How long would Vader have survived?

How long would Darth Vader have survived inside his mechanical suit? I mean, he wouldn't exactly be able to live forever, would he...? How long was he expected to live?
Another VERY INTRESTING QUESTION: After Anakin lost his limbs and fell into the lava pit, why did Palpatine bother with making him a life-support suit when he could very simply have made a fully fuctional CLONE of Anakin? A complete human being is always better than a crippled invalid in a life-support suit, or what? What on earth was Palpatine thinking of?

 

About the clone thing: There are several reasons I can think of why Palpatine wouldn't want a clone.

First of all, it would take years to grow. Even with growth acceleration like in AOTC it would be over a decade before Palpatine could have a full grown Anakin clone.

Second, a clone of Anakin would not be the same person that Anakin was when he was cloned. The clone would share the same genetic information, but at least I believe, it was Anakin's life experiences that played the bigger role in his downfall. A clone would not experience the same things, so by coning Anakin you would not necessarily get Vader.

EDIT: After further thought I realized that the suit didn't seem to limit Vader as much as DarthGere is suggesting it would, did it?.

 

my main question was really this: How long was Vader supposed to last in his life-support suit?...

 

There's no reason to think he wouldn't have had a normal life span.

 

After Anakin lost his limbs and fell into the lava pit, why did Palpatine bother with making him a life-support suit when he could very simply have made a fully fuctional CLONE of Anakin?

Simple: a clone would be a totally seperate person and wouldn't have the anger of his host. If you're talking about the Force-power that enables people to transfer their consciousness to other bodies, Palpatine wanted to keep that for himself.

 

Normal life span most likely.But he technically already dead since he is more machine then man

 

I haven't read this thread all that much past your initial few lines, but be careful, you might be skirting a bit close to the Spoiler Side...


Indy
Spoiler free till Episode III

 

I think it would depend on how much of the dark side he has in him. We don't know how old the emperor was, but he was apparently pretty old. If Vader had taken his place as the Sith Master, perhaps he would have had more of the dark side in him, and maybe he would have lived MUCH longer. Who knows, if he controlled the full force of the dark side like the emperor had, perhaps he would have been able to even get rid of the suit, and sustain his life through the dark side only.

It's a good question, and I like to think he would have lived much longer than a normal human.

 

If he had gotten what he wanted in TESB and overthrown the emperors with Luke at his side, he would have gotten so strong in the dark side that he could possibly have trashed his suit and keep himself alive with mere willpower.

 

I think it would depend on how much of the dark side he has in him. We don't know how old the emperor was, but he was apparently pretty old. If Vader had taken his place as the Sith Master, perhaps he would have had more of the dark side in him, and maybe he would have lived MUCH longer. Who knows, if he controlled the full force of the dark side like the emperor had, perhaps he would have been able to even get rid of the suit, and sustain his life through the dark side only.

^Yeah, Shadows of the Empire suggests that.

Just a thought, and this is going realy far into the EU, if Vader & Luke had killed Palpatine, perhaps Vader would've found out about the Emperor's clones at Byss? And done the same for himself? It wouldn't suprise me..

 

"and I like to think he would have lived much longer than a normal human"

Interesting... Do you think he could live forever? Just with the proper maintenance and macinery, that is? I really think he could.

 

Yeah, wouldnt he? And wouldnt the same go for Grievous? DROIDS CAN LIVE FOREVER, can't they. Vader could have lived forever.

 

We really don't know how old Palpy is. I would go as far as to say that in RotJ, he isn't older then eigthty-ish, based on that he is still able to walk on his own power, with a cane. I think that the Dark Side rots a body within. Not knowing much about Maul's species, we can't judge how he looked for his age, but Dooku/Tryannus looks about Qui-Gon's age (but then, how long has be been a Sith and using the Dark Side? If I remember right, Dooku was trained by Qui-Gon, so he's got to be at least 20 years younger then Master Jinn). Palpatine has been using the Dark Side for decades, so while using the Force may prolong life, if your a Dark Sider, you won't look to good. Master Yoda and Master Jinn were both at an age when retirement is more there speed, but through the Force, they accoplished quiet a bit. Dooku was getting up there, in years, but his was quiet limber, and that may be why Vader is able to move as well as he does.

