Darth Vader

Anakin Skywalker was a legendary Force-sensitive human male who was a Jedi Knight of the Galactic Republic and the prophesied Chosen One of the Jedi Order, destined to bring balance to the Force. Also known as "Ani" during his childhood, Skywalker earned the moniker "Hero With No Fear" from his accomplishments in the Clone Wars. His alter ego, Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, was created when Skywalker turned to the dark side of the Force, pledging his allegiance to the Sith Lord Darth Sidious at the end of the Republic Era.

A vergence in the Force, Skywalker was born on the desert planet of Tatooine in the Outer Rim Territories in 41 BBY. He was the son of Shmi Skywalker, a slave who conceived a child without a father. His blood contained over twenty-thousand midi-chlorians, surpassing that of Grand Master Yoda and all other Jedi in the galaxy. Qui-Gon Jinn, the Jedi Master who discovered Skywalker during the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, theorized that Skywalker was conceived by the midi-chlorians. Following the Battle of Naboo, the Jedi High Council admitted Skywalker into the Order as the Padawan of Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi despite feeling that he was too old and emotional to adhere to the Jedi Code. During the early days of the Clone Wars, Skywalker served as a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic, commanding the clone troopers of the elite 501st Legion against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. He also oversaw the Jedi training of his own apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, after receiving his knighthood. Although Jedi doctrine prohibited personal relationships, Skywalker had a secret wife, Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo.

In 19 BBY, Skywalker learned that Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was Darth Sidious, the elusive Dark Lord of the Sith who orchestrated the war in order to take over the galaxy. While Skywalker was caring and compassionate, his fear of losing Amidala in childbirth caused him to turn against the Jedi Order, believing Sidious had the knowledge to cheat death. Consumed by the persona of Darth Vader, the fallen Jedi Knight marched his legion on the Jedi Temple of Coruscant where they executed its inhabitants, including Jedi younglings, as part of Order 66 and the Great Jedi Purge. Vader was then sent to Mustafar to exterminate the Separatist Council at the behest of his Sith Master, now the self-proclaimed Galactic Emperor. Vader subsequently sustained severe injuries in his duel with Kenobi, and was rebuilt as an armored cyborg while his wife died of a broken heart, though not before giving birth to the twins Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa who were hidden from their father and the Emperor as the Galactic Empire rose to power.

Vader enforced the rule of the New Order as the Emperor's Sith apprentice throughout most of the Imperial Era. In the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, he discovered the existence of his son and was determined to turn Luke to the dark side. Luke sought to become a Jedi, like his father before him, and believed that Vader had the potential to turn back to the light side of the Force. Vader was defeated by Luke during the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, but the young Jedi refused to strike down his father in anger, causing the Emperor to torture Luke with Force lightning. The pain inflicted on his son awakened the part of Vader that was still Anakin, resulting in a redeemed Skywalker killing Sidious at the cost of his own life. Having destroyed the Sith and fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One, Skywalker made peace with his son and became one with the Force.

Anakin Skywalker was one of the most powerful Jedi and Sith in galactic history. The Force was especially strong in the Skywalker bloodline, which culminated in Anakin's grandson, Ben Solo, Organa's son who was born by the end of the Galactic Civil War in 5 ABY. Solo would turn to the dark side as well, becoming the dark warrior Kylo Ren during the rise of the First Order. Like his grandfather, however, Solo found redemption by sacrificing his life for the love of another—the Jedi apprentice Rey, who heard Skywalker's voice telling her to restore the balance, as he once had, during the Battle of Exegol in 35 ABY. Solo's death ended the Skywalker bloodline, although Rey, the granddaughter of Sidious, rejected her true heritage and took their surname to honor their legacy.

Duel on Mustafar

 * "You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"
 * ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Darth Vader —  Listen (file info) [src]

Soon thereafter, Vader saw Amidala's star skiff land and ran to meet her. She told Vader that Obi-Wan had discovered their secret and had also told her that Vader had joined the dark side, hoping that he'd prove Obi-Wan wrong. However, Vader only confirmed it to be true. Driven power-hungry by the Dark Side, Vader tried to convince her that they could be happy together in the new Empire, stating that, given time, he could overthrow Sidious and they could rule the galaxy together. Horrified by what her husband had now become, Amidala begged him to stop and leave everything behind "while they still can," but at that moment, Vader saw Obi-Wan walking out of Amidala's ship, due to him secretly stowing away in Amidala's ship. Convinced that this meant that his wife had betrayed him for his old master, and that she brought Kenobi there to kill him, Vader Force-choked Amidala until Kenobi demanded he let her go, by which point she had already fallen unconscious. Although Kenobi tried to reason with his former pupil, Vader refused to listen, as the new Empire was everything he wanted the galaxy to be.

Unable to come to an understanding, and both believing themselves to be in the right, the two former friends then engaged in a fierce duel, which ripped across the Separatist facility, eventually causing it to deactivate and fall into the lava river below. The duel ended on the banks of the river, where Kenobi claimed the high ground and warned Vader not to attack. Blinded by rage and arrogance, Vader leaped to continue the duel, only to have his remaining limbs severed by his former master's blade, leaving only his cybernetic arm. Crippled, Vader slid down to the riverbank while screaming his undying hatred for his former master. Kenobi, taking Skywalker's lightsaber, told him he had considered him his brother and remorsefully left him for dead as a flap of Vader's clothing caught fire and he started burning. Kenobi then left the planet with Amidala, C-3PO, and R2-D2 as Vader lay screaming and burning on the riverbank.

Rebirth

 * "Lord Vader, can you hear me?" "Yes, Master. Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she all right?" "It seems, in your anger you killed her."Vader Ep III.jpg"I? I couldn't have. She was alive! I felt it! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
 * ―Palpatine and Darth Vader, after the latter rises in his armor[src]

Although Vader survived, he was horrifically scarred, both physically and mentally, and had damaged lungs due to the hot ash in the air. Shortly afterward, the Emperor (having sensed his apprentice's peril) arrived on Mustafar, where he found the severely wounded Vader and took him back to Coruscant, in a medical capsule. As the Emperor could not afford to lose Vader, he turned to the Republic's best scientists, among which was Cylo (who in doing so, gained private access to Vader's cybernetics), and by the Emperor's orders, Vader was put into a life-sustaining black suit of armor and outfitted with three new robotic limbs by numerous droids skilled in both cybernetic reconstruction and medical surgery. After two days of nonstop labor, he was finally sealed within his new armor. His eyes showed a brief flicker of fear before his mask and helmet locked together and he drew his first breath. Vader's rebirth was complete. Upon regaining consciousness, Vader asked the Emperor what had become of his wife, and he told Vader that he had killed her in his anger. Unbeknownst to either of the two Sith, Amidala gave birth to the twins Luke and Leia before her death. Overwhelmed by his despair in the belief he had killed Amidala and their unborn child, which fulfilled his prophetic dreams of her death, Vader incidentally destroyed the medical droids and severely damaged the entire room through the Force. He broke free of his bindings on the operating table and struggled to walk under the sheer weight of his new prostheses and armor. He then let out a cry of despair over the love of his life that he believed that he killed.

Vader's despair then turned to rage and he telekinetically slammed the Emperor against a wall in the surgical bay, snarling that his master had promised to save Amidala. The Emperor, as Vader attempted unsuccessfully to strangle him with the Force, responded that in death Amidala had provided Vader a gift: Pain. The Emperor continued by giving Vader a choice; to either accept and use that gift or to die. After a moment, Vader replied that he would live. The Emperor then immediately launched a barrage of Force lightning at his apprentice, and rhetorically demanded that Vader use the power of his lightsaber to defend himself. But Vader replied that his lightsaber had been taken by Kenobi at the conclusion of their duel. As he continued his barrage, the Emperor angrily shouted that the weapon Vader spoke of was not his. Rather, it had belonged to a Jedi, and Vader was now a Sith. Ceasing his Force-based assault, the Emperor drew his own lightsaber. He put the blade to Vader's throat and stated that he understood how traumatic the last few days had been for his apprentice, but warned that should Vader ever use the Force against him again, he would finish what Kenobi could not. The Emperor then deactivated his weapon and stated that, as friends, he hoped that the two of them would never find themselves in a similar situation. He instructed Vader to put aside his rage and lust for revenge against the Jedi for the time being, for the two of them had a great deal of work to accomplish.

Hunting a kyber crystal
Immediately after his surgery, the Emperor took Vader to a balcony overlooking the old Jedi Temple. There, he and Vader watched as Mas Amedda directed a ceremonial burning of the lightsabers of all the Jedi who had been killed in the Temple. As they listened to Amedda's speech, the Emperor asked if his apprentice knew how or why Sith lightsaber blades were red in color. Vader replied that he did not, as the Temple's information on the subject had been "incomplete." The Emperor laughed and contemptuously mused that the Jedi had been uncomfortable with the information and had buried it as a result. He then explained that kyber crystals felt pain just like any living being, and could be made to bleed after a fashion by pouring rage, pain, and hate into them. He asked Vader if he understood, to which Vader replied that he did, stating that he could have given him any of the burning Jedi lightsabers to corrupt, even Yoda's. But he had not, as Vader realized that the crystal of a Sith's lightsaber should be taken directly from a Jedi by that Sith.

As the ceremony progressed, the Clone Troopers attending the vent threw a basket full of various lightsabers into the incinerator, including Yoda's. The lightsabers caught on fire and a moment later, a powerful blast of energy was released into the air as the kyber crystals were destroyed.

Afterward, the Emperor brought Vader to a desert astronomical object in the Mid Rim and assigned him the task of hunting down a Jedi to take a kyber crystal from. The Emperor took his apprentice to a site where he had arranged for a starship to be delivered for Vader's use, but the ship had been stolen by a group of pirates. Leaving Vader to reclaim the vessel, the Emperor departed, and Vader struck out for the planet's nearest settlement on foot. Once there, he eliminated the group of pirates who had stolen the ship and traveled to a Jedi outpost. The station was garrisoned by a group of clone troopers, who noted Vader's approach and hailed him. Though he could have provided the security codes necessary to secure the clone troopers assistance, Vader decided instead to simply kill them. After exterminating the garrison, Vader tasked the droid co-pilot of his ship to search through the station's archives for data on any Jedi who had taken the Barash vow prior to Order 66. Vader's hope was that any Jedi who had taken the vow, one of complete non-interference in all Jedi affairs, would have been not only out of harm's way when Order 66 was issued but would have ignored its occurrence in accordance with the vow. The search identified Jedi Master Kirak Infil'a, a Jedi who had been completely dedicated to combat to the exclusion of all else. When a grenade was thrown at him by two surviving clones, he managed to contain the explosion, which the clones believed would make him unable to do anything else as all his concentration was diverted on freezing the explosion. As they talked of how they would restrain and bring in what they believed was just another Jedi survivor before the Emperor in the hopes of being rewarded, Vader proved their beliefs that he was too preoccupied with the explosive to be false by telekinetically throttling the clones and breaking their necks, before walking far enough away from the explosion to release it.

Vader quickly located the Jedi on the river moon of Al'doleem and sensed as he disembarked his ship that Infil'a was waiting for him. The Jedi Master immediately confronted Vader, and was seized in a Force choke by the Dark Lord. However, Infil'a quickly released a Force blast at Vader which staggered him and disrupted his concentration. Infil'a declared his Barash to be complete and began to ascend the mountain upon which he lived, calling out to Vader to follow if he could. One of the Jedi Master's training droids, Arex, then opened a sluice gate which sent a river of water crashing down upon Vader. The Sith Lord was visibly battered by the rush of water, but managed to telekinetically part the river and walked to the shore. He was then set upon by a group of gigantic carnivorous birds, which damaged one of his cybernetic legs. Vader eventually crushed them all with the Force and made his way to the peak of the mountain. There he found Infil'a and Arex awaiting him. Vader quickly unleashed a Force push that blasted Infil'a off his feet and dazed him long enough for Vader, who was unarmed, to destroy Arex and take the droid's training lightsaber. He threw the droid off the mountain and engaged Infil'a, who sensed that Vader not only wanted to kill him but wished to take his lightsaber as well. However, Vader's previously damaged leg broke apart at the knee a short time into the duel, rendering him unable to continue the fight. Infil'a then declared his intention to seek out Sidious and kill him, and blasted Vader off the top of the mountain with the Force.

Regaining consciousness, Vader used the Force to reassemble his cybernetic limbs with the dismembered pieces of Arex, who coincidentally had landed near where Vader had fallen. He then tracked Infil'a to Am'balaar City, where he reengaged the astonished Jedi Master. Fighting atop the Am'balaar city dam, the two crossed blades until the duel was interrupted by a trio of security guards. Annoyed, Vader telekinetically flung the guards from the top of the dam, but Infil'a caught them and used the Force to lower them to safety. Infil'a then shouted at Vader not to involve anyone else in their duel, but Vader instead took advantage of Infil'a's concern for innocents by ripping apart a building-sized water storage tank situated in the city below. As Infil'a attempted without success to use his own powers to stop the destruction, Vader telekinetically removed the Jedi's lightsaber from his belt and claimed it for his own. He then grabbed Infil'a in a Force choke and lifted him from the dam. Infil'a pleaded with Vader to spare the civilians below the dam, but Vader ignored him. As the enormous tank burst completely, flooding Am'balaar City, Vader crushed Infil'a's throat with the Force and tossed his body into the wreckage below.

After obtaining a Jedi lightsaber and the kyber crystal within, Vader reboarded his ship, whereupon the droid co-pilot seized control of the vessel and jumped to hyperspace. The droid then began to play a pre-recorded message from the Emperor to Vader. The message stated that, per the Emperor's instructions, the droid had plotted a course to the planet Mustafar, where Vader would find a dark-side locus which he could use to help him corrupt the kyber crystal. As the message concluded, Vader touched down on Mustafar and quickly found the locus the Emperor had spoken of, an ancient Sith shrine within a shallow cavern. There, he disassembled Infil'a's lightsaber on a small, flat rock formation and removed the kyber crystal. However, when he attempted to corrupt it, the crystal resisted and used the Force to send Vader careening into one of the cavern walls. The crystal then caused Vader to experience a vision wherein he rejected the dark side, journeyed to Coruscant, and killed Palpatine. In the vision, Vader then found Obi-Wan and begged for his forgiveness. As he knelt in contrition in front of his former master, Obi-Wan called out to Vader by his former name, Anakin. Upon hearing this, Vader snapped out of his vision and angrily rejected the possibility shown to him by the crystal, declaring "this is all there is." He then began to pour his hatred, pain, and rage into the crystal. As the planet around the cave was consumed in a violent storm, Vader succeeded in corrupting the crystal.

Afterwards, Vader returned to Coruscant and stormed into the Emperor's office during the middle of a discussion between Tarkin, Mas Amedda, and the Emperor regarding the construction of the Death Star. As Vader was completely unknown to anyone other than Palpatine at the time, the Royal Guards in the Emperor's office attempted to intercept him, only to be blasted back into the office's large window. Seeing Vader, the Emperor dismissed both Tarkin and Amedda, the former of whom expressed concern for his safety. Reassuring Tarkin, the Emperor repeated his command, and the two Imperial officials departed, leaving Vader to triumphantly display Kirak Infil'a's lightsaber, now emitting a crimson blade, to the Emperor.

Training the Inquisitorius

 * "The Inquisitors are formidable fighters. They are former Jedi!" "And they fight like it. Defensive. Moving to attack only when there is no other choice. The Jedi taught that a battle could be counted a victory even if both parties survive. This error has infected the Inquisitors' tactics."
 * ―The Grand Inquisitor and Darth Vader[src]

Shortly after returning to his master, Vader retired to a medical chamber to repair his damaged cybernetic components as the Emperor congratulated him for taking his

first step to mastery of the dark side. Leaving Vader to repair his armor and limbs, the Emperor informed Vader that he had a new mission for him to undertake once his convalescence was complete. A short time later, Vader was informed of an intruder in the Jedi Temple Archives. He promptly confronted the intruder, who wielded a red lightsaber. As the two fought each other, the intruder appeared to take the advantage, but after a time Vader revealed that he had simply been testing the modifications that he had recently made to his armor, and promptly destroyed the intruder's lightsaber. As Vader went in for the kill, the Emperor arrived and told him that the intruder, titled the Grand Inquisitor, was part of the Inquisitorius. Vader was then taken to The Works, where Vader saw the rest of the Inquisitorius training themselves. Vader was told that most of the Inquisitorius were Jedi who converted to the dark side in the wake of the Order's destruction in order to save themselves. Vader and the Inquisitorius were then given the mission to finish the remaining surviving Jedi of the Emperor's Purge.

Vader dueled the Sixth Brother in a training session and cut off his arm in order to teach him about loss. Vader then spoke with the Grand Inquisitor about improving the Inquisitorius' training methods. They began to search for other Jedi that survived the purge. Vader saw the Inquisitors' target list and noticed the Jedi Archive's Chief Librarian, Jocasta Nu, on it. He asked the Emperor what was so important about her. The Emperor explained that she had knowledge of the Sith that she and the Jedi council had kept secret. The Emperor told Vader to find Nu and bring her to him. Vader assigned the Grand Inquisitor to search the Archive for information on her.

Hunt for Jocasta Nu
At that time, Nu had returned to Coruscant and sneaked into the former Jedi temple to search for a list of young Force-sensitives in her secret archives. As she roamed the ruins, her droid, Beetoo, informed her that her ship was about to be discovered. She informed the droid that she would adjust her plans accordingly. As Coruscant Security Forces came into the hanger, Beetoo detonated Nu's ship and killed the three security officers. As Nu made for a secret archive vault, she noticed the Grand Inquisitor reading through the Jedi knowledge. She continued, only focusing on the mission at hand.

Vader was contacted by an Imperial Security Bureau major, who had discovered a Jedi insignia on the wreckage of Nu's ship, and he went to the Imperial Security Bureau headquarters to check it out. When Vader arrived, the major asked what rank he should address him by, and Vader said, "lord." The major explained to Vader their suspicions that the explosion was premature and the Jedi insignia was merely "rabble-rousing graffiti" used as a calling card. Vader told him he was wrong, and as the major explained his experience in intelligence, Vader used the Force to reconstruct Nu's ship, showing the major that he was indeed wrong about the cause of the explosion. Vader then ordered him to search every level of Coruscant, steering clear of the Jedi temple.

Meanwhile, Nu was about to vacate the temple when she noticed the Grand Inquisitor insulting the Jedi knowledge he was examining. His comments eventually drove her over the edge and she confronted him with her lightsaber. Vader arrived at the temple entrance and Commander Fox already had sealed the place. When Fox asked him what they were expecting to happen and Vader told him that they had missed a Jedi during Order 66. As Vader entered the temple, Nu was pinning down the Grand Inquisitor with her lightsaber and threatening him. The Grand Inquisitor asked how she did not remember who he was, stating the times she had denied him the Jedi knowledge he sought. Nu attacked him, kicking off a short duel where the Grand Inquisitor quickly outwitted her. The Grand Inquisitor would have killed Nu if not for Vader's arrival. As Vader stopped the Grand Inquisitor from slaying the Jedi, Nu used the Force to rain Jedi books on them, and she fled the scene.

Vader made chase and as he followed Nu's trail, she made it to the archive vault and used a terminal to purge the entire library of its knowledge. As Vader entered the vault, he was confronted by the droid guard, Cator. He identified Vader as Anakin Skywalker and told him he was not authorized to be there. Vader threw his lightsaber at the droid, but being a guard against possible Force-sensitive threats meant the droid was ready for that move, and it caught Vader's weapon. Vader then punched Cator's arm off, and the droid caught his wrist and squeezed it with its robotic hand. Vader drove his fist through Cator's face before the droid could damage him any more. But as Cator dropped to the floor, Vader noticed a powerful shot being fired at him and used his lightsaber to deflect it. The shot, fired by Nu using a lightsaber rifle, knocked Vader back as it ripped through a bookcase. Nu stood at the entrance of the vault, confronting Vader.

As Vader got up again, he tried to convince Nu to drop her weapon. Nu ignored him and fired again. Vader dodged her shot and she fired a third time, further devastating the vault. As she continued firing, she tried to convince Vader that he was just a tool to the Emperor, saying that he could never get rid of the light side of the Force as it always found its vessels. Nu's rifle then failed to keep firing, and Vader deactivated his lightsaber, telling her she would not be harmed. Nu's rifle then began beeping and she threw it towards Vader. He used the Force to push it away, and it exploded, throwing both of them to the floor and breaching the side of the temple.

Nu fled through the fresh hole in the wall to find newly alerted clone troopers around the perimeter. They fired at her and she jumped down, deflecting their shots back at them. As the clones put more pressure on her, she Force-pushed them over the ledge behind them. Vader then appeared through the wall and the clones assumed he was too a Jedi and fired on him. At that moment, Commander Fox approach the scene on an Imperial Patrol Ship and realized that they were firing on Vader. He then had his ship fly over to Vader and ordered his units to a ceasefire. Vader jumped onto the ship and when Fox tried to explain the misunderstanding, he used the Force to break his neck. The clones on the ground continued firing on Nu and managed to disarm her. She then found herself cornered by Vader and the clones, and she attempted to jump off, only for Vader to use the Force to catch her. He brought her to his ship, and there she told the clones that he was the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. Vader used the Force to throw the clones off the ship and when Nu asked of what became of her, he killed her. Vader then crashed the ship and contacted Sidious, telling him that Nu died in an attempt to escape. Vader then crushed the list of Force-sensitive children that she had with her.

Defiance from the Imperial hierarchy
Believing that he lost all that he cared about by his own hand, Darth Vader embraced his role as the Emperor's chief enforcer. Few knew who he was, and even fewer suspected that he had once been Anakin Skywalker. His appearance at the Imperial court and the favor he carried from the Emperor earned him the distrust of Imperial officers. They resented him for appearing out of nowhere and having authority over them because of his link to his Master. They also resented his heavy-handed treatment of them, such as when he used the Force in the presence of his Master to choke Colonel Barokki.

The situation eventually came to a head when Vader investigated a Jedi sighting on Cabarria. Accompanied by the Ninth Sister, he headed to the bar where the identification had happened. Although the Ninth Sister had originally been planning to investigate alone, Vader had come, claiming she was not yet ready to face a Jedi in combat but secretly because he wanted to fight another Jedi. The Ninth Sister commented on his true desire, using her empathic abilities to read him clearly. As a result, Vader ordered her to remain outside while he investigated. Once inside, the Dark Lord was attacked by a family of bounty hunters named Bhada, Ramat and Chanath Cha. Using ion grenades, they neutralized all the weapons in the bar while Chanath tried to seize Vader's lightsaber with a tractor rifle. However, he used the Force to seize the lightsaber midair and, under the strain of the two opposing forces, the hilt shattered, leaving only the red kyber crystal.

The Chas told the assembled customers that they had come only for the "Jedi" and that they weren't planning on harming anyone. However, a disarmed Vader disagreed and used the Force to turn the customers into projectiles aimed at the Chas. Taken by the surprise, the bounty hunters turned on their shields to protect themselves. As they attacked him, Vader also used the customers and the bar's furniture as shields. Eventually, the hunters realized they could not defeat him and made to flee. Reclaiming his crystal with the Force, Vader pursued them.

Emerging from the bar, Vader initially suspected that the Inquisitors had been behind the attempt on his life and threatened the Ninth Sister with her own lightsaber. The Inquisitor's denials did not sway the Dark Lord, but neither did they prove her guilt. Determined to find who had placed a bounty on his head, he pursued the Chas. They eluded him for a time until he crashed a massive vehicle into their path, causing their speeder to crash. Seizing Chanath in a Force choke, he requested they tell him who had ordered his death. They told him about an anonymous bounty with an exorbitant price posted on the hunter net. Ramat Cha, a talented slicer, offered to uncover their employer for him in exchange for their daughter's life. When they demanded that he release Chanath first, Vader refused and threatened to kill them all. However, the Chas countered that, even in death, they would be together so he could not threaten them with such tactics. Grudgingly impressed, the Dark Lord demanded proof that Ramat could deliver her side of the deal, which she proved by tracking the signal of the bounty back to Coruscant. Vader released Chanath as agreed, at which point the bounty hunters made their daughter swear that she would seek no vengeance against the Dark Lord, a deal Vader chose to honor. To complete the deal, Ramat provided Vader with the information he had requested and gave him the source of the bounty on him: the Imperial Executive Building on Coruscant, specifically the Emperor's office.

