I've just re-watched the entire Star Wars saga, and I thought I'd share my personal thoughts about the character of Darth Vader, now the series is finished.

For the longest time, Darth Vader was seen as some kind of all-powerful icon of evil. The combination of the voice, the armour and the attitude made him, to many, one of the "coolest" characters in cinema history. What we can't forget is that the voice was synthesized; that the armour was in fact an iron-lung and a life-support system; and the attitude is a result of one of the great tragedies of Darth Vader - that he is a failure. Now we have the prequel trilogy completed, it seems to me that Vader is actually a pathetic, sad man, with ambitions he never fulfilled. He never gets the power he wants, and he's always playing second-fiddle to somebody.

The first time we get a hint of Anakin's ambition is in Attack of the Clones - he wants to move further and faster than any other Jedi his age. This frustration at being, according to him, "held back", is transformed into a real desire for power by the death of Shmi. Anakin failed to save her, and he becomes determined not to let that happen again - he wants control not only of his own destiny, but of the destinies of the people he is attached to. He wants control over life and death - as Padme notes, Anakin wants to become "all-powerful".

Although Anakin matures greatly between Episodes II and III, his visions of Padme's death increase his lust for power. The story of Darth Plagueis, and Anakin's interest in it, tell us a great deal. We are told that Plagueis attempted to gain immortality by influencing midi-chlorians into creating, and extending, life. Anakin's interest in this power shows that he wants control over the very foundation of life itself. He is overreaching - he wants the powers of a god (George Lucas described the midi-chlorians, the basis of life, as the "gods" of the Star Wars universe in Rolling Stone). It's no surprise that Anakin fails.

As it turns out, Palpatine's promises were a lie - he does not have the power to stop death (from "I have to the power to save the one you love!" to "To cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but if we work together, I know we can discover the secret" in a matter of minutes). Anakin was "deceived by a lie" - he was fooled. But as he descends into the dark side, his lust for power grows, until he decides he wants control of the entire galaxy. He believes he is powerful enough to save his wife, and to kill Palpatine and become Emperor himself. In both of these ambitions, he fails. Not only does he fail to protect Padme (in fact, he effectively causes her death), but his failure in his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi (again a result of overreaching - "You underestimate my power!") forces him into a life-support suit. He can't breathe properly without an iron lung. He sees through a computer screen. He speaks through a voice synthesizer. He has lost all four of his limbs. According to Lucas, because of these injuries, Vader has "lost a lot of the power of the Force". Though the concentration of midi-chlorians in his cells is still as high as ever, he has lost almost half of his organic body mass - less midi-chlorians in total, less power. He's now a clunky half machine (as demonstrated by the "Frankenstein" walk when he is fist pieced together) completely unable to kill Palpatine himself. At the end of Revenge of the Sith, and the prequel trilogy, Vader's life is a tragic failure. He has overreached. In everything he has attempted to achieve, he has failed.

19 years later, we come to A New Hope. Is Vader yet controlling the galaxy? Nope. For most of Episode IV, we see him being pushed around by politicians and bureaucrats. He's little more than Tarkin's lapdog, and as we see several times, officers aren't afraid to argue with him and answer back. So much for the "all powerful" icon of Darth Vader that has become so famous. He's not as strong in the Force as he was, and he's been reduced to the Emperor's messenger boy. He's made to look a fool when Obi-Wan joins the Force right under his nose (gaining immortality through the light - the very power Vader joined the dark side for in the first place), and can't even outwit a Corellian smuggler and an untrained 19-year-old farmboy - so much for the "greatest starpilot in the galaxy". Overall, A New Hope is another catastrophic failure for Vader, as he loses the Death Star. And his overall plan - to gain control of the galaxy - has been put on hold indefinitely since Episode III.

However, Luke is "a new hope" for Vader as much as he is for the Jedi. In The Empire Strikes Back, once Vader has received confirmation from Palpatine that Luke is indeed his son, he formulates a new plan to sieze power. He tries to convince Luke to join him, and kill the Emperor. However, note the difference:

"I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him." - Revenge of the Sith

"With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy ... Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this." - The Empire Strikes Back

From believing he can kill Palpatine himself in Episode III, Vader now acknowledges that he's just not good enough. He's not powerful enough. He doesn't have it. He needs Luke, the young, powerful boy who is not stuck in a life-support suit, to do the dirty work for him. The popular view of Episode V is that the heroes lose. But Vader also loses. Luke escapes, Vader has failed to convert him, and Palpatine remains in power. Yet another episode has ended with Darth Vader as a failure.

In Return of the Jedi, Vader doesn't even have the luxury of being in command any more, like he was in Episode V. Palpatine is now constantly with him, ordering him here and there, and Vader plays second-fiddle for the entire movie. Palpatine even controls, and gives orders to, "Vader's" fleet! Vader accepts now that he's not even good enough to convert Luke to the dark side on his own. He needs help for that, and doesn't argue when Palpatine states, "Only together can we turn him to the dark side of the Force." In the attempt to convert Luke, it's Palpatine who does all the talking. When Luke lashes out at Palpatine, Vader blocks him (there is some dispute about Vader's motives in protecting Palpatine - my opinion is that he knew that if Luke killed Palpatine at that point, Luke still wouldn't have turned fully to the dark side, and would not be prepared to join Vader - and Luke still had the ability to take out Vader as well, and wipe out the Sith for good. Vader couldn't risk it at that point) - Vader has now been forced into a duel against someone younger, fitter, and even more powerful than he is. Because this was Palpatine's plan - Vader isn't good enough for Palpatine any more. Vader is a disappointment. He never achieved the power he should have done. But Luke still has that potential, so Palpatine wants him to replace Vader. When Luke gives into his anger and uses the dark side, Vader is beaten so easily it is almost embarrassing. Palpatine, it seems, has won. Vader has, once again, failed completely in his ambitions.

So here is the great irony of Darth Vader. When he acts out of greed and ambition, he fails every time, in every episode. He just never wins. But when he returns to the good side, when the spirit of Anakin Skywalker is resurrected for good at the end of Episode VI, when he protects Luke, and he accepts his own death as an inevitable consequence of this, he is finally able to kill Palpatine. Not through greed and anger and ambition, but through compassion and sacrifice and love. He gives up his ambition, his power, and his life, to save his son, destroying the evil of the Sith in the process. Through compassion, he is able to join the Force on death and retain his spirit, attaining a connection with the Force that only three Jedi before him have managed.

Darth Vader is a sad, pathetic half-man, who fails at everything he attempts. Anakin Skywalker is a hero who, through compassion, attains true enlightenment, fulfillment, and immortality. For me, Anakin is the cool one, not Vader.

What George Lucas has achieved with the prequel trilogy, now we can see the saga in full context, is successfully demolish the illusion of the all-powerful Darth Vader, and show us a tragic man who made a pact with the devil and lost, who failed in his every ambition, and who lost most of his powers before he ever reached full potential. He's now a much more complex and interesting character, and Lucas deserves every plaudit for that.