Character Analysis: Darth Vader (Feat Grand)

Background

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was the desert planet of Tatooine. Existing in the galaxy’s Outer Rim Territories, it was largely ignored by the larger powers of the Galactic Republic, allowing it become a wretched hive of scum and villainy, with lots of criminals going there for smuggling and slavery. Two of these slaves were Shmi Skywalker and her son Anakin, who had mysteriously been born without a father. Originally owned by Gardulla the Hutt, Anakin and his mother were sold to Toydarian Wattoo after a podracing bet, and he ended up being a pretty good deal. Even at a young age, Anakin was exceptionally talented when it came to mechanics, building the protocol droid C-3PO and even learning to podrace himself despite it being extremely difficult for humans. Then one fateful day, young Anakin Skywalker’s life would be changed forever, as would the fate of the entire galaxy.

While on their way back to Coruscant from negotiations on Naboo, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Padme Amidala and some alien they found on the side of the road who isn’t really important, were forced to land on Tatooine after their hyperdrive malfunctioned from damage sustained during a battle. Anakin met and befriended Qui-Gon and Padme, the former of whom was very intrigued by the young boy’s skills, and the latter of whom Anakin quickly became infatuated with. Upon testing his blood, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan discovered that Anakin had a Midchlorian count of over 20,000 (more on those later), higher than even that of Yoda’s, the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. With this knowledge, Qui-Gon believed that Anakin must be the Chosen One that would bring balance to the Force spoken of in an ancient Jedi prophecy. Wishing to train the boy in the ways of the Force, Qui-Gon bet against Wattoo that Anakin would win an upcoming podrace, with the prize being Anakin’s freedom and a new hyperdrive.

Though turbulent, Anakin was successful in winning the podrace. Freed from slavery, Anakin learned that he would be brought to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to be trained by Qui-Gon, though he would have to go alone. He tearfully bid farewell to his mother, promising to return someday and free her, and made way to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where he was promptly rejected! Deemed too old to join the Order, Anakin was turned away by the Jedi Council, though Qui-Gon still vowed to train him. Shortly after however, he was killed in battle by the Sith Lord Darth Maul, and so the Jedi Master made Obi-Wan promise to train the boy. Anakin was then accepted into the Order and his training commenced.

Having joined at a later age than most Jedi, Anakin felt disconnected from his peers. This even extended to Obi-Wan to some extent in the beginning, though the two did form somewhat of a father-son relationship during Anakin’s early years, eventually turning into a brotherhood as Anakin’s skills continued to impress the Jedi Order. He also became friends with Senator Palpatine from Naboo during this time, which might not have been the best thing for him. After ten years of being a Jedi, Anakin and Obi-Wan were assigned to be bodyguards for Queen-now-Senator Padme Amidala as there were fears of assassination attempts on her life. When this event had Obi-Wan leave for the planet Kamino, Anakin was tasked with guarding the queen himself, which naturally brought back up a lot of old emotions as the young Jedi confessed his love to her, to which Padme initially denied due to their commitments as Jedi and politician.

During this time, Anakin would also experience dreams of his mother’s passing and his inability to save her. Fearing for her life, he and Padme traveled back to Tatooine to find that she Wattoo had sold her to a moisture farmer, Cliegg Lars, that freed her from slavery and became her husband. Upon visiting Cliegg, Anakin discovered that Shmi had recently been captured by the Tusken Raiders. He set out into the desert to find her, only to discover her strung up and beaten. Shmi was happy to see her son again, to see how he had grown and become so strong, telling Anakin with her last breath that she loved him before passing away. Naturally upset about the whole thing, Anakin absolutely slaughtered the Tusken Raiders before returning to the moisture farm to give his mother a proper burial.

Shortly after, Anakin and Padme would depart for Geonosis in an attempt to save Obi-Wan from Separatists, only to be captured themselves and be deemed to be killed. Fearing that this would be the end of their lives, Padme confessed that she had always loved Anakin, kissing him as they entered the colosseum. This was not the end however, as the three of them were saved by the arrival of hundreds of Jedi, as well as Clone Troopers led by Yoda, and during their escape, Anakin and Obi-Wan would come to chase down and face Count Dooku. Due to his impulsivity, Anakin lost his arm in the conflict, but was saved by the arrival of Yoda. The young Skywalker managed to get a mechanical arm for a replacement, and was then married to Padme Amidala as the dark era of the Clone Wars began.

