Ever since Return of the Jedi, we’ve know about the dynamic between Vader and Palpatine. Palpatine’s objective is to rule the galaxy totally and completely, and at his side is Vader: attack dog and servant—trapped both in a mechanical prison and his role at the Emperor’s enforcer. However, new canon material reveals there is much more to it than that, and this has radical implications on the rest of the saga.

The Narrative of the Prequels

The prequels would go on to show just exactly how this happened, but the end result is the same. We learn that Anakin was tricked into falling to the dark side in an effort to save his wife, but aside from the details and a new perspective the story stays right on track. Vader is still an angry, trapped man that would eventually find something worth living (and dying) for when the Emperor was about to kill his son.

That, over the course of the past three years, has changed. Slowly but surely, Lucasfilm has speckled it’s new canonical expanded universe material with subtle hints of what Vader and Palpatine were up to between Episodes III and VI—and it has major implications for the saga. The old EU might now be Legends, but what’s in its place is something far greater: A story arc.

Palpatine’s Motives have Changed

One of the biggest information dumps of the new canon is hidden inside the novel Tarkin. The plot might revolve around Tarkin and Vader’s space adventures, but the real reason to pick this book up is the small asides with Palpatine:

The sooner the battle station is completed, the sooner you and I can devote ourselves to more pressing matters– matters only you and I can investigate and that have little to do with the Empire. -Sidious to Vader in Tarkin (106).

That’s quite a statement coming from the Emperor who spent his entire life plotting to take down the Jedi and rule the Galaxy. What could be so important? Well, the book goes on to explain that there is, unbeknownst to the Jedi, a dark side shrine underneath the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Palpatine has been digging it up for some time.

To summarize what is really some highly recommended reading: Palpatine’s greatest desire, once all the galactic domination is over, is to work together with Vader in the Sith shrine to uncover how to crack the mystery of immortality and live for thousands of years. The biggest threat to his plans? The Force striking back. Palpatine wants to conquer the Force so that it can never unseat him. It’s “unlimited power” in every sense of the word. This is a huge change. Why? Because it changes some very fundamental story elements of the original 6 films: Palpatine wasn’t lying to Anakin.

In what is probably one of the best scenes of the prequel trilogy—the very moment Anakin pledges himself to Sidious and becomes Darth Vader—Palpatine tells Anakin that that he does not know how to prevent death, but together they will work together to discover how. At this point in the story, the audience suspects that Palpatine is lying. Once Padme dies, it’s a sealed deal: Palpatine lied to Anakin in order to get him to turn.

According to the new material, this very pivotal moment has been turned on it’s head. Palpatine, years later, is fully invested in doing exactly what he promised Anakin. And it’s not just a favor, it’s the objective.

Palpatine goes from being a character that accomplished his goal of ruling the galaxy (and who’s only real goal afterwards was preserving it), to someone with far greater ambitions that were never accomplished. It changes who he is, and it leaves open what he left: something unfinished.

Vader H as N ot G iven U p

On the other side of this story we have Vader. Defeated, alone, and trapped. That’s where we left him in Episode III, and that’s where we find him in VI when he and Luke talk before meeting the Emperor. It’s not until Luke almost dies that Vader finally decides enough is enough, and takes his destiny into his own hands. We are getting quite a different Vader now, and one of the biggest changes to his character is happening right now in the as-of-yet unfinished Fortress Vader comic series. In the comic (as of this writing) a long dead dark sider named Momin talks to Vader through a helmet. He instructs Vader on how to build a castle that acts as a tuning fork for the Force above an ancient Sith shrine. We have discussed this idea before in previous articles. Vader is then tricked into allowing the dark sider to resurrect himself through some kind of Force door. Momin cuts off Vader’s arm and is about to kill him, when they have this exchange:

“Wait. One question. I know you opened the door. Did you lie to me about what lies beyond?” – Vader

Momin replies:

I did not. All things are possible through the Force. What you desire awaits you on the other side. But you will never pass through. The dark side would never allow it. You have been poorly taught about what the dark side is and why we must serve. Your master is either ignorant or hoarding knowledge. -Momin

This is in reference to Padme, who Momin mentions earlier when he mocks Vader for still thinking he is the Chosen One.

But if the greatest power in the galaxy is actually yours to control, why are you a stub of charred meat in a cape? Even more, if you had that power, wouldn’t your wife be alive? – Momin

In a burst strength, Vader kills Momin and opens the door. The comic ends there. The implications of this are saga changing. First, for the first time in Star Wars history, someone has been brought back from the dead. This is proof of concept for Palpatine’s goals—meaning they aren’t just some lofty unattainable goal, but actually accomplishable. Second, Anakin’s arc has completely changed. He is no longer defeated and trapped, with no control over his destiny. Instead, between trilogies he’s gone behind Palpatine’s back and explored a shrine he found for his own purposes.

What’s more, Darth Vader is actively trying to bring Padme back from the dead! And this comic is unfinished. Surely if it doesn’t work out here, it won’t be the last time Vader tries. He’s gone from a pathetic (though fierce) failure of a man who lost everything he loved and lived a shell of a life for 20 years, to a man of action who is going to spend the rest of his life figuring out how to get what he loved back.

Why Has Lucasfilm Fundamentally Changed These Major Characters?

It’s an interesting thing, because not only have Vader and Palpatine’s goals changed, but they are actually working towards very similar but separate things:

On one hand we have a Sith that wants to live forever. On the other we have a Sith that wants to bring someone back from the dead. And long ago there was a Sith who supposedly discovered both of these things but was betrayed and killed…

All of this information now exists in a world where Ben Solo has spoken to Darth Vader through a mask, promising to finish what Vader started. We also have a villain that looks like a walking corpse (with a possible lightsaber wound to the head) that recently died—or did he? I’ll let you speculate on that.

What Lucasfilm has done here is moved the ending of the story and left it open-ended. Palpatine had ultimate ambitions that he never achieved, and so did Vader. This leaves room for more story to be written, and it’s exactly what you want to do if you’re writing a new ending for a story that already ended.

The EU was not deleted without purpose—it was deleted so that the writers could carve out a larger story. Vader may be dead, but he might not be done.

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