With their business on Cabarria completed, Vader and the Ninth Sister left the planet and returned to Coruscant. Now suspecting that the Emperor had placed the bounty on his head, the Dark Lord planned to confront his Master about his intentions. As the Ninth Sister piloted the ship through hyperspace, Vader worked on creating a new lightsaber. His droid meanwhile investigated the origins of the kill contract placed on him and confirmed that the order could have come from the Emperor's office, with no evidence of slicing to indicate foul play. But, as the ship arrived in orbit over Coruscant, the ship's attempt to transmit clearance codes for landing was jammed and the ship itself was marked as being part of a Separatist splinter cell. The Imperial capital's orbital defenses targeted Vader's ship. Only the Dark Lord's skill as a pilot prevented them from being destroyed, although the ship was damaged and forced to crash land on Coruscant. Tired of the repeated attempts on his life, the Dark Lord headed to the former Jedi Temple to confront the Emperor.

The Emperor was investigating the hoard of artifacts that Jocasta Nu had collected and stored in the Jedi Archives when Vader arrived. The Emperor sensed that his apprentice did not wish to discuss his recent discovery, although he did praise him for having found the Librarian's stash. Vader informed his master of the events on Cabarria and his investigation into the kill order against him, before directly asking his Master whether he had placed it on his head as part of a test. Noticing Vader's new lightsaber, the Emperor asked to see it, approving of its design. He also chastised his apprentice for believing that he would resort to such methods as placing a bounty on his head if he wanted to have him killed and that he did not "test": he "taught." He also told Vader that finding the assassins was his task, not theirs. This echoed a previous lesson he had taught Vader when he had "disciplined" Colonel Barokki: that they must not kill everyone in the galaxy, but that having power meant they could, and that they would never lack for people to destroy.

Vader returned to his quarters, where he meditated on the past events and his Master's words. Thinking back to all that had happened, he eventually realized the cause of the conspiracy against him was that his sudden elevation had caused concern and fear among the ranks of the Imperial officers, who knew that he had "strength," but not that he shared the Emperor's "power." Despite a lack of proof, Vader became convinced that Colonel Barokki, who had so suddenly borne his displeasure, must be involved in the conspiracy. The Dark Lord met with the Emperor and shared his conclusions, and requested that he be publicly recognized and allowed to show them the consequences of opposing him. The Emperor asked whether he was sure, and Vader confirmed it: he would not kill them all unless he had to but would not allow them to act against him with impunity. The Emperor agreed to Vader's plan, but forbade him from killing Tarkin, as he was essential to his plans.

The Emperor gathered the elite officers of the growing Imperial military to clarify the new hierarchy. He formally introduced Vader as his emissary, who spoke with his voice and whose commands would need to be obeyed as if they had come from the Emperor himself. The Emperor then moved aside and allowed Vader to speak: the Dark Lord summoned five officers before him: Corin Ferro, Zorta Bingan, Joon Strephi, Tomas Azoras, and Barokki. Informing them that the two attempts on his life had been made from within the Officer Corps and that he had his suspicions who had been responsible, he instituted a new rule: for every assassination attempt he survived (and he warned them that he would always survive), five officers chosen at random would be executed. He instantly executed the five designated officers with a Force choke before departing, leaving the remaining officers stunned and afraid.

War on Mon Cala
One year into the reign of the Empire, Vader was reliving his duel on Mustafar through meditation. During his experience, he was already in his cybernetic suit, and he used the Force to throw lava at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan jumped up to dodge it, but Vader Force-choked him and threw him into the rocks. Vader watched Obi-Wan burn before he awoke in his meditation chamber as the Emperor asked for him over the comm. In his throne room, the Emperor told Vader that a year after his ascension, it was time to show that his voice was the only voice within the Empire. Vader asked how, and the Emperor told him that Mon Cala would make a great example of the price of defiance. He further told Vader that King Lee-Char may have had an adviser helping him with his negotiations with the Empire. Vader asked if it could be a Jedi, and the Emperor said it was possible. He told Vader to take a team to investigate this and claimed the military aspects of the operation would be left to Moff Tarkin.

Vader arrived at Mon Cala aboard the Zeta-class shuttle Infernum. With him, he took three Inquisitors, the Sixth Brother, Ninth Sister and Tenth Brother, and a death squad of Purge Troopers. At this time, the Imperial ambassador Telvar had just finished another meeting with Lee-Char, and the man was walking to his shuttle when he saw Vader descend from the ramp of his shuttle. The Ninth Sister struggled to get past the king's Chief of Security, Gial Ackbar, and Vader confronted the Mon Calamari, asking if he had read the writ that the Ninth Sister had given him. Ackbar confirmed that he had, but demanded that he knew their business as he had a job to do and so did Vader. Vader complied and explained about a possible enemy of the Empire on Mon Cala. As he said that, Telvar's shuttle took off and flew for Tarkin's Star Destroyer, the Sovereign—which was in orbit above Mon Cala. However, as Ackbar denied the possibility of an enemy of the Empire being on Mon Cala, Telvar's shuttle exploded. Telvar's assassination prompted Tarkin to enact a full-scale invasion of Mon Cala. His forces landed at Dac City, where Vader had arrived, and laid siege to the Mon Calamari and Quarren defenses. Vader and his team sprang to life and soon seized the landing pad where the Infernum was parked. He then led them to the Dac City palace to find Lee-Char and ask him about the possible Jedi. They fought their way through the palace guards and entered the palace, where the Ninth Sister began torturing Lee-Char for the location of the Jedi. However, another threat loomed over them. A massive tidal wave had suddenly erupted as a part of Lee-Char's defensive plan. The Sixth Brother warned them of this, and he and the Tenth Brother began shielding Vader and the Ninth Sister from the wave using the Force. When their attempts began failing, Vader joined them, but it wasn't enough. The group was washed away by the wave, and Dac City was left in ruins.

Vader awoke at the bottom of the Great Ungeness Trench. As his oxygen supply was dwindling, he used the Force to create an air bubble for himself. Suddenly, he was attacked by a squid-like creature, and after wrestling with it, he killed it with the Force. Vader then rode its body using the Force and eventually picked up a transmission from the Inquisitors. Vader asked them to come to his position, and they did so in an Imperial submarine. When they picked him up, he asked about the Jedi, and the Inquisitors said that he was still alive somewhere. Vader then asked about Lee-Char, and the Ninth Sister said that they didn't know, but she then revealed that she had gotten the Jedi's location from him. Knowing exactly where their target was, they began traveling for the Jedi.

Vader and his team arrived at the Jedi's location to find the individual and his disciples evacuating. The Jedi, an Iktotchi Padawan called Ferren Barr, had been notified by Lee-Char after he was recovered following the events at Dac City. The group of them immediately scattered, but one of the disciples instead attacked the submarine head-on with his blaster. The shots bounced off the window, and Vader used the Force to crush his helmet. The other fled in the direction of Bel City, and as Vader caught up with them, another disciple turned around to attack them. He too died in the process but managed to slow Vader's submarine, and the rest of the group followed Barr to Bel City. Vader and the Inquisitors arrived at Bel City and marched down the hallway, reinforced by the Inquisitors and the Purge troopers. Vader was then contacted by Tarkin, who was struggling to deal with the grueling conflict on Mon Cala. Vader told Tarkin that he was busy, but Tarkin knew that and asked him to do something else instead: capture Lee-Char. Vader told Tarkin that he did not answer to him, but Tarkin replied that capturing Lee-Char was the only way to end the fighting quickly on Mon Cala, and he pledged to owe Vader a favor if he did so. Vader agreed and told the Inquisitors to continue the hunt as he left.

Vader arrived at Lee-Char's Royal Command Bunker and killed his guards. He then disarmed Lee-Char and contacted Tarkin, who told him to take Lee-Char to a window and send him his exact location. Vader asked Tarkin if he was going to send a shuttle, and the man said not yet. Once Vader did what he asked, Tarkin began a bombardment of Mon Cala. Lee-Char watched in horror but refused to surrender. The two were interrupted by Barr, who had outsmarted and scattered Vader's team. Barr confronted Vader and the two dueled. As they fought, Barr revealed that he had assassinated Telvar to send the Mon Calamari into war. Lee-Char overheard this and realized his mistake in following Barr. He ran to his terminal and sent a message to the Mon Calamari and Quarren forces, ordering them to cease fire. Lee-Char then contacted Tarkin, notifying him of the surrender. Tarkin sent a shuttle to pick him up but continued the bombardment.

Vader and Barr continued fighting, and Barr began laughing. Lee-Char questioned this, and Barr said that he had completed his plan. Barr prophesied that the Mon Calamari vessels would be at the forefront of a great rebellion decades from then, and decades after that. Vader told Barr that he wasn't a Jedi anymore, and Barr told him that that made two of them, saying that he still beat the Sith. Vader then slew him, and the shuttle arrived to pick up Lee-Char. The king told Vader that Mon Cala would rise again, but Vader told him that there was no Mon Cala, only the Empire. Some time after the mission, Vader ordered to imprison and tortue the people of Mon Cala.

The Emperor's emissary
Over the next two decades of the Empire's reign, Vader would remain one of the few who enjoyed direct access to Palpatine and his preferred envoy for all matters that the Emperor took a direct interest in. Such matters included the elimination of rebel uprisings and the continued construction of the Death Star. One of Vader's earliest missions on the Emperor's behalf was to effect an execution on Murkhana. He was also made privy to the secret construction of the Death Star, to be overseen by Wilhuff Tarkin. The Imperial officers remained wary of Vader and his power, as well as his continued devotion to the ancient ways of the Force, but none rose to challenge him without feeling the consequences.

Despite the mistrust and even hatred he generated among the officers, Vader was held in high esteem by the Stormtrooper Corps, as he often fought alongside them at the front line rather than remaining in command centers. As the Emperor's enforcer, Vader retained command of the unit he had commanded during the Clone Wars as Anakin Skywalker: the 501st Legion. When the Emperor retired the clone troopers, the rank and file of the 501st were composed of recruited stormtroopers, some of whom received training from the Dark Lord himself, such as Sergeant Kreel, an undercover agent whom Vader trained in lightsaber combat. Through their missions on Vader's behalf, the 501st came to be known as "Vader's Fist." On one occasion, the stormtrooper Terex met Vader, becoming terrified of him while also respecting him. Vader also garnered strong support from the pilots of the new Imperial Navy.

Investigation on Geonosis
Vader soon became aware of a project that was taking up many resources. He began investigating, which led him to the data vault on Scarif. There, he found Project Stardust, a project that was a large battle station the size of a small moon. Vader studied its design before he was interrupted by Tarkin, who was very displeased with Vader's snooping. Tarkin told him he wasn't authorized to be there, and Vader claimed that the Force was all the authorization he needed. Vader denied that he was Tarkin's beast but the man denied his claim and taunted Vader, saying he didn't need the Force to know he was very angry. Tarkin then produced a hologram of the Emperor, who told Vader he did not recall sending him to Scarif. Vader apologized and told the Emperor he only sought to study the ways in which the Empire would extend its rule over the galaxy. The Emperor told Vader of a new mission he was to go on. There had been certain instances of sabotage during the Death Star's construction that Vader needed to discover the source of before it got worse. The Emperor further told Vader that Tarkin had full authority over him and that if he disappointed him, he disappointed Palpatine.

Vader arrived at Geonosis and met with Commander Orson Callan Krennic. As they greeted, an overhead rock formation exploded and rained down on them. Vader saved himself and Krennic and they went to his office to discuss the matter. Krennic claimed it was Tarkin sabotaging his efforts in order to get rid of him and take over the project. Vader asked him if there was any proof and Krennic wasn't able to produce anything. Krennic then explained to him the incidences that had occurred in the last three months. Vader gave his knowledge on the situation to loyalty officer Sid Uddra, who met him at the Petranaki Arena to discuss what she suspected. She told Vader that as much as Tarkin and Krennic's rivalry arose tension between them, it was unlikely for either to be the culprit. She then offered Vader with another individual to look into: the scientist Galen Walton Erso. Vader looked through his office and found many kyber crystals in which he bled for himself without issue. He then found a recording of Erso and his family. Vader also noticed that Erso called his daughter stardust, which was the codename for the Death Star's project. Finally, Vader found an ootheca egg in a box. Knowing that Geonosians were a slave race and were forbidden from breeding freely, he confronted Krennic about this. Krennic denied that it was him and suggested that some of the slaves may have sent it as a distress call to Erso. Vader then deduced for himself the saboteurs at hand.

Vader and a squad of death troopers entered a Geonosian hive and found the queen and her minions. The two sides engaged but Vader quickly came out on top, slaying the queen. After the battle, he returned to Tarkin on the Carrion Spike and reported his findings to him. Tarkin asked Vader how he knew the queen's hive had orchestrated the sabotages and Vader told how their slicers had confirmed the hive to have installed corrupted tech into production, ensuring accidents. Tarkin then asked Vader how he may have dealt with them and Vader said that they were animals and so they were slaughtered like animals. Tarkin finally asked Vader if there was anything else and he stated to Tarkin that his project, the Death Star, was able to destroy a planet. Tarkin asked how he knew and he told him of the kyber crystals he saw in Erso's office. Tarkin then asked Vader why he wasn't happy for this revelation, and Vader said that he distrusted his reliance on technological aberration. Tarkin then told Vader that he was one of those before realizing that Vader wanted to be the only technological aberration. Vader warned Tarkin that the Death Star may become his tomb, and when Tarkin asked if that was a threat, Vader told him it was only a prediction.

Relics of the Clone Wars
Years after the skirmish aboard the Tribunal during Order 66, but still during the early Imperial era, Vader traveled to the snowy moon that was home to the crash site of the Venator-class Star Destroyer. Investigating the wreckage with a contingent of snowtroopers, Vader discovered a memorial to the clone company that perished in the crash, as well as a lightsaber, partly frozen but still functional, that once belonged to his former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano. Igniting the lightsaber's blue blade, Vader heard a squawking sound and turned his head to the sky, where he saw a strange bird soaring through the air. After gazing at the bird for a moment, Vader deactivated the lightsaber and turned away from the crash site with the saber in hand, believing his Padawan to be dead and gone.

Preparing for the operation

 * "Are you testing me, Master?" "Testing you? Is that how you perceive things?" "Am I wrong?" "We are, all of us, always being tested, my friend. Tests make us stronger, and strength is power, and power is the point. We must pass all the tests we face. Or die in the effort."
 * ―Darth Vader and Darth Sidious[src]

Five years into the Age of the Empire, Vader, while meditating aboard the Perilous, was informed by Captain Luitt of an attack on the Yaga Minor shipyards. The attack had been staged by several dozen members of the Free Ryloth Movement, a primarily Twi'lek insurgency intent on liberating their homeworld from the rule of the Empire. The insurgents hijacked an Imperial weapons transport, and Vader led a squadron of V-wing starfighters in pursuit. After a long chase, during which the transport fled through hyperspace to several different systems, its engines overloaded when it attempted to make yet another jump and Vader's squadron was finally able to engage it. The squadron brought down the transport's shields with minimal casualties while Vader crippled the engines.

Though the squadron commander suggested allowing the Perilous to tractor the transport into one of its hangar bays when it arrived, Vader assumed (correctly) that the insurgents planned to destroy the transport by detonating the heavy ordnance present in the ship's cargo bays. In order to prevent this eventuality, Vader crashed his black Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor into one of its gun bubbles and ejected just before the collision. He then entered the ship through the damaged gun emplacement and proceeded to kill all of the insurgent Twi'leks on the ship. After eliminating the insurgent leader Pok, Vader noticed an active comlink on the bridge. Assuming that another rebel ship was nearby, Vader had his V-wings fan out in a search pattern, but the rebel ship escaped detection by shutting down nearly all of its systems and hiding in the rings of a nearby planet. Finding nothing, Vader had the Perilous collect the transport, and returned to Coruscant.

In the Imperial Palace, Vader reunited with his master. There, he and Sidious met with Ryloth's Senator Orn Free Taa involving the inconvenience that was the Free Ryloth Movement. The movement, though relatively minor, had been conducting raids on Imperial shipping facilities and transports and had seriously impacted the flow of Spice from the planet. As such, Sidious believed that the situation warranted his personal attention, and decided that he, Taa, and Vader would travel to Ryloth for a state visit. After informing the Senator of the planned journey and dismissing him, Sidious informed his apprentice that Taa almost certainly had a traitor in the midst of his support staff who was feeding the movement classified information on Imperial doings.

Though Vader understood his master's purpose in acting as bait alongside himself and Taa, he saw no reason why the Emperor should potentially risk his own safety over such a minor issue. Rather, Vader advocated for simply killing Taa and his entire staff, thereby guaranteeing the elimination of the traitor. However, Sidious wished to eliminate the roots of the treachery, and not simply the lone traitor in Taa's staff. To that end, Sidious gave the order for Moff Delian Mors to be informed that Taa would be arriving for a state visit, but stipulated that she should not be told that either he or Vader would be accompanying the Senator. In this way, Sidious hoped to provide further encouragement for the movement to attack, as he assumed that they would discover his and Vader's plans via their spies. Ten days later Vader, the Emperor, Taa, and a contingent of Royal Guards journeyed to the Ryloth system aboard the Perilous.

Assassination attempt on the Defiance

 * "This guy again. I don't care if you kill me."
 * ―Commandant Pell Baylo to Darth Vader[src]

While traveling from Coruscant to Ryloth, the Emperor ordered the Perilous to stop in the Denon system to consult with several navy chiefs on how to better integrate disparate naval academies into one Imperial Naval Academy. The Emperor ordered Vader to oversee a training session conducted by Commandant Pell Baylo on the Defiance while the Emperor met with his naval chiefs in Baylo's office on the training ship. It was during this training session that Vader began to believe that Sidious was treating him much the same way the Jedi Council had previously: acting as he knew better, keeping information from Vader, giving him "busywork." Baylo ordered the Defiance to enter hyperspace on a course for Christophsis. Cadet Rae Sloane entered the coordinates, only to have her hyperspace path overridden by Baylo, who said she was going to send them too close to a singularity.

Sloane studied the path, suspecting that Baylo was incorrect in his adjustment. Vader and Sloane discovered that the changed hyperspace route would crash the Defiance into Christophsis' sun, killing all aboard. Vader ordered Sloane to correct the problem, and without revealing that he knew of Baylo's treachery, Vader and Baylo went to see the Emperor. The Emperor ordered Baylo to turn over command of the Defiance and take a position at the training center on Corellia. Baylo, however, was loyal to the Republic and considered the Empire a hostile power. Instead of turning over his command, Baylo offered his resignation from the navy. Vader then revealed he knew of Baylo's plan to crash the Defiance, and the Emperor congratulated Vader for handling the "petty problem," annoying him. As Baylo railed against the Emperor, Vader Force-choked him to death, drawing ire from the Emperor, who had wished to see Baylo suffer and force him to watch his beloved Navy be turned into something he hated and have the Defiance be melted down into cafeteria trays. Above all, he wanted to use Baylo for his own ambitions since the old man was willing to kill his own students for a cause. Vader tried to explain that his way was more efficient, but the Emperor wanted to hear nothing of it as he did not order him to kill Baylo. Later, he ordered Sloane to have the Defiance renamed the Obedience as a subtle final jab at Baylo and a not-so-subtle reminder toward Vader to learn his place.

Crash land on Ryloth
Shortly thereafter, Vader and the Emperor reboarded the Perilous and resumed their course to the Ryloth system. However, upon their exit from hyperspace, the ship immediately began slamming into spacial mines set up by Cham Syndulla's rebels. Hidden amongst these mines were specialized devices designed to drain the ship's shields, which began to buckle under the continual assault. As the shields neared failure, a swarm of several hundred reprogrammed Vulture Droids set upon the Perilous from the system's asteroid belt. Vader boarded his personal interceptor and took several squadrons of Imperial pilots to destroy the droid fighters and mines, but discovered a short time into the battle that Vulture Droids were each carrying a payload of explosive buzz droids. Realizing that the Vultures themselves were simply delivery systems meant to unload the buzz droids near or inside the Star Destroyer, Vader ordered his squadron to concentrate fire on them, as they presented a far greater threat than the mines. But between the mines and the Vultures, there were simply too many targets for Vader and his squadrons to handle, and the Perilous was severely damaged. The second wave of Vultures was detected immediately after the first had been destroyed, further compounding the already bleak situation. A message came to Vader from Captain Lewitt of the Perilous that the ship could sustain virtually no more damage without being destroyed. Vader moved to intercept the second wave alone, ordering his squadrons to remain near the Perilous to destroy any droids that got past him. Though incredulous, the squadron commander obeyed, and Vader used the Force to begin tearing apart the compartments on the Vulture droids that housed the explosive buzz droids. He then used the Force to begin flinging the buzz droids at other incoming fighters and repeated this process until the vast majority of the Vulture Droids had been destroyed. The remaining fighters were annihilated by Vader's squadrons, and he himself returned to the Perilous. Vader marched to the Star Destroyer's bridge and Force choked Taa for a short time, informing him of the traitor in his staff that had been responsible for the assault on the Perilous. Utterly terrified, the Senator vowed to find the traitor, but the Emperor had Taa and his staff confined to their quarters. An order was then broadcast from the Imperial headquarters on Ryloth for any and all repair ships to aid the Perilous as it sped, badly damaged, towards the planet.

Unbeknownst to Vader, some of the Twi'lek repair teams in fact comprised members of the Free Ryloth movement, one of which was a group of saboteurs with orders to plant timed explosives on the hyperdrive core of the Perilous. Shortly after the teams landed, one of the Free Ryloth groups engaged in a firefight with Imperial stormtroopers. When Vader learned of this, he ordered all of the Twi'lek repair teams, numbering over 100, to be killed regardless of whether they were aiding the assault and proceeded to Deck 17, where the firefight had been reported. On the way, he killed a group of apparently uninvolved Twi'leks before proceeding to the hyperdrive chamber. The saboteurs, who were led by Cham's second in command, Isval, had managed to seal the hatch to the hyperdrive core before any Imperial troops could interrupt them, and Vader began to use his lightsaber to cut it open.

By the time Vader finished cutting through the hatch, the saboteurs had already concluded their business and escaped. The main hyperdrive core had been riddled with timed charges, set to detonate if anyone attempted to disarm or remove them. Vader concluded that the ship was lost, and ordered the captain to evacuate. Vader contacted Sidious, who instructed his apprentice to meet him aboard his shuttle. Before departing, however, Vader made one last attempt to kill the saboteurs, but they narrowly evaded him and escaped in an Imperial escort boat. Subsequently, Vader reunited with the Emperor and left on the shuttle, mere minutes before the Star Destroyer exploded. Shortly thereafter, the Imperial traitor Belkor Dray provided Cham with the transponder identity of the Emperor's shuttle, and he directed Isval and her group aboard the escort boat to attack it. Vader's exceptional piloting skills allowed him to evade the boat and then fly upside down over its cockpit within direct visual range of its pilots. Once there, he used the Force to choke both Isval and her co-pilot, but before losing consciousness, Isval rammed the shuttle with her escort boat. The crash disabled the shuttle's main power, and Vader had to use a nearly depleted backup battery to attempt a crash landing on Ryloth. As he guided the ship through the atmosphere, he had flashbacks of events and people from his past. Though distracted, Vader managed to land the ship in Ryloth's equatorial forest region, but his distraction did not go unnoticed by the Emperor, who noted that the landing had been poor compared to what he knew Vader to be capable of.

Not too long afterward, the Twi'lek insurgents continued their assault on freighters, prompting Vader and the Emperor to take action and destroy them, before moving away from their fallen shuttle. At night, they stopped to rest, when the Emperor questioned his regret and loyalty, but Vader showed himself devoted still. They were soon attacked by a lylek horde, forcing them to retreat into a tunnel, unaware that they had entered their nest. They stood their ground against hundreds of lyleks and their significantly threatening queen, and killed them all before exiting the tunnel and finding a young Twi'lek, Drua. When the Emperor tried to kill her, Vader stopped him, intending to have the girl guide them to her village, where they obtained a communicator to speak with Moff Mors.

After giving them their coordinates, they were finally surrounded by Syndulla's forces, but so did Mors's, aiding them in quelling the rebellion. As the stormtroopers killed the Twi'leks, Vader noticed a trio of Twi'leks—Syndulla, Isval and Goll—watching from afar and went on to kill them, but Goll and Syndulla escaped, leaving Vader to capture Isval and bring her before the Emperor. He mocked her, telling her that her people had accomplished nothing, and Vader subsequently executed her. On the Emperor's orders, Vader then killed the villagers to leave no witnesses, concluding their mission.