During this time, Anakin was promoted to Jedi Knight and was given his own padawan apprentice, Ahsoka Tano. The two, alongside Obi-Wan, would go on many adventures together and partake in numerous battles, growing quite close to each other. During this time however, Anakin grew increasingly frustrated with the Jedi Council, feeling as though they did not respect him, and would often confide in Palpatine, now Chancellor of the Galactic Senate, about his frustrations. This would come to a climax when the Council betrayed Ahsoka, making her leave the Jedi Order and devastating Anakin.

During the final days of the Clone Wars, Anakin and Obi-Wan were tasked with saving the Chancellor from Count Dooku, giving Anakin the chance to exact his revenge by killing the Separatist leader. Upon returning to Coruscant, Anakin was greeted with a plethora of news: Padme was now pregnant with their child, he would be assigned to spy on his good friend Palpatine, and though he was on the Jedi Council, he would not be granted the rank of master, the latter two of which greatly frustrated him. The news of having children excited Anakin, but shortly after, he would see visions of his wife’s death in childbirth the same way he saw visions of his mother’s passing.

Desperate to prevent his wife’s passing and incredibly angry with the Jedi, Anakin was seduced into joining the dark side by Palpatine, helping him to kill Mace Windu and being dubbed Darth Vader. Palpatine then enacted Order 66, which made the Clone Troopers turn on the Jedi they fought alongside and murdered them in cold blood, believing that they had committed treason against the Republic. Meanwhile, Anakin laid siege on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, killing every Jedi he found, including even younglings.

Anakin would then go to the Mustafar system to kill the remaining Separatist leaders, allowing Palpatine to take full control of the galaxy and reorganize the Republic into the Galactic Empire. Learning of his betrayal from Obi-Wan, Padme chased Anakin to Mustafar and begged him to come back with her, stating that she didn’t know who he was anymore. Obi-Wan then emerged from the spacecraft and an enraged Anakin believed that Padme had brought his former master to kill him, and that Obi-Wan had turned Padme against him. The two former brothers fought with Kenobi emerging victorious, slicing off Anakin’s remaining limbs and leaving him to burn and die, tearfully telling him that he was the Chosen One and that he loved his former padawan, while Anakin declared that he hated Obi-Wan.

As Kenobi presumed Anakin dead (having not learned from a previous run-in that the Sith are really good at surviving shit), Palpatine was able to arrive and take Anakin’s charred, but still living, body back to Coruscant for some incredibly intense reconstructive surgery, placing the former Jedi inside of a black suit of armor that would be feared by many throughout the galaxy for years to come. Darth Vader asked Palpatine what had happened to his wife, who told his apprentice that in his anger, Vader had killed her himself. Distraught at what he had done, but unable to turn back to the light after what he had done, Vader would become the Emperor's top enforcer, defeating Rebels and hunting Jedi alike during the subsequent years of the Empire until the emergence of a new hope… 

Experience

At the time of his death, Darth Vader was 45-years old. Since he was inducted into the Jedi Order at the age of 10, that gives him 35 years of experience in lightsaber training and the Force. During his time as a Jedi, Anakin was primarily trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi, though like with many Jedi, he received some extra tutelage from the likes of Yoda. During the early parts of the Clone Wars, he would take on a padawan apprentice himself, Ahsoka Tano, and the two of them would partake in many of the prominent battles throughout the war. According to Kanan Jarrus, Anakin was the “greatest warrior the Jedi had during the Clone Wars”, to which Ahsoka remarked that he rarely lost a battle.

Anakin was 22 years old when he turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader, at which point Palpatine became his new master, teaching him the ways of the Sith. While Anakin was gifted in using the Force, he generally preferred lightsaber combat, but this changed once he became Vader. Due to his lost limbs also dropping his midi-chlorian count, Vader began tapping into the Force much more frequently to compensate for this loss, which actually made him much more powerful.

