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You probably don't know Vader quite as well as you think.
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00:00Now, there's no denying that Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains in the history of
00:04not only cinema, but pop culture and storytelling in general. Even people who've never seen Star
00:09Wars can probably name him, and more than 45 years since he made his debut, he remains about
00:13as popular as ever. Yet, just because he's a beloved antagonist doesn't mean that fans have
00:18a 100% bead on everything about him, and in fact may have got some crucial facts about him totally
00:24wrong. Well, don't worry, because I'm here to straighten the record, as I'm Jules, this is
00:28whatculture.com, and these are 10 things that everyone gets wrong about Darth Vader.
00:3210. His suit is designed to cause him pain
00:35While there are no arguments that Vader's iconic armored suit helps keep him alive by basically
00:41functioning as a mobile life support system, it is a mistake to assume that its functions are all
00:45primarily curative. In actual fact, the suit is also designed to cause Vader pain. For starters,
00:51the helmet sticks needles into Vader's face whenever he's wearing it, with the intent of feeding his
00:55brainwave activity back to the central computer on the suit's chest. Also, in the extended universe,
01:01it stated that Palpatine designed the suit to be intentionally uncomfortable in order to keep
01:05Vader's rage free-flowing, and also to ensure that he could maintain a level of control over him
01:10while limiting his potential to rebel. Though aspects of this have been technically jettisoned
01:15from the canon continuity and are now considered legend factoids, it remains true that Vader's suit
01:19isn't an entirely restorative piece of wardrobe because it also causes him agony for a number of reasons.
01:259. He Actually Shouldn't Remember C-3PO
01:28It's often cited as a plot hole by fans that Vader doesn't recognize C-3PO in the original trilogy,
01:34despite the fact that young Anakin was revealed to have built him in the prequels. You can chalk
01:39this up to George Lucas not having this revelation in mind when he made the original Star Wars movies,
01:43but if you look at the facts, it actually makes total sense that Vader wouldn't pay C-3PO any mind
01:48at
01:48all. First and foremost, C-3PO isn't exactly the most distinctive-looking droid in the galaxy.
01:53We've seen hundreds of similar-looking droids throughout Star Wars media, so it's absolutely
01:57believable that Vader wouldn't give him much of a second thought. And even if that's not good
02:01enough, it's easy to accept that Anakin simply repressed large swathes of his past following
02:06his transformation into Vader, whereby C-3PO just simply wouldn't exist in his mind. After all,
02:11Vader told us in the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series that he killed Anakin when he became Vader,
02:16so maybe all of his memories have gone as well.
02:188. He's in the original trilogy way less than you remember
02:22Vader casts such a long shadow, both literally and figuratively, over the original trilogy in
02:27particular that it's easy to assume that he has tons and tons of screen time throughout the three
02:32movies. But in actual fact, that's not the case at all. Though precise timings vary, it's generally
02:37accepted that Vader has around 45 minutes of screen time throughout the entire original trilogy,
02:42gaining slightly more in each successive sequel. Surprisingly then, despite A New Hope being his
02:48introductory movie, he appears for less than 12 minutes of the two-hour film. But like so many
02:53of cinema's finest villains, it's a classic case of Vader having such a show-stopping screen presence
02:58that it feels like he's in the movies so much more. Like the Joker in The Dark Knight and Hannibal
03:03Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, Vader has a haunting, spectral quality that allows him to linger
03:08around the periphery even when he's not physically in a scene.
03:117. He's not superior to Grand Moff Tarkin
03:15Another mistake that casual Star Wars fans make is assuming that, outside of the Emperor,
03:20who was only briefly mentioned in A New Hope, that Darth Vader holds rank as the Empire's top
03:25villain. But in actual fact, Vader isn't at all superior to Grand Moff Tarkin in the Empire's
03:30pecking order. After all, it's Tarkin who commands the Death Star, has Alderaan obliterated,
03:34and actually gives Vader orders. Now, that's not to say that Tarkin is superior to Vader either.
03:39Vader is basically outside of the Imperial chain of command and answers primarily to the Emperor.
03:44Yet, it's reasonable to assume that he deferred to Tarkin on board the Death Star,
03:48both to appease Palpatine and out of respect for Tarkin. After all, Tarkin's position surely
03:53commanded a measure of admiration from even someone as Force-choke happy as Vader, right?
03:58In reality, they're basically separate but equal, and Vader knew that taking direction from Tarkin on
04:03his own ship was probably the right call.
04:056. He can actually survive without his helmet for a while
04:08In Return of the Jedi, a dying Anakin asks Luke to help him remove his helmet, to which Luke responds,
04:14but you'll die. Now, many fans have taken this as proof that Vader can't survive more than a few
04:19minutes without his helmet, but that isn't actually the case at all. In several Star Wars comics,
04:24Vader has shown himself to be able to last hours, even days, with the help of the Force,
04:28using hate alone to keep himself alive, no matter that his helmet and suit were compromised.
04:33Now, this isn't to say that Vader would want to be without his life-support apparatus permanently,
04:38given the obvious strain of using the Force to stay alive will take on his body,
04:41but he can most certainly survive without the helmet for more than just a few minutes,
04:45even in the most hostile of conditions.
