What If Darth Vader Had Taken Naboo As His Base (Not Mustafar)
Some Star Wars followers consider that Darth Vader established his private base of operations on Mustafar, as a result of Palpatine needed to make his new apprentice stronger by having him continually reminded of his biggest defeat. Nonetheless, Palpatine truly gave Vader a selection, and first really helpful Naboo as the positioning of the previous Anakin Skywalker’s base. Vader declined the suggestion and selected Mustafar of his personal volition. Finally, he made the best choice, as a result of selecting Naboo wouldn’t have ended effectively for the Darkish Lord of the Sith.
As made clear in Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s Star Wars: Darth Vader (2017) collection, Vader had a selected cause for selecting Mustafar. He was intrigued by its abundance of darkish aspect energies and hoped to faucet into these forces with out interference. Certainly, for somebody looking for methods to change into a stronger Sith, Mustafar supplied Vader the best location to develop and develop. Nonetheless, simply as merely as Palpatine supplied Vader a selection, he may have simply ordered him to ascertain his base on Naboo. The truth is, if he did, he may need been in a position to escape Vader’s eventual betrayal.
A Vader primarily based on Naboo would have been a failure. Finally, it could have resulted in Palpatine changing Vader earlier than he would have had the prospect to maneuver towards him to avoid wasting his son Luke. Certainly, not like Mustafar, which solely holds reminders of tragedy, demise, and the evaporation of Anakin’s dream to be with Padmé, Naboo is stuffed with reminiscences of happier, hotter, and extra joyful instances when a younger couple in love may escape their formal, skilled lives, and be their true selves. Certainly, whereas Mustafar demanded Vader harden himself by “leaning into” the darkish aspect of the Pressure; Naboo would have inspired him to return to the sunshine and reclaim his place because the “Chosen One.”
Naboo’s Reminiscences Would Have Been The Finish Of Darth Vader
Star Wars canon helps this conclusion. Within the Soule and Camuncoli collection, Vader endures ache and struggling on Mustafar as he establishes his base. That is in no small half was because of the deceitful and manipulative former Sith Lord Momin, who works to continually preserve Vader on edge and squarely at the hours of darkness aspect. Certainly, of their climatic struggle in Darth Vader (2017) #24, Momin tells Vader how Palpatine will not be the individual he believes him to be. It is a revelation that absolutely convinces Vader that it is simply him towards the galaxy, and he’d higher put together himself to belief nobody going ahead. He comes out of the expertise not solely extra at the hours of darkness but in addition extra understanding of its ambiguity.
Conversely, in Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco’s Star Wars: Darth Vader (2020), Vader’s seek for these concerned in hiding his son from him brings him again to Naboo, and the impact of returning to the house world of his spouse clearly causes a softening, slightly than a hardening of his spirit. Definitely various readers had been shocked to see Vader, who at this level in his life is without doubt one of the most cold-blooded killers within the galaxy, strolling within the grass among the many flowers and butterflies. Being on Naboo makes Vader much less merciless and extra forgiving. As on Mustafar, that is in no small half due the presence of one other. On this case, it is Padmé’s handmaiden and lookalike Sabé. It is also the results of recalling the reminiscences of all the great instances he and Padmé shared on Naboo. Simply as Lord Momin is a continuing reminder of the darkish aspect, Sabé is a continuing reminder of the sunshine.
As he by no means totally dedicated to the darkish aspect, the fixed reminders on Naboo would have slowly wilted away Vader’s anger. Accordingly, establishing his base on Naboo may have satisfied him to betray Palpatine even before he did. With out the fixed fueling of his rage, Darth Vader would have change into much less efficient as Palpatine’s apprentice, who would absolutely have made a transfer to have him changed, and thereby altering the historical past of Star Wars perpetually.
