The Power of the Dark Side: A Look at Hasbro's Darth Vader - Dagobah Action Figure

Darth Vader – Dagobah

Darth Vader – Dagobah: Taking the form of Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, this spirit is the embodiment of the dark side of the Force. It dwells in a cave on the swamp-covered planet of Dagobah. Although defeated by Luke Skywalker in combat, its unmasked face revealed that Luke has yet to master the ways of the Force and become a Jedi. – from the Jedi Fact File, Darth Vader – Dagobah

Character Background: Darth Vader – Dagobah: When Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back premiered in May of 1980, Darth Vader’s character was seen by most fans as the personification of the Galactic Empire’s evil. Clad in a life-sustaining suit of armor complete with a Nazi-style helmet and a skull-like breath mask, Vader had been established as “a young Jedi…until he turned to evil” and had helped Emperor Palpatine kill most of the Jedi Order, including, according to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker’s father Anakin.

Although Vader had been impressive enough in Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope, the Dark Lord of the Sith became a more powerful screen presence in Empire. It is his obsessive pursuit of Luke that drives most of the action in the second installment of the Classic Trilogy, and the screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan gave Vader more nuance and menace than in A New Hope.

Although Empire’s most indelible scene in which Vader appears is the “reveal” sequence in which the fallen-Jedi-turned-Sith Lord says No, Luke. I am your father, perhaps the most puzzling one (at least in 1980) was the Dark Lord’s spirit form’s short but terrifying appearance in that tree-cave on Dagobah:


INTERIOR: DAGOBAH – TREE CAVE

Luke moves into the almost total darkness of the wet and slimy cave. The youth can barely make out the edge of the passage. He sees a lizard crawling up the side of the cave and a snake wrapped around branches of a tree. Luke takes a deep breath, then pushes deeper into the cave.

The space widens around him, but he feels that rather than sees it. It is very quiet here.