CT If Darth Vader survived the Battle of Endor...

Would the Alliance have put him on trial, and executed him? Or would Luke's word that "he's a good guy now" have been enough to get him off the hook for his crimes?

 

That's a scary thought. Though he was "redeemed" in the eyes of his son, the Rebels probably wouldn't be so quick to forget about his war crimes.

Even if he was pardoned, I don't think everyone would simply forget about one of the galaxy's worst villains that easily.

 

In RoTJ Infinities, Luke gets off the Death Star with him. But then, the Emperor escapes as well. And we see Vader, in a white suit, saying he may be of assistance in locating the Emperor. Suggesting that, at least at this point, the Rebels are willing to make use of him.

Some senior rebels, like Crix Madine, committed atrocities in the service of the Empire before defecting- yet the Rebels were willing to accept them.

 

Leia wouldn't forgive him for a long while. Vader is the new person in charge of the Empire. So I think he would work a treaty with the Rebels to end the war. He wouldn't be trusted but he could bring everyone to heel. Though I don't think he would join the Rebellion. The Rebellion would be the continuation of the Republic and we know Vader did not like that. He would be a more benevolent ruler than Palpatine but still an Imperial. Luke would go back and forth I think. Create a new Jedi Order but work with Vader.

 

Tough question. There's a few different scenarios that I can see, all depending on whether he actually stays on the side with the Rebellion.

I don't believe they would generally be very accepting of him at first, due to his actions, but if he did remain allied with the Rebels (which is likely, but not guaranteed, IMHO), then I think they would allow him to either assist or at least live safely somewhere. Of course, the Rebels with him on their side, would basically be able to control the entire Empire... (not going by any EU scenarios), and he would be able to work alongside them.
If the Emperor lived as well, there might be some issues. Palpatine would probably not be happy with Lord Vader's decision to go with the Rebels, and might go after him.

If he did fall back into his own ways completely, there's a few possibilities. If the Emperor didn't live, he would take over the Empire in Palpatine's absence, and then he would have to try to get Luke and Leia on his side, or choose to go the arbitrary route to get them on his side.

I can think of even more possibilities, but those are the most important to me. Basically, Darth Vader living would cause a whole different universe to be cracked open.

 

I find it highly unlikely that he'd be allowed to live. Even if the Rebels' official stance is to give him a pardon in exchange for cooperation, there'd be way too many people in the galaxy (including people in the Rebel government and military) who'd want his head.

Vader might even accept execution for his crimes, as a form of repentance. He was kind of done with life at that point anyway, and might be ready to let go of his miserable existence and become one with the Force.

The only chance he'd have at a peaceful life would be to become a hermit in the middle of nowhere like Yoda and Obi-Wan did.

Think of some of the worst real world dictators. When they lose power, it's almost inevitable that they'll be killed. For many, their only chance is to run and hide. I'm sure there's precedence for people in power getting away with terrible crimes, but I'm saying it wouldn't happen with Vader.

Of course, if the Rebels "come at" Vader in a way he finds unacceptable, there's a chance he might go back to the dark side to survive and/or go back to the Empire. No one knows that he killed the Emperor. I find this the least likely scenario however, I think he'd probably prefer to accept death.

 

If Vader had survived, Luke would probably have hid him somewhere, then destroyed the evidence in a bonfire on Endor...I've said too much.

 

Vader went away when he killed palps. If Anakin survived Luke could have stashed him somewhere and then do what Vader wanted to do in sote: combine their power so he can permanently heal his lungs. After that, Idk.

 

Crix Madine committed atrocities?

But anyway yeah, I think Luke most likely would've just hid Vader away somewhere and told everyone else that he was dead.

 

Except Leia and Han won't believe that

 

Evidently. Mind you, this is going by the EU, but if we're not going by the EU then General Madine is a "spear carrier" with no first name and maybe three lines of exposition, so...

As for the main topic, I think CT-867-5409 probably has it right: the most likely fates for Anakin (one should probably not call him "Vader" at this point) would be either going into seclusion as a hermit or voluntarily accepting probable execution by the Rebels. I don't see a scenario where he remains actively involved in galactic affairs as very likely. Previous acceptance of defecting Imperials would have been driven at least partially by pragmatism - the need for experienced leaders and so forth - so I'm not sure it would be as easily extended to anyone after Endor, and Vader seems particularly unlikely.

 

Yup- that was from RoTJ Infinities.

 

I always liked that white suit Anakin picture.

 

If he had survived Vader would have gone off on his own TV show/mission to LA trying to save fallen souls aided by his sidekicks Ahsoka and Starkiller

 

They would throw the book at him, this guy was responsible for massive crimes, genocide etc etc, you think the holocaust was bad, this guy helped destroy an entire planet, helped overthrow what had been a peaceful and good government more or less, resulting in the extermination of probably hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of jedi, overtook a ton of planets ignoring their own rules and culture, displacing tons of people from their homes etc etc. People who do things like that generally don't get forgiven in a legal sense. Once you start committing genocide and killing huge massive groups of people like that, your kinda past that point. It was nice of him to throw the emperor down the thing, but, hard to let it go after these types of crimes.

 

Destroying Alderaan was all Tarkin, but Vader always catches the heat for it. Also before the clone wars, there was 10000 Jedi and that number dropped steadily during the war, so after order 66 there are a few hundred Jedi left at most.

 

Possibly because, as the Emperor's right-hand man, he has the power to override everyone else. Also The Force, to back up his orders.

 

Vader was on the Death Star as an observer and to make sure Tarkin stayed loyal. The Death Star was Tarkin's command so all responsibility was his. Vader had respect for Tarkin so he chose not to interfere. That doesn't make Vader responsible even though he was there.

 

In The Rise & Fall of Darth Vader, when Tarkin tells him his decision (before Leia's brought in) Vader suggests that "The Emperor should be consulted" and Tarkin refuses angrily. At this point Vader realizes that Tarkin is insane- but he still decides to go along with it.

 

Haven't read it so I can't speculate on that.

 

I think the lines were basically copied from the Star Wars Radio Play.

The EU goes into more detail on Vader's activities between RoTS and RotJ- they are many and horrible.

 

I read enough EU to know about Vader's history. I know what he's done and his capabilities for doing evil things.
I also have the radio dramas as well, but it's been a while since I've listened to them.

 

The illustrated RoTJ storybook, as I recall, had Leia holding Vader responsible for the destruction of Alderaan, when Luke reveals to her that he is Vader's son- which is part of why she initially can't believe it.

So the perceived connection between Vader and Alderaan's destruction isn't just an out-of-universe thing.

 

I'm aware of that. Tarkin is dead so she had to place the blame somewhere. It's understandable though.