Star Wars fans had a weird relationship to Darth Vader in 1977

If Star WarsIt was released in theaters on December 7, 1977. Fans had no clue that it would become a trilogy or remain popular for 45 years. They knew that they’d seen something extraordinary, but they still wanted more. They created their own universe. Fans created fan zines that included art, fiction, discussion, and commentary about the film long before official sequels were made. Most focused on the heroes — Luke, Han, Leia, and Obi-Wan were all popular. But others were drawn in by the film’s enigmatic villain, Darth Vader.

Today, Sith Lord is an iconic pop culture figure. But 1977 was three years before “I am your father.” A New Hope (though it wouldn’t be called that until its theatrical rerelease in 1981) gave almost no details about the man in the mask. Vader gets just 10 minutes screen time. Vader strides along the Death Star, listening to ominous music, and kills Empire bureaucrats, rebels, and Obi Wan with equal enthusiasm.

However, there was more. Fans seized on the fact that, according to Obi-Wan, Vader had killed Luke’s father. With the lie now becoming infamous, it’s hard to remember that it was once all fans had to go on when thinking about the history of the Jedi and the Sith.

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Dyane Kirkland saw more than a hint of inworld history. She saw. Star WarsIts first showing was in 1977. A group of friends went with them to grab some food, then they watched it again. They formed the First Terran Enclave Jedi Knights, and then got to work. “We had all done fan writing before, but not anything fancy or cohesive,” she says. However, the gap was left. Star Wars’ story and characterization spurred them to do more. “It seemed like a caricature, and we could actually make people out of these guys. We all picked our spots, and Darth just happened to be mine.”

The people I spoke to about those early days of Star Wars fever typically use “Darth” as a shorthand, rather than “Vader” — a holdover from a time before there were any other Sith who had been attached to the “Darth” title. Kirkland, who only had the first film to finish, envisioned the Sith more as a civilisation than an Order based on the Force. She cast Darth the son of the ruler. His corruption was revealed in her zizine-published story. He suffered from family issues, struggle fitting in at Jedi Academy, and disagreements about the Force’s nature. Though the details differed, it coincidentally ended up close to what would become canon years later in George Lucas’ prequel trilogy.

Kirkland went far back to explore just how Vader might have ended up killing a theoretical Mr. Skywalker, and she wasn’t alone. As zines thrived through sharing via conventions and mailing lists, many people saw the moment. Fanlore has saved reviews from one of these stories, which was published in Pegasus magazine in October 1978. Characteristically of the fandom at the time, some were enthusiastic that it portrayed him as totally evil — “[it] makes hating Vader all the more fun,” says a now-anonymous review saved by Fanlore. Others were less enthusiastic. “I am never given an understanding of the characters — particularly Darth. WHY does he betray the Jedi?” asked another reader.

Kirkland had been trying to address this same question. Kirkland was trying to explore the black-and-white morality. Star Wars didn’t interest her. “I’m a great apologist for Darth Vader,” she laughs. “I said, nobody’s all that good or that bad. So what would have caused a person to come into a group that accepted him, welcomed him, and trained him and have him turn on them?”

Many of the people involved in Star Wars fandom at the time had already been part of Star Trek fandom, “which had a totally different viewpoint on things,” says Maggie Nowakowska, a fandom historian who co-edited the book Geek Elders SpeakKirkland’s first invitation to see was from, another member the First Terran Enclave Star Wars. “Those of us who came [from Trek fandom]This was brought to your attention Star TrekAttitude towards villains. Nobody’s all bad.”

The optimism provided an opportunity to explore Vader’s psychology, as well as imagining the politics, schooling, and religion of the universe. “It wasn’t like a love affair,” says Kirkland. “I wasn’t worried about his metal or non-metal parts or whatever.”

Some fans expressed concern about this. “There was a lot of discussion about how damaged the body was,” Nowakowska says. “This was a female fandom to a great extent, and a lot of them wanted to punch Vader’s buttons for him.”

Some parts were intended to be amusing. Jokes helped to “create some distance” between fans and the atrocities Vader and the Empire committed, says Nowakowska. Some parts of the jokes were less funny. “He was big and tall and masculine,” she adds. However, Lucasfilm kept a close eye on the fandom’s activities, including buying copies of many popular zines. It had a policy against allowing “X-rated” fanfiction and sent several cease-and-desist letters, discouraging the production of explicit fic overall. Outspoken Vader fanatics were vocal and defensive about the character. “I did not write Vader as a likable person,” says Nowakowska, “and this one woman really argued with me that I was not being fair to him. His point of view was his and his history were important to me. So there were people like that right from the very beginning.”

Only after Vader was released, did the fandom defend Vader intensify? The Empire Strikes BackIn 1980. This was the “golden age” of Star Wars fan zines, says fan contributor Tish Wells, with revelations about almost every character leading to a burst of creativity. With the reveal of Luke’s parentage, for instance, Darth Vader took on a new light. “Suddenly you could write a much more multifaceted characterization of Darth and Luke,” she says. “A lot of the gray areas started with Empire.”

Three years after fans had interpreted the characters their way, this book is finally out. The Empire Strikes BackSome fans found it contentious. One essay is in Geek Elders Speak Linda Deneroff is a fandom veteran who wrote the script. A few people suggested that the movie should be reshot to get rid of the fatherhood plot. Kirkland and others felt that the stories of their characters had advanced far enough they were able to ignore them. EmpireThey will continue on their way. Others took what was shown in the film and went along with it.

Vader’s characterization was argued over in letter zines, fan zines that primarily or entirely feature letters of comment and so facilitated discussion and debate among fandoms before the internet. Jundland Wastes was one of them, which was published in 1981-83. In a 1989 history of the fan publication, Nowakowska pointed to a letter that asked, “Did Vader choose to do evil, was he tricked into supporting the Empire, or was he simply inattentive? Is what he’s doing really evil at all?” Another read, “Who believes that Vader is really Luke’s father; who doesn’t?”

The question of Vader’s evil was, she wrote, “the first big controversy” in the fandom. Wells recalls the more extreme end of the pro-Vader side: “cuddly Darth.” Fans went on to produce stuffed toys of the villain, while a softer characterization appeared in illustrated fan works. Wells saw too many similarities to the real world for her own enjoyment as she was working at that time as a journalist. “I know what the real world is like,” she says. “Darth Vader was never cuddly to me.”

Fan works of the day criticized the character. In a 1981 comic by Rosemary Edghill, a female Empire propagandist tells Vader she’ll make him appear “really cuddly” before becoming deflated by the reminder he tortures rebels. “You go to the next [page] where he’s basically throwing everyone in a cage and roasting them over a fire,” says Wells.

Vader’s treatment was not a one-size fits all approach in those first years. “[There were] those who made him fully on the Empire’s side and fully in favor of that kind of a government, and going after the ‘nasty terrorists’ that the rebels were,” says Nowakowska. “There was the extremely sympathetic crowd. And then there was the vast middle.”

This spectrum was created by years of fan collaboration, long before the advent of constant updates and the internet. Whether they loved to hate him, wanted to dig deep into his psyche, or were speculating about what was under his suit, they were asking and enjoying the questions long before the prequels came along to answer them — and even before we knew Vader was a Skywalker.