In Obi-Wan Kenobi's third episode, Darth Vader finally tracked down his former Master and a brutal lightsaber battle ensued. "Ben" was running scared from his vastly more powerful adversary, and the fight culminated with the Sith Lord dragging Obi-Wan through fire in an effort to inflict the sort of pain on him that he once felt on Mustafar.
Talking to Vanity Fair, Obi-Wan Kenobi Head Writer Joby Harold explained his approach to writing a version of Vader who is out for revenge and at the height of his power 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
"It was very gratifying to see Vader finally be unleashed in a sequence like that, so we wanted to try to trump [Rogue One] if we could," he explains. "It was so important to define Vader’s anger and rage. There’s an emotionality to the choices he’s making that are a little further than we’re used to seeing with Vader. He’s pushed a little more than the Vader we know."
"The horror of the moment has an emotional weight because it’s calculated. And to your point, you don’t get to see the emotion beneath the stoicism of the silhouette. So it creates something that’s really scary. You are just hearing the breath and the footsteps and seeing the light of the red saber getting close. It’s the feeling of being hunted by that which hates you. It’s terrible."
Talking specifically about the aforementioned scene where Obi-Wan is left to burn by Vader (who warns him that his pain has only just begun), Harold shared some insights into what the villain is feeling beneath his mask.
"His choice is revealing the character beneath and the torture beneath – the pain inflicted and the eye-for-an-eye of it all. Vader can’t be talking about, you know, his feelings. So it has to be in action," Harold reveals. "That comes from dragging people down the street behind you to try to pull the Jedi out of hiding, and that comes in inflicting the same pain upon the Jedi that he did to you. It’s awful, but he should be awful. He’s Darth Vader."
Obi-Wan Kenobi definitely did a good job of reminding us that Anakin Skywalker became a monster when he turned to the Dark Side, and that he's still a long way off from redemption at this point. Even then, we can't help but feel that saving Luke and killing Emperor Palpatine was far from enough to make up for all the awful things the former hero did as Darth Vader.
What did you guys think about this epic rematch between Obi-Wan and Vader?