Lit Question about Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Spoilers).

I have been reading this novel, and there is something that I found interesting:

When Darth Vader thinks about his new cyborg body and suit, he thinks that they are crap, and that Palpatine either was careless (using inefficient med droids and allowing them to use crappy cheap tech to rebuild him) or he purposely gave him a crap body in order to hinder him and prevent him from ever becoming a threat to him.

Wookieepedia and other sources that describe his body support this...

HOWEVER...

When Palpatine thinks about Anakin, his internal dialogue never shows him as trying to slow down Darth Vader or to hinder his power... he was fully prepared to fight a healthy Anakin after his return from Mustafar, and to beat him into submission (it was his plan all along). And he isn't worried about Darth Vader becoming too powerful, he's worried about Darth Vader NOT being powerful enough after becoming a grilled sausage (he is worried about Darth Vader not recovering and he not finding another person powerful enough to become a worthy pupil).

When you read Palpatine's internal dialogue, you can't but think that Darth Vader's new body isn't so bad, but that he is just recovering from his wounds and getting used to his new state, but Anakin being Anakin, he puts the fault of all the obstacles and inconveniences he encounters at somebody's else's feet. Kinda like a man who lost his legs in real life, got to learn to walk with prostetic legs, and when he couldn't walk like he used to from day one he thinks that he has been given defective prostetics instead of accepting that he just has to learn to walk again...

So, what are your thoughts? Did Palpatine really give him a subpar body, or is Anakin being paranoid?

 

I think you're ascribing too much charity to the Sith if you believe that the Emperor wanting Vader to recover and become as powerful as possible -- "even at Sidious' own peril" -- is in any way at odds with him also providing him a crappy suit and prosthetics.

I always appreciated -- in the misguided era of "oh he's half machine and won't ever amount to anything truly powerful, lol Vader is a chump" -- that TRoDV undermined that idea completely. Palpatine doesn't for a moment dismiss Vader as beyond hope. He makes it clear that the physical injuries are ultimately irrelevant. Vader's true damage is psychological, and that is the only thing truly holding him back.

He never actually tells Vader any of this, of course.

And why would he? It's not his job to deal with Vader's baggage. It's his job to give Vader baggage to either triumph over or be overwhelmed by.

The subpar suit is another crucible.

 

That's the impression I've got. Vader was going through a period of adjusting and getting used to his new life in the suit. Added to that, I'd say he did have a slight paranoia further fueled by hate and anger inherent to Sith additionally amplified by his recent failures like Obi-Wan escaping, losing Padme and their child (as far as he knows) and of course, his injuries. The suit was state of the art, but, that was only so good.

I think the Emperors disappointment with Vaders' physical condition and therefore inability to realize his full potential is confirmed with his intent to turn Luke to the dark side and make him his new apprentice on the expense of Vader.

 

Even that I would ascribe to Palpatine's disappointment with Vader's psychological limitations. We see, in SotE, that the dark side can heal Vader. Only he can't manage because he's still got that iddy-biddy bit of Anakin within him.

So the RotJ duel is a win/win situation for Palpatine:

Luke kills Vader = Gets rid of the emotionally and physically crippled apprentice.

Vader kills Luke = Vader finally puts his past behind him. Can focus. No more "spark of light" interrupting his attempts to heal. Full steam ahead once again. ("Oh god, he's got a daughter, too. Fine. Round Two.")

(I guess I should say "Vader defeats Luke", but I suspect Palpatine would have demanded his head rather than carried on with the "let's turn him" idea)

 

It's not a matter of charity. I never get the impression that Palpatine sees Vader as a threat, at least in the short/medium term. He was confident he could defeat a healthy Anakin. He has barely started to master the power of the Dark Side. And as you said, Vader is psychologically impaired, unable to reach his full potential (but I think his physical injures contributed too; he can't shoot lightning like a Sith or run and jump like he did and a Jedi), so, why would he give him a subpar body and suit? That would make him way less useful in the short term, and in the long term, if he manages to beat his psychological limitations and truly master the power of the Dark Side, it would become irrelevant.

 

I answered that question? It's a crucible. He's Vader's Sith Master, not his kindly uncle. He's got no interest in making his recovery easy.

I should point out that I'm not saying that Vader can't possibly be "paranoid", as you suggest. He may well be. I just don't think what we see of Palpatine's mindset necessitates that interpretation.

Sure, but Vader's mental state is why he's unable to heal himself physically. See: Shadows of the Empire.

And even if we assume that wouldn't include the regeneration of his limbs (I appreciate that it may be too "out there" for some, but it's hardly an especially indulgent idea as far as the EU is concerned), the inability to shoot lightning isn't especially limiting.

 

"Twins, so I have a spare."

 

This has reminded me. I hope we see Vader shoot lightning in his comic. I don't want it to ever become one of his signature moves, but there's really no sensible reason for that limitation at all. The guy can manipulate the Force, and in every other instance of Force use the hand signalling is just that: signalling. It's a mental aid, not "I'm beaming Force energy out of my hands".

The fact his hands are made of metal should have no impact on what he can conjure out of the Force.

I suspect the limitation will stick, though. If it hasn't already been confirmed.

 

Well Vader did use Sith lightning in the Splinter of the Mind's Eye comic. Strangely enough, I don't think there's anything in that story that prevents it from fitting into Disney canon so far. Even the old Marvel comics don't fit now, with Disney having an immediate Yavin evacuation and Vader discovering Luke via Boba Fett.

Maybe no lightning Vader, in both Legends and canon, can be attributed to a subconscious fear of lightning that originated from the attack by Dooku on Geonosis. And Palpatine allows Vader to have this fear because it's useful for keeping him in line.

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The SotM comic was a fairly inaccurate representation of what he did in the book, IIRC, and . . . yeah, y'know. Legends.

There are plenty of EU stories that fit in with the Disney canon so far. I don't find it that strange. There hasn't been enough Disney canon, yet.

 

Looked pretty like the book's "energy ball" (kinetite) to me, in the comic.

However - The Rise & Fall of Darth Vader did depict it as "Vader, thanks to proximity of crystal boosting his powers, conjures lightning".

The newcanon did have a "diplomatic mission to Circarpous IV" mentioned in The Weapon of a Jedi - possibly a nod to Splinter, even if it didn't recanonize the whole story.

 

Huh. Intriguing.

 

When Climber refuses to carry out Order 66...should that even be possible what with TCW's introduction of the bio-chips?

 

Given that some of the Bad Batch appeared to be almost unaffected by their chips, maybe Climber's squad were aberrant clones too - just much less overtly so.

 

As far as I can tell, no Legends source actually shows that the chips were used in Order 66, so my headcanon for that continuity is that they were a failsafe abandoned after Ringo Vinda showed them to be unreliable.

 

Funnily enough the book even has Vader know there are no chips in the clones.

 

Possible, I guess. I do like that about 90 plus percent of recorded Order 66 mutinies were conducted by Republic Commandos, much like with the Bad Batch; and who may also have been altered sufficiently from baseline, or gone through various injuries or upgrades, that the chips just did not fully take, with them. It allows a good deal of wiggle room, for Traviss, Luceno and other material.
The bit about Vader knowing they 'have no chips' is harder to square, of course.