 

NononononoNO! Qui-Gon was Dooko's apprentice, not the other way around. Get your head on straight!

 

I also believe that Vader may have wanted something to remind him of what he had become and to fuel his hatred as opposed to being a healthy clone. I also think that with proper anger and maitenance Vader could've lived quite a long time and possibly forever.

-Jedi Master Zax Starwalker

 

I guess he could eventually replace his body with robotic parts.

Perhaps download his memories into a bionic brain to live forever?

Eh, maybe that's a little to deep for Star Wars.

 

Vader may have been more machine than man, but most of his vitals were probably still organic. I'm guessing that even though his limbs were robotic and his lungs required machinery to function properly, the rest of his vital organs in his head and torso were still intact. Eventually those orangs would break down, like they would with any human, and Vader would die. In short, since it was mostly his non-vitals that were mechanical, his being part machine wouldn't really have much of an effect on his lifespan, for better or for worse.

Grievous is a different story. Grievous is almost all mechanical, save his eyes (which could easily be replaced) and his brain, and the fact that his organic parts are not human makes it hard to tell when, or if, they would expire on his own. Maybe Grievous is practically immortal, but Vader definitely wouldn't be (unless he could somehow use the Dark Side to obtain eternal life, but that's a different topic).

 

"I haven't read this thread all that much past your initial few lines, but be careful, you might be skirting a bit close to the Spoiler Side... "

Im surprised he didnt get caught and edited for that bit of spoiling like what happened when I "spoiled"(I didnt even spoil anything like that in my post and I got temp-banned for it). Im mad and confussed at the mods now("spoilers will not be tolerated")cause I got spoiled by that post of yours Gere. *bursts into tears like a little girl*

 

I always thought that this was interesting....


http://www.theforce.net/swtc/injuries.html

 

A clone wouldnt have had Anakins force command, sensibilities or whatever you want to call it. You cant clone that.

 

Why not? Force capability is obviously at least partly genetic; Anakin passes it on to his children. I don't see why a clone of a Jedi/Sith wouldn't be Force-sensitive.
As for the clone lacking Anakin's anger, why wouldn't it be possible to make the clone relive the experiences that made Anakin the way he is? I don't see why he couldn't spend those ten years in a VR system, going through Anakin's reality. And when he's grown up...presto, instant Sith Apprentice.


I'd say Vader probably would've had the same life-span as a normal human; eventually, however, his organs would fail.

Grievous, on the other hand, there doesn't really saee to be any way for him to die naturally, unless brain viruses or some such get ahold of him. Obviously, the brain does age, but I think at a much slower rate than the rest of the body.

 

Well, Palpatine didn't need a new Anakin because the beaten up on worked just fine as Darth Vader. And he could clone him, and turn him evil instantly. Look at Darth Maul. According to the E.U Sidious raised him from birth as evil. Or Ventress. Her master raised her as evil. So yeah, he could clone him, but why? Also, could Vader live past the Emperor's death? It seamed like the Emporer was kind of keeping Vader alive. I know that the Emporer's force lightening shut down Vader's mechanical life support, but what if the darkside was shutting him down. Like Vader couldn't really live without the Emperor. But that doesn't make sense, cause Vader was plotting to betray him. Ok, nevermind. I think Vader could have lived a long time

 

I don't know, Vader was already in pretty bad shape by ROTJ

Luke had him winded throughout their duel
and it didn't take a whole lot to finish him off
(although some will argue that he died because palpatine was dead etc etc and that part has yet to be proven or not)

personally I don't think he would've lasted too much longer, the dark side was literally eating him alive

 

I think Vader was getting too powerful even for Palps and if he made a mechanical suit he would be somewhat limited. He was still very strong though.

 

I don't think the use of dark side powers would have killed him anytime soon. Palpatine was way older and still very alive, although he used the dark side for an even longer period than Vader.