Equipment

Lightsaber

The traditional weapon used by Force wielders, Vader always carries his Sith lightsaber with him, a plasma blade with a metal hilt that can be turned on and off at will, even from a distance. Due to its heat, it can cut through almost all materials. Vader’s own lightsaber is colored red to represent the Sith’s rage as his pain and anger is what is used to activate the blade. According to Palpatine, they are no different than any other lightsaber other than the fact that they are made to bleed (which doesn’t really make a lot of sense since the heat they produce causes wounds to immediately cauterize meaning the victims don’t bleed but hey, semantics I guess). Aside from just cutting through things, lightsabers are also excellent tools for defense, capable of blocking other lightsabers, blaster bolts, and even Force Lightning (to some extent).

Vader’s lightsaber is powered by a Force-attuned Kyber Crystal. While the Jedi seek Kyber Crystals for their lightsabers as a part of their Jedi training, the Sith earn their Kyber Crystals by taking them from others as a show of power. Vader got his own lightsaber’s crystal by defeating Kirak Infil’a, a Jedi that had isolated himself from the Jedi Order to solely focus on combat. He then successfully corrupted the Kyber Crystal with his anger and pain, turning it from blue to red. Though his first saber (Kirak’s) was destroyed by an Ion Pulse, it wasn’t long before he constructed himself a new one. His lightsaber can also be adjusted in length, providing him with a great opportunity to gain the upper hand in a fight when opponents are momentarily caught off guard by it.

Dark Armor

After getting his limbs chopped off by Obi-Wan, burning alive and being left to die on Mustafar, Vader was saved by Palpatine and was put under intense reconstructive surgery for days. With all the damage he had sustained, Vader was given some robo-arms and legs and would be placed into his iconic Dark Armor, which featured some basic, rudimentary life support equipment to keep him from dying, most notably a respirator system that led to his iconic breathing. This system is actually connected to his lungs so that in case of any damage to the suit or a possible glitch, Vader can still breathe for a certain period of time. He can also shut off the respiratory system to prevent his breathing from giving away his position, should it benefit him, before turning it back on. Likewise, it also featured a voice modulator that granted him that deep, commanding James Earl Jones voice. Though initially designed by droids, Vader would come to modify the suit himself to fit his liking. 

The Dark Armor is composed of Durasteel and filters out lights that could be harmful to him, also allowing him to see in infrared and ultraviolet so that darkness is of no issue to him. The armor has temperature control mechanisms to regulate Vader’s heat in extreme environments, though an overexposure to them can cause them to shut down. It is also vacuum-sealed, allowing him to survive underwater and in space for extended periods of time.

The Dark Armor is not exactly fantastic for Vader, however. While it technically serves its purpose, it is by no means a state-of-art piece of work and just barely meets his basic needs. As stated prior, its life support systems are incredibly basic, and its incredible weight means that Vader generally moves a lot slower in combat compared to other Force users (can you say “technical limitations in filmmaking?) The suit also requires frequent maintenance, forcing Vader back into his meditation chamber as work is done on them.

Abilities

Lightsaber Combat

There are seven primary lightsaber forms, all of which Vader has learned.

• Form I - Shii Cho: Based on fencing, Shii Cho is the oldest and most basic of Lightsaber forms developed during a time before the Jedi used lightsabers in combat, when they still used metal swords. All Jedi are taught this form as younglings for a general idea of attacking and defending.

• Form II - Makashi: A refined form developed for lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat. Practitioners of this form focus on shifting their weight and balance, and preventing themselves from being disarmed.

• Form III - Soresu: A lightsaber form based around using quick and tight movements to make sure the user leaves little to no openings for enemies to exploit. It was developed after the advancement of blaster technology and is thus excellent for defending against projectiles.

• Form IV - Ataru: The most physically demanding lightsaber form, as the user amplifies their body’s abilities with the Force to keep insane amounts of pressure on their opponent by running, jumping and spinning to attack an opponent at blurring speeds and with incredible precision. The form is so offensive that it could only be used to its full potential if the user never lets up for a second, and can be very taxing on the user’s body.

