Star Wars Finally Shows the Moment Darth Vader Truly Became a Sith (& There’s a Kylo Ren Connection)

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In Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker falls to the dark side and becomes Darth Vader. While they are the same person, Anakin and Vader are often seen as distinct characters. Some argue Anakin effectively died when he turned against the Jedi, and Darth Vader was born. However, even at the end of the prequel trilogy, Vader hadn’t fully embraced the Sith philosophy. It’s only in a key scene in the new novel Master of Evil that Vader completes his transformation, fully abandoning his identity as Anakin Skywalker in his relentless pursuit of power. This moment also offers insights into how the dark side corrupted Vader’s grandson, Kylo Ren.

Set a couple of years after Revenge of the Sith, Master of Evil follows Darth Vader in the early days of the Empire. He’s still obsessed with discovering the secrets of Darth Plagueis, hoping to find a way to cheat death and bring back his deceased wife, Padmé. Surprisingly, a memory of Padmé is what ultimately makes Vader accept his path as a Sith Lord and move forward.

Vader Was Haunted By Padmé After Revenge of the Sith

Padmé was the initial reason Anakin fell to the dark side, so it makes sense he continued to suffer after her death. This pain remains central to his character in the novel. At the beginning of the story, Vader is frustrated that Palpatine hasn’t kept his promises. While Vader appears as the Empire’s fearsome enforcer and Palpatine’s most trusted ally, glimpses of the man he once was – Anakin – still surface. Palpatine isn’t happy about this; he needs Vader to fully embrace the dark side and become more powerful, not be haunted by memories of Anakin. True to form, Palpatine manipulates Vader by assigning him a crucial mission that drives the plot forward.

Palpatine sends Vader to the planet Diso, home to a powerful Force shaman he calls a “resurrectionist”—likely intending to give Vader false hope that the shaman could revive Padmé. As Palpatine predicted, Vader discovers the shaman and learns about the ancient Temple of Diso, which Count Dooku had moved inside a ship. Vader then abandons his mission and searches for the temple on his own. Inside, he encounters a powerful dark side energy and enters a Force-induced void, experiencing visions from his past. A vision of Padmé appears, ultimately leading Vader to destroy the last remnants of Anakin Skywalker within himself.

While lost in a dark, empty space, Darth Vader sees a vision of Padmé who tells him that the past can’t be changed or controlled, only erased. This echoes a similar idea expressed by Kylo Ren in a later film, who believed killing the past was the only path to fulfilling one’s destiny. Vader accepts Padmé’s message, understanding that fully embracing the dark side requires letting go of his former self, Anakin Skywalker. In a shocking act, he attacks the vision of Padmé with his lightsaber—a scene reminiscent of Kylo Ren killing his father, Han Solo. This act, unthinkable for Anakin, is essential for Vader’s transformation. The line, “Anakin Skywalker is dead. Darth Vader lives,” marks this as the definitive moment when Vader finally abandons his past and fully becomes Darth Vader.

The conclusion of Master of Evil strongly suggests that Palpatine had this outcome in mind from the beginning. When Vader presents Palpatine with a fragment from the Temple of Diso, saying, “Here is your temple,” Palpatine simply laughs. This shows he never intended to visit the temple himself. Instead, he cleverly manipulated Vader, knowing exactly what to say to guide his apprentice toward fulfilling his destiny. Palpatine’s reaction to Vader’s return reveals he understood what happened at the temple and was pleased with the results. As we later see in the sequel trilogy, Palpatine is capable of defying death, but he had no intention of sharing those secrets with Vader. He only wanted to use Vader as a pawn, and now he no longer needs to worry about Vader’s obsession with Darth Plagueis. Anakin Skywalker is gone, replaced entirely by Darth Vader.

Master of Evil Sheds Light on How the Dark Side Works

Seeing Vader interact with a Force projection of Padmé would be compelling on its own, but the scene reveals how the dark side works and how it corrupts individuals. The phrase “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to” wasn’t a unique idea from Kylo Ren; it seems to be a common tactic the dark side uses to pull Force users away from the light. While the Jedi discourage attachments, the dark side has its own version of this idea. It drives people to sever ties with their past – by killing, as with Kylo Ren, or through symbolic rejection, as with Vader – in order to start anew. The dark side sees connections as weaknesses, and it believes that once those you care about are gone, nothing remains except the desire for more power.

While Kylo Ren never went to the Temple of Diso, it’s likely he experienced similar Force visions after choosing the dark side. In The Force Awakens, he feels drawn to the light but believes killing Han Solo will make him stronger – a pattern similar to his grandfather. Decades earlier, Darth Vader symbolically killed his memories of Padmé, believing it would grant him ultimate power. The dark side pushes people to abandon not just their past connections, but to completely erase them. Vader’s journey to the Temple of Diso could explain why he seems unconcerned with Padmé in A New Hope; he had already fully severed his connection to his former life as Anakin. It wasn’t until he faced Luke Skywalker that he began to return to the light.

The Sith’s belief in erasing the past helps explain why Obi-Wan kept Luke in the dark about Darth Vader – it all depends on your perspective. The dark side fundamentally changes people, turning them into someone unrecognizable. While Anakin Skywalker would never intentionally harm Padmé, Darth Vader has no concern for her. Vader is driven solely by a lust for power, which perfectly suits Palpatine’s plans. The Sith operate under a rule that the master gains strength from their apprentice’s anger and fear. Palpatine needed Vader – consumed by the dark side – to reach his full potential, not the person Anakin once was.

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2025-11-20 03:14