Teller's campaign

 * "We haven't stood on Coruscant in some time, Governor." "The needs of the Empire keep us elsewhere occupied, Lord Vader." "Just so."
 * ―Darth Vader and Wilhuff Tarkin[src]

When Moff Tarkin's Sentinel Base was attacked, Vader was stationed in the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, where he held a court with the Deputy Director of the ISB, Harus Ison, berating Coruscanti criminals as well as Prefect Phoca Soot of Level 1331, for ignoring the Emperor's decrees. Telling them to move their operations out of Coruscant, Vader then made an example of Soot for his disrespect and crushed his heart with the Force, and adjourned the court to meet with Tarkin and Grand Vizier Mas Amedda. The latter politely asked Vader to refrain from killing all those who displeased him, to which the Sith replied that he would give thought to the matter, before greeting Tarkin and sharing the latest developments of the Death Star's construction.

The pair separated when Vader left Tarkin, who met with the Emperor alone. Afterward, Vader (like Tarkin and Amedda) partook in a meeting between the Imperial Ruling Council, and the leaders of Imperial Security Bureau and Naval Intelligence Agency in the palace's audience chamber, overseen by the Emperor. He then assigned Tarkin and Vader to a mission on Murkhana to investigate recently discovered Shadowfeed technology and its relationship to the attack on Sentinel Base. The pair traveled to the planet on the Carrion Spike, which Vader made to carry his meditation chamber.

On Murkhana, however, the Spike was stolen by unknown dissidents, prompting Vader and Tarkin to kill the Sugi crime lord Faazah, and take his Parsec Predator to pursue the stolen ship, hidden by its cloaking systems. Making use of his connection to his meditation chamber, Vader pinpointed the rebels' location to the Fial system and later, the Galidraan system, where they engaged the Spike before they jettisoned his meditation chamber and escaped to Lucazec. With the Predator disabled, Vader and Tarkin boarded the Liberator, from which Vader issued his black Eta-2 interceptor to be transported on the Goliath from Coruscant.

On the Goliath, Tarkin told Vader that the insurgency was surely being supported by someone high up in the Imperial Military, and predicted that the insurgents would go to Phindar to refuel the Spike. Subsequently, Vader led a squadron to attack the stolen corvette in the Phindar system. Though they greatly damaged the ship, it escaped, prompting Tarkin and Vader to calculate its trajectory to Obroa-skai system. Teller transmitted false intelligence that the insurgents were heading to the Obroa-skai system. Hoping to capture the Carrion Spike, Tarkin and Vader deployed substantial Imperial resources including three Interdictor vessels. The prototype Immobilizer 418 cruiser malfunctioned, yanking several ships out of hyperspace and causing a massive accident.

Despite failing to catch the Spike, the Imperials managed to capture the YT-1000 light freighter Reticent, which Teller had sent as a decoy to throw the Imperials off-scent. While Vader interrogated its Koorivar captain on the Executrix, Tarkin accessed Imperial databases and discovered the identities of the insurgents, including its leader Berch Teller. Vader also interrogated the Reticent 's Sy Myrthian navigator, who suffered a heart attack. However, Vader learned from one of his contacts in the Crymorah syndicate that a lieutenant had negotiated a deal with the Sugi crime lord Faazah for a supply of custom fuel cells. These fuel cells had reached Murkhana shortly before Tarkin and Vader's arrival, thus confirming that Faazah had been colluding with the insurgents.

After a private holo transmission with the Emperor, Vader told Tarkin that Vice Admiral Dodd Rancit was sure the insurgents would attack the Imperial academy at Carida next. Then, Vader parted ways with Tarkin to meet with Rancit, but not before asking for the meaning behind the Carrion Spike 's name and Tarkin told him about his test in Eriadu's Carrion Plateau. On the Carida system, Vader boarded the Secutor-class Star Destroyer Conquest and met Rancit just as the Spike reverted to realspace, astrogating on autopilot. Aware of Rancit's treason, as a co-conspirator of Teller, Vader had Lieutenant Crest place Rancit aboard an escape pod and had Rancit give himself the command to issue the fire order that destroyed it. Elsewhere, Tarkin dealt with the rebels, ending the insurgency.

Following the defeat of Teller's insurgents, Vader spent the next three weeks helping Tarkin to interrogate the captured insurgents with the exception of Teller, who managed to escape. While none of the insurgents had died under questioning, the Emperor had the insurgents executed privately. Vader also led a crackdown on the warehouse workers and salvages who supplied Teller's dissidents along with several scientists at Desolation Station who had provided Teller with information. Vader also took action against the Tenloss Syndicate and lower-level members of the Crymorah syndicate who had assembled Berch Teller's warship, a modified Providence-class Dreadnought.

Submission to Ahr
Vader later participated in an attack on the planet Namzor, where he eliminated a group of insurgents. In the process, he destroyed the rebels' stores of coaxium, violating the command of Imperial Governor Ahr, who was charged with securing the hyperfuel. The governor brought his frustrations to the Emperor. Sensing Vader's anger, the Emperor commanded his apprentice to follow any and all orders from the governor until Vader had learned his lesson.

Ahr took great pleasure in his newfound power, sending Vader on increasingly dangerous missions throughout his sector. He sent Vader to fight alone against the renegade droids of Ahn Krantarium, and later retracted his forces on Phelzepham, leaving Vader to battle the moon's insurgents by himself. Though he wished to kill the governor, Vader continued to obey Ahr's commands.

Governor Ahr brought his ship to the Kankalo Belt Containment Zone, an asteroid field in which a great creature resided. He commanded Vader to eliminate "the greatest threat" he could find. Seeing an opportunity, Vader confronted Ahr, recognizing him as his true threat. Before Vader could strike, Ahr ordered the Dark Lord to kneel before him. Vader obeyed, but the creature attacked the vessel, pulling the governor out into the void of space and freeing Vader from his submission.

Hunt on Chandar's Folly

 * "Kill me, if you can."
 * ―Darth Vader, to Tarkin[src]

Tarkin still owed Vader a favor for capturing Lee-Char on Mon Cala. After some time, Vader came to Tarkin with his request, and, as he learned of Tarkin's hunting, Vader asked Tarkin to hunt him down. Vader told him to keep him on his feet, killing him if he had to. Tarkin was shocked at this and began considering why Vader would ask him to hunt him. Tarkin looked through the reports from the Inquisitorius and saw that Vader's hunt for the Jedi had left him with little to no challenge. Tarkin deduced that Vader wanted to be challenged again and was flattered that he had chosen him.

The hunt took place on the Outer Rim planet Chandar's Folly, and Tarkin immediately began trying to take on the Dark Lord of the Sith. Knowing of Vader's brutal abilities, Tarkin outfitted the hunters with slugthrowers and flamethrowers to avoid the possibility of Vader deflecting their shots. On the second day, they cornered Vader at a copse of Thurian trees, and four hunters engulfed him with their flamethrowers. As Tarkin watched Vader get covered by the flames, he thought he saw fear in his body language. Vader's possible fear was brief, however, as he targeted the hunters' flamethrowers, incinerating the four hunters. Through the following days, Tarkin saw that Vader was not hard to track, leaving clear signs wherever he went. They learned why as on multiple occasions Vader ambushed them. On one occasion, Tarkin and his hunters were tracking Vader near a cliff when he revealed himself and killed one of the hunters with his. Two others fired on him but failed to kill him.

Tarkin realized that as long as Vader had his lightsaber, he couldn't be beaten. So over the course of the next four days, he attempted to steal Vader's weapon. After six men perished, one of Tarkin's hunters managed to snatch it out of Vader's grip while he was fighting. After this, Tarkin saw that not only was Vader turning to new tactics, he was angrier. Tarkin knew that enraged prey was usually easier to take out, but he admitted that this rule did not apply to Vader. Soon after, Vader fought five of Tarkin's hunters as they fired on him, hitting him many times and scarring his armor. Tarkin watched from a hilltop as Vader came close to the hunters and used the Force to snap one's neck. The other hunters retreated, and Vader Force-choked another to death. Once understanding how capable Vader was with the Force, Tarkin assumed that the hunt would soon end. However, Tarkin soon realized that Vader was so keen on getting back his lightsaber, that so long as Tarkin's team hunted him, he hunted them.

On the ninth day of the hunt, Tarkin was down to his last seven hunters. Vader managed to kill a Valath, the apex predator on the planet, and take its hide, which could help him camouflage better. One of Tarkin's Chadra-Fan hunters, Sissian, spotted Vader northwest of Tarkin's camp, and the hunter Yerga notified Tarkin of this. Tarkin got his binoculars and saw Vader on top of a peak wearing the Valath hide. Tarkin had his hunters form a group around him, and they walked in Vader's direction. Vader lured them into a ravine of blue crystals, where his breathing could echo and be untraceable by Sissian and his grandfather, Hardhear. Hardhear heard Vader's breathing, but although he could say Vader was near, he could not say which direction. Vader loomed over them at the top of the ravine and watched as Tarkin ordered his team to run. The group ran down the ravine, and Vader made his move, Force-pushing one of the hunters into the ravine wall. Vader then Force-choked Hardhear before leaping down, under the cover of his Valath hide, and attacking the droid hunter.

Tarkin had the rest of his team run into the Stormlands, where it was open ground. They set up camp, and Sissian listened for Vader's breathing. However, Vader had deactivated his suit, which stopped his breathing apparatus from giving him away, and he slowly crept up to the camp, before Force choking Sissian. Yerga attempted to attack Vader, but he took her by the neck and killed her. The last two hunters opened fire, and Vader used the Force to retake his lightsaber. Tarkin then jumped at the two hunters and slaughtered them. Tarkin ran away from Vader, but after realizing he would catch up with him eventually, he stopped and fell to his knees. Vader loomed over him, not realizing that as he was standing higher than Tarkin, he was more susceptible to the lightning in the Stormlands.

Without warning, Vader was struck by lightning and he fell to the ground. Tarkin got up and contacted his flagship, the Carrion Spike, to pick them up. Tarkin sat by Vader and waited for the Carrion Spike to arrive. The corvette soon approached them, being frequently struck by lightning due to its height in the Stormlands. Vader remained immobile and Tarkin told him that whatever he had hoped to learn from this madness, he hoped he had learned it. Tarkin then told Vader that he would get him to a repair bay soon enough. However, Vader wasn't finished yet, and he Force-choked Tarkin, showing him that he hadn't lost just yet. Tarkin soon crawled from the range of Vader's Force abilities, and Vader continued lying there.

Hunt for Eeth Koth and rogue Inquisitors
Vader, along with the Fifth Brother and two other Inquisitors, was able to track down former Jedi Master and Council member Eeth Koth to a planet where he was a priest of the Church of the Ganthic Enlightenment. Vader approached Koth after the birth of his daughter. Koth offered Vader codes, secret contact frequencies and a way to find other purge survivors, knowing that he was not a threat to anyone. As Koth's wife and child made their escape, Vader fought Koth. Vader then sent the Fifth Brother and the other Inquisitors after Mira and Koth's daughter, and he continued to fight Koth. After the Inquisitors captured Koth's daughter, Vader killed Koth. He then held Koth's child.Dark Lord 19 Duel with Eeth Koth.jpg

Vader and the Inquisitors took the child to Coruscant, where Vader met with the Grand Inquisitor and gave the child to two nursemaids that belonged to Project Harvester. Vader then spoke with the Grand Inquisitor about his next target. The Grand Inquisitor told him that there were still a few Jedi left, but they had vanished with no way to find them. He told Vader they would have to wait.

Vader confronted the Twi'lek and red-skinned Inquisitors in the Inquisitorius Headquarters. Vader sensed a connection between the two Inquisitors due to their previous mission with Vader. Without the assistance of the other Inquisitors, Vader hunted them down. Vader and two Coruscant Guards searched for the two Inquisitors. After Vader's speeder was destroyed, he continued to pursue them through the skylanes until they all landed on a platform. When the Inquisitors refused to kill him, Vader used the Force to activate their lightsabers and kill them.

Choosing his own world
Vader then informed the Emperor of the two Inquisitors' treachery. Vader told the Emperor that the female Inquisitor allowed Mira and Koth's daughter to briefly escape and only captured the child because she was seen. He also believed they were building a coalition against himself and the Emperor. Despite this, the Emperor was displeased with Vader's pursuit across Coruscant that cost the life of a senator. The Emperor decided to move the Inquisitors to another world. The Emperor asked Vader how Koth tried to hide. Vader said he was posing as a priest, which was the closest thing to a Jedi. Vader was given a reward: Padmé Amidala's Naboo Royal Starship. Vader was then ordered by the Emperor to go to Alderaan to deal with Senator Bail Organa. However, to the surprise of his master, Vader refused.

Having carried out Palpatine's will for so long, Vader was content to continue to do so, but he first he demanded a world of his own. Rejecting Sidious's offer to give him Tatooine or Naboo, Vader asked to be given Mustafar, the world where he had been defeated by Kenobi. The Emperor agreed to his request and would send Colonel Alva Brenne to build a facility for him there. Vader was then shown the Mask of Darth Momin before leaving for Mustafar.

Return to Mustafar

 * "Perhaps your Padmé does await you on Mustafar. Perhaps the dark side will bring her to you. Go. I think, one way or another, you will learn a great deal. That is good. After all, your power…is my power."
 * ―Sidious to Vader, before the latter departs for Mustafar[src]

Vader, along with Colonel Brenne and her aide, Lieutenant Roggo, took Vader's Naboo starship to Mustafar. During the flight, Vader saw a vision of his younger self with a face that matched his mask. Upon entering the planet's atmosphere, Vader deactivated the starship's shields and allowed it to burn as they landed. Once on the planet's surface, Vader commented that the ship looked better burnt. He then told Brenne that he was there to understand a great mystery. While Brenne and Roggo got to work designing Vader's castle, Vader returned to the cave where he bled his kyber crystal. As he reached out to the power within the cave's locus, he was presented with a design for the castle from Brenne, which Vader rejected. However, shortly after leaving, Vader heard Brenne scream and returned to the starship to find her dead. He also discovered that Roggo had donned Momin's mask. Vader attacked Roggo, but stopped upon seeing that he had created a new design for the castle.

Removing the mask from Roggo's corpse, Vader took the mask into the cave and placed it upon the locus. He then asked the mask who he was, to which he replied "I am Momin". Momin proceeded to show Vader his entire life, from creating morbid works of art from the deceased to being trained in the ways of the Sith by Darth Shaa. After killing his master and studying the lore of the dark side, Momin constructed a weapon which, along with his use of the Force, would freeze a city's population forever at the moment of their deaths. However, an attack by the Jedi caused him to lose control, destroying both the city and himself in the process. As a result, Momin's essence became trapped within his mask, forcing him to take on host after host in order to create his art. Vader placed the mask upon his head, but quickly cast it aside and then departed with it from the cave. Once outside, he engaged in a fight with two Mustafarians, one of which he killed and the other he placed the mask upon. With his new body, Momin explained that his design for the castle was actually a key to open a door to the dark side, which Vader could use to reunite with Padmé Amidala. Vader threatened Momin not to offer him things he could not provide and Momin responded that he only wanted another chance to create. Vader accepted Momin's offer, but warned the ancient Sith not to betray him.

Under Momin's guidance, Vader used his Imperial resources to begin construction of his castle. With each new design, Momin insisted that this would be the one to open the door. Though each attempt to do so would subsequently end in failure. And with each failure, Vader would cut down Momin's current body in frustration and place his mask upon a new host. Each new attempt to open the door would also bring ruin to Mustafar itself, prompting the Mustafarians to attack in retaliation. The cycle of creation and destruction carried on for two years.

Battle on Nur
Concurrent to the construction of Fortress Vader, the Inquisitors, due to Vader's destruction caused when he chased the rogue Inquisitors on Coruscant, moved to a similarly designed Fortress on the ocean moon of Nur in the Mustafar system. Vader journeyed to the Fortress Inquisitorius to retrieve a holocron containing a list of Force-sensitive children, which the Second Sister had been hunting for. Instead, he found that the Second Sister had failed to stop surviving Jedi Cal Kestis and Cere Junda, who was pleading for the Inquisitor to return to the light.

Executing the Second Sister for her failure and before she could return to the Jedi, Vader used the Force to throw Junda to the side and quickly overwhelmed Kestis, demanding he submit. Though Kestis managed to escape, Vader cut him off before he could make it to the surface, only to be attacked by Junda. Sensing the anger instead of Junda, Vader attempted to twist her to become an Inquisitor, but, at the urging of Kestis, she instead held Vader back with the Force while Kestis broke the glass hallway they were in. As Vader defended himself from the suddenly flooding water, Kestis and Junda escaped.

The final castle
In 12 BBY, Momin's ninth design for Fortress Vader was constructed, which Vader stated would be his final chance. Upon activating this castle, Vader found that he was finally able to open the door. However, before he could enter, he was informed of another attack by the Mustafarians. And while Vader dealt with the attackers, Momin took the opportunity to open the door himself. He then summoned his younger self from the past and placed his mask upon him, thus finally creating his masterpiece; himself.

Leaving the battle, Vader reentered the castle while the Mustafarians continued their attack. Upon returning to the locus, he used the Force to unleash a devastating attack, wiping out the rest of the Mustafarians. Vader was then met in combat by Momin, who mocked Vader for thinking he could control the dark side. As he chastised the Dark Lord for his ignorance about the Force, Vader used the Force to ram Momin with a rock, crushing his new body and killing him. With Momin dead, Vader finally opened the door and stepped inside.

Abandoning his physical body, Vader entered a realm in which he experienced visions of his past, present and future. He saw himself as a child haunted by the very form of what he would become. Becoming a child once again, he gradually grew up along with the memories of his upbringing. After experiencing a vision of him dueling his former apprentice Ahsoka Tano, Vader entered another vision of the Jedi Temple and fought against the specters of various Jedi. After disposing of them, Vader journeyed further into the Temple until coming upon the forms of Sheev Palpatine and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who both claimed to be his father. After killing Kenobi, the vision of Palpatine motioned at Vader to stand down, to which Vader responded with a barrage of Force lightning that destroyed the specter.

Finally, Vader found himself on a balcony with a vision of Amidala standing before him. Vader, now in the form of Anakin Skywalker, told Amidala to come with him. However, Amidala simply told him that Anakin Skywalker was dead before leaping from the balcony. Vader screamed in agony as the specter of Amidala was destroyed by a bolt of lightning. He then saw a beacon of blue light in the distance. Within the beacon was a figure who activated a blue lightsaber, pushing Vader back and returning him to his body. After awakening in the castle and retrieving his lightsaber, Vader destroyed the dark side locus, sealing off the door, because he was unable to restore his wife.

Sometime later, Vader contacted his master and informed him that he was still alive. The Emperor asked Vader if he would return to Coruscant, to which Vader said he soon would. The Emperor then asked Vader if the truth he learned of on Mustafar was what he needed. Vader then hung up and, while standing in front of the finally completed Fortress Vader, answered "Yes". Vader went on to return Momin's mask to Sidious, who placed it in his personal yacht, the Imperialis, under the watch of two Royal Guards.

Mission to Nur

 * "You have failed me, Inquisitor."
 * ―Darth Vader, to the Second Sister[src]

During the Mantis crew's secret mission to rebuild the Jedi Order, and the Inquisitors' own hunt for crew member and Jedi survivor Cal Kestis, Kestis and Cere Junda infiltrated Fortress Inquisitorius on Nur to reclaim a holocron containing a list of Force-sensitive children across the galaxy, which had been taken by the Second Sister, Trilla Suduri, an Inquisitor and former padawan to Junda. Kestis defeated the Second Sister in a lightsaber duel, after which Junda apologized to Trilla for failing her by giving her up to the Empire, sparking her downfall—during the early Jedi purge, Junda, while under torture by Vader, had revealed the hiding location of Trilla and a number of younglings under her protection. Standing in the same interrogation room years later, Suduri and Junda began to reconcile. However, before they could finish, Vader approached the Inquisitor from behind and executed her. After seemingly dispatching Junda with little effort, Vader suggested that Kestis surrender. Regardless, Kestis launched multiple futile lightsaber attacks against Vader only for Vader to effortlessly neutralize all of his assaults and telekinetically choke him. Quickly realizing his disadvantage, Cal fled the encounter, after barely surviving by pulling a piece of machinery at his and Vader's direction, forcing Vader to defend himself from that and toss Cal aside, with Vader in hot pursuit.

Despite Cal managing to escape from Vader moments before he could enter the elevator, Vader soon managed to catch up to him just as he was about to escape the fortress and attacked him. As he quickly gained the upper hand on Kestis and began to overpower him in a blade-lock, Cal's droid, BD-1, attempted to short-circuit Vader's life-support suit, forcing Vader to disengage and stop the droid. Before he could crush BD-1, Cal made use of the distraction to impale Vader in the mid-section, only for Vader to retaliate by tossing Cal aside once again with the Force and as Cal desperately attempted to fight back and summon his lightsaber back, Vader stopped Cal's lightsaber before it could return to his hand and once again offered a chance for Cal to surrender the holocron and when Cal refused, Vader simply activated the lightsaber and forced it into Cal's mid-section, the same way that Cal attempted to defeat him. Moments later, Junda reappeared to aid Kestis only to be easily defeated after a short clash of blades and flung aside. Commenting on the strength of Junda's hatred, Vader was impressed when Junda was able to temporarily bring Vader to his knees with the Dark Side of the Force and commented how he could feel it inside of her. Once Junda resisted his efforts to goad her into the darkness, Vader attempted to kill both her and Kestis but Junda was able to hold it at bay with a force-barrier long enough for Kestis to use the Force to shatter a number of windows surrounding them, causing water to pour into the complex and forcing Vader to use the Force to hold back the flood, as Kestis grabbed Junda and escaped through one of the windows.

Lothal

 * "We will squeeze Lothal until someone reveals the whereabouts of these traitors."
 * ―Darth Vader to Minister Maketh Tua[src]

Darth Vader contacted the Grand Inquisitor via hologram with a new mission for him. He informed him that the Emperor had foreseen a new threat—the "children of the Force." He was to hunt down these children and either press them into service of the Empire or eliminate them. The Inquisitor promised Vader that the mission would be done. After the Inquisitor's death over Mustafar, the union of several rebel cells was revealed when they rescued the Spectres from an Imperial fleet. As rumors of what had happened over Mustafar became known, riots and uprisings began to occur on several worlds, including Lothal. The Emperor, concerned at the rise in rebel activity, sent Vader to Lothal with Tarkin to end the growing rebellion. In an effort to track down the root of the rebel problem, Vader concocted an elaborate trap in which he intended to track the Spectres back to their primary base of operations. Following his arrival on Lothal, Vader met with Agent Kallus and Minister Maketh Tua to discuss his plans with dealing with the Spectres. During this meeting, he informed Tua that Tarkin intended to hold her accountable for her failure to stop the rebels. Fearing for her life, Tua contacted the Spectres, promising them information in exchange for smuggling her off of Lothal before her meeting with Tarkin. The rebels agreed and returned to Lothal. However, Vader had intended for Tua to contact the rebels in order to lure them back to Lothal and saw to it that a bomb was placed on Tua's shuttle. Once the rebels arrived, they attempted to escape the planet with Tua in her shuttle, only for the bomb to go off as Tua boarded the ship, killing the Minister.

Immediately after the incident, Vader had it broadcast all over the planet that the rebels had assassinated Tua in order to discredit them. Vader then ordered Kallus to lock down the planet's spaceport and publicly announce that any ship attempting to reach orbit would be destroyed. Vader knew that the lockdown, combined with the populace's mistrust of the rebels, would essentially guarantee that they would need to steal a ship in order to escape. As such, he provided a tempting target at the local Imperial garrison; a shuttle capable of hyperspace travel. When the rebels attempted to steal it, Vader confronted them with a small group of stormtroopers. Vader engaged the rebels' Jedi members, Kanan Jarrus, who had gone by the name Caleb Dume during the Clone Wars, and his apprentice Ezra Bridger, while his troops engaged in a small scale firefight with the other rebels. As his intent was for the rebels to escape, Vader lazily toyed with the two Jedi while their cohorts attempted to launch the shuttle.

