Tuesday, August 9, 2011

He's More Machine Now than Man...

Darth Vader is many things, most of them bad. Physically perfect is certainly not one of them. Vader doesn't just have a scar, or a limp, or a facial deformity that can be easily concealed or ignored. Half of his body has been destroyed and the other half is surviving solely on his life-support suit. His lungs don't work, so his body needs a respirator to breath for him. His vocal cords have been virtually shot, forcing him to speak through the machine. He sees through his mask's optical sensors, not through his own eyes. His mobility is limited to the slow and cumbersome movements of his suit. Truly, Darth Vader is a tragic sight to behold.

Tragic as it is, it is completely appropriate. Vader lost nearly all of the physical features that make one human: arms, legs, eyes, etc. But in the transformation of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader, more was lost than simple physical characteristics. Vader's loss of his human features is a reflection on the loss of his humanity. As Ben Kenobi told Luke Skywalker of Vader: "He's more machine now than man. Twisted and evil." (Now you know where I got the title.)

In his rebirth as a Sith Lord, Vader lost all of the mental and spiritual features that make one human: love, compassion, forgiveness, etc. (Anyone who knows me well will find the irony in me explaining the virtues of love, compassion, and forgiveness.) Instead, Vader was consumed by anger, hate, and pain, all of which ravaged his humanity until it was nothing more than a distant memory. Only when Vader lay dying and Luke removed the mask, the face of the evil that Darth Vader represented, did he regain his humanity and once again become Anakin Skywalker.

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