• Form V: The fifth form of lightsaber combat is based around strength and comes in two variations, depending on the opponent.

• Shien: This variation of Form V is for battles against blaster wielders, taking advantage of a lightsaber’s ability to deflect blaster bolts and send them back at the enemies who shot them.

• Djem So: This variation of Form V is for battles against other lightsaber wielders, which focuses on dominating the opponent through sheer strength.

• Form VI - Niman: A lightsaber form developed to give a balance to all the other forms so that Jedi may end a conflict swiftly without the need to resort to any violence that typically goes beyond their peacekeeping ways. During the times of the Old Republic, it was the primary form used by many Jedi, as its simple but effective understanding meant that less training would be required to understand it, and more time could be spent on political strategy and negotiation abilities.

• Form VII - Juyo: The most difficult of lightsaber forms, to the point that only those who have mastered several other forms are capable of properly using it. The form focuses on bold and direct movements, and generally requires a lot of physical and emotional energy to be used. This makes the form very unpredictable and very dangerous, with most Jedi not even being allowed to use it due to how closely it resembles the Sith’s intensity in lightsaber combat.

However, Vader’s primary lightsaber form is… 

Form V - Shien/Djem So

The fifth form of lightsaber combat is based around strength and comes in two variations, depending on the opponent. Shien is used for battles against blaster wielders, taking advantage of a lightsaber’s ability to deflect blaster bolts and send them back at the enemies who shot them. Djem So is for battles against other lightsaber wielders, which focuses on dominating the opponent through sheer strength. The fighting style of this form is based around counterattacking - letting an opponent strike first, parrying it well, and then hitting back harder, making it somewhat of a middle point between the defensive capabilities of Soresu and the offensive capabilities of Ataru. 

Anakin Skywalker tended to use the form in combination with his great agility to overpower opponents through a speed difference. After becoming Darth Vader however, his heavy armor forced him to adjust his stance, instead focusing on pressuring enemies with sheer power to win his battles.

The Force

The Force is a metaphysical, spiritual, binding, and ubiquitous energy field throughout the universe, created by and binding together all living things. This connection was created through the Midi-chlorians (microscopic organisms) that could be found in one’s bloodstream, and individuals born with a high enough count of them had a higher awareness of the Force. These people are known as “Force-sensitives”, and it allows them the ability to manipulate the Force itself to perform a wide variety of abilities. The more Midi-chlorians one had in their bloodstream, the higher their potential in using the Force was. 

Anakin had the highest recorded count of Midi-chlorians with over 20,000 in his blood, higher than that of even Yoda, but it’s important to note that these dictate potential, not power, as Anakin still needed to be trained in the Force and was more than capable of losing against those with lower midi-chlorian counts. Obi-Wan himself actually had a comparatively low number of midi-chlorians in his blood, yet still managed to best Anakin in combat (twice now). And as stated previously, though losing several limbs did drop that number, Vader made up for it by becoming more in-tune with the dark side of the Force.

“A pathway to abilities that many consider to be unnatural”, Vader, as well as all the other Sith, uses the dark side of the Force that feeds off of negative emotions such as fear, anger and hatred. Because it pulls from these aggressive traits, the dark side of the Force is better suited to combat compared to the light side.

Telekinesis

The most basic Force ability is telekinesis, allowing Vader to manipulate the physical environment by moving things with his mind.

• Force Push/Pull: The most common use of telekinesis is for the user to push/pull an object or an opponent away/towards them. The bigger/heavier an object is, the more difficult it is to move it.

• Force Grip: The user “grips” an object or being with the Force in order to move it, or even keep it from moving. Vader has used this ability to keep ships from escaping, even pulling them back down. It is possible to break out of these holds with enough power, however. It can also be used to control another person’s body, making them fight their peers or even attack themselves. The technique is also often used to throw one’s lightsaber at opponents like a boomerang, spinning it around and making it return to the user. There was even one time where Cylo-V shut down Vader’s armor to prevent him from moving, so Vader instead used the Force to move his body.