The confrontation came to an end when two of the rebels threw thermal detonators at a number of walkers on the landing pad, damaging their legs and scattering the stormtroopers underneath them. When Vader glanced up at the collapsing walkers, Ezra and Kanan combined their power to telekinetically push him into the path of the falling war machines. Believing him to be dead, the two rebels were instead astounded to see Vader, completely unharmed, use the Force to lift both of the walkers off of himself and drop them behind him. Recognizing that they were hopelessly outmatched, Kanan ordered Ezra to run with him to the commandeered shuttle. Hoping to prevent Vader from pursuing them, Sabine Wren fired a number of blaster bolts at Vader. He reflected two of them back into her chest and helmet but made no attempt to board the shuttle or otherwise stop it. After the shuttle successfully launched, one of the stormtroopers who had been present for the confrontation assured Vader that he would scramble fighters immediately to intercept it. However, Vader informed him that doing so would not be necessary, as he believed that the rebels would not attempt to leave the planet for some time. Vader later ordered Kallus to destroy Tarkintown in order to draw out the rebels or, failing that, to demoralize them.

Shortly thereafter, the rebels used the stolen shuttle to escape the planet and rendezvous with the rebel fleet. However, Vader had placed a tracking device on board the shuttle, and mere minutes after the rebels had reached the fleet, Vader's TIE Advanced x1 fighter dropped out of hyperspace and attacked Phoenix Squadron. The rebel CO deployed the A-wing interceptors of Phoenix Squadron, but they were unexpectedly decimated by Vader's lone assault. Weaving through the defensive screen of fighters, Vader attacked the rebel command ship, Phoenix Home, disabling it in short order. The Spectres quickly boarded their ship, the Ghost, and fought back against the Dark Lord. However, neither the Ghost nor the remainder of Phoenix Squadron could land so much as a hit on Vader's craft, and he continued to bombard the now-crippled Phoenix Home while picking off interfering fighters at his leisure.

With its fighter escort all but destroyed and its weapons, shields, and engines disabled, the rebel command ship appeared to be doomed as Vader prepared for a final assault. However, on board the Ghost, Ahsoka Tano decided to combine her powers with Kanan's in order to probe Vader's mind with the Force. The probe enabled Ahsoka to see deeply enough into Vader's mind for her to recognize him as her former master, and for Vader to recognize the one probing him as his former apprentice. Ahsoka promptly lost consciousness as a result of the psychic backlash of the probe but Vader was unaffected, and upon discovering Ahsoka's presence aboard the rebel craft, Vader's priorities immediately changed. In an unexpected turn of good fortune for the rebels, Vader broke off what would have been a killing run at Phoenix Home in favor of engaging the VCX-100 light freighter.

As Vader peppered the Ghost with blaster fire, Kanan and Hera Syndulla managed to convince Jun Sato to evacuate Phoenix Home as Admiral Kassius Konstantine entered the system with three Star Destroyers. The Admiral contacted Vader in order to receive instructions, and Vader ordered Konstantine to block the Ghost 's escape, but not to fire at it, as he wanted the rebels aboard it alive. Meanwhile, the crew of Phoenix Home abandoned the crippled command ship and fled the system with the tattered remains of the rebel fleet. As Vader closed in on the Ghost, it jumped to hyperspace just as the Destroyers activated their tractor beams, catching Vader instead of the Ghost.

Following his victory, Vader boarded Konstantine's Destroyer and contacted the Emperor. He informed his master that he had "broken" the rebels, but the elder Sith Lord sensed disquiet in his apprentice's emotions. Vader then revealed to the Emperor that he had discovered that Tano was alive, and told his master that he believed that she was in league with the rebels. Pleased by this news, the Emperor declared that she could lead the two Sith Lords to other Jedi who survived Order 66. Vader immediately postulated that Kenobi might be amongst them, to which the Emperor concurred; if Kenobi was still alive. The Emperor urged Vader to be patient, and instructed him to send another Inquisitor to hunt the rebels down. As per his master's orders, Vader assigned the Fifth Brother the task.

After several unsuccessful attempts to capture the rebel Jedi, the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister pursued Jarrus, Bridger, and Tano to a still-standing Jedi Temple on Lothal. Though the rebels managed to flee, the Inquisitors informed Vader of their discovery. Vader came to inspect the site, informing them that the Emperor would be most pleased by their discovery. The Inquisitors warned Vader that the Jedi were becoming more powerful, but he retorted it would be their undoing.

Duel on Malachor

 * "Ahsoka...! Ahsoka..." "Anakin... I won't leave you. Not this time." "...Then you will die."
 * ―Darth Vader and Ahsoka Tano[src]

Afterwards, Vader dispatched the Fifth Brother, the Seventh Sister and the Eighth Brother to hunt down Maul, who had been stranded on Malachor and had been studying its Sith temple for years; he himself arrived after Bridger had activated the superweapon with the Sith holocron. With his Inquisitors having all been killed by Maul, Vader chose to personally retrieve the holocron and take possession of the superweapon. Perched on the roof of his TIE Advanced x1, he leaped from the fighter and landed in front of Bridger. After a brief verbal exchange, Vader quickly disarmed the young Jedi by destroying his lightsaber and prepared to execute him, but before he could do so, he was interrupted by Ahsoka Tano. Vader offered his former apprentice clemency in exchange for the location of any surviving Jedi, but Tano claimed that there were no more Jedi; that Vader and his Inquisitors had killed them all. Skeptical of her claim, Vader obliquely threatened to torture the information out of Bridger instead. This prompted Tano to proclaim in disgust that while she had begun to suspect that Vader and her former master were one and the same, she could no longer believe that due to Vader's cruelty. Vader replied that Skywalker had been weak and that he himself had destroyed her former master. Tano then swore to avenge Skywalker, but Vader reminded her that revenge was not the Jedi way. But Tano no longer considered herself to be a Jedi, and after informing Vader of this, she attacked him. However, she proved ultimately to be no match for her former master who, after several minutes of intense swordplay, used the Force to blast Tano off a ledge. Believing her to have been neutralized, Vader went to retrieve the holocron.

Vader managed to catch up to Jarrus and Bridger before they could board their ship, and used the Force to begin pulling both the holocron and the two Jedi towards him. But before he could seize it, Tano ambushed Vader and managed to slice off the upper right portion of his mask with her lightsabers. With his mask damaged, Vader's voice filter began to malfunction, and when he next spoke, calling out to his former apprentice, it was in a distorted mixture of his real voice and the mechanical baritone imposed by the filter. This and his partially exposed face confirmed to Tano that Vader was indeed her former master. As the Temple locked down, Tano proclaimed she would not abandon him as she had before. Vader paused at this and stared wordlessly at Tano for a few moments. However, he quickly regained his composure and snarled that she would die for her choice. The two engaged in combat once more, while Jarrus and Bridger escaped from the chamber enclosing Vader and Tano.

After a few moments of battle, locked his blade with Tano's and began to push through her guard. As he prepared to kill her, the energy discharges from the overloading holocron stand suddenly intensified, and Vader glanced up. As he did, a massive blast of power struck the ceiling of the chamber, and Tano used the distraction to push Vader back a step with the Force. She then drove both of her lightsabers into the ground at her feet, causing the floor of the chamber to begin crumbling. Vader quickly recovered from his distraction and aimed a killing stroke at Tano. Unbeknownst to the two combatants, however, two years later, Ezra Bridger had entered an ancient temple which allowed for Force-based time travel. Having been guided to a portal which exited at the Sith temple, he witnessed the conclusion of Vader's battle with Tano even as his younger self was locked out of the holocron chamber. As Vader swung his lightsaber at Tano, Bridger reached through the portal and yanked her backward into the temple. As a result, Vader's strike missed and the temple floor crumbled, sending Vader plummeting into a pool of light. Vader survived the fall and, believing that Tano had perished in the explosion, managed to make his way back to the surface, after which he returned to his duties.

Meeting Thrawn

 * "I have heard a great deal about you, I am pleased we have finally met." "Yes, as am I."
 * ―Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader[src]

Shortly after Malachor,[source?] Vader arrived at the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and was introduced to the newly promoted Grand Admiral Thrawn, the very same Chiss officer he had met during the Clone Wars, by the Emperor. When Thrawn stated he was pleased to finally meet the dark lord, Vader claimed to feel the same.

Investigating a disturbance in the Force

 * "Anakin Skywalker is dead." "I know."
 * ―Darth Vader and Grand Admiral Thrawn[src]

Vader and Thrawn crossed paths on Coruscant once more after Thrawn suffered a strategic defeat on Atollon. Although the battle had been a tactical victory, a number of rebels had escaped the Grand Admiral after the Bendu appeared. As a result of allowing the rebels to slip through his grip, Vader now held a disdain for the Grand Admiral. Though during this meeting, the two were ordered by the Emperor to the planet Batuu to locate a disturbance in the Force that the Emperor had sensed. While Thrawn brought his own forces on board his Star Destroyer, the Chimaera, Vader brought a contingent of his personal stormtroopers from the 501st Legion, the First Legion with him to assist in tracking down this disturbance at the edge of known space. During their mission, they combated the Grysk species. While Thrawn managed to deduce that Skywalker and Vader were one in the same, the Grand Admiral came to think of Vader as being a separate person mentally and that his old ally Skywalker was dead. Vader came to respect Thrawn's TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighter project, stating he would speak on its behalf to Palpatine and suggesting upgrades for the craft.

World Between Worlds
Sometime later, Bridger managed to enter the World Between Worlds. There, he heard Anakin Skywalker's voice when he was on Christophsis. Vader's voice was then heard telling an individual to not underestimate the power of the dark side.

Cianap
Vader led Imperial forces at Cianap in a battle against the rebels. During the battle, Vader was targeted by several X-wings but was able to take them out. However, his TIE was damaged when one purposely crashed into him and was forced to crash land on Cianap. Vader then exited his TIE and awoke an Ender from its Slumber. The Ender then tried to kill Vader; however, he stabbed one of the Ender's eyes out and tried to cut its back open, only for the Ender to grab him. Vader started to slice the Ender's fingers, but the Ender pushed him into a building and dropped him. The Ender then started to go after a native, but Vader rode a creature and saved the native from the Ender. Vader then decapitated the Ender, finally killing it. The native thanked Vader, who then returned to his TIE and was taken aboard a Star Destroyer via tractor beam.

An unwelcome romance
At some point, Vader had arrived the Death Star, and made his way to his personal medical bay. As he made way, he barged through a medical cart being tended to by a nurse, who was flustered due to her infatuation with Vader. Vader underwent treatment from a doctor while in the medical bay, but became angered when the nurse from the prior encounter entered the medical bay as Vader was putting his helmet back on. In his anger, Vader force pushed the doctor into the wall, demanding that he control the medical bay or be replaced. The nurse, however, saw Vader's anger as reciprocation of her feelings for him, misconstruing his actions as protection of her. After his bout of rage, Vader exited the medical bay, admonishing the doctor as he attempted to excuse why the appointment had taken so long. The nurse, upon being told to clean up the medical bay, instead stole pieces of Vader's armor as a keepsake, storing it among other discarded pieces of Vader's armor, as well as a vial of his blood.

A proceeding incident resulted in Vader crash landing on the Death Star in his TIE Advanced x1. Vader made his way to the medical bay oncemore, demanding the nurse to call in the doctor. The nurse briefly aided Vader, perceiving the moment as intimate, before the doctor himself returned, ordering the nurse to leave as he tended to Vader instead. Vader, impatient, cut his appointment short, leaving to rejoin his prior battle. However, Vader had left his cape behind, which the nurse proceeded to steal and take to her quarters. After the doctor discovered her, he dumped the bits of Vader's armor into the trash compactor. Driven mad, the nurse walked into Vader's quarters, which he had left unlocked out of a belief that no one would enter. Upon seeing the nurse enter his chambers, a helmetless Vader simply stared at her as she confessed her infatuation with him. Momentarily after, Vader stabbed the nurse with his lightsaber, killing her. Vader then put his helmet back on and exited his quarters, contacting the bridge and ordering them to remove her corpse.

Battle against the Benathy

 * "I remember when another like you came here with demands. He was taller. Far more impressive. He killed our last king. But even he could not stand against our god."
 * ―King Kristoff, to Kylo Ren on Vader's attempt to subdue the Benathy[src]

At some point, Vader and his men fought against the Benathy in Wild Space. The imperial army consisted of at least several thousand stormtroopers, AT-AT walkers, AT-STs, TIE fighters and TIE bombers. While thousands died on both sides, Vader managed to kill the king of the Benathy. Vader ordered his troops to attack and despite the high amount of casualties, he did not retreat. The attacking force was only stopped by a Zillo Beast the Benathy saw as their god. However, Vader managed to subdue the Benathy anyways.

Visit on Mustafar

 * "Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Director."
 * ―Darth Vader to Orson Callan Krennic —  Listen (file info) [src]

As had been suggested by Grand Admiral Thrawn shortly before his, the Chimaera 's, and Ezra Bridger's disappearance in the Liberation of Lothal, Vader served as part of the Death Star project despite his dislike of the battle station, as Thrawn had noted he was the one individual in the Empire who could recognize and deal with all threats to the station. Thrawn had also used this appointment to force Assistant Director Brierly Ronan to join the Chiss Ascendancy, as this Imperial official would not have been able to hide his contempt for the Emperor from the Sith Lord.

Shortly after the destruction of Jedha City, while floating in the tank, Vader was approached by his servant Vaneé. He informed Vader that Director Krennic, the Imperial in charge of the construction of the Death Star, had arrived as summoned to explain a number of recent problems involving the battle station. The most pressing of these problems was the discovery that Galen Erso, an engineer who had played a pivotal role in the creation of the Death Star's superlaser, had been a traitor and that there was a distinct possibility that he had leaked information about the weapon to the Rebellion.

Krennic had been recently informed by Governor Tarkin that he was no longer in command of the Death Star project, and was keen to impress upon Vader his need for an audience with the Emperor, ostensibly to discuss the weapon's destructive capabilities. Vader instead chastised Krennic for the destruction of Jedha City, the city where the Empire had been mining the kyber crystals needed for the Death Star's primary weapons systems to function. Krennic attempted to shift the blame for the city's destruction to Tarkin, but Vader was unmoved. He informed Krennic that the Imperial Senate had been told that Jedha had been destroyed in a mining disaster and that the Death Star did not exist. He then impressed upon the director in no uncertain terms that he was to make certain that Galen Erso had not compromised the Death Star in any way. Taking this as confirmation from Vader that he was still in command of the project, Krennic began to ask Vader if he would speak to the Emperor on his behalf. But before he could finish his question, Vader cut him off by telekinetically closing his throat, with a sardonic warning to not "choke" on his aspirations.

Stolen plans

 * "The rebel flagship is disabled, my Lord. But it has received transmissions from the surface." "Prepare a boarding party."
 * ―Shaef Corssin and Darth Vader[src]

Shortly afterwards, Rebel spies attacked the Imperial security complex on the planet Scarif, stole the technical readouts of the Death Star, and transmitted a copy to the Rebel flagship Profundity. As the Rebels began to flee to hyperspace, Vader arrived at the scene of the battle in the Star Destroyer Devastator and quickly crippled the already damaged Rebel flagship. He and a small group of stormtroopers then boarded the vessel and began searching for the plans. As the Rebel crew began to evacuate the Profundity, a small group of Rebel troopers copied the Death Star schematics onto a data disk and attempted to board the Corellian corvette Tantive IV and escape. Mere meters away from one of the corvette's airlocks, the Profundity experienced a power loss, jamming an automatic door in the path of the Rebel soldiers.

Unable to get the door to open more than a few centimeters, the Rebels were intercepted by Vader, who used the enclosed space of the airlock and his Force powers to slaughter the comparatively helpless Rebels. As Vader reached the trooper with the plans, the Rebel managed to pass the data disk to a compatriot of his behind the door before Vader impaled him and telekinetically wrenched the door open. While Vader finished eliminating the remaining soldiers, the trooper to whom the plans had been passed dove through the open airlock to the Tantive IV, and the Rebels managed to launch the ship mere moments before Vader was able to board it. Once the ship was away, the plans were given to Vader's estranged daughter, Princess Leia Organa, who had been tasked by her adoptive father to find Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine.

Pursuing the plans

 * "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan." "You are part of the Rebel Alliance, and a traitor! Take her away!"
 * ―Darth Vader and Leia Organa[src]

Despite their daring escape, the Rebels aboard the Tantive IV did not get far. After failing to capture the plans aboard the Profundity, Vader had immediately re-boarded the Devastator and pursued the Rebel corvette. The Devastator intercepted the Tantive IV in orbit above Tatooine, and quickly disabled and captured it. Vader and his troops boarded the ship, killing many Rebel troopers and gaining complete control of the blockade runner. Vader interrogated its captain, Raymus Antilles, before killing him for not revealing the location of the plans. Vader's troops captured the princess, but not before she placed the plans inside R2-D2 and sent him in an escape pod to the planet's surface. Although the Princess tried to use her diplomatic immunity as a member of the Imperial Senate, Vader had her arrested as a rebel and a traitor. As she was escorted to the Devastator, Vader was informed that an escape pod had been jettisoned during the fighting but that no life forms were aboard. Believing that the Princess had hidden the plans there, Vader sent a battalion to Tatooine to recover the plans while he took the Princess to the Death Star for interrogation. In hyperspace, Vader would catch Organa when she had escaped her guards and made her way to one of the Devastator 's shuttles, and announced that the Emperor was disbanding the Senate as they spoke, leaving her defenseless. Vader then had her follow him to the ship's bridge shortly before arriving at the Death Star, where he had her sent to her cell in Detention Block AA-23.

Meanwhile, Vader accompanied Tarkin to attend a meeting with the Joint Chiefs, including General Cassio Tagge and Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, who mocked Vader's reliance on an "ancient religion," only to have Vader Force-choke him. Before he could kill him, Tarkin intervened and instructed Vader to find the location of the Rebel base from Organa. Subsequently, Vader went to torture her with a mind probe-equipped interrogator droid, but as she resisted, he and Tarkin turned to coercion—by bringing the Death Star to the Alderaan system, they threatened to destroy her homeworld if she refused to disclose the location of the Rebel base. Eventually, she told him that the Rebels were on Dantooine, yet Tarkin ordered Alderaan to be destroyed anyway, to make an effective demonstration of the Death Star's power. Vader restrained the Princess as the Death Star's superlaser destroyed her planet. Vader then took Organa back to her cell to await her execution.

Duel on the Death Star

 * "I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but a learner. Now I am the Master." "Only a master of evil, Darth."
 * ―Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, before their second and final duel[src]

After the scout ships sent to Dantooine found the base abandoned, Tarkin ordered Vader to kill her immediately, but the Millennium Falcon was captured in the ruins of Alderaan by the Death Star's tractor beam. Identified as a suspicious ship from Mos Eisley, Vader concluded that they were trying to return the stolen plans to the Princess and went to inspect the freighter himself. Told that the crew had apparently abandoned ship after take-off, Vader gave orders for the ship to be scanned to be sure. At the same time, Vader sensed the presence of his old master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. When news reached him that the Princess had been released from her cell, Vader decided to confront Kenobi alone. Vader found Kenobi after he had deactivated a tractor beam terminal to allow the Falcon escape the battle station, and the two engaged in one final duel. During the fight, Vader noted that Kenobi's age had made him weak. However, Kenobi told his former apprentice that he wouldn't win because he would become more powerful than Vader could ever imagine, even if he managed to kill him. As they fought, the two reached Bay 327 just as Kenobi's companions and the Princess reunited to board the Falcon, only for Kenobi to see his latest apprentice, Luke Skywalker, Vader's son.

As his former master gave him a mysteriously knowing smile, Vader struck him down when Kenobi raised his blade in surrender. Much to Vader's surprise, Kenobi's body disappeared, for his spirit had become one with the Force, and Vader tried to find remains in his robes but found none. As he did so, General Moradmin Bast asked who he was, and Vader answered "An old man who thought he could help gifted children. He was mistaken." Vader then tried to stop the Rebels from escaping but was prevented from doing so by the closing of the hangar doors by Luke's shot. After the Falcon 's escape, Vader met with Tarkin and confirmed that a homing beacon had been placed upon the ship and that they could follow the ship to the Rebel base.

Kenobi's warning to Vader came true; his consciousness survived his death, and he became a Force spirit. Meanwhile, still remaining hidden on Dagobah, Yoda felt Kenobi and Vader's duel through the Force, especially noticing, for the first time, the loneliness in the man who had once been Anakin Skywalker. Yoda noticed that Vader's loneliness only grew after he struck down his former mentor, which nearly made Yoda pity the former Jedi and wish he could counsel him. As he continued his journey, Yoda reflected on his past, blaming himself for not noticing Skywalker's path to the dark side.

Yavin 4

 * "The Force is strong in this one."
 * ―Darth Vader, about Luke Skywalker during the Battle of Yavin[src]

Vader's plan worked and the Death Star followed the Falcon to the hidden Rebel base on Yavin 4. As the Death Star prepared to destroy the moon, Rebel X-wings and Y-wings starfighters attacked the Death Star, having identified a weakness: a thermal exhaust port which led to the reactor systems; a direct hit on the port would cause a chain reaction and the destruction of the station. Though Tarkin remained convinced in the station's invulnerability, Vader ordered all fighters to launch and destroy the Rebel ships. When Gold Squadron broke off from the main group and begun a trench run towards the exhaust port, Vader boarded his TIE Advanced and, flanked by two TIE fighters, managed to terminate three of the last four Gold Squadron pilots. He continued to destroy most ships of Red Squadron, killing Red Leader Garven Dreis. As the last members of Red Squadron engaged in a trench run while the Death Star was preparing the destroy the moon, Vader damaged Wedge Antilles's X-wing, forcing him to break off formation, and killed Biggs Darklighter, leaving only the leader of the group, Luke. Vader quickly realized that the Force was powerful in the young pilot, but nevertheless proceeded to get him into range. When he finally succeeded, he was just about to destroy the young pilot when the newly arrived Millennium Falcon intervened and destroyed one of Vader's escorts. Before the Falcon could destroy Vader, his other escort accidentally bumped into Vader's craft, destroying the other escort and causing Vader's craft to veer off course and send him plunging into space. This prevented him from stopping the Death Star's destruction, which killed Tarkin and was a major defeat for the Empire.

Shortly after the battle, Vader sent a distress signal to the Devastator to send a ship to pick him up and bring him back from the Yavin system to the Star Destroyer. Sometime later, he would fly just beyond the ever-expanding debris field that once was the Death Star, when Imperial pilots Ciena Ree and Berisse Sai arrived in a Gozanti-class cruiser. Docking his TIE Advanced x1 with the freighter, Vader passed through the airlock door and met Ree. Then, he ordered Ree and Sai to remain in the hold for the remainder of the voyage while he took command of the freighter until they returned to the Devastator.

Post-Yavin ventures
Sometime later, an Imperial officer managed to obtain one of two lightsabers formerly owned by the Sith Darth Atrius. Vader arrived on Hradreek, where the officer welcomed him, supported by a contingent of stormtroopers. Vader looked at the lightsaber and asked where the other one was. The officer was confused by his question, and Vader Force-choked him. As he gagged, he claimed that he bought the lightsaber from a smuggler and that she must have tricked him. Vader told a stormtrooper to divert all divisions to finding the smuggler and the other lightsaber. Vader then killed the officer as the stormtroopers scattered to begin the search.

A squad of stormtroopers found the smuggler, Sana Starros, and they chased her down the streets. Starros paid a gang of Aqualish to stall them, and they got in the way of the stormtroopers. However, Vader appeared and cut them down using his lightsaber and Darth Atrius'. Vader then followed Starros' path to a cargo bay, and he used the Force to move the crates and block her from a clear exit. Starros then shot at Vader, and he used the Force to disperse the plasma bolts. Starros rigged one of the crates and then waited for Vader to follow before detonating it, throwing Vader to the side and burying him. Vader soon freed himself and made his way to the nearby podracing track. Vader entered the seating area, and the audience scattered at his presence. Vader noticed one of the podracers, who was grabbing the attention of the commentary. The human, despite being biologically unequipped for a race like this, was winning the race, and Vader used the Force to cause one of the engines to malfunction, crashing the podracer. The pilot of the racer was none other than Luke Skywalker, who had obtained the other of Atrius' lightsabers. Luke decided to destroy the lightsaber, as it overwhelmed him with anger whenever he needed it. Vader watched him escape in his X-wing, and he decided to crush Atrius' other lightsaber.

