Page 77 - Star Wars Insider #194

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

F A T H E R A N D S O N

Anakin Skywalker/

Darth Vader

“No, I am your Father.”

Darth Vader’s shattering revelation of his connection to Luke ALMOST THERE
Skywalker in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is often Polling 26% of the
ranked as one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history votes, Vader’s last
by cinemagoers. It comes as no surprise to confi rm that Star words—“Tell your
Wars Insider readers feel the same way. Most of you, 46% to be sister, you were

exact, cited this pivotal scene as being the defining moment for right,”—have a power
the character who had once been Anakin Skywalker. all of their own.
For fans who lived the movies in release order rather than Luke’s belief that
episodically, it is always tempting to view the game-changing there was still good
scene solely from Luke’s perspective—battered and bruised in his father was
from his duel with Vader, our hero is at his lowest ebb, only to proven well-founded
discover that everything he has been led to believe has been in Star Wars: Return
based on a lie. But we can also see it through Vader’s eyes, of the Jedi (1983),
thanks to our understanding of Anakin Skywalker from the when Vader defi es
prequel trilogy. For the Sith Lord, the truth is nothing but a his Emperor and
means to an end, a cold attempt to turn a potentially powerful saves his son. Their
asset to the dark side of the Force. What it reveals to us is the reconciliation is one
absence of love and compassion in Vader, of anything surviving of the saga’s most
of the Anakin that we knew, and the terrible corruption of the emotional exchanges.

hopeful boy we first met as a slave in Mos Espa. An honorable
mention goes to the
moment of Anakin’s
fall, when he gives
himself and his Most
destiny to the dark Momentous
Moments
side in Star Wars:
Revenge of the Sith Matt Mendes,
New Jersey,
(2005), having stood U.S.A.
by as Darth Sidious “The biggest moment for me was
murdered Jedi Master when Anakin Skywalker appeared
Mace Windu. Of the alongside Yoda and Ben as a Force
spirit at the end of Return of the
votes cast, 10% of
Jedi. I was fi fteen, and it was the
you rated “I will do fi rst time a moment in a movie had
whatever you ask,” truly moved me. ‘Wow,’ I thought.
‘Redemption and forgiveness!’
as Anakin Skywalker’s
Without exaggeration, that brief
defi ning moment. visual permanently altered my
outlook on life.”

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