• Force Choke: An extension of Force Grip, this is Vader’s signature ability in which he uses the Force to clamp down on someone’s airways, choking them. He can keep this going until they suffocate and die. It can even be used across vast distances, though it seems that video calls might be required for this.

• Force Crush: The user crushes an object in on itself. This can be used on internal organs such as hearts and lungs as well. Vader will often Force Choke someone and then finish them off by completely crushing their throat.

• Force Repulse/Wave: Two similar techniques that use the force to blast away enemies in an area around them, often killing any unlucky enough to be caught in it. Vader can make shockwaves with his blows using the Force.

• Force Maelstrom: An improved version of repulse where Vader gathers objects in the surrounding area before unleashing a more powerful blast.

Thanks to Vader’s incredible ability in the Force, he is able to use many of his Force abilities at the same time.

Force Senses

An ability shared by most, if not all Force users, which has a number of uses. Vader can use it to sense a person’s feelings, such as fear and pain, attacking them without the need for extra equipment. It can be used to sense disturbances in the Force when certain devastating events occur, to sensing presences even if it cannot be seen, such as invisible opponents. This allows Vader to prevent opponents from getting the drop on him. Force Senses also grants heightened hearing and sight via Force Sight and Force Listening.

Telepathy

Allows the user to read minds and mentally communicate with others. From a young age, Jedi are also taught the Thought Shield ability, a mental barrier which makes it difficult for them to have their thoughts read. It also allows them to fight off an opponent's telepathy themselves.

Force Barriers

Vader is able to create barriers with the Force to protect himself and others from attacks. He has used it to shield himself and Doctor Aphra from bombardments and has used it to essentially create a bubble around himself while he was surrounded by fire and lava (don’t want a repeat of last time, I suppose). He has even used it while completely submerged in water to keep himself dry. They are not impervious however, as Vader has managed to be struck by electrical attacks even while maintaining them, though this is likely due to his natural weakness against them.

Telepathy

A pretty simple ability, Vader is capable of reading another person’s thoughts and even communicate with them across great distances. And though it can take a bit of digging, Vader is even capable of using this ability to see an opponent’s memories, in one instance even going so far as to see their entire life story.

Mind Control

The Jedi Mind Trick persuasion tactic used by the Jedi in which they influence a person’s thoughts by using the Force. By waving their hand and uttering a given phrase, their target will repeat that phrase and believe it to be true. This ability typically only works on the weak-willed, but strong enough Jedi can use it on those who are stronger. The combination of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu nearly succeeded in using it on Cad Bane, though the process could have destroyed his mind.

Beyond that however, Vader is actually able to take full control of someone’s mind and is powerful enough to dominate the mind of a Toydarian, a species naturally resistant to Force suggestions.

Precognition

Jedi and Sith are capable of using the Force to see into the future. In battle, this can allow them to predict what their opponent will do next. During his fight with Obi-Wan, Anakin and his former master were constantly seeing what the other would do next and readjusting their position to match it. These senses also grant the user some precognitive abilities known as Farsight, which allows them to see events that will play out in the future. Yoda says that it can be difficult to see the future sometimes however, since it’s always in motion. These “Jedi reflexes” are how Anakin was able to win at podracing, which was normally believed to be impossible for humans, despite only being ten-years old at the time.

Shatterpoint

By focusing incredibly hard on an individual or object, Force users can detect a weakness in them. Should a physical weakness be found, the Force can be applied to it and weaken it further, such as reopening scars. It can also be used to find mental weaknesses, such as flaws in fighting forms or fears.

Beast Control

Using the Force, Vader can connect with and control animals. When he was younger, Anakin’s impatience and inexperience made it very difficult for him to use this ability, often failing and ultimately killing the creatures in self-defense, but he gained more experience with it as he grew older. As Darth Vader, he was able to control a giant squid monster that he was in the middle of fighting and make it release him from its grasp.

Force Visions

A rarely seen but powerful aspect of the Force that enables the user to see into the distant future. This is the technique that The Son used on Anakin in the Mortis arc of The Clone Wars to show him that he would become Darth Vader.