According to a tale later told by Vaneé, at another point after the Battle of Yavin, Vader's Star Destroyer was contacted by Cranwell, the assistant to Tarkin Initiative scientist Restin, to warn them that Doctor Restin had betrayed the Empire. Restin, who wanted a weapon to use against Vader as revenge for the destruction of Alderaan, had created a genetic serum that would turn those injected with it into rampaging Gamorreans, who could then spread the infection by touch. Vader decided to deal with Restin himself, so he arrived at Restin's base of operations with two stormtroopers and pretended to not know he was a traitor. After witnessing the doctor turn Cranwell into a Gamorrean with the serum, Vader suggested the serum could be used against the Rebellion. When Restin turned the infected Gamorrean against the Sith Lord, he effortlessly lifted it and his infected stormtroopers into the air with the Force. He did the same with Restin, forcing the scientist to confess his treachery before revealing he had already known he was a traitor. Intending to be a firsthand witness to his destruction, Vader forced the three Gamorreans and Restin to touch, transforming the doctor into one of his creations. Leaving the infected scientist to the mercy of the Gamorreans, Vader left aboard his Lambda-class shuttle. He had never feared Restin's experiments, as Vader already viewed himself as a different kind of monster.

Cymoon 1

 * "He's here. The Rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star. I can feel his presence. He will not escape me again."
 * ―Darth Vader[src]

Several weeks after the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader was called to Weapons Factory Alpha on Cymoon 1. He was to negotiate, or rather force an arrangement with an envoy of Jabba the Hutt about supplying raw materials through Hutt-controlled space to the factory. Vader arrived shortly after the envoy (secretly the Millennium Falcon 's captain, Han Solo) and landed on a platform. As he was about to enter the facility, Vader was shot at by a sniper, Chewbacca, but he deflected the blaster bolt and used two stormtroopers as human shields as the Wookiee rained down dozens of shots upon him. Unscathed, Vader located Chewbacca's position and used to the Force to collapse his vantage point, but the Wookiee survived.

Vader then ordered the arriving stormtrooper reinforcements to hunt him down. One of them informed the Dark Lord that Overseer Aggadeen was out of contact and the factory's main reactor was on meltdown. As he surmised these occurrences were the work of Rebels, Vader put the entire moon on alert but also felt the presence of the pilot who had destroyed the Death Star, Luke Skywalker. Although unaware of the boy's identity, Vader made his way into the factory at once and came face-to-face with the Jedi apprentice. Vader soon realized that the boy had been cursorily trained by Kenobi, and after the briefest of duels, snatched Luke's lightsaber. As he prepared to execute Luke for his refusal to disclose information about the Rebellion, he realized that the boy's lightsaber had once been his own. Before he could question Luke further, the foot of a Rebel-hijacked AT-AT walker came hurtling down into the middle of their standoff, knocking the two apart.

In the ensuing chaos, Vader sought to prevent the Rebels' escape, and mowed down the factory's runaway slaves, commanding his stormtroopers to execute all the escapees. Once Luke got away on a stolen 74-Z speeder bike and attacked Vader's troops (leading the Dark Lord to reconsider his initial dismissal of the boy and wonder exactly what Kenobi had been up to before his death), Vader personally saw to the walker's defeat. Solo and Organa, commanding the AT-AT, tried to step on him, but Vader used the Force to hold the walker's descending foot several meters above his head, and almost tore it apart.

He was foiled, however, when Solo and Organa unleashed a barrage of the AT-AT's laser fire upon him, causing him to lose his old lightsaber (which the current owner retrieved), and his mask and helmet. As he emerged from under a pile of rubble, a stormtrooper approached; upon seeing Vader's scarred face, he tried to apologize. However, Vader killed him by twisting his head around using the Force, right before Aggadeen reached him via comlink and asked for the facility's evacuation. Vader vetoed his request, had him repair the core, and ordered to kill all the Rebel invaders, except for the boy, whom Vader would deal with personally. As Aggadeen informed him that they had successfully defused the reactor, Vader personally fell the Rebel walker by slashing its legs with his lightsaber.

As reinforcements arrived, Vader sent them after the Rebels on the trash fields, while he pursued the lone Rebel who was returning to the factory, Luke. Aboard a combat speeder, Vader chased Luke into the facility, but the Rebel managed to destroy the power core with the speeder bike, leaving Vader as the only survivor among the factory's rubble following its explosion. The Sith Lord then saw Luke's abandoned speeder and the fleeing Millennium Falcon; as the Adjudicator 's captain, Kronn, informed him that they had been unable to catch the freighter, Vader Force-choked the captain to death. Then, as if he were talking to Kenobi, Vader vowed to find the boy's identity and to turn him to the dark side, so that the boy became his weapon, and not Kenobi's.

Yavin's aftermath

 * "But you are the only one living to suffer my anger. You, an isolated survivor of the greatest military disaster in all my Empire's history? Oh, you are truly the Chosen One, Lord Vader. Chosen to be the one responsible." "I will make it right. I will crush the Rebels." "No. I think not."
 * ―Sidious and Vader discuss Vader's failings[src]

Thereupon, Vader returned to the Imperial Palace on Coruscant to report to the Emperor, bringing Aggadeen with him. The Emperor bid Vader to explain the events of Weapons Factory Alpha, which along with the Death Star's destruction, had put the Empire very near disaster. Although Vader considered Aggadeen to be responsible for the failure on Cymoon 1 (and the Overseer was tortured accordingly), the Emperor claimed much of the responsibility lay in Vader's head, as he reminded him that he was the sole survivor of the greatest disaster in the Empire's history—one partially caused by his idea to tag the Falcon with a homing beacon and let it escape with the Death Star plans. He then informed Vader that Cassio Tagge, now Grand General of the Imperial Army, would be his commanding officer for some time.

The Emperor then ordered Vader to continue the unfinished Cymoon 1 negotiations with Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine, right before going to Tagge. As they returned to his office, Sidious greeted one of his agents, Cylo, and Vader asked for his identity, but the Emperor denied him the knowledge. Instead, he asked Vader if there was anything else to report, but Vader chose not to tell him about Kenobi's mysterious disappearance, nor the Force-sensitive Rebel pilot who had destroyed the Death Star and left the office and palace altogether. He boarded an Imperial Star Destroyer and immediately left for Tatooine, sending the Imperial vessel back to collect the trade goods for the meeting.

Tatooine negotiations

 * «Hmmm. I see you know enough to tread carefully. But tell me... are you brave or foolish.» "That is not the question, Hutt. The question is: Are you?" «Oh, Jedi... always making everything so difficult.»
 * ―Jabba the Hutt and Darth Vader[src]

Vader soon arrived at Jabba's Palace where, during the meeting, he had the Hutt dismiss his court. However, Jabba would rather claim the bounty on Vader's head and had his people shoot at him, but Vader killed them and forced Jabba to reconsider his position. After being Force choked, the Hutt admitted he found it hard not to respect him. The two then came to an agreement: Jabba would provide Vader with two of his best bounty hunters. Vader left the Hutt's palace and sought out a Tusken Raider camp, wherein he mercilessly slaughtered its inhabitants. He was then approached by Jabba's envoys: Boba Fett and Black Krrsantan. While he sent Fett to find and capture the Rebel pilot from Yavin alive, Vader assigned the Wookiee to bring Palpatine's agent to him. Both mercenaries agreed, and Vader departed Tatooine for his Star Destroyer.

The following day, Vader returned in his official capacity as the Emperor's envoy to negotiate as if nothing had happened the day before. Jabba welcomed Vader and claimed that his resources belonged to the Empire as long as he was paid. Vader then turned to leave, leaving his stormtroopers to tell Jabba what was required, but the Hutt invited him to a feast and entertainment in his honor, for he liked to seal his business ventures by watching someone die. Aboard the sail barge Khetanna, Vader and Jabba watched as the latter's guards killed wild banthas for the sport until Jabba's court jester, Salacious B. Crumb, let out a loud cackle. Vader warned the Hutt to not let the Kowakian monkey-lizard do that again in his presence if he valued Crumb's life; Jabba merely laughed and told Vader he now regarded him as a "good friend." The Hutt then inquired whether his bounty hunters were adequately serving his needs; though Vader berated him for bringing up the private matter, he also told the Hutt that their missions were simple enough: to capture an Imperial agent and a boy. Jabba argued that the "boy" had destroyed the Death Star, and had possibly been trained by Kenobi. The name prompted Vader to request that Jabba tell him all he knew of Kenobi's exile on Tatooine.

Jabba first required someone screaming, though, so he ordered his guards to pilot the Khetanna to the Great Pit of Carkoon. He expected Vader to be impressed by the sarlacc, which he believed was one of the few treasures that Tatooine had to offer, and said he found it hard to believe that anyone of note (like the Yavin pilot) could have ever been born on Tatooine. In silence, Vader watched his homeworld's sunset.

Servitude unto Tagge

 * "You should think of yourself as your lightsaber. A singular weapon from an older time—and one that is dangerous to everyone around them without a skilled hand to wield it. In time you will understand that I am the skilled hand you've been waiting for."
 * ―Cassio Tagge to Darth Vader[src]

After leaving Tatooine, Vader met with Tagge aboard his Executor-class Star Dreadnought, Annihilator. During a time of many raids against ships carrying Jabba's weapons and equipment supplies, Vader was sent to protect an Imperial shuttle, CZ-246, from a pirate attack. With his TIE Advanced, Vader went to their aid, alongside Black Two and Black Three, and successfully disabled the automated CR90 corvette attacking the shuttle. Upon returning to the Annihilator, Vader reported to Tagge that the pirate vessel had been captured and that he suspected a security breach.

As he said so, Tagge disagreed, believing the raids to be predictable piracy, and admitted to seeing the Death Star as "Tarkin's folly." Vader noted that Tarkin at least had a vision, prompting Tagge to admit his plans were not as grand as Tarkin's or Vader's, but they still were effective; he believed that the Empire could not be based around a single asset, like the Death Star or Vader himself. Tagge then informed Vader that he intended to repair the corvette and use it to attack its base of origin, sending Vader to head the attack, although with an adjutant, Lieutenant Oon-ai.

Vader left to prepare for the mission and oversee the repairs on the corvette. Oon-ai followed, asking permission to look into Vader's personal communications to provide information to Tagge. Although it annoyed Vader, as it was the Emperor's command that he serve under Tagge, he allowed it and left. He then planted treasonable evidence into a black astromech so as to incriminate Oon-ai during the mission. Soon thereafter, Vader, Oon-ai and six stormtroopers boarded the corvette and found the pirate base, docking with the station. Greeted by a Twi'lek pirate, whom he killed, Vader ordered the troopers to secure the core, while his astromech made his way to the command center to plant the false evidence.

They found themselves under the attack of two customized droidekas who brandished missile launchers, prompting Vader to use the Force to throw the incoming missiles back at the attackers, destroying the droids and fatally injuring the pirates. A Mon Calamari pirate survived long enough to activate the self-destruct, and Vader ordered the surviving troopers to return to the corvette and prepare to launch as soon as he returned. Followed by Oon-ai, Vader went deeper into the station to retrieve the false evidence. They returned to the corvette just before the station exploded.

Back on the Annihilator, Vader reported to Tagge, telling him that he was impressed with the results of his plan (the intelligence he had gathered confirmed the raiders were being backed by the Crymorah syndicate), but also claimed Oon-ai was the leak, noting that Tagge should be more careful of those who were close to him. Shortly after, Vader isolated the black astromech under the pretenses of a private discussion; the Dark Lord ensured the droid had deleted all records of its data uploads on the station, before venting the droid through an airlock and into space, where it exploded.

Following a Imperial-Rebel confrontation, Vader went to the Palace of Grakkus the Hutt to meet with Sergeant Kreel. A covert operative of his battalion "Vader's Fist," Kreel informed him that his mission to end Grakkus' operations was a success, but that the Yavin Rebel pilot had escaped them yet again. Vader inquired if he had mentioned his name (which he did not), and asked him to tell him everything he had learned of the boy.

A droid army

 * "There was a time I had armies at my beck and call. That time has passed. I need resources of my own. Private resources."
 * ―Darth Vader to Dr. Aphra, on why he needed her services[src]

From the information he gathered from the pirate base, Vader learned that a Doctor Aphra had supplied the pirates with the customized droidekas. As he wanted similarly effective units in the personal army he sought to build, Vader set out to find Aphra, conducting a manhunt for her in many locations, gathering information and killing the witnesses, until he finally learned of her presence on Quarantine World III in Kallidahin Space. He landed there just as Aphra was arrested by Utani Xane and a squad of B2 super battle droids; although Xane warned him that he was violating treaties, Vader began destroying her droids and saved Aphra as she tumbled over a ledge. Vader stabbed Xane through the back with his saber before telling the doctor he needed her services. He helped her up and she agreed.

Together, they boarded Aphra's ship, the Ark Angel, where she admitted to being a fan of his. The rogue archaeologist also introduced Vader to the Triple-Zero protocol personality matrix and estimated it would take hours to unlock the matrix's codes that were restricting it. It took Vader a few seconds to unlock it, which let Aphra install the personality matrix into a protocol droid's body right away. As the droid introduced himself as 0-0-0, she imprinted herself and Vader as his masters, and used him to wake up BT-1, a blastomech prototype. But as it was hostile towards his new masters, 0-0-0 shut it down before he could do any harm.

Vader then let her know the reason he had sought her out was to secure his own private resources, ones only she could help him procure. Aphra (who had originally acquired the two droids for the Gotra) instead gave them to Vader after realizing Vader was probably going to be her employer for the foreseeable future. She asked what else he needed, and he answered that he wanted troops of unquestionable loyalty: battle droids. Aphra then suggested that they acquire an unusual droid foundry on Geonosis, one in possession of Queen Karina, who had survived the Clone Wars and the planet's sterilization. As they landed the Ark Angel, and she sent 0-0-0 and BT-1 to map the cave route to the queen so that she and Vader could follow, Aphra asked Vader if he had ever been to Geonosis before. Her questioning brought up the memory of his first kiss with Amidala, shortly before the First Battle of Geonosis.

Vader ordered Aphra to cease her probing, and entered the catacombs; she followed him. They reunited with BT-1 and 0-0-0 and encountered the queen. Vader immediately amputated her from the womb droid factory. The queen, injured but alive, ordered her "children" to stop the intruders; at Vader's command, BT-1 opened fire on the droids, and he and Vader began to overwhelm her forces. Meanwhile, Aphra set a beacon on the ceiling with Vader's help and ordered her Ark Angel to barrage the locator to make a hole in the roof. Vader protected himself and Aphra by creating a Force barrier. His J-Type 327 Nubian then lowered a crane-platform, which Aphra attached to the factory while Vader fought off the advancing droids, and the ship carried them and the factory to the skies.

They would later board the Ark Angel, where Aphra successfully activated the factory and told him he would have his private droid army. She then asked Vader if he would kill her then or later, and said that if he did, she wanted a lightsaber right through the neck, with no warning. Vader finally told her she had proved resourceful and would be safe as long as he had use for her, unless she tried to blackmail him. It was then that 0-0-0 interrupted them to inform Vader that he had a signal from Black Krrsantan: he was bringing the Emperor's agent to him.

Cylo's enforcers

 * "The Force is obsolete. These are its successors." "This is... blasphemous!" "This has nothing to do with the Force. Much like you, Lord Vader. I look at you, more machine than man, and I see a bridge between the old world and mine. In many ways, these are your children." "Enough."
 * ―Cylo introduces Darth Vader to his enforcers[src]

As Krrsantan arrived, Vader confronted the Emperor's agent, Cylo-IV. Vader demanded that he tell him his name, his commission from the Emperor and the location of his headquarters. As he refused, Vader assigned 0-0-0 to retrieve all relevant information from him. After an interrogation that resulted in the agent's death, 0-0-0 reported to Vader that he was Dr. Cylo-IV, that his research base was located in an Outer Rim nebula, and that his commission was to create replacements for Vader. After learning this, they immediately departed for the base, aboard his J-type 327 Nubian. While Aphra remained on the ship, Vader and two platoons of droid commandos infiltrated it. Vader sent a platoon to "the dojo" and had the other one follow him to the barracks. As they killed the soldiers in there, Aphra reported that they had lost the other platoon, prompting Vader to go to the dojo, where he met the twins Morit and Aiolin Astarte.

They soon engaged in combat, but before any of the parties could harm each other, Cylo-V appeared and told the twins to stand down. He explained to Vader why he was still alive after his last body was killed, and that he was not making apprentices for the Emperor but enforcers, as he believed the Force to be obsolete. Believing him to be blasphemous, Vader attempted to strike Cylo down when the scientist claimed they were, in many ways, Vader's children and successors. The Emperor then revealed his presence to Vader and stopped him, claiming he wanted to see Cylo's demonstration without delay.

Vader was immediately made to fight the Astarte twins, Tulon Voidgazer, the Mon Calamari Karbin, and a Trandoshan. As neither party was injured, the Emperor ordered the fight to be one to the death. As such, Vader fought the Trandoshan, but its ferocity threw him off balance, prompting Morit to intervene and kill his fellow enforcer. The Emperor then ordered the fighting to cease; Vader warned Morit that his trespass would not be forgotten, as the Trandoshan's life was his to take. The Emperor then told the enforcers and Vader that their mission was to strike down all who opposed the Empire and that they were not to slay each other. As per his master's orders, Vader followed him.

In private, the Emperor (aware of Vader's private forces) admitted to being impressed that he had some independence left in him after so long and that perhaps he could triumph against the enforcers. Vader criticized his dealings with Cylo, as he saw his enforcers as a heresy to the Force, but the Emperor berated him for his lack of respect—for it was Vader who had disappointed him on Mustafar and had forced him to contact Cylo. As he left, he observed that perhaps, Vader would prove himself worthy of the name he had given him back then.

Parenthood

 * "Did you bring me anything of value, bounty hunter?" "Not much. Just his name. Skywalker."
 * ―Darth Vader and Boba Fett[src]

Troubled, Vader returned to his ship. Aboard the Nubian, Aphra told him that Fett wanted to report in during Vader's absence. Subsequently, Vader traveled to a Star Destroyer to meet with the bounty hunter and hear his story. The Dark Lord was disappointed to hear that Fett had lost the boy, but before leaving, Fett told him his name: Luke Skywalker. In his solitude, Vader remembered Amidala telling him about her pregnancy, and Palpatine's half-truth, and cracked the viewport in his anger. Thereupon, he used his meditation chamber's holoprojector to contact his master, but chose to say nothing about his son; rather, Vader assured him that he would not fail and ended the transmission. Nevertheless, he accepted Luke as his son and vowed that the boy would be his.

Determined to find more about Luke, Vader returned to Tatooine on the Ark Angel, with Aphra, 0-0-0 and BT-1 in his company. They landed at the Lars homestead, which they discovered to be deserted after an attack by Imperial troops, and Vader tried to find traces of Luke's presence. Unable to find anything of import, Vader left the moisture farm and went to Kenobi's home where he indeed felt the remnants of Luke's usage of the Force during his duel against Fett, but nothing else. As they left, Aphra activated a molecular purge bomb to remove all remnants of their presence, and Vader dismissed Aphra, for he was to return to his duties for the time being.

Anthan Prime

 * "I'm trying to ascertain if you are... dangerous." "Oh, I am, Lord Vader... But only to the enemies of the Empire."
 * ―Darth Vader and Inspector Thanoth[src]

As part of Tagge's crackdown on Outer Rim criminal interests who had gone unchecked in the past, Vader took part in a mission to terminate a criminal organization known as Son-tuul Pride. He and his troops destroyed the Pride's base and seized its stockpile of credits, to be transported on an Imperial light cruiser, but he also secretly sent Aphra all the information needed to steal the credits cargo. Following the theft, Vader reunited with her on Anthan 13, where he sent her to confirm some information about Commodex Tahn.

Vader then attended a meeting between Tagge and Cylo's enforcers, wherein the Astarte twins were assigned to deal with the Plasma Devils, and wherein Vader let Tagge know he wanted the mission of finding the Yavin Rebel pilot (which was Karbin's mission). Tagge felt he was too personally invested, and sent Vader to punish whoever was responsible for the theft of the Son-tuul Pride's fortune in the Anthan system; he also informed Vader that Inspector Thanoth was his replacement adjutant. While Thanoth went to the Anthan Prime Orbital Dockyard to investigate the theft's circumstances, Vader returned to Anthan 13 and killed the entirety of a small Rebel cell to cover his tracks. He later reunited with Thanoth on Anthan Prime, where they sought Doowan, an employee of "the Dragon"—an arms dealer who was likely to have sold the explosives needed for the theft—and interrogated him. The Nautolan promptly revealed the location of the Dragon in his mansion, before the twins killed him in a show of force.

Thanoth then noticed Vader's passivity, but Vader dismissed it, saying he was merely trying to ascertain if Thanoth was dangerous or a traitor. The two then went to the Dragon's mansion, which Vader entered on his own, killing the people inside until he reached the Dragon himself. Although he tried to tell Vader everything to save himself, Vader killed the Ortolan, and claimed he would have detonated the building once Thanoth reached the office. The inspector then opened the Dragon's vault to access his records and asked Vader to ready a strike force for when he located the suspects.

Vader then used the opportunity to meet with Aphra, who had just come back from a raid on Commodex Tahn's villa on Naboo. She confirmed his sources: Amidala had indeed died but had given birth to a healthy boy, who was taken away by the Jedi. Vader then tasked Aphra with finding Luke before Karbin could; subsequently, she resorted to The Ante. Vader then returned to the Star Destroyer, where Thanoth they would travel to the Spire to find The Ante. When they found him, he told them the location of the Plasma Devils to show cooperation and pointed at the one responsible for the theft, Aphra. Before the Givin could identify her by name, Vader telekinetically forced an unlucky stray shot and killed him. Vader then went to find Aphra before anyone else.

As they encountered each other, Vader ordered her not to struggle and Force choked her, but Aphra claimed she knew of Luke's location. Vader released her and ordered Aphra to tell him, but she refused, claiming she would tell him later. He then let her go, using the Force to drop debris above him as she escaped on the Ark Angel. He got out of the rubble as Thanoth and the stormtroopers arrived and claimed he had fallen into her trap. To follow her, Vader and Thanoth boarded their Arquitens-class light cruiser. As they waited for their TIE/sa bombers to catch Aphra, Vader and Thanoth agreed to use their ready strike force to kill the Plasma Devils before they could escape.

The two had their light cruiser go to the Thanteen Substrata on Anthan 1, where the Rebel cell was located. As per their plan, their light cruiser bombarded the westernmost tunnels and sealed them, whereas Vader went to the east route and felled incoming Rebel ships by throwing his lightsaber until the cell was annihilated. He then took three of the Plasma Devils' flight helmets and, alongside Thanoth, presented them to Tagge, who agreed with their course of action given the tight situation. As Karbin reported that the Yavin Rebel pilot was free, Vader and Thanoth left, and the Inspector let him know it had been an honor to serve alongside him.

Shu-Torun

 * "As a princess, you served your father. As a queen, you serve your people. This is a small reminder of what happens to worlds who resist the Emperor. This is what remains of Alderaan."
 * ―Darth Vader to Queen Trios[src]

Vader traveled to Shu-Torun with a message to reinforce their cooperation and force its government to fulfill the quotas, while 0-0-0 and BT-1 killed the king and his closest servants. Expecting to meet the King of Shu-Torun, he instead met Princess Trios upon landing, who was to show him to the ball, a little celebration to showcase their culture. Soon after their arrival, however, Shu-Torun assassins that wished death to the Empire and the king, but Vader successfully fended them off and demanded to see the king immediately. Trios complied and guided him through the tunnels as the main elevators were being watched by the traitorous dukes, according to her. Vader recognized Trios as admirable for her willingness to sacrifice herself for the greater good, as lava poured into the tunnels.

However, he used his lightsaber to make a round platform to float above the lava and reach one of the exits above. Taking an unconscious Trios with him, Vader made it to one of the corridors where he killed the guards. Trios awoke, only to point a blaster at Vader. He, however, cut her hand off and entered the king's chambers to find the monarch, his other children and guards killed by Vader's assassin droids. With Trios as the new Queen of Shu-Torun, he delivered the Emperor's message; a piece of Alderaan, as a reminder of what happened to worlds that resisted his rule. Vader then told her that he would pacify Shu-Torun, but that she was to not forget whom she served.

Vrogas Vas

 * "Darth Vader! Lay down your weapons! You are surrounded!" "All I am surrounded by is fear. And dead men."
 * ―Darth Vader responds to a Rebel commando company ordering his surrender.[src]

Vader met with Aphra and the droids, and demanded that he tell her Luke's location: Vrogas Vas. She continued by saying she did want to work for him and show that she was trustworthy. After a moment, he conceded that his work alongside Thanoth had given him an appreciation of talent, and told her not to make him regret his decision. He left, saying it was a task for him alone. Unbeknownst to him, a probe droid from Karbin followed him. In his TIE Advanced, he went to the planet's system where, upon coming out of hyperspace, he found three Alliance starfighter squadrons orbiting the planet. As he sensed Luke's presence, he remained and charged against the starfighters, who dismissed his TIE as a mere Imperial scout.

