No other character in the Star Wars universe even comes close to being as thoroughly developed and beloved as Darth Vader. He’s the baddest, boldest, darkest, most mysterious villain in the history of pop culture. From blasting through the doors of the Tantive IV, to Force-choking Captain Antilles, to (sort-of) striking down old Ben Kenobi, to expertly eliminating numerous Rebels while piloting his Tie Advanced through the trenches of the Death Star, Darth Vader established himself as a force to be reckoned with. From there, Vader’s character continued to be developed throughout the Original Trilogy: taking out anyone who fails to meet his expectations—even his officers, cunningly trapping our heroes in Cloud City, totally dominating Luke through sheer brutality and flinging objects through the Force, to unveiling his ultimate plan to finally overthrow the Emperor with his son at his side. In Return of the Jedi, Vader’s redemption is the most powerful redemption analogy in all fiction—even if the face under the mask wasn’t quite what we were expecting.

            The Prequel Trilogy marked not only a massive turning point in Star Wars storytelling, but in Vader/Anakin’s mythology as well. George Lucas started talking about the saga as the story of Anakin Skywalker in an overarching operatic way. We met a charming and gifted little boy, showing flashes of Vader in his expertise behind the wheel of the podracer and starfighter, and his fixation on family as he experiences the tremendous loss in being ripped from his mother in order to train as a Jedi. Attack of the Clones advanced Anakin’s story by a decade, placing him at the end of his training under Ob-Wan. He’s headstrong, quick-tempered, and desperate for love. He is rendered useless when faced with the power of a Sith Lord. He takes tragic steps down a dark path as he loses his mother and takes the lives of the tribe of Tusken Raiders. He crosses yet another line of the Jedi as he marries Padmé on her homeward of Naboo.

            Revenge of the Sith is Vader’s origin story in a more focused sense. He is a true hero of the galaxy, having been tried and tested in the Clone Wars. But in his attempt to find love after losing his mother, Anakin has fallen under the influence of a Sith Lord. In relying on Palpatine as his father figure, the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise is the tease he needed to tempt Anakin to the Dark Side as he desperately desires to save Padmé from meeting a similar fate as his mother. As Anakin aided Palpatine against Mace Windu and subsequently stormed the Jedi Temple (RIP younglings), and took violent action against both his wife and Master on Mustafar, Vader was born in a womb of fire, rage, betrayal, and deception.

            Not to mention the indisputably best all-time Vader scene, where he ravaged the Rebels in pursuit of the Death Star plans at the end of Rogue One!

            In the Expanded Universe, the Dark Lord has received dedicated attention across Canon and Legends, prose and comics. Darth Vader is to Star Wars what Wolverine is to the X-Men universe; he’s everywhere all the time, having virtually every corner of his chronology fleshed out. Just when you think we couldn’t get any more Vader, yet another mind-blowing book is published. The remarkable thing is that the vast majority of Darth Vader stories are remarkably well-written. If you’ve come to love Vader through the films, you’re in for a treat in the EU.

            This guide is specifically for the Vader side of Skywalker; for more on the Jedi, Anakin, we’ve got a guide in the works for him too! With Vader, you can’t go wrong with any of these recommendations. A good starting point would be either Revenge of the Sith’s novelization (one of our foundational five EU books!) for an in-depth perspective on Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side. Legendary comics creator Charles Soule recently wrapped up his masterpiece series, Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, which begins shortly after ROTS and wrestles with everything from Vader’s lingering desire to rescue Padmé from death to his complicated feelings for Palpatine to his quest to defeat the last of the Jedi and construct his iconic Sith lightsaber. Lords of the Sith was one of the first books under the umbrella of the new canon, and serves as an outstanding Vader/Palpatine team-up story as they look to squash the threat of the Ryloth rebellion. While it doesn’t explicitly feature Darth Vader himself, Bloodline is included because it explores the story Leia discovering the truth about her father’s true identity.

            But we can’t leave out Legends! James Luceno’s Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader told the story of Vader getting acclimated to the armor and to his new Sith persona, seeking to prove himself in the new Empire as he tracks down a band of renegade Jedi survivors. This theme of taking out remaining Jedi pervades this era, as is seen in the Purge comics and in The Force Unleashed.

            This barely scratches the dark surface of the galaxy’s greatest cyborg, and will without a doubt be doubled before we know it. Love him or hate him—perhaps both—Vader is irresistible for his potential in storytelling. When you’ve read a few of these, you’ll never underestimate the power of the Dark Side again.

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