Luke Skywalker helped Darth Vader find redemption just before his death, with his last act of selflessness sparing Vader from a horrific fate that completely redefines the suffering of the Sith. Legends canon reveals that beyond the veil of death exists a realm so cruelly painful, that it makes sense why Palpatine was so insistent on achieving immortal life.

Sometimes I feel like people forget that Star Wars is an inherently mystical and spiritual franchise. Beyond starships and robots, the Force exists as a semi-sentient metaphysical realm that reflects and influences the actions and emotions of the living.

In the Legends miniseries Star Wars: Empire’s End by Tom Veitch and Jim Baikie, readers are introduced to the concept of a hellish existence that awaits the Sith upon death. Buried deep within the Netherworld of the Force , exists a chaotic realm where the spirits of dead Sith Lords reside, forced to endlessly wander in madness.

Star Wars’s Sith Hell Is a World Reflective of Its Prisoners’ Madness

Star Wars: Empire’s End - Written by Tom Veitch; Art by Jim Baikie; Lettering by Lois Buhalis; Cover Art by Dave Dorman

This realm, frequently referred to as “Chaos” or “The Void,” is described by Palpatine to be an infinitely dark dimension whose residents are forced to wander in madness for eternity. The Emperor, who at this point in the Legends comics used clones to prolong his life after Return of the Jedi, its that his efforts to achieve immortality are driven by his fear of returning to that realm. Darth Plagueis once described Chaos as a reflective world that forces its inhabitants to endlessly endure their most intense negative thoughts and emotions without any relief.

So far, the current Star Wars canon has yet to contradict this piece of lore, meaning that, even today, Darth Vader narrowly avoided this same harrowing fate. Through his final act of redemption, Anakin saved himself from eternal damnation, pardoned from having to forever face his most volatile emotions and thoughts. The Force is not a punitive power, instead swaying with the emotional weight of one’s soul. Relinquishing decades' worth of hate and anguish, Anakin Skywalker was reborn just in time for his soul to re-embrace the Light before traveling to the Netherworld of the Force.

Darth Vader Would Have Turned Chaos Into His New Dominion

Anakin Skywalker Is the Progeny of the Force, After All

However, it may have been for the betterment of the Force that Anakin not be subjected to Chaos. Anakin was an immaculate child, the Chosen One who brought balance to the Force through his reign of terror. Once conscripted to stand in the place of force-wielding gods, Anakin is partially the living embodiment of the Force, capable of manipulating the mystical power rather than simply wielding it. As Vader, when in his meditative state, the Force bent to his might, becoming twisted by his immeasurable hate and suffering.

If Darth Vader had never embraced salvation, I believe that Chaos would have bent to his madness, subjecting spirits like Palpatine to Vader’s pain rather than their own. We know that, within the Force, Anakin is as close to a god as a single spirit can become. We’ve seen him freely traverse the World Between Worlds with ease, embracing both sides of the Force. Where Palpatine embraced the Dark Side to avoid its eternal “punishment,” Vader wielded his suffering, ing the idea that he would have persisted in death as a ruling power in the accursed domain.

No Sith Lord Embraces Suffering Like Vader

I Know That Darth Vader Could Have Become Something Worse

I see something in Vader’s death that leads to more than just his suffering. He is an unmatched power, conceived by the living Force. If the Force had willed Vader to never have found redemption, he would have become transformed into the sentient embodiment of the Dark Side, just as the Son was before him. Chaos would have been defined by his suffering. And, if he proved to be powerful enough, Darth Vader would have been empowered by the Void’s endless suffering, evolving into the power that future Dark Side wielders call upon.

I don’t see this feat being outside of Vader’s grasp. He, like his masters before him, is a persistent being, never accepting failure or death. Chaos is a realm of suffering in which all Sith Lords are destined to reside, and no Sith understands and embraces their suffering more than Vader. Knowing the horrific cruelty that he caused in life, I can’t imagine the destruction he could reap from within the Force.

I can’t see Darth Vader’s redemption the same, not because it saved Anakin from a hellish fate, but because I believe it saved the Force from something worse.