During the battle, Vader engaged the X-wing starfighters, and managed to take out both Blue Squadron and Yellow Squadron, as he lost contact with Aphra. Vader was then confronted by Luke, who was flying as Red Five, and flew his X-wing into Vader's starfighter, hoping to kill him. During the collision, their stabilizers were damaged prompting their craft to crash on the planet's surface. There, Vader was hunted down by the Alliance forces, starting with Gray Squadron, but he promptly destroyed them by use of the Force. Afterward, a company of Rebel commandos moved in to attack him, but he activated some of their thermal detonators before they could throw them, taking out a tank by deflecting its shot against it and continued to reduce the Rebel forces.

Vader also took the blaster array of his fallen TIE Advanced x1 and used it to take down further ships, this time from Cyan Squadron. Not too long afterward, another platoon was deployed to attack him, although this time Organa was leading them herself. Vader, choking her two companions, confronted her but felt an incoming ambush. When he let her go so that she contacted Luke, Organa used the opportunity to arrange an airstrike on her and Vader's location. Instead, Commander Karbin arrived with a task force, and tried to take his victory—both his son and the princess' execution—from Vader. Subsequently, Vader engaged the enforcer in a duel, during which Organa escaped, and during which they entered the Jedi Temple in ruins.

Inside the temple, he was momentarily distracted by ghosts of his past (Jinn's, Kenobi's and Yoda's voices), but continued the duel. Aphra then contacted him from aboard the Ark Angel and informed him that Luke had been captured by Karbin's guards. So Vader had her crash her ship against Karbin and confronted the mortally wounded Karbin, who realized there was more to the Yavin pilot and Vader's relationship than met the eye. Vader then finished him and contacted Aphra to tell her that her "pardon" depended on Luke's capture. With the Force, he brought down the shuttle transporting Luke, and Aphra tried to capture Luke only to be captured herself by the Rebels, leaving Vader to watch as his son on the Millennium Falcon fled from Vrogas Vas.

Shu-Torun War

 * "The queen of Shu-Torun. Did you choose well?" "There was no other choice."
 * ―Queen Trios and Darth Vader[src]

Vader then returned to the Imperial Palace and brought Karbin's body to the Emperor, demanding that his master give him a fight worthy of his time. The Emperor then told Vader to return to Shu-Torun as the ore-barons were rebelling and he required a full military intervention, and that Cylo (per Tagge's request) was to join him in the task. As a result, Vader returned to Shu-Torun, alongside Cylo, the Astarte twins and Voidgazer. Accompanied by Queen Trios, Vader led an attack against a rebellious delving citadel, and destroyed it as a demonstration of force. He also accorded to treat Trios with the illusion of respect and tasked, in secret, a group of bounty hunters to find Aphra and return her to him, either dead or alive.

After sending a broadcast to the barons, Vader, Trios, and Cylo and his enforcers went, per the queen's suggestion, to the ancestral retreat of the Shu-Torun royalty. There, they were soon attacked by Baron Rubix's Lava Leviathan, and Vader used Trios' escape vessel to reach the Leviathan and dared the twins to follow him. With their lightsabers, they boarded it, and from the inside, the three cut large holes that allowed the ship to flood with magma and be destroyed. Upon returning, Trios suggested that they attack Rubix next (as she had identified the ship's owner) and so, Vader told Cylo to prepare his enforcers. In the meantime, he killed Beebox for trying to deceive him with a stranger's disintegrated body, and refused Aiolin's request to train her.

Soon enough, they carried out the siege to Rubix's delving citadel, using the Shu-Torun Loyalist/Imperial Delving Fleet's combat drills, with Vader heading the first wave alongside the Astarte. Hwever, he was betrayed by Cylo, and his drill was redirected into a lithoporoite seam, where they were surrounded by Rubix's elite forces. With their outbound communications jammed, Vader left his troops as well as droid platoons to protect the drill and had the Astarte twins follow him as to use the enemy's lines to tell the rest of the assault fleet to resume the attack. On the way there, the twins attacked him, but Aiolin saw they could not win against Vader and destroyed the pathway between them. She was then betrayed by her brother who pushed her into the lava and fled back to Cylo; Vader then took the dying Aiolin out of the lava and had her reveal Cylo's deceit before finishing her off.

Vader then returned to his forces, who had secured the enemy lines thanks to 0-0-0's stratagem, and was surprised to find that Trios' assault to the delving citadel was already underway. With no opposition, Vader's combat drill resumed his way to citadel, and Vader himself cut off Rubix's escape way. Trios soon went to their encounter and Rubix formally surrendered; she then had the baron executed, and appointed his daughter as his successor, thus ending the rebellion. Vader then left the planet and informed the Emperor of Cylo's treachery, and the Emperor simply summoned him. He also received a message from Inspector Thanoth saying that he had located Aphra and that they needed to talk.

Hunt for Cylo

 * "I often wondered whether what rose from our operating table was a machine or a man... Good to have an answer."
 * ―Cylo, to Darth Vader[src]

At the shipyards of Kuat, Vader met with Sidious aboard an unfinished Executor-class Star Dreadnought, the Executor. The Emperor explained that in order to save Vader after Mustafar, he had to resort to scientists who were similar in philosophy to the Sith, among them Cylo. Cylo eventually grew too powerful within the Tarkin Initiative and so Sidious was forced to make him overplay his hand. Now that he was a mere traitor, he could be purged. After the meeting, Vader met with Thanoth on Anthan 13; the Inspector, now aware of Vader's real identity, revealed that he would support Vader's treason against the Emperor and that he would reveal Aphra's location on the Cosmatanic Steppes. However, when he did so, Vader killed him and ordered the droids to return Aphra to the Executor. Later, he spoke with Professor Thlu-Ry, a colleague of Cylo's. Thlu-Ry revealed Cylo's location in the Crushank Nebulae, after which he was executed for fraternizing with a traitor.

With the Devastator, Vader approached Cylo's flagship in his TIE Advanced x1 and boarded the enemy ship just before it jumped to hyperspace. As he made his way through the labs, Voidgazer confronted him and pitted him against a cyberanimate rancor, just as Cylo's fleet arrived at Kuat. Although the creature gave him some difficulty, Vader killed it by throwing his lightsaber through its skull, severing the neural link, and turned one of Voidgazer's defense droids against her, fatally wounding her. As she lay dying, Voidgazer revealed that she had tampered with the Executor 's systems to incapacitate the crew; Vader finished her off and went to the empty bridge, which had been abandoned by Cylo and Morit as they had fled in the escape pods, to find that Cylo's flagship was to collide with the Executor. Before it did, he ejected and landed on the Executor 's outer hull, where he soon encountered Morit. He easily killed him and then made his way to the Executor 's bridge, where he confronted Cylo. The scientist simply disabled Vader's cybernetics with a device he had kept for twenty years, forcing Vader to kneel and drop his lightsaber.

While Vader was incapacitated, he received visions of his duel with his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. This time, however, Kenobi threw him into the lava. Vader then rose out of the river in his life suit and struck down his old master. However, like their duel on the Death Star, Kenobi's body disappeared. Vader then encountered a vision of his younger self. The two versions of Skywalker fought until Vader came out victorious, throwing his counterpart in the lava. After his counterpart yelled that he hated him, the Dark Lord met a vision of his deceased wife, Padmé Amidala. Vader then found himself chained to the same table where he first received his suit. The vision of Padmé pleaded with him, asking him to stay with her. Vader, however, choked the illusion while at the same time regained control of his body. After he told the vision that her husband was dead, Vader used his lightsaber to impale Cylo, who was astounded that Vader was moving while his suit was deactivated. Thus, Vader had regained the ship from his control. The Dark Lord then informed his master of his success. The Emperor then ordered Vader to finish his mission then return to him, stating there was much to discuss.

Vader took control of his TIE Advanced, flying into Cylo's command ship. After cutting his way through Cylo's forces, the Dark Lord found his way to the doctor's cloning room. After destroying Cylo's spare bodies, Vader made it to the command bridge. Vader then confronted the doctor one last time. He mind-tricked the whale-ship into flying into a nearby star, destroying Cylo once and for all. After returning to the Executor, Vader met with his master. The Emperor was initially expecting his apprentice to give him a full report, but it was revealed that Dr. Aphra told Palpatine all of Vader's secret missions and plans. Instead of being angry with Vader, however, the Emperor was pleased with his apprentice's ability to operate in the shadows, stating he was everything he could have hoped for. The Emperor then left his apprentice to deal with Aphra as he pleased.

Vader then ordered Aphra to follow him. Though she revealed she had not told Palpatine about Luke Skywalker and despite her pleas for a quick death, he forced her out the airlock, although she secretly survived. Making his way to the bridge, the Emperor informed him that Grand General Tagge was to be demoted and that command of the Executor and its fleet would be transferred to the Dark Lord. The Emperor then left his apprentice to "educate" his subordinates of this new era. Vader then executed Tagge and ordered Admiral Kendal Ozzel to have the ship ready in two weeks. Vader then thought of his son, content that he would soon have him.

Slaying the unworthy
After the rebellion began encroaching in the Mid Rim, The Emperor let Vader loose, deciding that incompetence at the highest level was to blame for the the Death Star's destruction, allowing him to kill Imperial officials including Moff Coovern and Minister Khemt.

Skirmish on the Scorca Retreat

 * "I am the alpha and the omega of the Ordu Aspectu! I am the eternal Rur, Jedi Knight" "I am Darth Vader, Sith Lord. I killed the Jedi…and none shall escape me"
 * ―The eternal Rur confronts Vader[src]

Sometime later, Aphra had began an auction of a large kyber crystal, with the conscience of an ancient Jedi named Rur, on the Sorca Retreat. However, Vader was contacted by 0-0-0 about the auction. The Sith Lord went there with haste but found that the auction, had turned into a massacre, orchestrated by 0-0-0. He had allowed a droid from the Cyban Front to be taken over by the conscious kyber crystal, making it hunt down the factions on the space station. As Vader roamed the hallways, he found another Cyban Front droid, who had noticed him and his stormtroopers moving about. The droid attempted to run, but Vader used the Force to smash it to pieces. Vader ordered his troopers to kill all of the individuals they found in the space station.

As some of the stormtroopers crossed paths with the droid being controlled by Rur, Vader cut down a member of the Dominion of the Ezaraa. Some of his stormtroopers approached him, reporting resistance in the top dome and the droid. Vader walked down the halls and found the droid standing over a pile of dead stormtroopers. The droid had two blue lightsabers, generated from the kyber crystal inside it, erected from its arms. The two declared themselves to each other and clashed. As they fought, Vader deduced that Rur was not a Sith. Rur claimed to be the last of the Ordu Aspectu and a Jedi. As they deduced more about each other, Vader Force-pushed Rur into a stone slab. Rur got up again, but Vader charged at him, and as they clashed, he cut the droid's right hand off.

Vader Force-pushed him again into a wall, and he began laughing. He said that while his former organic body had limited him, he was now boundless, a god of machines. Rur therefore took control of the defensive guns in the ceiling and used them on Vader. Rur then tried to take control of Vader's suit and stalled his defensive moves. Vader told him that he wasn't the first to attempt that and used the Force to repeatedly smash Rur against the walls. The three collisions with the walls demolished the droid and Vader took the crystal. After the duel, a stormtrooper reported to Vader that some small ships had slipped his blockade. Vader told the trooper that the blockade was to remain. Vader took the crystal back to Sidious on Coruscant and then archived it with the rest of his master's collection.

Tureen VII
After the death of Cylo, Vader ordered Sergeant Kreel and his SCAR Squadron to hunt down Luke Skywalker. They eventually found him and his allies hijacking the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Harbinger. The vessel made its way to the blockaded planet Tureen VII in an attempt to aid the people there. Vader and his TIE forces engaged the attacking rebel X-wings.

While fighting the rebel fighters, Vader questioned Kreel if he had located Luke. At that moment, Kreel was engaging the rebel in a lightsaber duel. The Dark Lord then warned the stormtrooper not to injure his "prize." However, Luke used the Force to incapacitate Kreel, much to Vader's anger. The rebels eventually were able to break the siege and give relief to the people of Tureen VII. SCAR Squadron, however, was not left empty-handed, capturing the protocol droid C-3PO.

Soon after, Vader was contacted by Kreel and informed that C-3PO had told them everything they needed to know and that they couldn't get him to shut up. Vader then told him that the droid was a piece of worthless junk and to dispose of him.

Shortly after, R2-D2 managed to infiltrate the Star Destroyer where C-3PO was held and broke the droid out. Vader was notified of this and intercepted their X-wing in his TIE advanced. R2-D2 knew they couldn't escape alone and sent out a distress call to their friends. To Vader's frustration, R2-D2 gained the support of Luke, the Millennium Falcon and the Volt Cobra, who gave enough covering fire to help them all escape.

Confronting Kreel
Sometime later, Vader approached Kreel, who was training with half a dozen training droids. Vader told him he could try all he wanted but he would never become a Sith. Kreel said he wasn't asking to be, saying that it wasn't a Sith who saved him from the pits of Chagar IX, but the 501st Legion. Claimed to be a stormtrooper to the core and that he was just appreciating the value of a lightsaber. Vader then took his lightsaber and threatened to get rid of him and his squad for failing him aboard the Harbinger. Kreel told Vader that if he failed him again, he would kneel down to Vader and bury that lightsaber in his chest himself, after killing his men with it. Vader gave Kreel a mission to destroy a possible rebel outpost on Horox III, bringing back Luke if he was present. Vader then handed back Kreel's lightsaber and told him to be worthy of it. Sidious then entered the room and summoned Vader. Kreel knelt down and in honor of Sidious's presence and he thanked him. Sidious then brought Vader out of the room. Kreel then traveled to the Horox system and destroyed the rebel outpost there, killing all rebels present.

Sculpting a trap
Sometime later, Vader was at his castle with Admiral Kendal Ozzel and General Maximilian Veers. There, he asked Ozzel of the excuses he had for the slowing progress of Imperial projects. Ozzel blamed the growing resistance which although he could strike back, they were too spread out. Ozzel suggested that scrounging more worlds with constant bombardments of planets from Vader's new Death Squadron. Veers intervened at that point and came up with a theory. Veers claimed that the rebellion was like weeds, and the Empire was like a storm. Veers further pointed out that when a storm passes, weeds will bend and come out unharmed. He then said that it would be different if the rebellion was a tree. But Veers stated that until then, the rebellion would slip through their fingers. This triggered a memory in Vader of when Leia Organa told Tarkin: "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." Vader told his subordinates that Veers made an interesting point and concluded that it was what they should do.

Vader traveled to Shu-Torun and approached Queen Trios in her meeting room. She was surprised at his arrival and assumed it was not on good terms. She pleaded that she had done nothing against him and that she had been a loyal servant. She then told her guards to lower their weapons. Trios asked Vader how she could help him. Vader revealed his plan for her specialists to mine the ruins of Jedha. After she was to supply information to the rebels that would be sufficient to entirely sabotage the mining efforts. Finally, she had to infiltrate the rebellion, which was trying to build a fleet, and do everything she could to help them. Vader said to her that when they had built their armada, and before they hid it, he would show them how weak they truly were. Vader then threatened her that he'd make Alderaan look like a dream to Shu-Torun if she tried anything. A Shu-Torun guard stepped forward and told Vader that he could not threaten Trios like that. Trios shot him as Vader was their honored guest. She then allowed Vader to kill the rest of the people in the room.

Vader's ambush
To Vader's pleasure, Trios was successful in her mission, being able to earn Leia Organa's trust at Jedha and helping them prompt a mass mutiny of Mon Calamari merchant ships. As the rebels armed their new cruisers at the Mako-Ta Space Docks, she gave Vader the go-ahead to attack, telling him that they expected nothing. As the rebels prepared to scatter their new fleet, their hyperdrives failed to work, rendering the cruisers immobile from the system. Vader arrived soon after with Death Squadron and Ozzel asked Vader if they should begin a bombardment. Vader told him to wait, saying he sensed their fear and that it was insufficient. He told Ozzel to give them time to understand. As the rebel fighters prepared to deploy, they realized that not only were the hanger doors not opening, but neither were the defense turrets able to fire or were their engines able to activate. This was because Organa had ensured that the cruisers were outfitted with Shu-Turen technology, meaning Trios could sabotage them. The cruisers were useless against Vader's fleet, and Vader ordered the nearest cruiser be destroyed. The fleet subsequently fired on General Vanden Willard's cruiser and destroyed it with ease, killing Willard. Ozzel then asked Vader of their next target, and Vader said hope. The Star Destroyers began engaging the other Mon Calamari cruisers, and Trios attempted to get off the spacedocks on her ship. However, rebel forces boarded the vessel, and she was forced to escape in an escape pod. The rebels discovered they could get the cruiser's hangar doors to open by flying a ship towards it. Bandwin Cor volunteered to do so and flew a shuttle towards the cruisers. The shuttle was reported to Vader, but the TIE fighters dealt with it before Vader could make any decisions. Vader's fleet soon destroyed another cruiser, sending it into a fireball. The Millennium Falcon then arrived at the system, and Han Solo was told to attempt the same thing by Organa. Vader was notified of the Falcon 's arrival and quickly went to his TIE advanced. Solo flew the Falcon through the fleet and took on TIEs before flying towards General Jan Dodonna's Republic. Vader then engaged the Falcon and hit the ship's stabilizer, sending it spiraling. Solo set it to manual, and Vader prepared to fire on the Falcon when it got back on course.

Vader fired missiles at the Falcon as Solo attempted to land on Commander Lajaie's cruiser. Vader was to force Lajaie's crew to abandon ship and ordered the Executor to destroy the escape pods. He continued to pursue the Falcon until his TIE was disabled temporarily in a nearby asteroid field. Vader was able to resume his attack on the rebel fleet's starfighters. Vader then ordered the Imperial fleet to close in on the Rebel fleet. After being informed that Trios was returning to the Executor, Vader returned to the ship where he intended to meet her. However, he learned that rebels had boarded the Executor by using Trios' shuttle. He pursued the rebels until he found several led by General Davits Draven and killed all of them. However, their mission was just to slow Vader down and Vader Force choked Draven. Vader caught up with Organa but was unable to stop her from escaping the Executor via a TIE fighter. As one rebel cruiser left, Vader ordered the Imperial fleet to destroy the remaining rebel vessels.

Vader continued to oversee the destruction of the remaining rebel ships. Despite the return of a rebel cruiser, Vader pushed the attack. The rebels capital ships were eventually able to retreat and disperse in order to reorganize. Vader informed the Emperor of the rebels' defeat and assured him that the Rebels could never win.

Hoth

 * "Lord Vader, the fleet has moved out of lightspeed and we are preparing to—" "You have failed me for the last time, Admiral."
 * ―Admiral Kendal Ozzel and Darth Vader —  Listen (file info) [src]

By the time three years had passed after the Battle of Yavin, Vader was still in command of the Executor, under the admiralty of Ozzel, as well as its accompanying fleet, Death Squadron. At Vader's request, Lieutenant Commander Ciena Ree was transferred from the Devastator to the Executor; Ree believed, however, that Vader's request had been more threat than reward, as she remained forever vulnerable to him for seeing him during Yavin's immediate aftermath. Obsessed with finding Luke, Vader dispatched thousands of Viper probe droids as Project Swarm, with the droids being sent into the far reaches of space in order to find his son. Among the archaeological consultants of this was Doctor Aphra, whom Vader had brought back into service after propaganda Minister Pitina Mar-Mas Voor's failed plot to assassinate Emperor Palpatine.

Eventually, the Executor received a fragmented report from the probe droid sent to the Hoth system. Although Admiral Ozzel dismissed the news as a false lead, both Vader and Captain Firmus Piett agreed that they had found the Rebel base. Vader then gave orders for the fleet to depart for the system. As the fleet came out of hyperspace near Hoth, Vader was informed by General Veers that orbital bombardment was impossible as an energy shield defended Echo Base. Vader guessed from this information that the Alliance knew of their presence because Ozzel had made the fleet exit hyperspace too close to the system. After ordering Veers to prepare his troops for a ground assault, Vader executed Ozzel for his incompetence and promoted Captain Piett to replace him as Admiral, and had him deploy the fleet so that no Rebel ship escaped the system.

As the Imperial ground forces led by Veers engaged the Alliance squadrons and troopers, Vader led an assault troop into the Rebel base and broke their lines, but they found it mostly deserted, for General Carlist Rieekan had ordered its evacuation pre-emptively. Vader entered the base and soon ran into a group of Rebels carrying their unconscious captain towards a hangar. They open fire, and Vader deflected their shots before leaping and cutting down a Rebel trooper named Beak. Another trooper, named Roja, threw a grenade at Vader, who used the Force to deflect it. It knocked out their sergeant, Hazram Namir, and Roja was killed soon after. The last Rebel was the former Imperial governor of Haidoral Prime, Everi Chalis. She had been pursued by Imperial forces in the weeks following her defection and assumed Vader was there for her. Vader only asked her where Luke was, and when a trooper told him that they had located the Millennium Falcon, he pushed her aside and marched in the direction of his target. Only the Millennium Falcon remained at the base's hangar, but the light freighter was able to escape before Vader could capture it. With the Alliance forces on Hoth in complete retreat and the various transports scattered throughout the galaxy, Vader and his troops had secured a great victory for the Empire. Rather than pursuing the Rebel transports which had gotten away, Vader redirected his Death Squadron's efforts to capturing the Millennium Falcon, which had evaded Imperial forces in the Hoth asteroid belt due to its faulty hyperdrive. Despite Piett's reservations, Vader ordered the fleet to pursue the ship into the asteroid field, and told the Executor 's crew that he wanted the freighter towed aboard and its passengers taken alive. Even though the asteroids heavily damaged the Star Destroyers, Vader instructed every ship to sweep the field until the Falcon was found.

Piett then informed him that the Emperor commanded him to make contact, and Vader had the Executor move out of the field to have a clear transmission. Vader contacted his master; the Emperor told him that he had sensed a new threat in the Force: Luke Skywalker, who he feared could destroy them if he ever became a Jedi, and that he was Anakin's son. Feigning shock at the Emperor's revelation, Vader believed Luke could be turned to the dark side and prove a powerful ally. Although the Emperor was doubtful, Vader assured him that Luke would join them or die.

Determined to find his son before the Emperor, Vader summoned several bounty hunters—4-LOM, Bossk, Zuckuss, Dengar, IG-88, and Boba Fett—to the Executor, and promised a substantial reward for the one who found the Falcon 's crew alive. As he was briefing the hunters, Piett informed Vader that the Avenger was tracking the Falcon. Vader requested an update from the ship's commander, Captain Lorth Needa, who reported that he had lost the Falcon and assumed full responsibility for this. Vader accepted his apology with a fatal Force choke, and then ordered Piett to alert all commands of the Falcon 's disappearance.

Cloud City

 * "If you only knew the power of the dark side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father." "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!" "No, I am your father."
 * ―Darth Vader's revelation to Luke Skywalker —  Listen (file info) [src]

As the Falcon traveled through realspace to try and repair its hyperdrive on Bespin, Fett tracked and predicted Solo's movements, but also contacted Vader, whose Executor reached Bespin before the freighter. Along with a strike team comprising only a few individuals, Vader left the Executor for Cloud City, leaving its crew to do nothing but wait hidden. At the city, Vader contacted its Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian, who happened to be Solo's friend, to make a deal. Calrissian, whose tibanna mining operation was keen to evade Imperial attention, agreed to help him capture the ship in exchange for them leaving his people and his interests alone. When the Falcon arrived, Luke was not among them, but Vader knew he could use his friends to lure his son to Bespin. Escorted by Fett, Vader waited for Solo, Organa, Chewbacca, and Calrissian. Whilst waiting in the Rinetta dining room, he was barged in upon by the Lepi smuggler Jaxxon T. Tumperakki, who quickly left after spotting the Dark Lord. When the Rebels arrived, Vader had them surrounded by stormtroopers, imprisoned—and, in the case of Captain Solo, tortured. Much to Calrissian's displeasure, Vader altered their deal, agreeing to let Fett take Solo and collect Jabba's bounty on him. Afterward, he inspected one of the city's carbon-freeze chambers, and deemed it adequate if crude, to freeze Luke for his journey to the Emperor, but at the danger of it being fatal, he had the facility tested on Captain Solo.

