Unmasking Vader
In “Part VI” of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the titular Jedi master duels his former apprentice Anakin Skywalker, now transformed into Darth Vader. At the end of the duel, Obi-Wan manages to slash Vader’s helmet, revealing the left side of Anakin’s face. Obi-Wan, moved and horrified, tries to apologize to his old padawan, but Anakin refuses his sympathy and insists that their relationship is now defined by enmity: “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker. I did… the same way I will destroy you.”
In “Twilight of the Apprentice: Part 2” (Rebels 2.22), Ahsoka Tano duels her former master Anakin Skywalker, now transformed into Darth Vader. At the end of the duel, Ahsoka manages to slash Vader’s helmet, revealing the right side of Anakin’s face. Like Obi-Wan, Ahsoka is horrified and extends sympathy to her old master, along with an implicit apology for how she hurt him in the past: “I won’t leave you. Not this time.” And, as he did with Obi-Wan, Anakin responds by refusing this sympathy and insisting that their relationship is now defined by enmity: “Then you will die.”
In Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker duels Darth Vader, hoping to transform him back into his father Anakin Skywalker. After the duel has ended, Vader – who, having accepted Luke’s sympathy, now relates to him as a loving father – asks Luke to remove his helmet: “Luke, help me take this mask off... Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes.”
Anakin’s former master and apprentice can forcibly unmask Vader in combat, partially revealing Anakin’s face behind the mask, but they cannot overcome his self-protective hatred to reestablish their relationships with him. It is only the non-violent love of his son that prompts Anakin to willingly take off his mask and vulnerably enter into relationship with another again.
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Characters: Ahsoka Tano / Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader / Luke Skywalker / Obi-Wan Kenobi
Shows: Obi-Wan Kenobi / Rebels
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