Review: ‘Darth Vader’ #33 – ‘Unbound Force – Part 1’ Tests Sabé Again as Vader Loses Control
There’s a disturbance in the Force running through Star Wars comics right now. The events of Hidden Empire have triggered waves through the Force that ripple across the galaxy, and when they hit, Force sensitives are more powerful than ever. It even traveled as far as No-Space, which enabled Luke Skywalker to defeat the Nihil killdroids in the main Star Wars comic run. While Luke is struggling to deal with the Force waves in that series, it seems dark side users are thriving in it, so naturally the Darth Vader series will be preoccupied with this for the next few months. Part 1 of Unbound Force deals directly with the consequences of these Force waves, the amplifying effects of it seeming to be a lot longer lasting for Darth Vader than it is for Luke.
These consequences come at a time when Vader is more conflicted than ever. His relationship with Sabé seems to be softening him as we approach the events of Return of the Jedi but he’s obviously not ready to turn away from the dark side yet. Sabé’s close proximity to Vader means she has to deal directly with the consequences of this Force wave, and it’s probably the most danger she’s ever been in.
This issue of Darth Vader continues to do what this series does best; giving us a look at how Anakin is feeling internally, and now it seems Sabé’s going to get a similar treatment going forward. It’s a fascinating read as Vader and Sabé’s abusive relationship somehow gets even more toxic. I’m looking forward to seeing how this all shakes out.
Spoilers ahead…
This issue starts off with a bit of a red herring; we see Sly Moore demanding that Mas Amedda reinstate her former powers and privileges, and I was looking forward to seeing more Imperial politics, when suddenly a huge explosion erupts from Palpatine’s throne room in the Imperial Palace.
We soon see that Palpatine is feeling the full effects of the Force wave and is loving it, screaming “Unlimited… uncontrolled… power!” in classic Sheev fashion. It’s a terrifying image, seeing one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy experiencing a massive surge in his powers. He can also sense Darth Vader during this wave and can feel his reaction. Rather than unbridled joy, Vader is instead consumed by fear.
Palpatine interprets this as Vader resisting the darkness and doubting his “true purpose” as a Sith Lord, but equally Vader is probably nervous that he’s lost control of his powers on board a Star Destroyer in the middle of space. He’s ripping metal plates out of the wall and ends up tearing a hole in the hull, which sucks him out into space as Sabé and the other Imperials desperately try to contain the damage.
As Sabé later points out in this issue, Vader has never really been fully in control. While he displays an incredible command of the Force, he’s always been riddled with conflict and struggled to keep his emotions in check. This probably makes for a dangerous cocktail when you add a power-boosting Force wave into the mix.
Sabé rescues him by bringing him aboard a shuttle and attempts to take him to the nearest planet with no sentient lifeforms nearby. Unfortunately Vader is still out of control and destroys their shuttle on descent; the pair crash into the ocean, and Sabé later wakes up on a desert island.
She walks inward to find Vader still struggling to control his powers. Throughout the issue we see Vader remembering Yoda’s words from The Phantom Menace: “Anger leads to hate, hate leads to…” The final word is changed a couple of times, as Vader tries to evoke the beliefs of Palpatine and the Sith Order that hate leads to “power”, but in the end he keeps coming back to the original line “hate leads to suffering”.
This is perhaps the biggest clue yet that Vader’s commitment to the dark side is faltering. He has flashbacks to The Phantom Menace, remembering leaving his mother, standing in front of the Jedi Council, and most importantly, his interactions with Padmé across the prequel trilogy (there’s even a gruesome flashback to the younglings scene in Revenge of the Sith). He is breaking as he starts to wonder what all this anger and hatred has brought him.
Unfortunately for Sabé, she can’t escape Vader right now as he pivots and decides to project his own issues onto her. He knows that Sabé isn’t consumed by hatred like him, allying with him to save lives and restore order rather than lord power over others. He decides to make her answer the question he is struggling to answer: does hate lead to suffering, or power? Whichever destination she arrives at, you suspect he will follow.
Sabé and Vader’s relationship has been something akin to Stockholm syndrome for a while now, and to see it reach new levels of toxicity is disturbing, to say the least. It will be very interesting to see how Sabé comes out of this. It doesn’t seem that she’ll die yet, so will she come out of this more warped and evil than before, reaffirming Vader’s own connection to the dark side? Or will she decide that all this hatred isn’t worth it, and if so, will Vader’s doubts increase or will he interpret it as weakness and shut it out, weakening their own connection?
I’m bracing myself to see what horrors Vader will subject Sabé to in the next issue, but I must admit it’s a pretty fascinating case study. I didn’t expect Sabé to still be around at this point, but their relationship has become very interesting. This is a curious arc, and hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of this Force wave business, but for the moment, I’m keen to see how Sabé passes this test that Vader has put before her.
Rating: 7/10
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
