Legendary actor James Earl Jones has stepped back from his iconic role as Darth Vader at 96 and now an AI will be in charge of recreating his voice for future appearances in the Star Wars franchise. The infamous Dark Lord of the Sith became one of the most important villains of all time, and fans of his reign of terror in a galaxy far, far away will remember his character for years to come.
From creating the Death Star, leading the Galactic Empire, kidnapping her lost daughter, and severing his own son’s hand, to saving his son after a long-lost battle and killing Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader gave audiences a triumphant character arc that can be summed up with hilarious memes.
10/10 Burned Alive
Before becoming Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker showed clear signs of his inner evil and recklessness and did many despicable acts, including murdering children for what he believed was a just cause. This, counting other occurrences pointed out in the meme, makes Darth Vader extremely similar to Mortal Combat‘s Noot Saibot.
Both kill innocent people, were burned alive, and then transformed into some other more powerful evil figure that follows an even darker master. Although, in all fairness, it is undeniable that despite the common background, Darth Vader is a far more memorable and iconic character within pop culture.
9/10 Turned Into A Machine
James Earl Jones has gained his retirement and fans can only thank him for his outstanding job as Darth Vader’s voice actor, however, Disney’s solution for his retirement has proven to be quite adequate, and therefore twisted to Darth Vader’s character.
One of the biggest steps in Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader was how after being burned in Mustafar, he is encased in his iconic suit of armor and consequently, turned into a machine. Taking this into account, It’s mind-blowing to think that in future depictions of Darth Vader there will no longer be a human behind his voice, but a machine, which inevitably makes Obi-Wan’s line added in the meme hit differently.
8/10 Joined The Dark Side
Since he was Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader used to fuel every step he took with hate, bitterness, and fear, which made him Palpatine’s ideal apprentice. In other words, Darth Vader earned his seat right next to Palpatine in a spaceship that could be compared to Regina George’s car in Mean Girls.
But after one of Darth Vader’s best fights, which ended up with Luke’s hand being cut off, it is not difficult to understand why his son wouldn’t want to join his father’s dark forces. Fortunately, Luke was always better than his father, and he did not jump into the car, despite all the persuasive speeches for him to do so.
7/10 Skilled And Powerful
Every Darth Vader intro scene in Star Wars proves how imposing Dark Vader is when he enters a room. The place always goes silent, the fear in the air becomes palpable, and every witness’ face turns pale as if they were contemplating an imminent death.
Needless to say, even the most powerful warriors fear him and immediately try to ideate a plan to escape upon his arrival, which is a situation that can be hilariously explained like the meme. Everyone feels like a galactic gangster until Darth Vader arrives and proves who is the most skilled and powerful.
6/10 His Breathing Is Iconic
Darth Vader would be unrecognizable without his iconic heavy breathing caused by asthma and his suit of armor. Nobody else in the galaxy has such an important and defining noise that fans could hear from a long distance and still know to whom it belongs – except Chewbacca, of course.
Considering Star Wars’ enormous fan base, it is not hard to imagine a couple of million people feeling curious about a ten-hour-long video that plays Vader’s iconic breathing. Although, that doesn’t stop it from being absurd and hilarious.
5/10 Luke’s Father
Darth Vader is one of the most brutal villains in movie history but considering how unaware he was that Luke and Leia were his children he could come across as a little bit oblivious. Looking back at the comic scene depicted in the meme, it is hilarious to see his confusion, and it is undeniably ironic.
Although considering that Luke’s father was Anakin Skywalker, the birth of Darth Vader marks the death of his human form, and Anakin considered himself guilty of his first “death”, he could count himself in the multiple father murders he committed.
4/10 Co-Ruler Of The Galaxy
Darth Vader was a villain, but nobody can deny that he wanted the best for his son, even though what he considered “best” was wicked. After all, as the creator of this meme points out, he only wanted his son to co-rule the galaxy with him and Palpatine.
Luke knew better and did not want to join the forces that had been tormenting the entire galaxy, which led Palpatine to try to kill him. However, Darth Vader showed repentance and intervened before his ways ended up killing another loved one. Although in this meme Vader sarcastically admits he is terrible, in the end, he did acknowledge it for real.
3/10 Choker
The Force has many ways of being used and exploited, but of all the possible ways to take advantage of it, Darth Vader seemed to love choking others with it. It became his signature move and if Vader had ruled during the COVID-19 pandemic, he would have been more appreciated for choking while following social distancing rules.
Although he choked others to rule through fear – and it was overall a tyrannical move – nobody can deny that Darth Vader’s discipline methods are great to explain and depict the safety measures everyone had to follow for COVID.
2/10 Deep Down He Was Anakin Skywalker
It could easily be said that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader, but hard-core fans of the Star Wars franchise know that it is far more complicated than that. Explicitly speaking, the statement is true, but in other ways- poetically speaking -Darth Vader was born when Anakin Skywalker died.
He became a machine, and as such, he acted as one. Except on that last moment, where his apparent unexistent heart seemed to start beating again at the sight of his lost son dying. Then, Darth Vader left the game, only for Anakin – the one that deeply loved Padame – to step in and save the product of that undying strong love.
1/10 Great Villain
Many people gave life to Darth Vader, and while James Earl Jones was his voice, David Prowse was his body in the first three movies of the franchise. This wholesome meme reminds fans not only of how good Darth Vader was depicted in the original trilogy, but how transcendental Darth Vader is as a character.
As the image point out, the Darth Vader of the first three titles is one of the best (if not the best, overall) and gave audiences an incredible villain that nobody is going to forget for the years to come.
