Why does Darth Vader never run in Star Wars?

Not only Darth Vader One of the most despicable villains in “Star Wars” (Although at least he didn’t use the dying screams of Deisonette’s children to torture people), but he’s also one of the most iconic villains in all of cinema. He is an instantly recognizable figure by his silhouette alone; However his stiff, expressionless ‘face’ presents a permanent, somewhat severe frown. The man is just the embodiment of fear, someone you take one look at and instantly know is bad news.

Designing the character was not easy, and For Star Wars creator George Lucas, the key was how Darth Vader moved and acted. The costume certainly did a lot of work, as did the fantastic vocal performance by James Earl Jones. Whatever the case, David Prowse’s physical performance was also essential to making the character a huge, intimidating presence even when he barely moved.

In fact, when you think about it, Vader barely moves at all in any of his appearances. Sure, he swings his lightsaber around a bunch of stuff, and does some heavy walking, but Vader never runs. Many “Star Wars” video games even make him walk slowly, and at most force him to rush to get places more quickly. Why is this? Well, we have some ideas.

Keep in mind that walking instead of running is a very classic evil trait. It shows confidence and, as such, immediately makes the opponent more threatening. You rarely see Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, or the T-1000 in The Terminator (which is the scariest Terminator movie ever), so why would Vader be any different? He should not stalk his enemies, rather they should tremble at the sight of them and resign themselves to the inevitability of Vader killing them. After all, Anakin’s last name was Skywalker, not Skyrunner.

Then there are the practical reasons. Like Batman’s costume, Vader’s large suit isn’t very comfortable or practical. Prowse can barely raise his arms high in the air because of his Vader suit, so running around would certainly look completely ridiculous in this costume – not to mention the very real possibility of Vader tripping on his long cape. Vader’s suit is meant to look cool, not necessarily move well.

However, the most likely cause is also very simple: lung problems. We all know that Vader needs help breathing, so doing physically draining activities like running could pose a major health risk to a middle-aged Sith Lord whose body was badly burned after his mentor and friend left him for dead. Then there’s the fact that Vader has not one but two prosthetic legs, which may not allow him all that much movement.

There is a long-standing theory among some fans that Vader’s suit is not actually the latest in medical technology, but was intentionally designed to keep the Sith Lord in constant excruciating pain so that he would never be more powerful than Darth Sidious. According to this theory, Palpatine made sure that his apprentice would not kill him and take over as the ultimate Dark Lord, even though this is the entire Sith style (See also this whole “second base” thing).

In the non-canonical Extended Universe also known as Star Wars Legends, especially the novel “Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader”, Vader himself points out that his mechanical limbs are less advanced than current technology at the time. This means that his master gave him a pain suit so that he would be more in tune with the dark side of the Force thanks to his anger. (As we all know, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.)

But this is no longer the case in current law. Now, Vader’s suit is clearly the most advanced piece of machinery in the galaxy, even though he has to constantly inject straight-up painkillers into Vader to relieve his pain (from burning in lava again). Vader also comes to embrace the suit and how it isolates him from the rest of the galaxy, allowing him to focus his anger and hatred on becoming a stronger tool for the dark side.

The new “Star Wars” canon has done a lot to expand on and explain Darth Vader, including… How did his lightsaber come about? And how his suit was made, but there was never a way he could run more easily or not. Maybe this is just another unnecessary Disney+ show.