Force Illusions

The Force can be used to cast illusions of objects and people that appear real, but cannot be physically interacted with. Variants of this ability include:

• Force Cloak: A rare ability which allows the user to bend light and sound to render themselves invisible.

Force Stealth

A technique that Jedi and Sith use to hide their Force alignment and power. Typically used against other Force-sensitives as a method of hiding their presence and preventing detection, as the name may imply. This is how Palpatine was able to stand at the top of the Senate without the Jedi realizing that he was a Sith Lord.

Force Speed

Force users have often harnessed its power to increase their physical abilities, with this one being used to increase their speed. Similar abilities include:

• Force Body: Allows the user to push their body beyond their physical limitations for a brief period of time. It’s very dangerous however, and requires a strong connection to the Force to be properly used.

• Enhance Attribute: A Force power that allowed a Force-user to increase a physical attribute for a limited time, allowing them to jump higher, move and react faster, see better, and other such abilities.

Force Heal

A Force technique that allows the user to accelerate the healing process of themselves or others, regenerating tissue, reducing pain, or curing ailments. With enough time and concentrated meditation, even bones and organs can be healed. Vader once used this technique on Erv Lekauf to ease his pain after he risked his life to defend the Sith Lord. Should his armor be damaged and Vader be left vulnerable, he can also use this ability to sustain himself for sometime.

Tutaminis

A technique for absorbing and redirecting energy. Since he fights so many rebels, Vader has commonly used this ability to block their blaster bolts. Others have used this technique to deflect Force Lightning, and even lightsabers in some cases. Unfortunately for Vader however, the former of which is not possible for him due to his mechanical limbs, hence why he is unable to fight back whenever Palpatine uses it on him.

Force Spirit

By undergoing special training, certain Jedi have learned the secrets to immortality through preserving their consciousness and identity after death by merging with the Living Force (the energy of the Force that is created by living creatures). Through this technique, they can appear as “ghosts”, or a physical manifestation of the Force which allows them to communicate with the living. The bodies of Jedi who have learned this technique will disappear after they die. 

After returning to light at the end of Return of the Jedi, Anakin was taught this technique by Obi-Wan, Yoda and Qui-Gon right before passing away, joining them in the living Force. It is important to note that this is a light side ability, and cannot actually be learned by those who use the dark side. And as shown by Anakin himself, should this technique be learned by someone who fell to the dark side of the Force before returning to the light, they will appear as a ghost in the form they had before their fall, hence why Anakin appears in his young, Hayden Christensen version, rather than David Prowse.

Feats

Strength

• Throws a speeder

• Holds up pillar rock and throws it back, uses a rock to buckle Obi-Wan’s knee (Kenobi Ep. 6, 17:55)

• Uses the Force to shatter the ground beneath Obi-Wan and make him fall, then buries him in rocks over and over (Kenobi Ep. 6, 18:25)

• Lifts and throws a Walker with one arm

• Fights an Ender. She destroyed armies and yanked ships out the sky. Vader stabs her in the eye, forces the mouth closed so that it can't fire its attack, continues his assault

• Force Pushes a metal door off the hinges

• Gets crushed under rubble, lifts it off himself without much issue

• Holds up the AT-AT Walker's leg as Han tries to step on him

• Slices through the AT-AT's leg, it collapses

• Collapses a building

• Crushes a shuttle's engine so it doesn't escape with Luke on it

• Fights Chewbacca barehanded, choking him

• Raises a temple from underground

• Blasts off the Hoth base doors

• Controls starships and throws it down on the soldiers

• Gets buried under the rocks and claws his way out, even with his chestplate damaged

• Fights a giant monster on Mustafar and defeats in one shot with just the metal plate on his arm

• Cleanly slices a droid's head in half with just a broken piece of metal

• Uses the Force to prevent the ship from escaping, but struggles with it once it hits the ion thrusters. Damages the circuitry inside the ship to compensate, but ultimately it gets away

• Moves a dreadnought

Scaling

• Qi'Ra says that Palpatine and Vader are the two most powerful people in the galaxy

