Darth Vader is a Better Villan Than Voldemort

Throughout cinematic history, almost every time, we root for the protagonist, the stereotypical hero of a comical action film who may or may not have a tragic backstory worthy of sympathy and inspiration. Protagonists define a well-written story that can actually have an impact on its audience, however, there would not exist a protagonist without the villain. 

The heroine of the classic sci-fi franchise Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, would not have to bring peace back to the galaxy if Lord Darth Vader did not bring terror. Young wizard Harry Potter in the world-renowned book and film franchise would not be able to bring the wizarding world out of fear without defeating Lord Voldemort. They would simply be depressed men in their early 20s with no hope of aiding their lost childhoods and magical gifts. 

A strong villain makes or breaks a story. Two of the most iconic television sagas were two characters who broke the screen—Darth Vader and Lord Voldemort. Both traumatized and highly gifted students betrayed their teachers and rebelled against the system. Encasing their made-up worlds in a glaze of their own blood. Through the tears and veins of these fantasy and sci-fi sagas, Darth Vader and Voldemort have reintroduced cinema into the eyes of their audience. Not to be seen with inspiration but likely compassion for their fallen characters.

I have no sympathy for Voldemort and Darth Vader is by far the better villain. Darth Vader is broken, his affection shattered, and the love of his life dead. Within the cruelty and vicious slaughter, Darth Vader is not inherently a bad person, he is a tormented soul. Before he was a tyrant, he was kind. 

Every character needs a backstory, tragic or not. For a story to have a good antagonist, they must have a reasonable backstory; essentially they must have a ‘why, when, where, who’ that led the character to becoming a villain or a bad person. Growing up as a slave on the planet Tatooine with no father, Anakin Skywalker worked in mechanics. At nine years old, he was recruited by Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan apprentice Obi-wan Kenobi to become a Jedi himself. 

Over a decade later, after leaving his mother behind on Tatooine, Anakin and Obi-wan were assigned to Padme who became a senator for the republic. In an attempt to find Padme’s attempted assassinator, Anakin finds his lost mother only to say goodbye. Later throughout the film and although forbidden to love, Anakin married Padme. By the 2005 movie Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Anakin had shown his more than worthy abilities to the Jedi Counsel, however they rejected his status and request to become a master. Filled with greed, Anakin became increasingly attracted to the Dark Side, and then became lord Darth Vader under the apprenticeship of Darth Sidious. 

Voldemort grew up as Tom Marvolo Riddle estranged from his father, who abandoned him at birth, as an orphan and half muggle-born wizard. His mother, who died at birth, was a witch who imprisoned Tom’s muggle father with a love spell. Tom was eventually admitted into Hogwarts by Albert Dumbledore at age 11 successfully rescued from the deranged orphanage he grew up in. 

After being sorted into the house of Slytherin, Tom excelled at Hogwarts often exceeding the magical abilities of others. Pride and manipulation began revealing itself once he tasted the power he could have. After graduating Hogwarts, Tom Riddle officially deemed himself as Lord Voldemort to distance his past of being a half muggle. Then, Voldemort ruled as a thirst for power and pure blood supremacy within the wizarding world. 

Anakin Skywalker became a Sith not just as a hunger for power but also to save his wife, Padme, who he envisioned would die in childbirth. Tom Riddle attached himself to Dark Magic in an attempt to maintain pure blood wizard supremacy because of his abandonment from his muggle father. Anakin, though arrogant in his youth, was passionate and loving leading to his fall from grace. Tom, however, was manipulative and sociopathic, propelling his greed and controversy into the dark wizarding world. 

At the end of Return of the Jedi, we see his humanity seeping through to protect his son Luke after Palpatine attempted to kill him. Vader sacrificed himself and though he told Luke earlier in the film that “That name [Anakin] no longer has any meaning for me,” we saw a glimpse of Anakin when he died. When he came back as a force ghost with Obi-wan and Yoda, he came back as Anakin instead of Vader showing that his soul is at rest. 

Voldemort was not at rest, when he died, his soul was finally destroyed. Voldemort showed psychotic, narcissistic, and manipulative tendencies in his childhood through adulthood furthering his totalitarian values. His selfish nature drove his belief in pure-blood wizards, though not being a pure-blood wizard himself. 

Subsequently, Darth Vader was a more potent villain than Voldemort. His fall from grace and loss of his loved ones add to his anger. Becoming the second in command of the Galactic Empire, building the Death Star two times, and exterminating almost all Jedi, Darth Vader remained powerful for almost the entirety of his life. In his youth, he was a highly skilled mechanic, pilot, and Jedi Knight, then to fall to the Dark Side and turn into an almost grim reaper of the Force. 

Voldemort lived out of the Malfoy Manor and his childhood home to then be cast into the Albanian woods once he lost his body. Voldemort was not powerful for most of his life. He was very intelligent, especially in the eyes of Dumbledore, though he was always underestimated and never used to his full potential. His greed led him to Dark Magic to fulfill that need. He was not in tyranny for a very long time. Voldemort had an underground interworking of his group The Death Eaters which although gained power, were nothing more than a mob, having no real political significance within the wizarding world. Anakin Skywalker and Tom Riddle share many eras: rescued by an older wiser teacher, becoming the best in their class, in the entire union, then to be seduced by darker forces for extended powers. Though Darth Vader and Voldemort are very different.