What is your favorite Darth Vader quote?

Probably:

"Join me and together, we will rule the galaxy as father and son."

Honestly, this hits harder for me than "I am your father". Probably because I awkwardly was spoiled the whole scene with only knowing about Episodes I-II and background info about Star Wars at a friend's house, since they were watching the end of The Empire Strikes Back. I think I had only seen part of Episode IV before our tv at home messed up the audio, or we thought that the audio could be better on our other tv, so we stopped watching the SW recording.

I guess too, that's why I remember Luke waking up in the Falcon a lot. Vader's menacing- a remaining threat to Luke in many ways.

Also, Vader makes his appeal to Luke here, as well as his ambition. And a promise of the future to Luke. The lines between good and evil are very blurred here, too. I can't say that good and evil are really blurred like this again, although there are some possible attempts in ROTJ (Luke saving the group being treated as a shift towards the dark side), but I don't know if those work as well in terms of theme or atmosphere as well as TESB or even ANH- with Han Solo.

 

Hmm... I'm going to have to go with "Then you will die braver than most."
When he says this to Ezra, it feels as though the empire has finally won, and the rebellion is now finished. It just sums up so much of Darth Vader as a character, and left a lasting impact on my view of the empire as a whole.

 

Legends time!

when maul and Vader fought on Kalakar Six, Vader eventually impaled himself in his stomach, because maul was directly behind him. As maul died, he asked Vader , “what could you hate enough to destroy me?” to which Vader answered “myself.”

 

Cool impression!

I can't say if Vader would actually say that something would happen in the future. He's often bent on stopping a current threat ("I want to know what happened to the plans", "Join me, and together we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy"). Even when Vader starts getting into his inevitably/destiny mindset at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, it doesn't dwell on the future, just the present.

There is Vader's "And now princess, you will disclose the (whereabouts?) of your hidden base", but it's in respect to Vader being confident with his techniques and probe droid. When Vader fails, he doesn't act disappointed. He's like, "oh yeah, it didn't work?". He seems more thoughtful; he has such a cool head or mechanical disposition, for that matter.

I don't want or intend to nitpick, but I wanted to point out that even in Empire, Vader always saw himself as continually going after rebels, it never stopped. His "together we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy" shows that it's still not over for the Empire or Vader.

As much as I appreciate Filoni for trying to keep Star Wars going as well as its creativity, the mindset of Star Wars appears far isolated from what it once was. As much as people try replicating the sense of Star Wars, it appears impossible to connect with, except when trying to tie up loose ends (i.e. the prequels, Vader succeeding in his plan through his legacy in Kylo in TLJ, etc.).

 

@Olivia Kenobi beat me to the punch with Vader’s badass line from Rebels, so I’ll say my second favorite Vader line.

“All I’m surrounded by is fear. And dead men.”

 

Runner up - "You don't know the power of the Dark Side, I must obey!"

It was both an invitation to power and a confession of the consequence. It's where we see Vader as he really was - a slave, first to Watto, then to the Jedi Order, then to the Dark Side. The only free breath he ever took was his last.

Power is like that. We want more power because we think power makes us free, but in reality we become slaves to the pursuit. Darth Vader enslaved the Galaxy but couldn't free himself from bondage.

But the all time best Vader line, the most iconic utterance ever made from behind the helmet, was the moment he breathed in the mask for the first time.

Of course, a shout out to the other time he captured the audience with just his breath is in order - at the end of Rogue One, when he boards the Rebel ship in search of the stolen plans, right before he ignites his lightsaber in the dark.

 

"You don't know the power of the Dark Side, I must obey!"

Uh... I think it's actually "You don't know the power of the Dark Side, I must obey my master!" Vader's referring to the Emperor here.

It's not referring to Vader obeying the dark side. Now if you believe that the Emperor is purely symbolic of the dark side, okay you have a point there, otherwise I don't think so.

It was both an invitation to power and a confession of the consequence. It's where we see Vader as he really was - a slave, first to Watto, then to the Jedi Order, then to the Dark Side.

That's what Return of the Jedi promotes, along with undertones towards Luke inevitably turning dark in Empire. And while Luke often doesn't do the right thing in Empire, at the end of the day he STILL does the right thing, which is reject Vader's offer.

Also, Vader doesn't really act like a slave to the dark side, more like an agent of the dark side ("agent of evil"- Obi-wan indirectly refers to Vader when addressing Luke possibly going down the dark side (by somehow) pre-emptively fighting Vader) or just someone who uses it or is addicted to it. But TESB hardly promotes Vader as a victim, besides Yoda's words, just someone who turned evil, by going down the wrong path.

Here's some historical context for reference of how audience members viewed Vader in Empire:

0:18-0:27

 

OK, not technically a “Darth Vader” line, but still my favorite.

LUKE: I'll not leave you here. I've got to save you.

ANAKIN: You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister...you were right.

Breaks me every single time.

But, specifically on topic-
VADER: The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master.

It’s so simple and understated, yet illustrates everything you need to know about the character in that moment. He’s someone who has committed himself to the naked pursuit of power. He believes that’s the essence of true strength and the nature of the Force. He thinks that he’s surpassed his former mentor, when in reality, he’s not even close. This whole time, he’s only been obsessing over the tip of an iceberg that extends further below the surface than he can begin to comprehend. <chef’s kiss> beautiful.

 

That.



I would go for : "If you're not with me... then you're my enemy".
The basic binary alphabet : 0 or 1.
Yes or Not.
Even or Odd.

Do or Do Not ... there is no try.

 

On the list of iconic Vader quotes this one is probably near the bottom of the list but my favorite has always been: "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed..." the sole reason being I love the way he emphasizes the T's. Incredible delivery on the part of JEJ.

 

Pretty underrated line really.

I love that the story goes out of its way to sprinkle in the Empire’s disdain of the mystical. That they consider themselves the supreme power, with nothing above them, and how Vader exists as this extreme outlier to that ideology. He, as evil as he is, still has a belief system. It doesn’t need to be there. Vader could have been all onboard the Deathstar train, but clearly had reservations about the arrogance the weapon represented. Man, such good stuff

 

That's likely my favorite, too.

But it's even better when you see this absolutely mad man do his work!