Anakin Skywalker’s Youngling Slaughter Just Got Even More Disturbing

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: Darth Vader #44! The story of Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side within Star Wars canon is littered with countless atrocities committed by the former Jedi, though none were as heinous as the slaughter of Jedi younglings. Yet somehow, that truly evil act of murderous violence just got even more disturbing, as Star Wars confirms Darth Vader has a hidden Force ability that only heightens the immense suffering his actions caused.

In Star Wars: Darth Vader #44 by Greg Pak, Adam Gorham, and Paul Fry, Darth Vader and his Schism Imperial make some significant strides in their efforts to destroy Palpatine. They overtake a facility that housed a planet-killing weapon, they take control over a factory manufacturing Battle Droids, and Vader continues exhibiting complete control over his cyborg army, the MAR Corps. And it’s that last point that leads to the revelation about Vader’s secret Force ability, as the consciousnesses within each member of the MAR Corps are screaming within their own trapped minds, and Vader can hear them – constantly.

What’s more horrific than Darth Vader hearing the screams and feeling the anguish of his cybernetic slaves, is the fact that he doesn’t seem to care. Readers only learn of this hidden Force ability because another Force-sensitive person working with Vader, Administrator Sly Moore, picked up on the horrors emanating from the minds of the MAR Corps, and could barely stand due to the pain it caused her. It’s then made clear that her telepathic sensitivity is nothing compared to Vader’s, yet he stands idly by, enduring the screams of those he’s torturing without so much as a flinch.

If Darth Vader Can Feel the Pain of the MAR Corps, then the Same is True When He Slaughtered the Younglings

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith

When Anakin Skywalker finally succumbed to the temptations of Darth Sidious and became Darth Vader, he stormed the Jedi Temple during Order 66, and slaughtered every Jedi he found there – including the younglings. After walking into the room where the children were hiding, they approached Anakin, thinking that he would help save them from the onslaught. Instead, Anakin ignited his lightsaber and slaughtered the children where they stood.

Fear and pain flooded the room in which this atrocity occurred, as the horror of the younglings’ confusion was matched only by their gruesome deaths at the end of Anakin’s lightsaber. And now, Star Wars fans know that Anakin felt every bit of it, as if he, too, were one of the younglings being slaughtered.

Darth Vader’s Telepathic Sensitivity Explains Why He Never Sought Redemption

Anakin could hear the final thoughts of every youngling he killed, just as he could feel their pain ringing in his mind as if it were his own. That takes his slaughter of the younglings to a whole new, incredibly disturbing level – a level no one could come back from. Anakin felt the horrors of his actions first hand, and after hearing the final screams of scarred, dying children that he was killing, it’s no wonder Vader never sought redemption, as he knew all too well what he did, and knew that he could never see the light again afterward.

Darth Vader’s telepathic sensitivity through the Force also explains why he truly does not care about who he kills, as he becomes fully desensitized to murder after slaughtering younglings. Compared to the pleads and cries of murdered children screaming in his mind, nothing can phase Darth Vader, especially not some team of cyborgs. Indeed, Anakin Skywalker’s youngling slaughter just got even more disturbing in Star Wars lore, and it also better explains the utter ruthlessness of Darth Vader.

Star Wars: Darth Vader #44 by Marvel Comics is available now.