Star Wars Head Dave Filoni Has A Brilliant Reason For Why Darth Vader Is So Vicious

The following post contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord" Episodes 9 and 10, "Strange Allies" and "The Dark Lord."

Darth Vader shows up in the "Maul — Shadow Lord," and it is easily the highlight of the season. This version of the Dark Lord speaks no words, which actually made one of our writers wish "Star Wars" would just recast Darth Vader. He doesn't taunt his victims. He's locked in and is quite vicious.

During a screening of the finale in theaters, an Instagram user posted a video of Lucasfilm President Dave Filoni talking about the series' portrayal of Vader. Notably, Filoni noted that Vader is focused on one thing: destroying.

"To me, the key is not to actually give [Vader] a character; he's devoid of it," Filoni explained. "He doesn't care. Darth Vader does not care; he does not have compassion. He does not see you. He sees the thing he's going to destroy, and he will do that. It's like the same feeling you got in 'Rogue One' when he comes down the hallway. He doesn't talk to those guys. He's going to destroy them. He has one mission. He's a destroyer."

As Filoni puts it, one important thing about the Dark Lord in this period before the Battle of Yavin is that Vader is hellbent on destroying anything and everything that reminds him of Anakin.

"Anything that reminds him of Anakin, he's going to destroy," Filoni said "When he sees the Jedi, he's going to destroy the Jedi, because the Jedi would remind him unconsciously or consciously that he betrayed all of his friends and everything he knew and the life he grew up with, for what? For nothing. He lost everything [...] If he were to face what he did, it would destroy him more."

Under the Disney era of "Star Wars," Vader has become more like a classic movie monster. He's terrifying, all-powerful, and uncomplicated. He's a pure monster. Not that there is no nuance to the character, but the lack of nuance is the point of Vader. Sure, we see traces of Anakin almost come to the surface, like when he fought Obi-Wan in the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" TV show, or when he faced Ahsoka in "Rebels," in a rather similar lightsaber duel. Still, he quickly shut down his emotions and went back to the old Vader.

Critically, it is only after the Battle of Yavin that Vader starts to change, when he first senses Luke. "Only his son could make him spark, could make him see something," Filoni said, explaining that Vader's character has to remain static until this moment. "The reason for that is that this is George's character. This is the backbone of the whole thing. And you don't want to do anything that interrupts that, or changes that, or diverts that."

Indeed, this is the crux of Darth Vader. He spent two decades trying to convince himself and the world that Anakin Skywalker had died and nothing was left of him. But the moment he realizes Anakin had a son and he is still alive, he can't do it anymore, and it opens the door to his redemption. Looking at the big picture, it does make the increased appearances of Vader as a pure murder machine add to his overall character arc. He has to be vicious because it makes his ultimate sacrifice hit harder.