What killed Darth Vader?

[Candlelight]

In Return of the Jedi Vader asks Luke to take his mask off, to which Luke believed he would die. In Empire General Veers walks in on Vader with his mask already off. Given the injuries seen in Revenge weren't entirely related to his respiratory system (and he could still speak so his lungs were OK), what did kill Vader in the end? Luke only chopped his (admittedly robot) hand off, and the Emperor seemed to only graze him with his force lightning. Was his suit damaged? I know his breathing was laboured towards the end.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Given the injuries we saw Vader sustain in ROTS, I think it's reasonable to assume that the suit was a type of mobile life support system. The force lightning Sidious hit Vader with likely shorted out portions of the suit that Vader required to live. We know Vader's lungs were damaged in ROTS, and the breathing apparatus and mask help Anakin's respiratory functions. After the lightning though, you can hear Vader's breathing is shallow and weak.

I don't think Vader could live outside of that suit, and getting hit with lightning is what killed him in the end.

 

[Ithekro]

There was a very audible click in Vader's breathing system after it gets zapped by the Emperor. His systems were failing. Removing the mask likely only accelerated it slightly.

It is also possible that Vader was being kept alive partially via the power of the dark side. With that gone, perhaps he couldn't keep himself alive for long without the suit working properly.

 

[Mage]

In Empire General Veers walks in on Vader with his mask already off.

Keep in mind that only the backpart was coming on when Veers walked in, the front of the mask was already there. It's been established that Vader CAN NOT breath without his mask, unless he is in that pod he was in, and it's sealed. So when we saw the half open pod, Vader's actual resperator was already attached, the pod had probably only just opened right before Veers walked in and he witnessed the last step in prepping Vader to breath outside of the pod again.

 

[Ithekro]

Or to be silly someone decides to lie to the Knights of Ren about it version: (Darth Vader) was killed by Anakin Skywalker, who was an apprentice of Palpatine's before turning to the Light. Helped the Rebels destroy the Galactic Empire. He betrayed and murdered the Darth Vader and the Emperor.

 

[EnsignRicky]

'Twas love that killed Darth Vader.

 

[Mage]

'Twas love that killed Darth Vader.

No, it was beauty killed the beast.

 

[Reverend]

I think it's safe to say getting a face full of lightning is going make anyone have a really bad day. Between the extra damage to what remained of his already fragile body and to the suit that kept said body going, it was only a matter of time before one or both gave out. He said it himself nothing could stop his death, removing the helmet probably accelerated it by a matter of minutes, an hour at the outside maybe.
Most of all though, the fact that he became one with the cosmic force means that he had willingly let go by that point anyway.

Small aside, but it's always bothered me that with all the changes Lucas made to the films over the years, why didn't he do a shot in which we see Anakin's body fade away, leaving just the suit behind? You'd think it'd be just a simple matter of taking that last lingering shot before the cut-back to Luke & rotoscope out Shaw's head. Filling in the shuttle ramp behind him shouldn't have been too difficult for ILM.

 

[RoJoHen]

He died from a broken heart, like his mom.

 

[Set Harth]

Small aside, but it's always bothered me that with all the changes Lucas made to the films over the years, why didn't he do a shot in which we see Anakin's body fade away, leaving just the suit behind?

Maybe because at some point he stopped believing in the idea that Anakin must have disappeared?

Certainly, the after-the-fact revision of the ROTJ script at the time of the release of the Special Editions is significant. ( But even then the question remains: Why didn't he do the shot for the SE? )

But in 1999, only a few years later, Qui-Gon dies and doesn't disappear. And we know that he later comes back as a form of Force ghost, just not a visible one ( unless you count his manifestation in Mortis ). So with Qui-Gon the presumed linkage of disappearing and Force ghosting, in the sense that one is seen as a prerequisite for the other, is already broken.

And then on the ROTJ DVD commentary all trace of the premillennial SE script revisionism is gone: Lucas refers to Luke on Endor burning Anakin's body, as opposed to his empty suit of Sith armor ( which would hardly have deserved a Jedi funeral anyway ).