• Darth Plagueis affects Naboo’s climate

• Kyp Durron moves a black hole

• Yarael Poof binds the Infant of Shaa

Speed

• Was capable of podracing at a young age despite being human thanks to Jedi-level reaction speeds

• Youngling Anakin slices apart the guns in an instant 

• Defeats a group of Droids with ease on his own

• Blocks super fast fire from training droids 

• Vader dodges all of the X-Wing fire 

• Ignites his lightsaber and blocks a tank shot after it had been fired, reflecting the blast and destroying the tank, then commencing his killing spree

• Blocks a blast from a starship

• Blocks Force Lightning from Palpatine with his lightsaber

• Deflects two blasts with both his hands using Tutaminis

• Consistently dogfights at near lightspeed

• Has fought magnaguards, which have near lightspeed reactions

Durability

• Gets his arm cut off by Count Dooku

• Everything he went through at the end of Revenge of the Sith like damn

• Electrocuted by Sidious' lightning

• Gets shot through the chest

• Survives a crash landing with no injuries

• Falls waaaay off of a mountain and gets right back to work once he crashes

• Successfully corrupts the Kyber Crystal despite it fighting back

• Survives an explosion that blows out the wall of the Jedi Temple

• Vader blasts all the Clones out of the ship after Jocasta reveals his identity, then kills her and survives the proceeding crash

• Turned off his breathing to hide himself, dying as he kills Tarkin's soldiers, until he gets his lightsaber back and turns his breathing back on

• Gets struck by lightning and survived

• Blasted by energy caused by Momin unlocking the castle's dark side locus

• Has a Walker fall on him and picks it up without issue

• Gets crushed in the Ender's grip

• Survives AT-AT blasts

• Luke crashes his X-Wing into Vader's TIE Fighter and both fall the to the planet below

• Gets bashed in the head with a rock by Chewbacca

• Walks through fire without issue

• Gets Force Choked by Palpatine

• Palpatine twists Vader's limbs, destroys his armor/body, then blasts his limbs off and parts of his armor

• Bugs dumping lava on Vader

• Vader's ship crash lands on Exegol from space, burning up in the atmosphere. He's fine though, gets right out of the pod and starts walking again

• Palpatine explodes the Summa-Verminoth with Vader on top of it

• Vader fights Palpatine's engineered Sith and takes some pretty bad damage, but manages to survive and defeats them

• Vader is hit with the energy of the giant Kyber Crystal. They power the cannons of Palpatine's fleet, which can destroy planets. It isn’t the full power blast however, as Palpatine states that it can incinerate him in an instant

• Blocks/Withstands a blast from a star ship that knocks away the nearby soldiers

• Survives this explosion and falling to the planet below by quickly forming a ball around him with surrounding metal

• Creates a metal casing around himself, Sabe and Kitster that protects them from this giant blast from a Super Star Destroyer

• While Vader is standing on the surface of a planet, a giant rock monster bursts out of and destroys it (according to Han, it's moon-sized). Vader is perfectly fine though, floating away on some debris.

Skill

• Excelled at his training and Force usage as a youngling

• Modified a training droid to fight like Darth Maul

• Even at a young age, Anakin claimed he could move things with the Force better than a lot of Jedi older than him

• Anakin and Obi-Wan VS Ventress and Dooku 

• Keeps an explosive from going off and chokes Troopers at the same time

• Successfully corrupts his Kyber Crystal

• Palpatine routinely sent people after Vader to test his abilities and make sure he's still worthy

• Rebuilds Jocasta's ship in seconds with the Force, despite it having been blown to bits

• Destroys incoming missiles. "No tricks, skill".

• Ferren Barr refers to Vader as "the most dangerous man alive"

• Is sent by a governor to fight threats on his own over and over. Leads a monster back to their starship and has them kill the governor, exacting his revenge.

