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While Darth Vader’s introduction heralded the domination of the Dark Side for years to come, Anakin’s fall from grace also scarred his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. With his stories after failing to save Anakin being shown in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series, it may help to identify other surprising powers both Anakin and Darth Vader developed throughout their life as both Jedi Knight and eventual Dark Lord.

10 Force Lightning

When one taps into the Dark Side of the Force, Force Lightning is one of the first offensive techniques they get to learn. They need to tap into their inner rage and anger to transform it into lightning, making for a devastating blast. While Darth Sidious is a popular use of this ability, Anakin as Darth Vader technically knows how to do this as well. Unfortunately, using this would be too cumbersome for his body that it would physically destroy him in the process.

Due to the existence of various life-support systems in Darth Vader’s suit, it’s possible for the Force Lightning to short-circuit his armor and kill him once he decides to use Force Lightning. The closest Darth Vader has got to unleashing Force Lightning was his fight against Luke Skywalker on Mimban, when the Dark Lord’s proximity to the planet’s Kaiburr crystal allowed him to safely summon “Force-energized lightning” into a ball of kinetic energy called the Kinetite.

9 Lightning Redirection, Channeling

Just because Darth Vader couldn’t naturally generate Force Lightning out of his own risk doesn’t mean he cannot use lightning in combat entirely, especially since Darth Sidious himself taught Darth Vader the essentials of Force Lightning. Darth Vader has demonstrated a multitude of ways to accomplish Lightning Redirection and Channeling, allowing him to use natural lightning to unleash devastating attacks.

For instance, Darth Vader was able to redirect lightning from lightning rods to attack Starkiller from afar in their battle on Kamino. Likewise, Darth Vader was able to block and redirect Galen Marek’s Force Lightning with just the Force in the first Death Star, and even disable Starkiller’s Force Lightning through his lightsaber with minimal effort.

8 Telekinetic-Empowered Movement

Despite the rather mundane nature of Telekinesis, it’s a surprising Force Power to associate with Darth Vader. After all, his intimidating and imposing look would seem like he wouldn’t need to float or throw objects in a fight, but there’s a lot in play with this ability.

It’s important to remember that the life support suit Darth Vader is wearing actually weighs 12.2 kilograms, restricting his movement and transforming his athletic body at his prime to his disadvantage. However, Darth Vader can actually circumvent this via the Force, using Telekinetic-Empowered Movement to be able to lift his cumbersome armor much faster to compensate.

Unfortunately, the sheer effort needed to do this continuously means Darth Vader still moves much slower than his previous self. This compensation also forced Darth Vader to adjust his fighting style, giving him a much more direct approach with telekinetic-empowered leaps and jumps.

7 Advanced Telekinesis

While Telekinesis via the Force is commonly associated with pulling objects inward or pushing them out, certain Force users can use Advanced Telekinesis to generate a myriad of effects. Chief among them are grabbing objects with Force Grips, flinging objects with Force Throw, or pushing objects away with Force Push. A more advanced form of these techniques was Force Choke, which Anakin used to accidentally kill his wife, and has been fondly using since he’s become Darth Vader.

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However, what makes Darth Vader extremely deadly is how he’s able to use Advanced Telekinesis to counter other Force users. For instance, he’s able to use Advanced Telekinesis to create Force Barriers for protection, but can just as easily create powerful Force blasts to tear through them with ease.

6 Force Speed, Force Jump

Aside from the ability of Force users to unleash telekinetic blasts to push enemies away, they themselves can use the Force to propel themselves forward in bursts of speed. Called Force Speed, this is a Force power that allows users to either maintain their sprinting speed and/or achieve greater speed in short periods of time. He also uses Force Jump to leap higher distances to chase foes in combat.

These methods to increase speed come with a perk that lets Force users perceive the environment much more slowly, allowing them to observe things more clearly and perceive and dodge attacks. Anakin and his more aggressive, saber-reliant fighting style meant he uses these abilities more frequently alongside his more agile Form IV specialization. Even Darth Vader’s new and more direct combat approach benefits from the added mileage courtesy of these powers.

5 Extreme Precognition

One of the more remarkable Force Powers a Jedi might have would be Foresight, especially with dreams of the future. Anakin has demonstrated this early on when he predicted not just that he’ll become a Jedi, but even to the point of predicting the eventual deaths of both his mother and future wife.

However, one of the more powerful manifestations of this ability lies in his Precognition, which allows him to use his foresight to such a specific degree that he can use this in combat. As Darth Vader, Precognition allows him to predict and anticipate enemy attacks and use his combat prowess to eliminate foes before they can even lay their lightsaber on him.

4 Energy Absorption

A lot of members of the Jedi Order practice something called Tutaminis, which is a term used to classify all Force abilities related to Energy Absorption. Techniques under this umbrella include deflecting blaster shots with lightsabers or catching a lightsaber’s blade with one’s own hand. More advanced techniques would include absorbing blaster shots with hands alone, without any need for deflection.

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Darth Vader demonstrates a remarkable mastery of this ability, such as absorbing Han Solo’s blaster shot and then returning fire. He can even deflect blaster shots through the Force alone, or even create a Force barrier dense enough to protect himself from both lightsaber and Force attacks, as seen in his battle with Malek.

3 Telepathy

Aside from his precognitive abilities, Darth Vader’s psychic prowess actually extends to Telepathy itself. While he showed this first by “talking” to Luke after their Bespin duel, Vader can use his Telepathy in a myriad of ways. For instance, Darth Vader was able to “scan” the fact that Luke had a twin sister. Most deadly is perhaps his ability to use Telepathy to “drain” knowledge from his opponents, such as when he “drained” Tark’s mind to learn of his true identity and past.

While Darth Vader uses this rarely, this means not only does he have the means to predict his opponent’s moves but also read them anyway. The fact that Darth Vader can study his enemy beforehand and utilize that for his combat means he has all the means to counter his foes.

2 Animal Friendship

With the Force being a presence that emanates through all living things, everyone is by some measure connected through the Force. As such, Force users can use this “connection” with the Force among others to tap into the emotions of others and be able to “communicate” beyond language. Due to the vastness of the galaxy, this allows users to interact with animals and even form bonds with them, with the ability being generally called Animal Friendship.

Anakin first displays this ability in the Battle of Geonosis after meeting a random reek and taming it for him to ride it in such a short span of time. However, Anakin notes that his Animal Friendship is much weaker compared to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s. Regardless, Darth Vader may be able to exhibit the same degree of Animal Friendship to other species despite his new appearance.

1 Force Healing

It’s thanks to his specialized armor and cybernetic implants that Anakin is still able to function as Darth Vader, particularly through his suit’s respiratory systems. However, Darth Vader is also known to be experimenting with various methods of Force Healing to see if there are ways for him to slowly heal the massive damage his body has suffered. This is akin to the Force Healing abilities of Force users that allow them to heal damage afflicted towards them.

As such, Darth Vader was also able to tap into the Dark Side to give himself temporary relief during his meditations. This seconds-lasting relief eventually became minutes-lasting through training, and Darth Vader was confident that continuous training would allow him to subsist naturally without the need for his suit. Slight proof of this was when he was able to function high up in the atmosphere without his helmet and survive through Force Healing, courtesy of sheer force of will and anger.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will begin airing on May 27, 2022.

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