 

[EnsignRicky]

Remember children: Your hate keeps you alive, never let it go.

 

[The Wormhole]

In Empire General Veers walks in on Vader with his mask already off.

It was actually Admiral Piett who walked in on him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpQsk9cGpIA

 

[Candlelight]

In Empire General Veers walks in on Vader with his mask already off.

It was actually Admiral Piett who walked in on him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpQsk9cGpIA

Yeah, getting confused with the earlier scene when he chokes Admiral Ozzel shortly afterwards.

 

[Reverend]

Maybe because at some point he stopped believing in the idea that Anakin must have disappeared?

That doesn't really track given that I'm sure I've seen him give that clarification *after* the release of the 'Special Editions' and that it was always the intent.

Certainly, the after-the-fact revision of the ROTJ script at the time of the release of the Special Editions is significant. ( But even then the question remains: Why didn't he do the shot for the SE? )

But in 1999, only a few years later, Qui-Gon dies and doesn't disappear. And we know that he later comes back as a form of Force ghost, just not a visible one ( unless you count his manifestation in Mortis ). So with Qui-Gon the presumed linkage of disappearing and Force ghosting, in the sense that one is seen as a prerequisite for the other, is already broken.

If anything, Qui Gon (by his own admission) not being *able* to appear, only communicating as a disembodied voice only serves to underline the link between body disappearing & force ghost.
His training was never completed and so he wasn't able to physically become one with the cosmic force, but he was able to preserve his individuality.

Anakin still "officially" disappears, it just happens (probably immediately) after the shot of Luke looking at his lifeless body.

 

[Set Harth]

That doesn't really track given that I'm sure I've seen him give that clarification *after* the release of the 'Special Editions'

Where? Was it after the release of the original trilogy DVDs?

and that it was always the intent.

That seems highly doubtful given what appears in the original ROTJ script: Luke sets a torch to the logs stacked under a funeral pyre where his father's body lies, again dressed in black mask and helmet.

If anything, Qui Gon (by his own admission) not being *able* to appear, only communicating as a disembodied voice only serves to underline the link between body disappearing & force ghost.

Not really: Qui-Gon is still a Force ghost, just one that doesn't appear in physical form ( outside of Mortis, that is ). He appears to Yoda as a group of lights on Dagobah. When he otherwise only communicates as a disembodied voice, this is not unlike Ben in ANH or his first Dagobah appearance in TESB.

Anakin still "officially" disappears, it just happens (probably immediately) after the shot of Luke looking at his lifeless body.

The fact that we see his lifeless body just lying there for a significant amount of time not disappearing is part of the problem, and speaks to the original intent of the scene. "Anakin disappeared" is just like "Greedo shot first", another example of premillennial SE-era revisionism. I don't see what makes it "official" at this point, given that Lucas was already walking it back in 2004, the EU books which promoted it are definitively not canon anymore, and it does not appear that Disney is promoting it.

 

[RoJoHen]

To be fair, Vader's body was like 99% robot. Maybe his brain disappeared and left the rest behind.

 

[arch101]

It always has bugged me that Luke burns his father's body with that suit on. I mean, the suit was Darth Vader's, but it's established that Anakin returned in the end to save the day. Seems to me that Luke should have burned Anakin's body wrapped in a sheet or something and left the black suit in a pile somewhere.

 

[RoJoHen]

It always has bugged me that Luke burns his father's body with that suit on. I mean, the suit was Darth Vader's, but it's established that Anakin returned in the end to save the day. Seems to me that Luke should have burned Anakin's body wrapped in a sheet or something and left the black suit in a pile somewhere.

At that point, Anakin's "body" was just a torso with a head on it.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

At that point, Anakin's "body" was just a torso with a head on it.

He was more machine than man....twisted and evil.

Until he threw Papatine into the abyss to save his son.

 

[Trek Survivor]

He died from a broken heart, like his mom.

That was his wife! His mum died from beatings by those pesky Sand People.