On his orders, Solo was frozen in carbonite; as he survived, Vader handed Solo over to Fett and ordered Organa, Chewbacca and C-3PO taken to his ship, while he awaited Luke at the facility. Once his son was separated from R2-D2 and made his way to the carbon-freezing chamber, Vader appeared before him, and the two dueled. Luke held his own for much of the duel, but he was ultimately no match for Vader: as they moved to a reactor shaft and a catwalk, Luke managed to cut Vader's shoulder, only for Vader to slice off his right hand, which along with his old lightsaber fell through the shaft.

Vader beckoned Luke to join him in the dark side, but Luke vehemently refused. Vader then told Luke that Kenobi had hidden from him the truth about his father, Anakin Skywalker, before revealing that he was, in fact, his father. Luke refused to believe the truth, but Vader continued to tempt his weakened son, offering Luke the chance to destroy the Emperor and "bring order to the galaxy," just as he tried to do with Padmé on Mustafar. He even pleaded with his son to come with him, but Luke chose likely death by plunging into the shaft.

While Luke was rescued by his friends on the Millennium Falcon, Vader returned to the Executor. As the freighter was unable to escape due to its disabled hyperdrive, Vader and Piett waited for the Falcon to enter tractor-beam range. During the pursuit, Vader reached out to Luke through the Force, telling him it was his destiny to come with him, calling him "son." Yet the Falcon made the jump into hyperspace thanks to R2-D2. Although Piett feared Vader would kill him for his failure, Vader merely turned away from the viewport, not in anger, but in sadness.

Partial success
After the Falcon 's escape, Vader chastised Commander Ellian Zahra for attempting to destroy the vessel, stating that while Leia Organa would be an acceptable casualty, Luke was of value to him. Vader further threatened consequence to Zahra should she report further of "partial success," before dismissing her.

Search for answers

 * "You served Padmé. You want revenge as well. But you fear me. Good. Let that fear guide you. I will always triumph. And if you serve me, so will you. Together, we can find them."
 * ―Darth Vader, to Sabé[src]

Following the Falcon 's escape, Vader took a shuttle with several death troopers and a forensics droid named ZED-6-7 with him on a mission to learn who hid his son from him. After modifying ZED's motivator, he took the shuttle to Tatooine. There, he met with Lieutenant Ardo Banch and his stormtroopers. Vader went to the Lars Farm to search for clues about Skywalker's early life. Vader also reminisced about his attempted rescue of his mother, slaughter of the Tusken Raiders' village, and her funeral.

Vader was informed by Lieutenant Banch of several transmissions, but came under attack by gangsters who wanted his shuttle. Vader and his death troopers were able to take care of the gangsters. Vader took his shuttle to Coruscant where he went to Amidala's apartment. There, ZED-6-7 discovered someone had planted a scout transmitter. The transmitter led Vader to Vendaxa The transmitter led Vader to Vendaxa. But before he went there, he traveled to a cantina where he confronted a man who claimed to be his son Luke Skywalker. Vader quickly found out that the man was a liar, telling him that it did not matter who the man was, because by tomorrow, no one would remember that he ever lived, killing him shortly afterwards. He told the people who were about to hire the man for a pilot job, that he would let them survive so they could be witnesses for what he had done, stating that whoever would claimed the name of Luke Skywalker would also claim the crimes he committed against the Empire, with the result of Skywalkers dying. Outside the cantina, he then admonished the Imperial officer who had given him information on the alleged Luke Skywalker, explaining that his information was worthless and that the officer had simply wasted his time.

When Luke Skywalker met Verla on Serelia, she told him about Order 66 and the Imperial Inquisitors, describing Vader as pure, true evil. Shortly thereafter, she discovered through the force that Vader was Luke´s father.

Before Vader continued his personal mission, he felt through the force, during a conversation with Commander Zahra, that a trap he onced placed in form of the spirit of the Grand inquisitor on a jedi outpost on Tempes, had been activated. He ordered his pilot to set course for Tempes, but when he arrived there, he found nothing but the spirit of the Grand Inquisitor, who was recently defeated by Luke Skywalker. When asked by the Grand Inquisitor if he could ever finish to serve Vader, the Sith Lord refused to do so, saying that the inquisitor was merely a tool for him and abandoning his cursed servant, who was slowly being engulfed again by the ghostly flames blazing arround his body.

Upon arriving on Vendaxa, Vader was confronted by "Padmé Amidala." Amidala, revealed to be former Naboo Royal Handmaiden Sabé, was briefly Force choked by Vader before they both came under attack by several Vendaxan land squids. Together, they eliminated the squids, allowing Sabé to give her slain soldiers a proper burial. Sabé also revealed her true motives; to investigate the death of her former queen. Vader agreed to assist her in her mission so long as she obeyed him.

Following Sabé's guidance, Vader returned to the planet Naboo to retrieve security recordings stolen from Amidala's quarters on Coruscant. Upon entering the Naberri Lake Retreat, they were met by Gregar Typho and Tonra, who agreed to help them retrieve the stolen recordings. Boarding a submarine, the four of them left for the recordings' location, while Sabé expressed regret at her inability to save either her queen or Anakin Skywalker's mother. After surviving an attack by a colo claw fish, they reached their destination and observed the recordings, which showed Sabé forming the Amidalans and swearing to find and destroy their queen's murderers. She then accused Vader of murdering Amidala himself, to which Vader said he did before attacking the Amidalans.

However, the fight was quickly interrupted by a sando aqua monster, which attacked Vader and allowed the Amidalans to escape. After slaying the monster along with his death troopers, Vader found the rest of the Amidalans in the jungles of Naboo, where they were led into battle by Ric Olié. Vader and his death troopers then quickly eliminated most of the Amidalans and incapacitated Ric Olié before moving onto their next destination; the Tomb of Padmé Amidala. But before they could enter the tomb, they were suddenly surrounded by Sabé and the rest of Amidala's surviving handmaidens. The handmaidens fought bravely, but were easily defeated by Vader, who then opened the door to Amidala's tomb.

Despite Sabé's protests, Vader proceeded into the tomb and allowed ZED-6-7 to scan Amidala's sarcophagus. The droid then discovered a med implant, which he traced back to the asteroid field Polis Massa. Upon reaching the asteroid field, they entered the Polis Massa Base and uncovered data that Amidala had been flown to the base by Obi-Wan Kenobi in an effort to save her life. However, Vader and his forces were then attacked once more by the Amidalans, whom he managed to defeat once and for all. Along with ZED-6-7, Vader entered the base's maternity ward and allowed the droid to access the memory bank of a damaged Chroon-Tan B-Machine. He then watched a recording of Amidala speaking with Kenobi in her final moments of life. When ZED-6-7 commented that Kenobi must have been important to her, Vader promptly destroyed the droid. The recording then ended with Amidala stating that she knew there was still good in Vader, leaving the Sith to mull over his wife's last words.

Return to Mustafar

 * "I have turned his pain into fear…and his fear into anger. But he has learned and forgotten these lessons before. So this time I will send him a reminder. Through Ochi of Bestoon…assassin of the Sith…I will turn his anger back to fear…and his fear back to pain…as many times as it takes."
 * ―Darth Sidious[src]

After learning of Vader's personal mission, the Emperor summoned his apprentice to the Imperial Palace, where he sensed his apprentice was filled with mourning instead of hate. Intending to reteach him the dark side, Sidious began to torture him with Force lightning. Vader fought back against his master, but was overwhelmed again by two Royal Guards led by Mas Amedda. While Vader did manage to choke the three of them with the Force, he in turn was then choked by the Emperor, who told Vader to forget everything from his past before ravaging his body, leaving him with only one of his hands intact. The Emperor then brought his apprentice to Mustafar and left him on the very shore where Kenobi left him at the end of their duel. The Emperor instructed Vader to rebuild himself without using the Force before leaving with Mas Amedda.

Crawling from the shore, Vader eventually reached the facility where he murdered the Separatist leaders. Alongside the corpse of Nute Gunray, he found a few mouse droids and rewired them to weld old battle droid limbs to his body. However, he was then confronted by Ochi of Bestoon; a Sith assassin sent by the Emperor to test his apprentice. With his new limbs, Vader fought the assassin and bested him. He then demanded to know what his master's greater plan was before being interrupted by a distant voice. Vader followed the voice into a cave, which Ochi trapped him inside of after stealing his lightsaber.

As Vader fought his way through the cave, the voice taunted him with riddles about what he wanted and who he truly was. Eventually, Vader reached the source of the voice; an ancient being known as the Eye of Webbish Bog. Vader demanded the answers to his questions about his master, to which the Eye granted him a Sith wayfinder. After leaving the cave, Vader came upon an old Jedi interceptor, where he was then met by Ochi and his Droid Crush Pirates.

While fighting off the pirates, Vader cornered Ochi and knocked him out before reclaiming his lightsaber. He then finished off the pirates and used their parts to repair the damaged interceptor. Once the ship was repaired, Vader used the now captured Ochi to access the Wayfinder, which showed the way to a planet called Exegol. With Ochi trapped in a capsule beneath the ship, Vader flew the interceptor away from Mustafar and used a hyperspace transport ring to journey toward his next destination.

Finding Exegol

 * "Unlimited power. Beyond anything you have ever experienced. All in my hands. You feel it burning your flesh and mind. Ready to incinerate you in an instant. And you know you cannot fight it. So how…how can you claim it?"
 * ―Darth Sidious, to Darth Vader[src]

After exiting hyperspace, Vader and Ochi found themselves in the Red Honeycomb Zone as the Sith attempted to locate Exegol. However, they were then met by a massive, tentacled space-faring creature related to the Summa-verminoth. Before Vader could react, he was attacked by a fleet of Star Destroyers led by Sly Moore and Admiral Corleque. Vader fought against the fleet's TIE fighters until he had an idea. Changing his course, he flew toward the massive creature and allowed the TIE fighters to follow until they were crushed by the creature's tentacles. As Vader flew past the creature, Moore warned him that it would break his mind. Ignoring the Umbaran's warning, he continued on until he and Ochi were both hit by mental attacks. Vader experienced several traumatic visions from his past, which concluded with a vision of his son killing him in battle and taking his place by the Emperor's side.

Upon escaping the Red Nebula, Vader finally reached the planet Exegol, where he and Ochi promptly crashed. Breaking free from the wrecked interceptor, they were both met once again by the creature. But this time, however, Vader did not run away. Disobeying his master's command, he reached out with the dark side and used it to bring the creature down, thus allowing him and Ochi to continue on towards the Emperor's Sith Citadel. Standing atop the creature, Vader commanded his master to show himself. And once he did, Vader rode the creature into battle. In turn, the Emperor summoned two crustaceous monsters to attack the creature, though they were both quickly crushed. When Vader told his master that he was no longer his apprentice, the Emperor merely scoffed and reached out with the Force himself, twisting and contorting the creature until it broke apart. Forced to return to ground level, Vader followed the Emperor into the Citadel, where his greatest secrets lie in wait.

Once inside, Vader was greeted by a menagerie of horrors forged by his master. All around him were large vats containing bioengineered organisms strong in the dark side of the Force. Along with these organisms were large Sith statues, dozens of Sith guards, Sith cultists and a jar containing the severed hand of Vader's son. Vader was quickly attacked by the guards and cultists, but he managed to defeat them all before venturing further into the Citadel. Ochi caught up with Vader and attempted to dissuade him, but the Sith carried on until he reached a level beneath the Citadel. This level was lined with hundreds of Star Destroyers, each armed with a planet-destroying cannon. Showing no fear, Vader continued on into a massive chamber, which held a dome filled with red light and piercing screams. As Ochi tried to dissuade him once more, the Sith entered the dome and stepped into the burning light.

Within the dome was a subterranean mountain of Kyber crystal, bled red by the Sith cultists who kept it in constant pain. The Emperor explained that he did this in order to power the cannons of his fleet. When the crystal was cut, it screamed in pain again and sent out a wave of power, knocking off Ochi's helmet and burning his unprotected eyes. Vader suffered as well while his master mocked him for attempting to claim his power. The Emperor told his apprentice that if he chose to walk with him, he would never escape his pain. But only by walking with him would he be able to share his power. The Emperor then asked his apprentice if he had chosen, to which Darth Vader replied that Sidious was his master. Even though he experienced a vision, in which Luke Skywalker told him that he would, one day, kill the Emperor, Vader had seen the power Sidious commanded on Exegol, so he fully decided to return to his master's service, departing Exegol with Sidious, Ochi, Mas Amedda, and Sly Moore.

A new target

 * "You could still be strong, my son. I know there is power in you. But I have seen the true might and purpose of the Sith. And there is no room for another. So this time…you will die."
 * ―Darth Vader[src]

Upon returning to Coruscant, Vader was brought to the very building where he had been transformed to undergo repairs. A medical droid told him to prepare for shutdown, but Vader refused, choosing instead to remain conscious throughout the procedure. Once he was fully repaired, Vader asked the Emperor his will, to which his master told him to decide that for himself. Vader then called over Ochi, who had just been given a cybernetic visor so he could continue to see. With Ochi at his side, Vader left Coruscant in a Lambda-class shuttle and decided that he would hunt down and kill his son, believing that there was no place for him as an apprentice after the power he had seen on Exegol. Traveling to a remote outpost somewhere in the Outer Rim, Vader and Ochi met with a Hutt named Bokku. When Ochi asked for the whereabouts of Han Solo, Bokku reported that he had been stolen and assured the assassin that Jabba would recover him. However, Ochi then told Bokku that he would recover Solo himself in exchange for power. Bokku then asked Ochi if he served the Emperor, to which Ochi replied that they both served Vader now.

Ambush at Zee-Nine City Seven

 * "You planned to betray me from the beginning. And yet here you are. When you could have run away. What have you learned?" "«You…you cannot be defeated.»"
 * ―Darth Vader and Bokku[src]

Vader was then attacked by a group of Gamorrean guards, which the Sith Lord slew with ease. Bokku quickly apologized for not recognizing Vader and reiterated that he didn't know where Solo was. From this, Ochi determined that Jabba had likely hired someone to find Solo and asked Bokku for their identity. Bokku expressed fear at the idea of betraying Jabba until Ochi pried into Bokku's willingness to take over the Hutt Council himself. Bokku then revealed that he had been tracking the hunters who had taken Jabba's bounty and that one crew of droids had gone in a different direction from the others. Bokku told Vader the droids were deep in the heart of Hutt Space and that it would be better to go in Bokku's barge so as not to scare them away. On their way to the droids' location, Bokku inquired as to his compensation for his assistance, to which Vader assured him that he would be rewarded. Under the piloting of Bokku's nav droid Gak-Sixtoo, they arrived at Zee-Nine City Seven while Vader and Ochi boarded their Lambda shuttle. But as they approached the city, their ship's engines were shut down, causing them to crash. After escaping the wreckage, Vader and Ochi were confronted by the Droid Crush Pirates, who expressed shock at Ochi's service to Vader. When Ochi claimed he had picked the winning side, the droid captain told him he had picked wrong as IG-88 revealed himself and fired upon both Ochi and Vader.

As Vader deflected IG-88's attacks, the droid reminded his target that he had sustained damages while IG-88 himself had not. Vader informed the droid that he had information he required and commanded him to lay down his weapons, to which IG-88 replied that Vader would only access his information by downloading it from his severed head. Vader went to attack IG-88, but the droid then took out a remote and used it to slice into Vader's armor, taking control of the Sith Lord. As IG-88 forced Vader to hold his own saber to his head, Vader demanded to know who had given the droid the code to breach his armor. IG-88 responded that the terms of his employment prevented him from sharing that information. While the droid was distracted, Vader used the Force to take the device from him, allowing him to use it against his attacker. Vader then forced IG-88 to hold his own blaster to his head and pull the trigger, incapacitating him. Vader then continued his fight against the pirates until Bokku's barge fired upon him. Vader blocked the blasts with his lightsaber and redirected the energy at the pirates, knocking them back along with Ochi. As the pirates retreated, Vader took IG-88's hand and used it to access a terminal he had been using earlier. Upon activating the terminal, Vader and Ochi discovered various dead ends that the droid had been chasing, as well as the symbol of crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. After acquiring IG-88's information, Vader returned to Bokku's barge and confronted him over his betrayal. When Vader asked the Hutt what he had learned, Bokku conceded that the Sith Lord could not be defeated.

Pursuing Crimson Dawn

 * "What you see is what you get with Ochi of Bestoon. I'll always obey the most powerful. So as long as that's really you…" "Always."
 * ―Ochi and Darth Vader[src]

Investigating Crimson Dawn's involvement, Vader sent Ochi to Arkanis to gather information on the syndicate. As Ochi prepared to sneak into a bar, Vader told him to walk in the front door instead. After a brief scuffle, Ochi retrieved an invitation sent out by the syndicate and showed it to Vader. He and Vader then returned to Bokku's lair to interrogate him over the invitation. The Hutt revealed that Crimson Dawn was holding an auction for Solo and that Jabba would repurchase him. However, Vader told Bokku that he would bid against Jabba and lose. This would humiliate him and make Jabba lose all fear of him, allowing Bokku to betray him. Once Bokku agreed, Vader and Ochi returned to the Lambda-class shuttle and began to take off. But before they could leave the planet, Vader grabbed Ochi and dropped him from the ship. Once Ochi hit the ground, Vader ordered him to find out who else Bokku was working for. Later that night, Vader observed as Ochi was offered a place in Crimson Dawn by a group of assassins. However, Ochi rejected their offer and managed to eliminate them. Vader then approached Ochi, who quickly realized that Vader already knew that Bokku was working with Crimson Dawn. He had only wished to test the Ochi's loyalty. As more assassins surrounded them, Ochi reaffirmed he would always obey Vader as long as he remained the most powerful. Vader assured Ochi that he always would be as the two of them set about eliminating the assassins.

After discovering that Sly Moore had hired IG-88, Vader and Ochi returned to Coruscant to find her, her court and the phlutdroid in Administrative Temple Garden 313A. As Vader struck down IG-88 once again, Moore and her court fled into the Imperial Palace. As they attempted to escape into the streets, Vader used the Force to close the door in front of them. However, Moore then took out another remote and used it to freeze Vader in his own armor, allowing her and her court to open fire on the Sith Lord. But this did not last as Vader overcame the Umbaran's control and struck down her entire court. Moore tried once more to take control of Vader, but Ochi revealed that Vader had fixed that vulnerability in his armor. Vader then knocked the remote out of Moore's hand and told her that she could not bend his will. Moore responded that she only wanted to see if Vader was still plagued by fear, to which Vader said that the only fear in that place was hers. Moore conceded that he could kill her effortlessly, but also pointed out that doing so would do nothing to save him from Luke Skywalker. When Vader asked the Umbaran what she knew of Skywalker, she stated that the key to finding him, his friend Han Solo was currently being sold by Crimson Dawn. She also pointed out that if she secured Solo for Vader, then the Emperor would not learn of his plans. When Ochi asked Moore why Vader should trust her, the Umbaran answered that she would be delighted to reunite Vader with the only person who could kill him, to which Vader agreed.

Auction for Han Solo

 * "Who trained you? Who was your master?" "Someone who knew quite a bit about you, Lord Vader. And your master as well."
 * ―Darth Vader and Lady Qi'ra duel aboard the Vermillion[src]

Shortly after, Ochi and Sly Moore left with a few Imperial officers to attend the Auction for Han Solo. However, this was merely a ruse to humiliate the Umbaran in the Emperor's eyes. Amidst the bidding, Vader himself arrived at the auction on Jekara along with a pair of death troopers. After cutting down a few Crimson Dawn guards, Vader infiltrated the Vermillion just as Crimson Dawn's leader, Lady Qi'ra sold Solo to Jabba the Hutt. Vader then declared that Solo belonged to him. But as he ordered the death troopers to transport Solo to his flagship, Jabba pointed out that he had already laid claim to the smuggler. Moore attemped to explain the situation, but Vader chastised her for her failure and warned her that the Emperor would hear of it. The Sith Lord then told Jabba that he and everyone else within the Empire belonged to the Emperor, to which Jabba feigned amusement. Vader went on to point out that the Empire could easily replace the Hutts, while also pointing out the fear he could sense in Jabba and the rest of the attending Hutts. When Bokku angrily interrupted, Vader asked Jabba who he was, to which Jabba said that he was no one. Jabba then finally conceded and allowed Solo to be taken with his compliments and regards to the Emperor.

As Vader approached Solo, Lady Qi'ra informed him that she would not get in his way, but also still required the one million credits she was promised. When Vader told her she was owed nothing, Qi'ra inquired if the Empire was too poor or cheap to pay its debts. Out of patience, Vader drew out his lightsaber, to which Qi'ra bared her own pair of blades. As they dueled, Vader recognized Qi'ra's fighting style and asked her who had trained her. Qi'ra replied that she had been trained by someone who knew quite a bit about both Vader and his master. Vader then pointed out that she did not have the Force and warned that her skill would not save her. After a brief struggle, Vader pushed Qi'ra back with the Force, knocking her into Solo. Stating she would pay the price for her foolishness, he raised his lightsaber and prepared to strike her down. But he was suddenly distracted the arrival of Luke Skywalker, whose presence he sensed through the Force. While Qi'ra retreated, Vader was informed by General Romodi that Piett had established a secure channel to Skywalker's starfighter. Accessing the channel, Vader told Skywalker he had Solo in his possession. He then warned his son that if he did not come to him, then he would cut his friend in half. Skywalker refused however, telling Vader to come to him. Vader conceded and ordered Romodi to bring Solo aboard his star destroyer and to prepare his fighter.

Chase above Jekara

 * "My son. I sense your anguish. You still cannot bear the thought of losing your friends. Good. Now you're ready…to learn what real fear is."
 * ―Darth Vader, to Luke Skywalker[src]

After boarding his fighter, Vader took off from Jekara in pursuit of his son. After freeing his X-wing from a group of pirates, Vader fired at Skywalker, damaging one of his ship's stabilizers and causing him to crash back down onto the planet below. While Vader closed in on Skywalker, he was contacted by Sly Moore. When Vader stated that he did not require her assistance, Moore informed him that she was not helping him. Vader was then attacked by the Droid Crush Pirates, who landed on his ship and began to tear it apart. After causing some damage to the Sith's fighter, the pirates fell onto Skywalker's X-wing and quickly repaired it for him, allowing him to take off from the planet. As Vader continued his chase while fending off the pirates, he was informed by Ochi that the Hutts were going after the Imperial shuttle transporting Solo. He then sensed his son's fear as the shuttle was destroyed.

Redemption

 * "Now, go, my son. Leave me." "No. You're coming with me. I'll not leave you here. I've got to save you!" "You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister you were right."
 * ―Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker —  Listen (file info) [src]

Per his master's plan to counter the Alliance operation that sought to destroy the DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station six months after the Battle of Hoth, Vader was sent to the Endor system to notify Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod of the Emperor's arrival, and that he was to complete its construction on time, even if he needed more men. Indeed, the Emperor arrived weeks later and was greeted by Vader, Jerjerrod, hundreds of officers and stormtroopers lined up to honor him. Satisfied with the Death Star's state, the Emperor sensed Vader's wish to continue his search for his son, but told him to have patience, much to Vader's displeasure. Nevertheless he complied, and remained on the Executor despite intelligence reports of the Alliance Fleet massing near Sullust. During his stay on the Super Star Destroyer, the Rebel shuttle Tydirium requested permission to land on the forest moon of Endor; Vader allowed it sensing Luke's presence in it. Restless after sensing his son, Vader returned to his master's side and reported the shuttle's arrival and his son's presence with it. The Emperor allowed him to land on Endor at the shield generator base, where he was to await Luke, who according to the Emperor, would come to him. He complied with his orders and landed on Endor with the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle ST 321; as predicted by Sidious, during the night Luke surrendered himself in an attempt to talk to him and bring him back to the light side. Although Vader complimented his son's skills with the Force and his skills in building a lightsaber, he refused his son's pleas. Rebuffed, Luke said his father's identity as Anakin Skywalker was "truly dead" as Vader sent Luke to the Emperor.

Vader escorted his son to the Death Star and into the Emperor's throne room. Shortly afterward, the Alliance Fleet arrived to find that the SLD-26 planetary shield generator was still operational and protecting the Death Star. As the battle between the Imperial and Rebel fleets raged, and the Endor strike team sought to destroy the Endor base, the Emperor tempted Luke to give in to his anger. In a moment of weakness, Luke lashed out, but Vader stopped his strike and dueled him once again. Throughout the duel, the two seemed to be evenly matched, but Vader wasn't trying to kill Luke, only to lead him closer to the dark side. This succeeded when Luke used the dark side to overwhelm his father and kick him down several stairs. When the Emperor told him to use his anger again, Luke realized what he had done and took a more defensive position. Eventually, Vader telepathically sensed the existence of his daughter and Luke's twin sister, Leia, and threatened to corrupt her instead. Only then did his son lose control and viciously attack him, cutting Vader's right hand off and knocking him down. Vader was then betrayed by the Emperor, who demanded Luke to finish Vader and take Vader's place at his side.

