Warning! Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: Dark Droids #2!!!As Marvel’s Star Wars: Dark Droids event series heats up, Luke Skywalker has made it clear that Darth Vader’s Force abilities are less limited by his cybernetic components than the franchise has previously established, opening up the door to a level of Vader’s power that has never been seen before.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #2 – by Charles Soule and Luke Ross – finds Luke Skywalker answering inquiries regarding the nature of the Force posed by the Scourge-infected C-3PO.
Speaking about his cybernetic right hand, Skywalker admits that he feels no less connection to the Force than before his injury, suggesting that Vader is less hindered by his mechanical parts than previously thought.
The Force Flows Through Everything, Including Droids
In Soule’s Darth Vader #8 – with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli – readers glimpsed Vader’s inner psyche. Meditating, the Sith Lord envisioned himself wrapped in a crimson miasma representing the Dark Side, except for his cybernetic limbs – in Vader’s mind they were empty voids. Vader views his connection to the Force as “lessened”, lost along with his limbs. Luke, however, senses no such loss; the Force resides within him. His new hand is a further extension of his true self. It is possible the only actual consequence of Vader’s cybernetics is his inability to channel Force lightning – as proven by his eventual death, his cyborg components serve as effective electrical conductors.
The Meat And The Metal
Luke’s explanation in Dark Droids #2 is a wonderful demonstration of the differing views of the Force held by Light and Dark Side users. Luke sees the Force on a spiritual level, where he, and all things, are part of a greater, ethereal whole. Vader remains rooted in a more material world. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Star Wars has explored either the concept of the Force residing within droids nor the idea that losing your physical form lessens an organic being’s connection to the Force. In the Legends continuity, the droid bounty hunter 4-LOM strove to be a Jedi Knight, showing an affinity for Force-sensitivity previously only seen in organic beings.
Similarly, General Grievous’s experiences with a Jedi temple in Star Wars: Age of Republic – General Grievous mirrored that of Vader. An entity within the temple comments that Grievous has “stripped away” his own connection to the Force by replacing he nearly his entire body with cybernetics, effectively making him “smaller”. In Grievous’s vision, he is little more than a handful of organs and nerves, the last vestiges of his organic body. Like Vader, this may simply be a matter of perception: Grievous harbors a deep-seated hatred for Force-sensitivity, and his own connection may be lessened not in the replacement of his body, but by his motivation to do so.
As Obi-Wan Kenobi once remarked, Vader is “more machine now than man.” While Vader’s cyborg visage is menacing, and provides him with inhuman strength, it has long been considered Vader’s greatest weakness. However, Marvel’s Star Wars seems intent on rewriting this aspect of the franchise’s lore, one of many innovations that the company’s current Star Wars comics have brought to the Disney-era continuity. The implications of Luke Skywalker’s conversation with C-3PO are massive – if Darth Vader’s connection to the Force has been weakened by his injuries, it is only because he perceives it to be so, meaning that weakness is something he can overcome.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #2 is on sale now from Marvel Comics
