Dark Lord of Sith

"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi

(Source : Star Wars, 1977)

(Photo credit : Star Wars Galaxy Series 4)

Without a doubt, Darth Vader is Star Wars. Since his first appearance as The Dark Lord of the Sith on-board Tantive IV, his the ultimate bad guy who's story is the backbone of the saga. His character is a culmination of talents that brought him alive in the silver screens. While his presence and body language was played by David Prowse, an English bodybuilder, James Earl Jones gave him the baritone authoritative voice to command his troops.

Design credits must go to Ralph McQuarrie, whom surely was inspired by Japanese armor designs. This helmet closely resembles the Kabuto, a helmet used with traditional Japanese armour as worn by the samurai. 

My favourite design elements of Vader must be his chest and shoulder armors, especially the look he has in ESB. In ANH, they were covered by part of his robes.  His lightsaber is also another iconic design. I am glad the film makers kept the design elements similar when AOTC came out. In AOTC it was more chrome while in the original trilogy, it was more black.  Of course the colour red is much cooler for the Siths.

For some Vader scenes in the movies, please check out the youtube link below.

On the next postings, I would post about the few Vaders that I kept.