Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #4A newStar Warscomic has opened an argument about the Sith and a key source of their power in the dark side. Utilizing their emotions and inner darkness to fuel their power, it’s recently been argued that love and attachments can give a Sith lord even greater strength in the dark side, a critical reason why the Jedi Order forbade attachments as they served the light. However, this feels wrong on a couple of levels.
Currently, Marvel Comics has been publishing its ongoingLegacy of Vaderseries by writer Charles Soule and artist Stefano Raffaele. In it, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has been learning more about his grandfather’s history as a Dark Lord of the Sith between the events ofThe Last JediandThe Rise of Skywalker. Now,Legacy of Vader #4has brought Kylo Ren to Naboo, the place where Darth Vader fell in love as Anakin Skywalker with Padmé Amidala.As such, Kylo Ren’s explorations into the past have opened up a fascinating argument about those who wield the dark side and their potential attachments.
Kylo Ren Has Been Discovering Darth Vader’s Legacy
Learning From Vader’s Former Servant Vaneé
Beginning just after the Battle of Crait inThe Last Jedi,Legacy of Vaderkicks off with Kylo Ren declaring himself the First Order’s new Supreme Leader, having pinned his murder of the former Supreme Leader Snoke on the Resistance. Seeking to make good on his words inThe Last Jedi, Kylo Ren is all about “letting the past die” and even going so far as to destroy it himself. This motivates Kylo Ren to visit Mustafar, intending to destroy his grandfather’s fortress.
Instead,Kylo encounters Vaneé, Darth Vader’s former servant, who offers to share how Darth Vader turned his pain into power. Promising to share Vader’s legacy so he could become just as powerful, Kylo Ren reluctantly agrees to Vaneé’s offer to learn from the past rather than killing it outright. As such, the unlikely duo first visited Anakin Skywalker’s homeworld of Tatooine where Kylo Ren learned the dark strength that came from isolation and self-reliance, receiving a vision of Darth Vader himself after he was briefly captured by Gardulla, the Hutt crime lord who once owned Anakin and his mother as slaves.
However, Kylo Ren and Vaneé have since ventured to Naboo inLegacy of Vader, the homeworld of Padmé Amidala and Emperor Palpatine. Visiting the ruins of the Amidala Family retreat in the planet’s lake country,Kylo Ren is told about another source of Darth Vader’s strength that fueled his power in the dark side: his love for Padmé. While Anakin’s fear of losing the woman he loved was a driving force that led to his dark side corruption in the first place, Vaneé takes it even further.
Were Attachments Really The Sith’s Greatest Power?
Emotions And Bonds Fueling Their Power In The Dark Side
Vaneé explains to Kylo Ren that Anakin’s attachment to Padmé was only the foundation of what made him so powerful within the dark side of the Force.Rather, it was the subsequent fear of losing her that was Darth Vader’s great strength. According to Vaneé, Darth Vader wasn’t afraid to grow attachments, making Padmé the central focus of his life. Citing the alleged strength in this idea, Vaneé claims that the fear of losing Padmé meant that Vader would (and did) do anything if it meant keeping her safe, the argument being that this meant Darth Vader didn’t have any limits or rules like the Jedi.
Likewise, this argument also implies that the actual loss of Padmé meant that Vader had nothing to lose once she was gone by the end ofRevenge of the Sith. This arguably made him even stronger in his grief and pain, drawing upon those darker emotions to fuel his power in the dark side.However, it’s easy to see how Anakin’s fear and attachments did indeed blind him, making him incredibly easy to manipulate and corrupt by Palpatine.
Regardless, Kylo Ren is still committed to his belief that the past should be killed by the end of this issue, still not convinced after he’s also told of Vader’s destructive return to Naboo (2020’sDarth Vaderseries). Believing that Vader himself sought to destroy the past, Kylo is unaware that the Dark Lord ensured his late wife’s tomb remained intact, even as her former agents sought vengeance upon him.Kylo Ren also declares himself the new King of Naboo, demanding that the world’s citizens also let go of their past, the implication being that he’ll raze the planet if they don’t.
The Jedi Were Also Wrong By Banning Attachment Altogether
Luke Skywalker Proved A Balance Is Needed
On the surface, this might lead some to look at the Jedi Order and their mandates forbidding attachments as the right call. As servants of the light, they claimed to find strength and power by remaining focused on protectingalllife across the galaxy (rather than being blinded by their emotions). However, this thinking is just as flawed, as I think it can be argued that both sides are ultimately wrong. After all, there are cases inStar Warswhere attachments are a good thing, and you don’t have to look further thanReturn of the Jediwith Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker’s final confrontation.
InReturn of the Jedi, Luke remained steadfast in his belief that his father could be redeemed. Likewise, Vader’s attachment to Luke led to his redemption, saving his son from Palpatine by sacrificing himself.Just like the Force itself, this is key evidence proving that there’s a balance to be struck when it comes to attachments that neither the Sith nor the Jedi ever really figured out.
Attachments should not be rejected and forbidden outright as the Jedi Order did.However, they shouldn’t become so much of a central focus that we become blinded by them either, the cost that arguably comes from a Sith making an attachment a foundational source of power. One could even argue that this was perhaps whyPalpatine was always stronger than Darth Vader(at least before Vader’s redemption).
Palpatine didn’t have any attachments, remaining grounded in the dark side rather than consistently unbalanced by them as Vader routinely was during the events of the original trilogy (as proven by previousDarth Vadercomics).Likewise, Kylo Ren is ironically just as wrong by rejecting the past. After all, it wasKylo Ren’s enduring attachment to Han Solo and Leia Organa, his parents, that ultimately brought him back to the light inThe Rise of Skywalker.
Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #4is now on sale from Marvel Comics.
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader
Conceived by the will of the Force itself, Anakin Skywalker was the prophesied Chosen One, destined to bring the Force into balance. Anakin struggled to balance competing attachments to the Jedi Order and his wife Padmé Amidala, and ultimately fell to the dark side, becoming Darth Vader. For years he served as Palpatine’s right hand man, but he was ultimately redeemed by the faith of his son, Luke Skywalker. Now a Force Ghost, Anakin continues to act as an agent of balance.
Ben Solo/Kylo Ren
The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, Ben was manipulated by Palpatine through the Force for most of his life, influenced toward the dark side of the Force. A misstep by Luke Skywalker ultimately left Ben feeling he had no choice but to embrace the dark side, and he became Kylo Ren, a key figure in the First Order. Kylo Ren’s heart remained deeply divided, however, even after he ascended to become Supreme Leader of the First Order. He was ultimately redeemed by Rey, with whom he shared a remarkable Force bond, and by the love of his parents.
