As I sit here simultaneously drinking coffee and a Coke, the full impact of Revenge of the Sith has finally hit me, close to a year after its release.

Growing up, I always had a fascination with masked characters, from Skeletor to Batman. And so it was that in 1989 when I first saw Return of the Jedi on VHS (I'm from the between trilogies generation, and yes, I saw the OT for the first time backwards!) I was fascinated with the character of Darth Vader. But my fascination would go far deeper than just the love of a cool-looking masked villain. Even though the surprises of Vader being Luke's father, and getting to see the man behind the mask in the first film I saw might be considered as ruining Vader's mystique, it only grew for me.

To me, Vader was the epitome of a "cool villain", the guys you didn't necessarily root for but nonetheless brought so much to the story that when they were killed or defeated you couldn't help but feel a little sad. For me, the satisfaction in watching the OT wasn't the ultimate Rebel triumph in ROTJ (though seeing how cruel the Emperor really was in ROTS does make that impact on a greater level), but the thrill of seeing both sides in action against each other. The joy wasn't in the end, it was the battle itself, seeing Vader's might and Luke's inner strength and such.

Though obviously a more complex character, Vader could be compared to Freddy Krueger in the sense that audiences enjoy seeing him stalk teenagers even though he is an evil monster. Sure, he's defeated in every film, but the best parts are always seeing him take people down. The same can be said of Vader: though filled with evil, who didn't love when he chokes incompetent officers, threatens Rebel prisoners, or makes demands in such a tone that leaves no question he's the one in charge? Vader is simply cool on the surface. But the best part is he isn't all Force-chokes and black leather, there's a deeply complex man inside.

In the OT, we see Vader as more than a henchman or villain, we see his inner conflict, a glimpse of his backstory, we see a large part of what makes him who he is. And that is the beauty of him: even in just the OT, he is one of the most three-dimensional and fully developed villains ever seen in sci-fi/fantasy cinema.

Now, I'm no Steve Sansweet, but I have developed somewhat of a collection of Star Wars paraphernalia over the years. While I do love some of the action figures, my real collecting forte is in things I can display: posters, steins, busts and such. And I can honestly say, tracking my whole path of collecting back to childhood, Vader dominates my collection. I have a big photmosaic poster of Darth Vader, the ones where each little "tile" in the mosaic is a scene from a Star Wars film, all arranged in a way so that together they blend and make the image of the Dark Lord. I have a stein, I have a Revenge of the Jedi poster, I had a standee in my room as a kid (now stored away but still kept), I have the giant silver Pez dispenser and more. I love Vader. He's the man.

But that brings me to the point of this article (all those words and now we're just getting to a point? Come on man!). With the release of the PT, unlike for many, Vader's mystique was not shattered by TPM. I was able to wrap my mind around Vader being a kid once. But as we saw young Anakin, we saw what kind of a person he was: compassionate, caring, and selfless. At such a young age, Vader possessed qualities most adults lack. I saw in Vader for the first time something I already knew but could not identify until that time: the reason I felt sadness at his death, the reason I loved him so, is because he was a good man inside, he truly was a great man. Vader was the expression of two halves of myself: unyielding compassion, a desire to uphold ideals of peace and justice, and yet an unrelenting malevolence to destroy those who would betray me or fight against me. Vader is me. In the PT I saw his second half, in the PT I saw the completed form that bears many resemblances to my own character traits when both halves are put together.

As AOTC came around, many of my views were shattered: Anakin was cocky, whiny, and selfish. He was a baby, and I hated that, I hated that the character I had loved through four films could be that. And yet, though I was no Jedi, was I any different in the past? Of course not. I was the same way, at a slightly younger age than Anakin: throughout my early teens to maybe 17, I had many of the flaws young Anakin had. I was hating him because the ideal character I worshipped had turned into the man I once was. I was hating my past self through hating him. Only recently would I see that.

But when ROTS rolled around, I had come to that realization and was content in my fandom. Oh, what a wrench Lucas threw into my plans. In ROTS, I assumed that Anakin would grow greedy for power, and would be swayed by Palpatine. Essentially, he would follow most Sith in their conscious choice to turn evil. But it didn't happen. Anakin turned to the Dark Side because he was naïve, he was conned, tricked, and led to believe he was being betrayed. His decision to join the Sith was sudden, and was not his choice truly: it was the culmination of Palpatine's plot to poison his mind. The way in which he turned did not satisfy me. And it only got worse. I was able to view Vader's past evils with a detachment, a lack of emotion. But when he slaughtered younglings, children, I was in disbelief. He had crossed the line from "cool" and even admirable as a villain to just a villain that inspired hate from me.

I could not deal with this, and it wasn't until seeing the film again did I finally accept it.

But only now do I understand it. Vader was doing the same thing he had done all along: protecting that which he served with absolute vengeance and swift justice. Vader's killing of younglings was more personal but no different than his complicity in the destruction of Alderaan or his torture of Han Solo. At the same time, he made his deal with the devil out of the other half of his character: his desire to protect that which he loved at all costs, Padme. He felt he was being manipulated, and in fact the Jedi do shoulder some blame for the situation they created themselves which fed Anakin's fears and played into Palpatine's hands. Vader should not be hated because of ROTS, he was the victim of two sides struggling for victory, and without guidance he was forced to make a choice that was based on the limited information he had and a desire to save his wife. Would you or I have done different, knowing only what lies Anakin was fed and nothing else?

Taking all of this in stride, it has finally become clear to me: I still love Vader, and I always will be devoted to the character. I have finally been able to accept all facets of his character, even those in ROTS. But that leads me to another point.

Vader must be credited for bringing balance to the Force and destroying the Emperor at the cost of his life, only he could have done that. But my blind anger at the actions of his character have blinded me to the truth: Darth Vader is THE GREATEST JEDI EVER. Not Obi-Wan, nor Luke, nor Qui-Gon as I had though varyingly among them, but Vader. In the end, he was a good man, and all the Emperor's power meant nothing compared to Vader's true power: his compassion and love for his son.

Not force-chokes, or saber throws, or intuition, or fighting skills, but love. Love was the source of Vader's weakness that Palpatine exploited, but above all it was also the source of his strength.

Vader's love was the most powerful force the galaxy had ever seen, and because of that love he proved to be the greatest Jedi ever.