Did Vader disappear when he died?

When i was younger, I assumed that when Vader died, he disappeared like Yoda and OB1, it just happened off screen. I thought that when Luke burned the remains, he was only burning the suit because maybe it was a symbol of evil. I was young, i didnt understand the idea of cremation and a funeral pyre.

I did not think much of it and thought that all Jedi died in a similar fashion, and all Jedi hang around as ghosts, as in the final scene when OB1, yoda and anakin are there.

I was confused, as were many, when Qui Gon did not disappear in TPM. Obviously, this all has to be firmed up in III (I hope), but back before TPM did anyone think/assume that Vader disappeared? Or, did anyone feel confused if they felt that he did not disappear like the rest of the Jedi?

 

In ROTJ, He doesn't disappear in the movie, but he does in the novelization.

My theory was that his suit kept his body alive for awhile, a la life support. Once the batteries wore down, then he actually died and disappeared (offscreen)

 

I was under the impression that Luke was only burning his father's suiton the pyre, and that he had dissappeared sometime that we didn't see. I think he was at peace at the end, and totally prepared, which is why he dissappeared. Just my little theory on why certain Jedi dissappear upon death when others don't.

 

In the movie we can't tell but in the novel it clearly states that Vader disappeared and Luke was burning empty armor.

 

Wasn't Vader disapearence filmed, but never used? I too believe that he did disapear and what Luke burnt was the armor.

 

Yes, we didn't see it onscreen. But the novel and the official site say he did.

 

That´s a change I would love to see on the DVD:

The second after Anakin makes his final exhale, when the camera shows Luke´s face and the back of Anakin´s head, the head disappears. Then, when we see the back of Luke as he lowers his head, Vader´s suit is empty!

But maybe that´s just not way the chosen one dies?

On the other hand, the OS says he does, so I think this change should be made!

 

I have a theory:
In order for a Jedi to disappear he has to die either from his own free will (like Obi-Wan) or from old age (like Yoda).

IF a Jedi is mortally wounded (like Qui-Gon or Anakin) his body will not disappear or physically become one with the Force. They may still appear as ghosts though.

It seems as if both Obi-Wan's and Yoda's ghosts look like they did just before they died, Vader's ghost however doesn't have all the scars. So if Qui-Gon had chosen to disappear just after he had been stabbed by Maul, his ghost would have a great big stab wound in the chest - and who wants that? So by not disappearing, a Jedi does not retain his last physical appearance.

 

I'd go with the RotJ novelization. Luke was burning an empty suit on the pyre at the end.

 

They changed it. In the original script he didn't, in the SE script, he did. IMO, it makes no sense for Luke to hold a funeral for an empty suit so I prefer to think that he didn't. That's the way it was originally filmed.

 

"He's more machine than man now" I think Spiritually, ANIKIN did die, but that wasn't his body, that was vaders body. Thats why in the end, we see anikin as he would be as an adult, rather than when he became vader.

You could also think like this, He was more machine, so he couldn't disapear phisicly, only mentally and spiritually.

I like my first theory better though, Luke was burning Vaders body to signify the clensing of Anikins spirits, and exonish him from sin...


*Shudder* Imagine if the UE has Anikin's ghost replaced with Hayden Christen?

 

I didn't believe that Vader disappeared because we still see him lying on the shuttle ramp when he died so I believed that his body is still inside the suit when it's being torched by Luke considering that Vader is mostly machine.

What the OS and the novelization says will never count as long as Lucas leaves in footage of Vader's body still present when he died in front of Luke.

 

An EU source says he did disappear.

 

I dont understand why GL did not show on screen that he disappeared, if in fact the official site and the novel said he did. It is pretty important obviously, because he used valuable screen time to show yoda and ob1 disappear. Was he just being sloppy because it was a difficult special effect at the time? or did he not think it was important to clafify until the SE came out? (knowing disappearing jedi would become important in the PT). It is left so ambiguous.

 

"He is more machine now"

I believe it is his suit burning and what was left of his body disappeared.

 

He most definitely did disappear. See starwars.com for more info.

 

He most definitely did NOT disappear. Watch the movie.

On second thought, you don't have to because after seeing (or hearing) what Qui-Gon did in AOTC tells me you don't have to disappear in order for your ghost to appear in front of you.

 

Vader Died, he disappeared from Anakin's Personality. So if you mean did Anakin Disappear.... I'm pretty sure he did.

 

The odd thing is that Anakin only appears as a ghost after his body/armour has been burned.

If it were just armour, one would think we'd hear some kind of extra line of disembodied dialogue of Amakin urging Luke to leave the 2nd Death Star (because his escape is so narrow), somewhat similar to Obi Wan giving him some friendly advice in the ANH trench run.

 

Yes he did disappear when he died. It is written in the EU novels and it is written on GL SW site.

 

Darth Kroger is up to something.

We should have heard Anakin's disembodied voice telling Luke to escape from the death star if he actually disappeared.

 

The odd thing is that Anakin only appears as a ghost after his body/armour has been burned.

It must take time for your Jedi ghost to appear. Ben didn't appear till after, neither did Yoda.

We should have heard Anakin's disembodied voice telling Luke to escape from the death star if he actually disappeared

I don't think it was necessary. When Vader died you could see that Luke was trying to get off the station. It would have also mirrored ANH, when Luke wasn't his own man yet and still needed to be guided. In ROTJ he could guide himself without help.

 

Anakin didn?t disappear. According to The Annotated Screenplays the Special Edition changes made to the original screenplays were in fact written by either the chief-editor at Lucasbooks, Sue Rostoni, or someone that works for her. (I would assume that this is the case for the novels too, considering that the ROTJ novel I have, which was published in 1983, says Anakin died and his body was in the funeral pyre at the end.) In her changes, Rostoni rewrote scenes to reflect things that had been established in the Expanded Universe. That?s when we get things like the Outrider on Tatooine and Anakin apparently disappearing. George?s original scene for Anakin?s funeral pyre reads like this:

---

[i] Luke sets a torch to the logs stacked under the funeral pyre where his father?s body lies, again dressed in the black mask and helmet. He stands, watching sadly, as the flames leap higher to consume Darth Vader?Anakin Skywalker.[/i][hr][/blockquote] However, it had been set up in the EU?prior to the re-release of the movies in 1997?that a Jedi must disappear in order to return as a spirit, and accordingly Rostoni rewrote the scene as follows:

[blockquote][hr][i]Luke sets a torch to the logs stacked under a funeral pyre where his father?s armor lies; black mask, helmet, and cape. He stands watching sadly as the flames leap higher to consume what?s left of Vader.[/i][hr][/blockquote]I really doubt George even pays attention to the books or anything that is published on starwars.com. This much is evident in his commentary on [i]TPM[/i]?s DVD when he says that Anakin [i]was[/i] in the armor when it was torched. What?s more, contrary to the EU, Jedi don?t have to vanish in order to retain identity and come back as a ghost as is the case of Qui-Gon Jinn in [i]AOTC[/i].

In other words, Rostoni changed the scripts and the novels in an effort to make them conform to the EU, but everything George has said, everything that he has written, everything that he has put on screen, openly contradicts Rostoni?s changes.

 

Bad_Radio I applaud you, great research!

Damn that Sue Rostoni - that's almost sacrilegious that she changed the scripts and the novel.