• Vader killed a Valath, Chandar’s Folly's apex predator, without a lightsaber

• Lets scavengers escape so that they could tell the story and strike fear into the hearts of everyone across the galaxy

• Rides on horseback and fights an Ender that destroyed armies and yanked ships out the sky

• A kid once had a perfect shot and couldn't take it because he was terrified of Darth Vader, immediately ran away after seeing him

• "I've killed many fathers, you'll have to be more specific"

• Killed all the Tusken Raiders again

• Vader is able to figure out what happened during Luke and Boba Fett's fight by seeing the damage done to the environment

• Takes out a Squadron without a scratch

• Fights Karbin, who wields four lightsabers from four arms

• Aiolin says that she and her brother will never be able to defeat Darth Vader

• "Fought" Anakin Skywalker and won, throwing Anakin in the lava

• Fights a sando aquatic monster, "the apex predator of Naboo's core" and becomes the first person on record to kill the beast

• Controls starships and throws it down on the soldiers 

• Fights the Amidalans

• This entire next part was insane part of the comics

• Palpatine dumps Vader at Mustafar without his limbs (similar to last time), tells him to rebuild himself without using the Force or else he’ll kill his apprentice and then dips, leaving Vader alone by the lava. Vader crawls his way off of the hill and is headed to repair himself, he reeeaaally wants to kill Palpatine at the moment.

• Fights a giant monster on Mustafar, defeats in one shot with just the metal plate on his arm

• Was the first person to return from the Eye of Webbish Bogg (again, without using the Force) 

• Vader easily dispatches of about a dozen TIE Fighters without a scratch (STILL without the Force)

• Goes up against the Summa-Verminoth, cheats by using the Force to subdue it and then rides the beast, stating that the Emperor fears him

• Fights Palpatine's engineered Sith and takes some pretty bad damage, but manages to survive and defeats them

• IG-88 terminates his agreement with administrator Moore, who hired it to kill Vader, because it determines that "Vader cannot be defeated"

• Luke describes fighting Vader as "like fighting a storm", and that he fights with everything. Hitting Luke from behind with machines, using the Force to knock Luke off-balance, and always pressuring him with the lightsaber. Luke wasn't fighting back, he was just keeping Vader off of him

• Flew his ship underwater so that he could get the drop on Luke

• Defeated Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Count Dooku, Kirak Infil’a, the Grand Inquisitor, Ferren Barr, Eeth Koth, Momin, an Ender, Karbin, the Million Hands (alongside Ochi), Valance, the Knights of Ren, Gee

Scaling Explanations

Darth Vader can be scaled to pretty much any feat performed by the vast majority of Jedi and Sith, with the only possible exceptions likely being Palpatine, post-RotJ Luke and maaayyybe some stuff by Yoda. Maybe. To get the obvious part out of the way, he’s slaughtered dozens of them since becoming Darth Vader. His midi-chlorian count is also much higher than all other Jedi and though that number was depleted after his fight with Obi-Wan on Mustafar, he still more than made up for it thanks to the Sith training he received afterwards.

Weaknesses

If Darth Vader has one big weakness, it would have to be his dark armor. Given that it is his life support system, even damage to it (especially in the right areas), will incapacitate him, though he can use the Force to sustain himself. In fact, there was one time that a group of bounty hunters went after Vader to steal parts of his armor, hoping they were filled with some super good technology that would make them a good buck. When one of the droids actually managed to scan Vader’s suit, they realized that all of it was incredibly basic and run-of-the-mill, and the entire hunt was pointless. In his second duel with Obi-Wan, the Jedi Master managed to take Vader out of the fight by damaging the panel on his chest and then slicing his mask partially open. It is also possible for his armor to be hacked.

The Force is not a limitless power and cannot do “anything”. It is possible to escape Vader’s telekinetic holds with enough power/speed, for instance. While Vader of course frequently employs the Force in combat, his lightsaber is the preferred method of battle. Should it be destroyed, he can lose his edge a bit.

Vader is also well-known for his anger. While he can be clever and cunning, his rage can blind him at times, making him lose patience and make hasty decisions, though this is generally in the case of battles that are more emotional for him. Also worth noting that I say he “can” be clever and cunning, but this applies more-so to large scale warfare. When it comes to a single, one-on-one duel, Vader’s strategy tends to just be brute force, which can make him struggle if the opponent is more powerful than him