04:485. The choke-on-your-aspirations joke wasn't out of character
04:52One of the most polarizing lines in recent Star Wars history occurs in Rogue One, where Vader summons
04:58Krennic to answer for the Death Star's attack on Jedha, and promptly Force chokes the hell out of
05:03him. As Vader leaves, he cheekily tells Krennic, be sure not to choke on your aspirations, director,
05:09which was immediately met with a cringe-induced outcry from large swathes of the fanbase,
05:14who felt that it was out of character for Vader to make such a cute and punny quip.
05:17But that's not really true. Consider some of the wisecracks that Vader made in the original trilogy,
05:23perhaps most memorably telling Captain Nida, apology accepted, after Force choking him to death.
05:28Plus, Vader isn't a literally robotic or inhuman entity, so what's the matter with a dark joke
05:32or two? It's not like Anakin was a total pillar of stoicism in the prequel trilogy,
05:37so it follows that Vader would have a penchant for gallows humor.
05:414. His corpse shouldn't have disappeared
05:43Another thing often brought up as a plot hole is Anakin's death. Namely,
05:48why doesn't his body disappear when he passes away? After all, we saw the bodies of Obi-Wan,
05:53Yoda, and later Luke Skywalker vanish into the Aether upon their deaths.
05:57So why not Anakin? Moreover, why does his corpse remain in situ for Luke to burn?
06:02The prequels actually explained this well enough, given that we see numerous Jedi die throughout
06:06the prequel trilogy whose bodies remain in place without disappearing, most notably Qui-Gon Jinn.
06:11The vanishing act, it seems, isn't just something that all Jedi automatically know.
06:15Obi-Wan and Yoda specifically learned to become one with the Force from Qui-Gon. That said,
06:20in the Legends continuity, it's nevertheless stated that Anakin's body did eventually disappear,
06:25and that Luke ended up burning his empty armor on Endor. But even accepting that,
06:30despite its dubious canonicity, it isn't a given that those at one with the Force must
06:34immediately vanish the moment they die. 3. James Earl Jones didn't voice him in
06:40Obi-Wan Kenobi
06:41Vader, of course, appears throughout the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney Plus series,
06:46with many commending the great James Earl Jones for once again reprising his vocal role as Vader,
06:50with sure villainous relish. Except, it's not quite true to say that Jones played Vader in the show,
06:56or at least not in the conventional sense. Indeed, that is Jones' voice that we hear
07:01throughout the series, but the lines weren't performed by the 91-year-old actor, who recently
07:05announced his retirement from voicing Vader. As a result, Vader's voice for Obi-Wan Kenobi was
07:10produced by Ukrainian machine learning startup, Respeacher, whose software used Jones' voice from
07:15existing Star Wars media to generate new dialogue. It's a testament to the quality of Respeacher's
07:21efforts that the end result is basically seamless, and it's easy to see why so many assumed that
07:26Jones, despite his age, was still performing the part, and in a manner totally consistent with his
07:31decades-old portrayals, no less. 2. The I Am Your Father
07:35Nothing separates an ultra-casual Star Wars fan from a more dedicated one quicker than getting
07:42Vader's iconic I Am Your Father line wrong. Through pop culture osmosis, it's often repeated
07:48that Vader tells his son, Luke, I am your father, when in fact Vader replies, no, I am your father,
07:54in reference to Luke's belief from Obi-Wan that Vader killed his dad. Is it a nitpick? Perhaps.
08:00The context is more or less the same, and name-dropping Luke helps assure people that you're making a
08:04Star Wars reference in polite conversation, but considering how much we've surely all seen The Empire
08:09Strikes Back, we probably should know better by now. But nobody's perfect. If a friend of yours
08:14parrots the slightly incorrect quote, don't give them too much hell over it. Either way,
08:18you'll struggle to find a more misquoted movie one-liner, or something that more people have
08:22gone wrong about Vader. 1. Vader Definitely Kills Obi-Wan
08:28As iconic as the climactic lightsaber duel between Vader and Obi-Wan is in A New Hope, fans aren't all
08:34on
08:34the same page about the precise nature of Obi-Wan's exit from the scene. After all, Obi-Wan basically
08:39appears to give up fighting, and when Vader swings his saber at him, he vanishes into thin air. Then,
08:44the next time we see him, he's a force ghost. Some fans maintain that Obi-Wan left the physical
08:49plane before Vader struck him, but that's not really true. The ambiguous manner in which the
08:54scene is filmed doesn't really help provide fans with clarity, but given that Obi-Wan literally tells
08:58Vader moments earlier, if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly
09:02imagine, it appears that he was genuinely killed by Vader, and then near instantaneously became one
09:08with the force. It's a hair-splitting debate at the end of the day, but given that a necessity for
09:13becoming a force ghost is, you know, dying, it's safe to say that Obi-Wan didn't find another way
09:18to just evaporate into the ether. He was, as he foretold, struck down.
09:23And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 things that everyone gets wrong about Darth Vader. I hope
09:27that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section below.
09:31As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ, but the O is a
09:35zero,
09:36or you can swing by Instagram, where it's the same handle, RetroJ, but the O is a zero. Hope to
09:40see
09:40you over there. But before I go, I just want to say one thing. I hope you're treating yourself well
09:45with love and respect, my friend, because you deserve all the best things in life, all right?
09:48And do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise. Big love to you. Now go out there and
09:53smash your life goals today. I believe in you. As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome.
09:58Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
10:01Bye.
10:01Bye.
10:01Bye.
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