What would have happened if Darth Vader was killed in ANH?

What would have happened if Darth Vader was killed in ANH?

We all know how big SW has become and we all know the GL is good at getting himself back on track when it comes to plotholes in the scripts.
But how do you think the original trilogy would have worked if Darth Vader was killed?
Would it be Lukes responsibility to bring the Emperor and the Empire down.

What if Vader was killed by Ben Kenobi. Or if Vader was killed by Han Solo and Chewbacca as the Millenium Falcon returned to save the day?
If this would have happened if is regardless because SW would have become successful either way.

What are your thoughts on this subject and what do you believe would have happened in a "Fourth-dimension" senario?

What would have happened if Darth Vader was killed in ANH?

 

Vader could have easily died in the trench of the Death Star.

Maybe GL kept him alive INCASE the movie was a success, which it was. he took a gamble on keeping the guy alive, and it worked out in his favor.

 

Star Wars would not have been as successfull. Much of the SW's lasting influence is due to Darth Vader being Luke's father.

 

If DV were killed it would have wrapped the story and there would have been no need for sequels. It's the prequels that I can do without.

 

If Vader died, Palpy wouldn't have been able to find a new apprentice, since he didn't know about Luke yet and had unwisely seen to it there were no other Jedi in the galaxy. So, that's the end of the Sith, and if Luke weren't trained any further, it would be the end of the Jedi as well.

 

If Vader died, Palpy wouldn't have been able to find a new apprentice

Unless he had kids.

*shudders at the thought...*

 

Star Wars would not have been the same.

 

We would have never heard "I Am Your Father". Life would be so much more depressing...!

 

Palpatine found Maul, who was never a Jedi. I'm sure he could have trained a new apprentice.

On a similar note, I think Lucas should have left Maul alive until Ep 3 for Anakin to kill. Obi-Wan should have taken a leg or something. Maul was cool and I'd have liked to have seen more of him.

 

If Vader died, Palpy wouldn't have been able to find a new apprentice, since he didn't know about Luke yet and had unwisely seen to it there were no other Jedi in the galaxy.

I have to disagree. Sidious could find someone strong in the Force and train them. I have no doubts of that. Ask yourself this, how did the Sith survive for a thousand years with the rule of two? When one dies, you find a replacement. There are several people/creatures out there that are very strong in the Force. Not everyone who is strong in the Force gets trained. That is how the Jedi (or Sith) find people because the Jedi don't have families because they aren't allowed to love, so then they find new people to train to keep the tradition going. And those people are simply people who never got Jedi training who have families and their children are strong in the Force and only a few get trained because I'm sure the families have to approve of giving up their child for the Jedi.

Remember Anakin is the strongest ever in the Force, yet he was turned down for training at first which should tell us just because you are strong in the Force, doesn't mean you will get trained.

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As for the topic of Vader dying. I would have to say that the prophecy of the Chosen One would go down the drain because that would mean that Anakin isn't the Chosen One afterall.

 

Maybe GL kept him alive INCASE the movie was a success, which it was. he took a gamble on keeping the guy alive, and it worked out in his favor.

I couldn't agree more.

 

As for the topic of Vader dying. I would have to say that the prophecy of the Chosen One would go down the drain because that would mean that Anakin isn't the Chosen One afterall.


The prophecy wouldn't be an issue if Vader died in ANH. The prequels would have been written quite differently, I should think, and Anakin/Vader being the chosen one would never have happened.

 

GL has said before that he did not expect the success that he had with Star Wars. On that note I see the reason for Vader surviving as a throw back to the serials that GL saw as a child where the villain escapes.

Had Vader died in ANH and the series continued then it would have gone down the road of the swashbuckling serials like Flash Gordon rather than become a family drama of epic proportions. Flash and Ming had no relation, other than a protaganist/antagonist one. As Palpatine does on AOTC, he may have just gotten another Sith Lord in waiting to take Vader's place.

I agree though, that the "No, I am your father" line is the great thing that we got from ESB(among many other things).

 

Well, it depends on when you're taling about him dying...

If he were killed by Han and Chewie during the Death Star trench run, it wouldn't have changed much about ANH, the DeathStar still would've been destroyed, and the Rebellion would've lived on. On the other hand, if he had been killed by Obi-Wan in the Death Star hanger, that would've been a different story.

