I’m what you would call a trade-waiter. By that I mean I wait until the collected trade paperback comes out rather than collect the individual issues of a comic storyline, so this article is a little late news-wise, but that’s okay. The newest Darth Vader TPB just came out and has a great cinematic storyline. Essentially, it should be called Dark Heart of the Sith starring Keira Knightley.
Darth Vader wants to find out what happened to his son Luke after being born – to find out who betrayed him by hiding his secret wife, Padme. When he last saw Padme, he had Force-choked her on the shores of Mustafar. Minutes later, he was missing some limbs and being horribly burned. His wife was kidnapped/rescued (depending on your point of view) by Obi-Wan Kenobi and his child whisked away. With Doctor Aphra’s help previously, he filled in some of those blanks so he knows what happened after Padme’s death. Now, obviously, Vader had no idea he had twins (although I’m not sure why he didn’t use the Force to determine there were 2 babies inside – or maybe the Force didn’t show him). Vader partners with a non-friendly Imperial forensics droid (who I’m imagining as sounding like if Malcolm McDowell starred in CSI) and some Death Troopers. He tears through Padme’s sealed-off Coruscant apartment and finds a secret group has been monitoring the situation. But who?
Vader then meets up with…Padme Amidala? But no, that’s not her, although she looks just like Natalie Portman. Who does that sound like? The oft-forgotten Handmaidens, Padme’s decoys/bodyguards who all look just like her. This particular handmaiden is Sabe. Yes, Keira Knightley’s character from The Phantom Menace. While I was never fooled cinematically, apparently Portman’s and Knightley’s mothers were during filming back in the 1990’s. Since Menace, Knightley has become a great actress. Really, if you think of Keira Knightley from the Pirates movies, you can easily have her once again embody the role of Sabe.
The two of them form an alliance to find out who killed Padme. Vader, of course, initially thought he killed Padme (because the Emperor told him he did) and he wants to find out who hid his son away from him (he’s keeping the whole son thing close to the chest. And the fact that he was Anakin Skywalker and knew Padme intimately). Does Sabe know about Luke and Leia being the children of Padme and Anakin? Did she initially think the baby died when Padme died? There was presumably a lot Padme didn’t tell her own Handmaidens. The two of them go to familiar planet to planet, picking up characters we haven’t seen since the Prequel trilogy, like Captain Typho. They take a Gungan sub (something that Anakin has never been in since he was picked up by the Jedi after this particular adventure) through the planet core and encounter some giant Naboo sea creatures.
Now we’re in the Gungan City minus any Gungans! Not sure why they all left, presumably because the Empire was aware of them and their hidden bases on Naboo. We see a familiar painting (representing the end of Phantom Menace where Boss Nass holds up the glowing orb of peace) and Sabe deliberately points out a young Anakin to Vader. Now we find out why they are there, to get their revenge. Sabe and her group already think Vader killed both Padme and Anakin Skywalker and have based their whole goal around this “fact.” They call themselves “Amidalans” and pledge revenge against who killed their Queen and her protector. And then have a Sando Aqua Monster attack Vader inside the Gungan City. Vader bad-ass-illy kills the creature and goes to confront more Amidalans at Theed, Capital City of Naboo.
Ric Ollie, the pilot from Menace who taught little Annie how to fly, is the first to confront Vader, invoking Anakin’s name, not knowing the true identity of Vader. Vader and his troops battle this group, killing virtually all of them. Guarding Padme’s tomb (complete with a glass case with the Japor snippet Annie once gave Padme) are the remaining Handmaidens. Most of them we know from the Prequel trilogy and the former extras have turned into A-List actors and directors. To see these women are great and nostalgic, stepping away from Padme’s shadow to become their own group of similar-looking people but with their own identities. One of these women is swinging around a staff, looking tremendously like Rey (first according to a Twitter user and I agree after the fact).
Anyway, all the Handmaidens are named (and conveniently, where we know them from). Name recognition-wise, I know Sache, played by Sofia Coppola and Dorme, played by Rose Byrne. The rest I’m not sure of. Coppola went on to be quite the director, including The Bling Ring. Rose Byrne is a great A-List actor who was in X-Men First Class among other movies. Having these two ladies with Keira Knightly is like getting even more A-Listers attached to a Star Wars project like Obi-Wan or The Mandalorian. If you can see Timothy Olyphant or Rosario Dawson acting in Star Wars, you can imagine those three in their first roles.
The Handmaidens fight Vader but he oddly lets them live. Vader desecrates Padme’s grave despite Sabe’s misgivings. He finds out where Padme and Obi-Wan went after Mustafar and even lets the Handmaidens live and tells them the location as well. As the Emperor states later on, Vader is deep in grief and nostalgia for his old life. Vader, the droid and his troops go to Polis Masa, where the twins were born in the final moments of Revenge of the Sith. The Amidalan fleet attack Vader and his troops but Vader apparently is ready with weaponry and devastates the fleet. We presume the Handmaidens survive since we never see them die to come back another adventure. Vader and the Forensics Droid find the droid who helped Padme birth the twins (“Ooba…Ooba..”) and downloads her memory. Luckily, the droid’s memory banks left out the fact that Padme gave birth to twins before dying. He sees Padme’s final moments before she died, stating there’s still good in Anakin. Vader promptly destroys Malcolm McDowell as a droid, which is par for the course for anybody who figures out he was once Anakin Skywalker. Apparently, Vader found out what he wanted to find out but the Handmaidens are pre-empted their revenge. Since they now know Padme survived past Mustafar, they may not know what to think when it comes to the deaths of Padme and Anakin. The TPB ends with the Emperor juicing up his Force Lightning against Lord Vader for not being a very good Sith.
Presumably, we’ll meet up with the Sabe and the Handmaidens/living Amidalans in another adventure.
Star Wars: Darth Vader By Greg Pak: Volume 1: Dark Heart Of The Sith @ ForbiddenPlanet.com
