Luke & Vader, Short & Tall. Or not?

Vader isn't just tall, he's HUGE! I saw the Vader suit at Magic of Myth and even though it was behind glass and had no one in it, looking at it was slightly intimidating.

Hayden had too look through the grill in order to see in ROTS and he was scared he'd fall over and scratch the helmet.

 

All ya need to do is look at the back of your POTF2 cards!


ps - moo .

 

You have to take into account his helmet is pretty big for his head too, it adds at least 3 inches to his height... at least. at least.

 

And it adds about six inches to the degree of protrusion of his face, leading to uncomfortable near-misses such as the one with Veers on the bridge. One would think he would have learned to stop doing that after a couple of decades.

 

I was taller at 15 than Luke was at 19, he's short.

And, for comparison:

Luke Skywalker = 1.72 m = 5.64 feet
Mark Hamill = 1.75 m = 5.74 feet
Anakin Skywalker = 1.85 m = 6.0 feet
David Prowse = 1.96 m = 6.43 feet
Darth Vader = 2.02 m = 6.62 feet

 

I find it very fitting of a narrative how power is determined by how strong the mind is, not stature.

Yoda: "Judge me by my size do you? Whereas you should not."

 

I actually like the idea that Luke is significantly smaller than Vader. It adds a David and Goliath feel to their final fight. I wonder if Lucas intended that.

I think that's what Lucas intended, to tap into the basic mythical symbols of good and evil. It's stated perfectly by Walter Burkert (when talking about Western Mythology) as quoted in the Magic of Myth book:

"The prospective victor and the antagonist are made opposites in every respect: the victor will be bright, handsome, nice, young, perhaps slim and small, but tough and virtuous, while the adversary will be dark, ugly, repulsive, old, big and powerful... The contrast between light and darkness obtrudes itself."

As for Luke being short and Vader tall it depends on perspective. Luke is shorter than Vader/Anakin, but 5'7" is about average height for a male, so I think Luke is average but Anakin was above average in height. As has been mentioned, the legs/boots and helmet add a few inches to Vader's height.

Then there is the real world fact that Lucas didn't completely decide to make Vader be Anakin until a few drafts into Empire, so it didn't really matter.

 

I just think Luke's height comes from Padme's side more than Anakin's

but yes, the suit/machine legs does make Anakin/Vader more towering than he would be otherwise

I'm one who loves the height difference
I think it's very effective in making Vader appear more intimidating, and it's also a credit to Luke, especially in ROTJ, that this very average sized guy has become so powerful in the Force and is not intimidated by giant Darth Vader, that this
short(er), average guy's strength, goodness, wisdom, courage, and heart can overthrow the Empire and the Dark Side, not his size.

"Size matters not."

 

But what if vader was as short as Dark Helmet?

 

LOL

"evil will always win, because good is dumb."

 

I never really had a problem with the height difference myself. But me and some buddies got talking about the heights in SW and a friend of mine stood up next to me and said, "Here, I'm 6 foot." My reply to that was, "Wow, thats not actually that tall." But I agree that Vader is massively huger than Luke, IMO, Vader was bigger <<<those ways>>> rather then ^ that way. I thought that Luke's build was closer to Padmé's. But Prowse is what? 6'7? And a bodybuilder, so I always thought that in Vader's case, he's huge in the fact that he's like a locomotive, he'd run ya flat.

And as to that comment about his near-miss with Veers. *Bang-Smack* Vader- "Ooh!" *straightens Veers's face, takes him by the shoulders and pushes him back a step* "Sorry!"

Cheers_Cazza

 

I've always figured that guys between 1,75 m and 1,85 m are normal. Anything under 1,75 is a bit short and under 1'70 short-short. That being said, Luke is perfectly proportioned.

 

Well, when Dave Prowse and Mark Hamill were cast their characters weren't going to be related, so it wasn't going to be an issue. Vader's great height being explained away by the suit only came later. I met Dave Prowse a couple of years ago and he's huge without any mechanical aids. Luke obviously got his height from Natalie Portman.

 

David Prowse was tall, so maybe the movies show something different than what it's supposed to be. They should be about the same height, but the movies might have had a litte difference in that fact, depending on how tall your actors are.

 

WEll the way I see it, Luke was a bit shortlike his sister. Han was more the height of Anakin in the prequel. Lucas chose Hayden after knowing what Mark looked like so while they definitely have some similarity in looks, Anakin was far better looking, taller, and his body was nicer too. Luke would have been said to have taken after the rather short and stumpy Padme like her sister. Padme was also much better looking than her daughter, some of her elegance was part of the role because Leia was supposed to be more tomboyish, but even in her sweeter moments, she seemed brasher and in that get up she had on for Jabba the Hutt, she was far from sexy to me, she looked more like a man in woman's clothing. So it was just a case of two elegant, dashing and traditionally beautiful people coming together to have regular looking kids.

 

Mark Hamill is 5'7", and Hayden Christensen is 6'1". Six inches difference. The boots and helmet add another 4 inches, I'd wager. So, that's why he looks so tall. He is tall, and has a tall helmet.

The kids inherited their stature from the Naberries. Didn't you see that pic of Ruwee and Anakin? Ruwee came up to Anakin's waist.

 

If you want to know the heights of actors, go to Celebrity Heights.

It is a site dedicated to working out the correct height of famous people.

It is insane, but the place to go.

 

Actually Mark Hamil is 5'9" but the character of Luke is listed at being 1.73 meters which is 5'6.4" while Temuera Morrison who played Jango Fett and the clonetroopers is only 5'7" but listed as being taller. Hayden is 6'1" so it is only a four inch difference, but factor in the suit.

 

When hayden put on the suit, he apparently was looking through the mouth.

And vader's not just tall, he's HUGE! I've seen the suit and standing looking up at it is kinda daunting.

 

Well, yes. He is very tall.

According to most obsessed with height he is a solid 6'7.5 with no shoes.

Consider that tall men have big feet, and big shoes tend to have bigger heels, then he will easily be hitting 6'8 in dress shoes.

 

Let's face it, Vader had stand-in's so he could take the day off and watch sports.