After striking down Darth Vader, Obi-Wan probably would've quickly disbatched of the stormtroopers in the area, then escaped in the falcon. The rebellion would then proceed as planned, and so would the Empire because the tracking device would still be in the falcon. The Death Star would start to move into position and the rebels would attack it. Luke would begin his attack run, but without Obi-Wan guiding him from beyond the grave, he would most likely keep his targeting computer on, and miss the exaust port. The Death Star would fire it's superlaser, and the rebellion would be no more.

At least that's my theory.

 

The prophecy wouldn't be an issue if Vader died in ANH. The prequels would have been written quite differently, I should think, and Anakin/Vader being the chosen one would never have happened.

I think you have possibly missed the point. Anakin/Vader brought Balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. Had he been killed before he did that would mean he isn't the Chosen One.

 

If Vader had died in ANH...then on a faraway swamp planet, a little green alien would've angrily thumped his walking stick against the walls of his hut and yelled "Dammit! Waiting for twenty years, have I been! Stuck on this slimy mudhole for nothing, am I!"

 

By book terms, Prince Xizor would of rose to prominence alongside the Emperor.

But with the film, I don't know. Luke would of probably became a Jedi quicker if Ben had killed Darth, but if Han and Chewie had killed him in the trench then I believe Luke would of been powerful to face Emperor ever if he didn't face Darth at Bespin, as that was valuable learning tool to Luke.

 

Well, speaking of the EU, the books would have been alot differant. Any other Sith but Vader wouldn't have cared if Luke lived or died. Therefore, the riveraly between Xizor and Vader wouldn't have happened.

 

Me: The prophecy wouldn't be an issue if Vader died in ANH. The prequels would have been written quite differently, I should think, and Anakin/Vader being the chosen one would never have happened.

D_Lowe: I think you have possibly missed the point. Anakin/Vader brought Balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. Had he been killed before he did that would mean he isn't the Chosen One.

No, I think you missed the point. The story would be completely different if Vader had died in ANH. The prophecy of bringing ballance to the Force would never have been a story point. Remember, ANH was the first Star Wars film made. Everything else has been made after. If Vader had died, the whole story would have been completely different. No, Vader wouldn't have been the chosen one, but he also wouldn't have been Anakin. In which case, Anakin would not have been the chosen one because he was dead at this point anyway. Luke would have been the chosen one. That is if the prophecy was still written, which there is nothing to say that it would have been.

 

I agree with Blackthorpe, from an actual point of view. I think Lowe's thinking of it in storyline terms...

 

Likely, Star Wars would have carried on as another ANH-style lighthearted adventure serial. This is kind of like what the Liegh Brackette first draft of ESB was like, and not coincidentally, Vaders is not Luke's daddy--in fact Luke meets his fathers ghost!The notion of Vader beings Luke father gave the story a completly different spin and took the saga to new epic proportions.

Vader being Luke's father was just a convienience for Lucas. There were a bunch of storypoints that all intersected and would have been overly-complicated and redundant to have different explainations and threads for each one:

-Luke's father and Darth Vader were both disciples of Ben
-Ben was close friends with both Vader and Luke's father
-Vader is the one who killed Luke's father
-Vader betrayed Ben and hunted down all the jedi, including Luke's father
-Vader joined the darkside and serves as the Emperors henchman
-Vader is trying to kill Luke

The solution was obvious: just tie them all together! Luke's father and Vader are the same person--now everything is so much simpler! All the points become one--Luke father is Anakin Skywalker, who was once a jedi and apprentice to ben, fell to the darkside and hunted down the jedi and is now in league with the Emperor and trying to reclaim his long-lost son.

 

Ummm...I thought the Emperor knew about Luke? Even Anakin knew about Luke so why would the Emperor not know? If the Emperor knows about Luke, who would have searched for Luke and played the same game he did with Anakin. Luke would have been the Emperors next apprentice.

 

But Vader was the one that brought the info about Luke(minus his name) to the Emperor in the 1st place. He was the first to note Luke's strength in the Force during the attack on the DS I.

Presuming Han and Chewie had been a little more acurate and blasted Vader, Palpy would've eventually found out about Luke and sent his minions about capturing or killing the new player on the field. At the risk of annoying the 'purists' he'd have sicced his Darksiders and Emperor's Hands on Skywalker much sooner than he did.