Realizing that he was becoming what he sought to destroy, Luke threw his lightsaber aside and declared himself a Jedi, just as Anakin Skywalker had been before him. Infuriated, the Emperor unleashed continuous streams of Force lightning against Luke, intending to torture him to death. Finding himself in a similar position to twenty-three years before, when he chose Sidious over Mace Windu, Vader grabbed the Emperor with what was left of his arms and lifted his master high in the air, lumbering toward the reactor shaft upon his son's plea for help.

Angered by his apprentice's betrayal, the Emperor turned a yet more powerful lightning attack on Vader; in his hatred, his only thought was to cause his now-former apprentice more pain, even though he could still have used his powers to save himself. At the cost of the Emperor heavily damaging his life-supporting armor, Vader hurled his former master down into the reactor to his death. From that moment on, the persona of Darth Vader was no more, and Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, was reborn. By killing Darth Sidious and ending the Sith's reign, the Jedi brought balance to the Force and thus fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One, which Qui Gon Jinn had projected 35 years earlier.

Just before Calrissian on the Falcon and Wedge Antilles destroyed the Death Star's main reactor, Skywalker was carried by his son to the Imperial shuttle ST 321, where he asked Luke to remove his mask; for a moment, Anakin looked upon his son's face for the first and only time. He finally saw him not as a Jedi or a threat or a mistake, but as his and Amidala's son, and gave Luke a real smile—the smile that only his wife ever saw. As Kenobi and Yoda appeared to Anakin behind Luke, smiling down at the redeemed Skywalker, Luke insisted that he had to save him, but Skywalker told him he already had and asked him to tell his sister he had been right about him.

As he passed, Skywalker tried to speak to Amidala, telling her of how their son had saved him before trying to apologize, but he passed on before he could finish the thought, dying in the arms of his son while Imperial forces panicked around them, unconcerned with the fate of their former lord. However, Anakin's soul would survive death; his selfless sacrifice allowed his spirit to be preserved in the Force by Kenobi and Yoda. With the passing of Anakin Skywalker, Luke took his father's body aboard the shuttle and escaped just before the Death Star's destruction. Back on Endor, Skywalker built a funeral pyre for his redeemed father, and cremated him in the manner of a Jedi's funeral in solitude, for the sight of Vader's helmet consumed by fire would be cause for rejoicing to everyone but him.

Post-death
As his son set the pyre ablaze to burn his armor, he was found by C-3PO and R2-D2, who invited him back to an Ewok village to celebrate their victory. As Luke rejoined his friends and sister Leia at an amid the celebrations, Skywalker returned from the Netherworld of the Force alongside Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. All three at peace for balance had returned to the Force, they smiled at Luke—pleased to know that, despite the best efforts of the Emperor, the Jedi had returned. Each thought to warn Luke about the future, as each saw that there was yet much danger ahead for him and more darkness to overcome; instead, they decided not to burden him with this then. Luke, in turn, saw them and felt their approval and their sense of peace.

Skywalker then asked his two mentors whether Luke would end up alright. Kenobi responded, noting that it was possible, given that he had been alright thus far. For the next years, Anakin's spirit, alongside Obi-Wan and Yoda, continued to guide Luke.

Dark Lord of the Sith

 * "Darth Vader wasn't afraid of becoming a monster, after all... that had happened a long time ago."
 * ―Vaneé[src]

Upon his conversion to the dark side, Skywalker's arrogant streak became even more prominent, and for a short time, he believed himself to be even more powerful than Palpatine. During his early days as a Sith, Vader believed in justice and would fight to bring it to the Empire at any cost. His impulsiveness and tendency to act in anger were both magnified as well; for instance, when he discovered that Kenobi had stowed away on his wife's ship when she came to Mustafar, he immediately assumed that she was conspiring with his former master and strangled her with the Force. Despite this, Vader did experience a significant level of regret for the decisions that he had made to save Amidala.

However, all that changed following his defeat at Kenobi's hands. Having lost all that he had turned to the dark side to preserve, and having no other path, he fully embraced the dark side and became, in Palpatine's words, a "true Sith." Consequently, he devoted himself fully to furthering the development of his relationship to the Force, and the expansion of his power. Both due to what Palpatine taught him about the relationship between Sith master and apprentice and his own personal tendencies, Vader in his early apprenticeship was completely devoted to the Emperor. However, as his power grew, and particularly after learning of his son's existence, this devotion dwindled considerably.

Over the years Vader developed a new, more hardened and disciplined persona. He became utterly ruthless, virtually devoid of mercy, and was known to occasionally kill his own officers for their failures. Eventually, the identity of Vader in the Empire had arisen tales of a dark armored humanoid who served as the Emperor's most trusted enforcer and was considered to be the most feared individual in the Empire. Rumors circulated that he lived in a castle in a world of lava and that he wielded a red lightsaber, suggesting a connection to the Sith. The few who had interacted with him stated that they were unsure whether the individual behind the armor was a living person, a droid or a clone trooper. Many feared that if Vader were ever defeated, a number of duplicates would be activated in his place. The Sith Lord also had absolutely no qualms about using torture to accomplish his goals.

Considered to be the Empire's first terror weapon and noted to employ antiquated diction, he was tenacious and unstoppable, and made most Imperial naval officers uncomfortable. Contrary to the rocky relationships he had with most Imperial officers, his rapport with his stormtroopers mirrored in many ways his former persona's relationship to the Republic's clone troopers. In fact, his standing with the rank and file was such that it was known as far as Ryloth that the stormtrooper corps "almost worshiped him." Additionally, Vader commanded the absolute loyalty of his servant, Vaneé, who remained stationed at his castle on Mustafar and believed Vader viewed himself as a monster. Part of his reputation was that he would normally be quiet (and thus his presence made for a good implied threat to others) whereas shows of passivity were not. Indeed, it was well known that he usually preferred to oversee operations personally, using action to block out any intruding feelings. He was frequently at odds with those who lacked faith in the Force, finding it "disturbing" or even blasphemous.

Vader often used pressurized meditation chambers that allowed him to remain without his helm—the neural connection to his armor—during which he felt the perpetual pain that Kenobi had inflicted on his flesh. During such sessions, he would meditate to use this pain to feed his hate, which in turn fed his strength, and he never laughed. Claiming not to feel regret, and yet haunted by his past, and the screams of his wife, he was determined to never talk about his old life, and detested all that reminded him of his past self (whom he deemed to be weak). He dared not remember such a period of his life, which he hated; indeed, through the use of the dark side, he kept his memories as Anakin Skywalker buried, although it took great effort even after twenty years of practice. Although he retained access to Skywalker's memories and experience, this burial was such that he refused to even think of Skywalker as himself, referring to internally to Skywalker's memories as those of "The Jedi." However, his rapport with the stormtroopers who supported him, and the technique he displayed in wielding his crimson lightsaber, made Wilhuff Tarkin suspect the truth.

Much like before, Vader remained an impatient man, although he tempered his impulses with the faithful obedience he gave to his Sith master, Sidious. He nevertheless remained a pained man, so he would try to hurt himself and others to relieve himself. As sensed by Yoda, Vader's presence in the Force was hard and strong, fiercely pulsing when he sensed him. However, Vader's presence also carried a great, crushing loneliness, which only increased after he killed Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Redemption of Anakin Skywalker

 * "I've accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father." "That name no longer has any meaning for me." "It is the name of your true self. You've only forgotten. I know there is good in you. The Emperor hasn't driven it from you fully."
 * ―Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader on Endor[src]

Following the discovery of his parenthood, Vader became emotionally conflicted. Vader's thoughts of his son, Luke, led to thoughts of his late wife, the woman he loved and destroyed—thoughts he could not allow. Memories would resurface whenever he felt Luke near him, and so, believed in erasing that part of his past. He had become afraid of his compassionate son; not because of his mastery of the Force or skill with a lightsaber, but because Luke could make him question the dark truths that had long ruled him. In the eve of the Battle of Endor, Vader claimed it was too late for him, even as his son stubbornly felt that there was still good left in him. Vader would close off the questions with the dark side, but he showed concern for his son in the end. Ultimately, it was Luke's cry for help while being tortured by Palpatine that caused Anakin to reawaken and redeem himself, showing that despite all the evil acts he has committed, there was still some good in him. Vader became surprised when he sensed that he was not the father of one child but two when he telepathically sensed his daughter, Leia, through Luke. Before dying, Skywalker told Luke to tell Leia that he was right about him as he wanted his daughter to remember him as a good person in the end.

Relationship with Padmé Amidala

 * "The thought of not being with you— I can't breathe. […] You are in my very soul, tormenting me. […] " "We can't. It's… just not possible." "Anything is possible, Padmé, listen to me." "No, you listen! We live in the real world. Come back to it. […] If you follow your thoughts through to conclusion, it'll take us to a place we cannot go—regardless of the way we feel about each other." "You're asking me to be rational. That is something I know I cannot do."
 * ―Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala[src]

Skywalker had first met Amidala when she posed as a handmaiden and commoner at Watto's shop in Mos Espa. There, Skywalker asked if she was an angel. He was then surprised when Padmé revealed herself to be the Queen. Following the Battle of Naboo and ten years later, Skywalker met with her at apartment following an assassination attempt on her. As Skywalker continued to protect Amidala from further attempts, they admitted their mutual love to each other. Skywalker and Amidala, following the Battle of Geonosis, married in secret.

During the Clone Wars, Skywalker and Amidala rarely saw each other due to the Clone Wars and keeping their secret. Skywalker would rescue and protect Amidala from numerous dangers such as General Grievous, the Zillo Beast, and the Blue Shadow Virus. Skywalker also felt jealous towards Amidala's close friend, Senator Rush Clovis of Scipio. Despite Amidala's assurances that it was over between her and Clovis, Skywalker felt uneasy when she accepted the Jedi Council's mission to spy on Clovis. After leaving Cato Neimoidia, Skywalker assured Amidala that he never doubted her. Later, however, Skywalker did not completely trust Clovis with Amidala. Skywalker attacked Clovis when he tried to kiss Amidala, but Amidala thought they should not see each other for a while. When Clovis appeared to have rejoined the Separatists, Skywalker led his forces and personally attempted to rescue Amidala.

Later when Amidala revealed that she was pregnant, Skywalker had premonitions about Amidala dying in childbirth. Skywalker's fear eventually led him into the dark side and on Mustafar, Skywalker, now Darth Vader, Force-choked her when he believed that she brought Kenobi to kill him. Following his duel with Kenobi, Vader continued to feel Amidala. After his re-birth, however, the Emperor told Vader that in his anger he killed her. Vader mourned her and gave in to his anger, destroying the medical droids surrounding him and then attacking Palpatine, screaming that he had claimed she could be saved.

As a Sith Lord, Vader tried to find ways to resurrect Amidala, yet he found Momin's portal was unable to do so. Afterward, he decided to dedicate himself fully to the dark side, but he still longed to restore his wife, only for his attempts to always fail. Even after telling a vision of Amidala that the man she loved was dead, Force choking the vision—just as he had choked the real Amidala on Mustafar—to reject her love, he, deep down, still loved her. He could never let go of the agony caused by killing his wife.

Vader eventually discovered that Amidala had given birth to a son, Luke Skywalker, and a daughter, Leia Organa. He even learned of Amidala's last words, which filled him with sadness. Through Luke's actions, Vader later turned back to the light, fulfilling Amidala's dying words that goodness still remained in Anakin.

Lightsaber abilities

 * "If you had spent as much time practicing your saber techniques as you do your wit, you would rival Master Yoda as a swordsman." "I thought I already did." "Only in your mind, my very young apprentice."
 * ―Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker[src]

Despite being naturally extremely talented, Anakin Skywalker was initially lax with his lightsaber training, though he believed that he could rival the Jedi Masters. Despite his relative laziness, Anakin was the best duelist in his class, even though he started later than his classmates. Skywalker preferred lightsaber combat to Force mastery and thus spent more time on the physical side of becoming a Jedi. By the time he was nineteen, Anakin was so gifted and skilled in dueling that he believed he already rivaled Master Yoda. When the Clone Wars began Skywalker was a skilled enough duelist to hold his own against Count Dooku for a time, lasting longer than Kenobi did. During the war, his frequent engagement in duels with individuals such as the informal Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress, Savage Opress, Count Dooku, and fallen Jedi Barriss Offee allowed him to greatly improve his capabilities with a lightsaber. His skill by the end of the war was such that he was able to single-handedly defeat Dooku in combat, despite the fact that the Count was one of very few duelists who could hold his own against Yoda himself, although Dooku's taunts angered Skywalker, which unintentionally resulted in the latter tapping into the dark side, which also contributed to his victory.

During his duel with his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Skywalker proved to be equally matched with him, and was defeated only when his hubris and blinding rage allowed Kenobi to dismember him. Skywalker was considered by some amongst the Jedi, such as Kanan Jarrus, to have been the greatest warrior the Order had during the Clone Wars, with the only possible exceptions being Yoda and Mace Windu. His former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, once acknowledged Skywalker as someone powerful who rarely lost his battles.

Skywalker was particularly skilled in Form V, both the Shien and Djem So variants, being able to deflect blaster fire with ease,[source?] but also shots from freighters, and made good use of Djem So's strength-based strikes and counterattacks to overpower or overwhelm an enemy. Skywalker used Jar'Kai on various occasions, he used Kenobi's lightsaber during his first duel with Darth Tyranus on Geonosis, he used Barriss Offee's lightsaber with his own in a duel against a fallen Barriss Offee and used Dooku's lightsaber with his own lightsaber to execute Dooku after a final duel with him on the Invisible Hand.

Skywalker was also adept in the use of Form IV, often incorporating it's techniques into his dueling style, primarily acrobatics, and was well aware that the key to deflecting the fire of multiple adversaries were fluid motions, which he mastered enough to having adjusted the classic techniques of Form IV to better defend against ranged attackers, which he demonstrated in a holographic recording, later found in Kanan Jarrus' holocron.

After Darth Vader received his cybernetic enhancements and armor, his dueling style became visually more direct than it had been, presumably due to the fact that his armor and cybernetics altered his physical attributes; enhancing some while hampering others. However, Vader's style was still similar enough to that which he had used as a Jedi that Tarkin was able to puzzle out Vader's former identity largely by observing him fight.

Vader continued to use Jar'Kai on various occasions. On Mustafar, he used a smuggler's lightsaber, which was Force pulled from the smuggler whom Vader used with his own to finish off the last remaining droid in Lady Corvax's sanctum. Another time, Vader used his weapon with one of Darth Atrius' lightsabers against a group of thugs who Sana Starros had hired to keep the Imperials off her back.

A pragmatic combatant, Skywalker and when he became Darth Vader, had the skill to throw an activated lightsaber to attack, guiding it with the Force, or would resort to activate to lethal results when being held by unsuspecting enemies, once impressing Kenobi by telekinetically activating their lightsabers (both in Chong's possession) and cutting apart the Sugi before pulling the lightsabers to his hands.

Force powers

 * "The Force is unusually strong with him, that much is clear."
 * ―Qui-Gon Jinn, on Anakin Skywalker[src]

Blessed with impressive reflexes that were typical of a Jedi, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn saw enormous potential in the 9-year-old Skywalker and believed him to have been conceived by the Force itself. Indeed, when his blood was tested, Skywalker's midi-chlorian count was above 20,000, reportedly even greater than Yoda's. The total amount was, however, unknown, for the reading was off the scale.

When he was nine, Anakin was already skilled in having quick reflexes and precognition. This was something he used to an advantage when he participated in pod racing. He was also able to sense what things were without looking at them.

In his teen years, Skywalker's Force training progressed to the point where he was able to manifest various abilities, and Kenobi thought of him as being "advanced for his age." He was very skilled at using the Force to scan his surroundings, such as when he sensed poisonous kouhuns infiltrating Amidala's bedroom despite being in another room at the time. He was also skilled at sensing other people's feelings, and disturbances in the Force. Skywalker also showed aptitude for precognitive dreams, as when he foresaw the deaths of both his mother and his wife in dreams, but also of himself becoming a Jedi, back when he lived with his mother on Tatooine. However, Skywalker struggled in using the Force to control and befriend animals, noting that Kenobi was much better at it than he was.

Skywalker was skilled in telekinesis: even as a late beginner, by his own admission, he was very good at it, better than any Padawan his age, and most of the older ones as well. He could lift lightsabers in the air and ignite them with ease, as he did once to scare a pair of Padawans who had called him a "slave to his emotions." Despite having an exceptionally strong connection to the Force, Skywalker tended not to use it very often during lightsaber duels and focused instead on the physical aspects of combat. This tendency held even when facing opponents who made liberal use of the Force during duels, such as Count Dooku.

During the Clone Wars, Anakin's power and skill continued to increase. He became capable of utilizing telekinesis to accomplish such esoteric tasks as creating air bubbles around another person's head to enable breathing underwater, as shown when he saved Padmé's life at Mon Cala. During his mission to Utapau, Anakin was able to feel brain waves on a dead body, and when he first met Grand Admiral Thrawn, he was able to feel his thoughts by reaching out to him through the Force. At one point during the war, the Chosen One was able to telekinetically subdue both the Son and the Daughter simultaneously. However, this empowerment was lost when the Dark side grew too powerful and disrupted the balance in the Force.

After his cybernetic reconstruction, Vader's connection to the Force strengthened considerably, to the point where his master Sidious once complimented his powers as being "unparalleled." Though his injuries had physically crippled him, Vader believed that the suffering that he had experienced had both perfected his spirit and freed him from the needs of the flesh, allowing him to concentrate solely on his relationship to the Force. He demonstrated enough telekinetic power to stop an AT-AT from stepping on him and had been in the process of tearing it apart before he was interrupted in doing so. On another occasion he telekinetically lifted two AT-DP walkers off of himself without any apparent strain. He also demonstrated the ability to grab hold of an engine-damaged Twi'lek freighter and bring it to the ground, and crush a Lambda-class shuttle's engines in midflight to take it down. He was able to utilize a Force push in a wave-like manner that was powerful enough to blow apart numerous lyleks simultaneously, despite the fact that the creatures' carapaces were impervious to even heavy blaster fire. He could also project Force barriers to protect himself and others. These barriers were powerful enough to protect Vader while submerged in the lava of Mustafar, though only for a short time. On at least one occasion, he demonstrated that he was able to telekinetically manipulate targets without the need to gesture at them as virtually all other Force adepts did. This granted him the ability to throw objects with the Force whilst actively engaged in swordplay. He was also capable of using the Force Stasis ability and was skilled enough in its execution that on one occasion he used it to freeze two Inquisitors simultaneously.

Vader was also capable of using his telekinetic abilities to perform extremely delicate, complex, and precise tasks. On one occasion, he returned his badly damaged cybernetic limbs to perfect working order by dismantling a broken droid and telekinetically repairing himself with its components. He also demonstrated the ability to crush internal organs with the Force. At one point during an interrogation he used the Force to inflict torturous amounts of pain on several insurgent prisoners, to the point of causing heart failure in one of them.

Anakin developed a tendency to use Force choke over the course of his time as a Jedi, especially when angered or using it as a means of interrogation when an individual was uncooperative. Skywalker would go on to use this power to deadly effect when he assumed his Sith persona, generally using it to kill those who insulted him or failed to meet his expectations as well as using it as a means of citing fear. He also used the technique to twist, crush or snap the neck of a victim, which he notably demonstrated on the likes of Commander Fox, as well as other clone troopers and later stormtroopers.

Like most Force adepts, Vader also had the ability to vastly augment both his strength and speed with the Force. He was also very skilled at using the Force to leap great distances. During the Mission to investigate Geonosis, Captain Rex remarked that Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus had yet to demonstrate Skywalker's skill with Force jumps, despite having just jumped across a chasm more than 40 meters wide. Vader demonstrated on numerous occasions the ability to probe the thoughts of others, including those of Force adepts of similar power to himself. Due to his strong connection with his son, Luke, he was able to sense his presence through the Force quite easily—as opposed to his master, who was skeptical about this ability, and quickly became able to mentally communicate with him upon Luke learning he was Vader's son.

Other skills

 * "I can fix anything."
 * ―Anakin Skywalker[src]

Even at a young age, Skywalker demonstrated a great aptitude for piloting, mechanics, and engineering—he rebuilt the protocol droid C-3PO, an advanced droid fluent in over six million forms of communication, as well as a functional podracer. Although during his adulthood he would rarely use his talent as a mechanic, he would remain skilled at repairing technology.

As a pilot, Skywalker showed an amazing ability that few were able to surpass, and Kenobi would later describe him to his son Luke as "the best star pilot in the galaxy." Anakin was able to pilot a pod racer and was the first and only human thus far to compete in a pod race. He was also able to survive the Battle of Naboo and would go on to improve his skills in flying and aerial combat. Throughout the Clone Wars, Anakin was known for being the best pilot in the Republic and was known for leading the charge in battles and coming out alive. He was very skilled in chasing down targets, shaking off-target locks, and outmaneuvering many opponents. His strength in the Force also gave him quick reflexes, an ability that would help in dodging fire and focusing in on enemy targets. He also displayed incredible precognition, as he was capable of predicting the movements of his targets during dogfights with pinpoint precision. He once managed to land the Invisible Hand when it was half-destroyed and breaking up in the atmosphere. After becoming Vader, he remained an exceptionally skilled pilot, as shown when he single-handedly almost destroyed Phoenix Squadron in a lone TIE Advanced x1, easily out-flying their entire fleet and forcing their command to abandon ship, and when he obliterated several Alliance squadrons during the Battle of Vrogas Vas. Despite this, Skywalker would occasionally be shot down during his combat piloting career. However, this was a very rare sight and few could have the skills to do such a feat.

Although he mainly used lightsabers, Skywalker was extremely proficient at the use of blaster pistols. He also had some training on the use of staves, a skill he once taught to a Felucian village so that they could defend themselves. Skywalker spoke Galactic Basic Standard and Huttese, and understood the Bith language. As Vader, he learned the ancient Sith tongue, and could speak it along with his master, Darth Sidious.

Equipment

 * "Your sleeves are cut to allow exaggerated movements of your arms. Likewise, the long tunic, which appears as if it would impede your movement, also allows freedom of motion. Of equal importance is the fact that in combat its swirling motion will distract an opponent's eyes."
 * ―Commander Thrawn analyzes Anakin Skywalker's Clone Wars-era uniform[src]

As a slave on Tatooine, Skywalker wore a tan tunic. Equipped with tools, he was able to rebuild C-3PO and complete his own podracer. During the Battle of Naboo, he piloted a N-1 starfighter and wore a Naboo pilot's helmet. After becoming a part of the Jedi Order, he wore Jedi robes and was given a Padawan braid. He also kept a bit driver on himself, which he lost during the rescue of Yoda, and had his own lightsaber that was destroyed on Geonosis. Afterward, he was given a replacement blade for the arena battle before having a new lightsaber for the Clone Wars. During the early days of the war, Skywalker wore pieces of commander armor over his Jedi clothing. Later, he wore different Jedi robes without the armor, although he had donned the armor again when he met Commander Thrawn.

During the Clone Wars, Skywalker flew his own Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor until, later in the conflict, he replaced it with the new Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor. Both starfighters were yellow; at least in the case of the Eta-2, the color was a tribute to his old podracer. Skywalker also kept the Twilight, the freighter stolen from Teth that allowed him to go on undercover missions. From the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute, the Jedi General commanded a fleet of starships. As a Jedi General, he could also he transported to battlefields aboard a Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry gunship. While trying to reach the Republic Center for Military Operations, Skywalker and Captain Rex flew in a Praxis Mk. I turbo speeder.

During his earliest days as a Sith Lord, Darth Vader continued to wear his Jedi robes and flew a green Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor. After burning on Mustafar, he was given his black life support armor that was also equipped with a black cape. After killing Kirak Infil'a and stealing his lightsaber, Vader bled the kyber crystal to make his own lightsaber, which he further modified after a failed assassination attempt. As a Sith, Vader flew a personal starship during the early days of the Empire, black Eta-2 fighters, and the TIE Advanced x1. Palpatine also gave Vader the old Royal Starship of Padmé Amidala. After being tortured by Sidious and left on Mustafar, Vader repaired his armor using parts from the remains of battle droids and restored his green Eta-2. After again saying he would serve his Sith Master, his armor was repaired.