We Bet You Didn't Know That Darth Vader Has An Apprentice Who Is Canon

In the Star Wars fandom, many are already familiar with the idea of Darth Vader having a secret apprentice. Thanks to The Force Unleashed video game in 2008, players got to experience what it was like to play as a super powerful Force-user trained by Vader, and see what role that apprentice would play in the beginnings of the Rebellion. That apprentice was Galen Marek, better known as Starkiller. (George Lucas did not want him to have a Sith name, suggesting "Darth Icky" and "Darth Insaneous" dismissively.) But of course, this video game and its sequel are classified as Legends, and they would not quite fit in how the current canon has been established, given that the 3D-animated series Rebels painted a pretty clear picture of the beginnings of the Rebellion.

However, in canon, Vader does still, at some point, have an apprentice of sorts. This is one who is often off the radar when fans think of current Star Wars lore. The main reason for this is that, while this apprentice is also from a video game, it is a VR game, and we all know how expensive those can be. Not only that, but the apprentice does not even really have a known name. The game in question is 2019's Vader Immortal, which, like The Force Unleashed, is set before the original trilogy. And the character in question is simply known as "the Smuggler." So they do not even have an interesting codename, just a generic title. They are human, but their name and gender are unknown, probably to give players the feeling that they themselves are Vader's apprentice.

That's right. The apprentice is you. You are Darth Vader's apprentice, and you are canon.

Okay, not really, but moving along...

Darth Vader actually takes on this Force-sensitive person as an apprentice to further his own agenda. If you do not want SPOILERS for this VR game, maybe you will want to leave. But if you do not care about spoilers, that is fair, and I will now reveal a bit more. The smuggler is actually a descendent of Mustafarian royalty. Their ancestor is Lady Corvax, who in the far past tried to resurrect her husband through a ritual using an artifact known as the Bright Star. The result, however, is the destruction of Mustafar, turning it into the volcanic world with which we are familiar. So in the game, Vader is using this descendent, as he wants to use the artifact to power the Aeon Engine so that he may try to resurrect his dead wife, Padme Amidala. So Vader trains the Smuggler in the ways of the dark side so that he can achieve his own goal.

But of course, Vader is unsuccessful, as the Smuggler decides to go against Vader by destroying the Aeon Engine. Through these actions, life begins to return to Mustafar. (Hence the trees at the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker.) Since the Smuggler is still alive, there is still a chance for them to appear in a future story within the canon. Of course, that would probably depend on whether or not the creatives want to provide more specific details about the character, which could slightly alter the experience of playing as a character who could be like anyone. Only time will tell whether or not we see more of the Smuggler. As predictable as it may be, perhaps the future of this character is that they join up with the Rebel Alliance at some point and join the fight against the Empire. Who knows?

Written By Steven Shinder

Source(s): CBR

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