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Darth Vader returns to the Petranaki Arena
Marvel’s Darth Vader, Annual No. 2
Writer: Chuck Wendig
Penciler: Leonard Kirk
Inkers: Walden Wong & Scott Hanna
Colors: Nolan Woodard
There is something more going on behind that intimidating mask of the Dark Lord of the Sith. A stirring of memories, emotions, regrets even, that are constantly washed away by anger and hate. Vader has to keep fueling this rage. He works hard to maintain it, but the moments in which the veil falls away and we get a glimpse into the turmoil bubbling inside Darth Vader continue to be some of the most nuanced layers of the Star Wars story.
Vader remembers. Vader feels.
In the second annual issue of Marvel’s Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith book, Chuck Wendig and the art team of Leonard Kirk, Walden Wong, Scott Hanna, and Nolan Woodard give us one of the best looks into Vader’s mind. It’s simple and direct. A flash of the past Vader fights to overcome and an explosion of the past Vader continues to stew in. Both feed the monster that lives behind the mask.
Darth Vader has returned to Geonosis and, more specifically, the remains of Petranaki Arena. He was last here during the events of the Clone Wars, when the second Battle of Geonosis took place, but his focus is on the first battle—which served as the beginning of the Clone Wars and the launch of the final chapter of Anakin Skywalker’s life as a Jedi. On that day, Anakin and Padmé confirmed their forbidden love for each other among the shadow of certain death. Attachment was always a problem for Anakin, a tough lesson he continually had to learn and was often at odds with. But here, as he was about to be publicly executed, the man who would be Vader finally received the reciprocation of his love for Padmé. She, the strong-willed queen turned senator who regularly put duty before herself, had reached that point as well. They fought for their lives that day. Anakin was essentially defeated by Count Dooku, saved only by Yoda. Padmé, a politician with her mind always on a peaceful solution, was now in a war. Her confession of love and their kiss was perhaps the last pure moment the two would share without the specter of war and secrecy hanging over them. And it all began at the Petranaki Arena.
As Vader delves deeper into the Death Star project and plays detective as saboteurs continue to do everything possible to delay or stop the destruction of the superweapon, he finds a moment to wander into the arena that played a big part in his other life. He sees Obi-Wan Kenobi fighting the Acklay, one of three beasts sent into the arena to kill Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé, and Mace Windu slaying battle droids. He had already helped kill one and would one day kill the other. He sees Padmé, his wife, the one the Emperor claims he killed, engaging in those infamous “aggressive negotiations.” And, most importantly, he sees himself. Young and in the thick of a fight he once believed in. One far different than the fight he is in now. It’s no longer a fight against Separatists and Sith Lords. And he’s not just fighting Imperial leaders and a growing Rebel insurgency. He is fighting that image of a young Jedi. He is fighting his choices. Darth Vader is fighting Anakin Skywalker.
The image of Darth Vader, walking around the arena in silence, hands behind his back, head down, submissive to his haunted memories, has emerged as one of the more powerful moments in the conflicted life of Anakin Skywalker. As a reader and Star Wars fan, it stuns you upon arrival. By this point in the issue, you are knee deep in the delicious rivalry between Tarkin and Vader. You’re getting tasty morsels of canon connecting the prequels, The Clone Wars, and Rogue One. And you’re witness to the moment Palpatine lets Vader know he is under the command of Tarkin. Then you turn the page and are faced with the inner workings and internal struggle of a monster.
It’s just a beat and the story continues. Vader’s sleuthing leads him back to the nest of the Geonosian queen and her hive—the saboteurs. Vader is merciless. Like he did once before, he uses his lightsaber to slash through the Geonosians. The queen has no chance. She’s cut into pieces. Vader at his worst? No, it’s Vader as he might have always been. For a second time, Wendig takes us back to his past and we see the image of Anakin slaughtering Tusken Raiders as he did in Attack of the Clones. The words that were once a harbinger of what was to come are echoed, “They were animals. So, I slaughtered them like animals.” The fight between Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker goes on.
Star Wars is driven by the timeless saga of good versus evil. Yet just beneath the surface are lessons and signposts for our own lives, often from surprising sources. It is initially a bit odd to see yourself in the life and times of Darth Vader, the iconic symbol for evil in the galaxy, but as his story continued to change inside the walls of the saga that became less and less of a stretch. I learned to feel for Vader as I’m sure you did. He was trapped. As Vader wanders silently through the Petranaki Arena, coming face-to-face with his ghosts, you can’t help but look back at your own journey, take a moment to consider the failures, and hope, that unlike Darth Vader, you won’t repeat your darkest of days.