CT Vader's death?

It's always kind of bothered me how Vader dies. Luke cuts of his hand in the lightsaber duel but his had is mechanical and that wouldn't kill him. It seems that Palpatine's force lightening killed him but he didn't take as much punishment as Luke who seemed fine afterwards?

So what killed Vader?

 

Vader's suit was a full life-support system, needed after nearly getting burned to a crisp on Mustafar. Palp's Force Lightning destroyed the life-support functions/controls.

 

The problem with Force lightning is it wreaks havoc on life-supports systems. You'll notice Vader's breathing is more strained, it's because the system keeping him alive was failing.

 

Jinx, lol

 

oh, never thought of that, doh!

thanks

 

I accept this as a probable explanation for Vader's death but it wasn't made clear in the film at all. We didn't see any visual evidence of his suit shorting out or anything. As a kid I never understood why Vader seemingly died from having his robotic hand chopped off, so I see this as quite a big flaw in the movie really.

 

It was not getting his hand chopped off, it was his life support system shutting down. The man is a walking Iron lung, and I can't imagine Palps Bolts being good for such a delicate system.

 

Right. But it's not made clear in the movie. The only thing that was obvious to my 7-year-old brain was that he'd had his hand chopped off. Let's not forget that these movies are meant for kids.

 

Yes but you can see that after his hand has been cut off he's fine, standing next to Palpatine, whereas as soon as he drops the Emperor he's become terribly weaker and his breathing has become worse. To me it was always evident that it had something to do with the Force-lightning.

 

Point proven.

 

Yeah but why did waaaaaaaaaaaaaay less force lightning than Luke endured prove fatal to Vader?

Because the suit "shorted out", right? Even though we see no visual evidence of that in the movie (like sparks or smoke or blinking lights etc).

I've heard/read tons of people asking why Vader died, not just the starter of this thread or my 7-year-old self.

To me, if people have to ask what happened (in a kids movie!), this constitutes an obvious flaw in the movie.

 

It was intense enough to produce the "x-ray sparks" effect on Vader, which we don't see on Luke.

 

Daaaam, i know i'm opening myself up to be talked at like an idiot. But a 7-year-old using the word "constitutes"?

 

Now what is interesting is why when Luke and Vader are fighting, he suddenly inexplicably leans down and places his hand on the rail of the bridge, right before Luke starts bashing him over and over again.

He wasn't even pushed or anything. He just kinda leans down for no reason what so ever.

 

A Force Push wouldn't necessarily be seen IMO; alternatively, Vader has two prosthetic legs - he could just have stumbled.

 

Sounds good typed up but seriously, look up the duel between them on YouTube. Right before Luke loses everything and totally freaks out and starts whopping on Vader, Vader just kinda intentionally leans down.

 

So to embellish on what I was saying, Vader dodges Luke's lightsaber by ducking to the right, then just kinda stays there and holds on to the rail for no reason

 

LOL Obviously I'm not 7 anymore. Sadly, that was quite some time ago.

 

I agree with you. To me, the whole scene is full of flaws. Like how on earth did Luke, with a couple weeks training jumping around and swinging on vines, manage to defeat a dark lord of the Sith by ungracefully swinging his lightsaber around like a lunatic? And despite being warned by Yoda not to underestimate the powers of the Emperor, why the heck did Luke throw his lighsaber away? I could never figure that one out.

 

IITS.

 

What does IITS mean? Please explain for us old folks

 

It's in the script.

 

Yep