Darth Vader To Have ‘Increased Presence’ In ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’
The fact that Darth Vader died at the end of Return Of The Jedi, but not before making peace with his son Luke Skywalker, who then burned his father on a pyre as part of its conclusion, meant that it was always going to be hard for the iconic screen villain to have much of a presence in The Force Awakens.
However, it soon transpired that Kylo Ren was actually previously known as Ben Solo, and as the son of General Leia Organa,he also had Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker as his grandfather. After embracing the dark side of the Force, Kylo Ren then decided to use his grandfather as his mentor and guide, taking inspiration from his destroyed helmet, which he uses as a relic.
But while you might have thought that would be the last we’d see, chronologically at least, of Darth Vader in the Star Wars universe it has now been speculated that the villain’s presence is going to incrementally increase over the course of the eighth and ninth installments to the Skywalker saga. That’s because Darth Vader still has a very big role to play with at least one of the franchise’s central characters.
“Disney’s plan for Darth Vader in the sequel trilogy is to keep increasing his presence in each film for an important reason to do with one of the central characters.”
It has been heavily speculated that the central character that will be most affected by the presence of Darth Vader is Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren, especially because we have already seen him looking up to the character in The Force Awakens. It is also believed that over the course of The Last Jedi he will become more and more like the villain, especially considering he now also has a scar just like Anakin Skywalker.
“I believe one of those central characters will be Kylo Ren…because of how he looks up to his own grandfather [Darth Vader] in The Force Awakens and how he is becoming more and more like him in The Last Jedi. He’s got the cape now, he’s got the scar like Anakin Skywalker, he has his own TIE fighter and, hey, before you know it, by Episode IX, he may have some mechanical limbs.”
According to this speculation, we will also get to see Darth Vader’s chest panel in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which will be used as a relic in the same manner that the foe’s melted helmet was used in The Force Awakens.
“Like Darth Vader’s melted helmet in The Force Awakens, Vader’s chest panel will be one of the relics featured in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as it was developed at Pinewood Studios in the UK for this film.”
It has also been suggested that a famous scene from The Empire Strikes Back featuring both Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker will be “rotoscoped” and incorporated into The Last Jedi and used as part of a flashback sequence that then goes on to influence one of the new, main characters in the film.
“Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker were rotoscoped from The Empire Strikes Back to be placed in a new environment for a Force back vision. The sequence where Vader was reportedly rotoscoped was when Luke and Vader were fighting on the glowing steps.”
However, rather than influencing Kylo Ren, is has been alleged that this part of the film will instead have an impact on Daisy Ridley’s Rey, while it was then suggested that we’ll find out in The Last Jedi exactly why the character is having these Force enforced visions.
“Now when I’m looking at the fact that Luke and Vader were rotoscoped from The Empire Strikes Back…I believe that Force back vision will be for Rey. We’re going to learn exactly why Rey is having these Force back visions, in The Force Awakens and the upcoming film.”
Star Wars super-fan and theorist Mike Zeroh revealed all of the above on his new YouTube video, via the Express, confessing that he’d been in discussions with a source close to the production of the film. We’ll finally get to see if he’s right when Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released on December 15.
[Featured Image by Lucasfilm]
