Vader became enraged when he discovered that Obi-Wan had deprived him of his children, Luke and Leia, upon learning of their existence.

Palpatine
When Palpatine revealed that was in fact Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith to Anakin, the latter initially wanted to kill him, but he hesitated, as he remembered that Palpatine told him that Dark side of the Force has the power to stop a person from dying (which was probably the only thing Palpatine was telling the truth about). When Anakin turned him over to the Jedi Order, he later regretted it, when he realized that Mace Windu and the other Jedi accompanying him were not going to arrest Palpatine but were going to kill him.

He tried to reason with Mace, stating that the Sith Master needed to stand trial for all his crimes, but the arrogant Jedi Master refused to listen, blinded by his emotional attachment to the Republic. When Mace resolved to execute Palpatine despite the fact that Palpatine was unarmed and begging for mercy, Anakin stopped Mace by cutting off the hand wielding his lightsaber. This gave Palpatine the opportunity to use Force lightning to throw Mace out of a broken window, sending him falling to his death. Though Anakin was horrified by what he had done, he knew that there was no going back, as he believed the Jedi would not forgive or accept him for this crime against Mace. He was then manipulated by Palpatine into becoming his new apprentice, the ruthless Sith Lord Darth Vader.

Anakin was also deceived by the latter into believing that the entire Jedi Order had been plotting for years to take over the Republic.

After the formation of Galactic Empire, Vader served as Palpatine's second-in-command and chief enforcer. Vader was seemingly unfailingly loyal to Palpatine; he was the closest thing he had to a friend. However, in truth, he secretly hated his master for deceiving him and ruining his life; he secretly planned to overthrow him one day with his own apprentice. The only reason Vader continued to serve Palpatine after losing his wife was because Palpatine was all he had left; he was the only one that would accept him.

Ultimately, the redeemed Anakin/Vader would end up killing Palpatine when the latter was attempting to kill the former's son Luke. This action would result in Anakin bringing balance to the Force. He also realized that the Dark Lord of the Sith was the true traitor and enemy of the Galactic Republic that Mace Windu warned him in the Clone Wars.

Wilhuff Tarkin
Even as Darth Vader, Anakin and Tarkin still had a mutual respect for each other, Although Vader had a good working relationship with Tarkin. The pair mutual respected each other, but they secretly did not trust or personally like each other.

Vader was disgusted when Tarkin he went back on his word; after he made a promise to Leia Organa, that he would not destroy planet Alderaan, if she told him where the rebels base was, after she apparently did, he destroyed the planet anyway, although he let Tarkin destroy Leia's surrogate home Alderaan; he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Ahsoka Tano
While Vader still acknowledged Ahsoka as his former apprentice, by the time he had found his long-lost apprentice he was so distanced from his past self that he had no qualms against eliminating the Rebels or any Jedi he came across, both of which Ahsoka was apart of. Vader only felt antipathy for Ahsoka's existence as a relic of Anakin Skywalker. Because of this, he was willing to hunt her down in order to permanently remove any remainder from his past. Ahsoka was unaware of Anakin's transformation after the Clone Wars, and when she discovered the truth, she was left heartbroken and in shock that her former mentor was the Sith threat she was facing. However, she still aided the Rebel fleet against Vader, despite their past friendship.