Marvel’s ongoing Darth Vader series continues to show us a very different side of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Star Wars: Darth Vader #3 chronicles a journey we never expected to see, as Vader returns to Naboo and relives the most tragic moments of his life as Anakin Skywalker.
What happens when Darth Vader travels to the last place in the galaxy he wants to revisit? Read on to find out, but beware of full spoilers for Star Wars: Darth Vader #3!
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Vader would like everyone to believe the man known as Anakin Skywalker is dead and buried, but we know that’s not the case. This new series seems to be devoted to exploring how Vader went from the ruthless tyrant he is in The Empire Strikes Back to the redeemed father of Return of the Jedi. A key part of that process has involved reuniting Vader with a woman who looks just like his late wife Padmé.
Of course, Vader quickly learned this Padmé lookalike is actually her former handmaiden Sabé, but this unexpected reunion has dredged up all sorts of emotions and memories Vader would just as soon keep buried. And now that their shared quest has taken them to Naboo, Vader is really feeling that Prequel nostalgia:
Why has Vader agreed to travel to the planet his dead wife and his current master both called home? Vader is currently hunting down anyone and everyone responsible for hiding the existence of his son Luke, while Sabé and her allies are in possession of an encrypted recording they think will reveal the identity of Padmé’s killer. Those twin paths have now converged on Naboo, as Sabé, Captain Typho and Captain Tonra lead Vader to an underwater Gungan temple.
Given that Vader himself is the man Sabé has been hunting, it was only ever going to be a matter of time before their alliance fell apart. And as Vader discovers in issue #3, that alliance was simply a ruse to lure him into a trap. Sabé and her allies believe Vader killed both Padmé and Anakin on Mustafar, which is essentially true (from a certain point of view). Now they hope to kill him, even if it means sacrificing their own lives in the process.
This issue ends with Sabé summoning one of the massive sea monsters Naboo is so famous for, hoping the beast will destroy the temple and Vader along with it. Obviously, she’s not going to succeed, but simply reuniting with the former Anakin Skywalker may have been enough to reawaken the spark of light within.
However Vader gets himself out of this mess, he’s in store for more surprises in the near future. At Comic-Con@Home’s Lucasfilm Publishing panel, writer Greg Pak revealed the series’ second story arc will connect to the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
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“It’s going to be a huge, hopefully deeply disturbing and entertaining and satisfying epic by the time it’s all done,” Pak told IGN. “We got permission and the green light to do some stuff I never thought we’d be able to do.”
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Star Wars: What Happens When Darth Vader Returns to Naboo?