Darth Vader tall, grim general "Darth Vader" was already close in line with his final depiction, and the protagonist "Anikin Starkiller" had a role similar to Luke Skywalker's as the 16-year-old son of a respected warrior. After the success of the original "Star Wars" (1977), series creator George Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write the sequel with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment. The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Vader does not reveal he is Luke's father. In the first draft that Brackett would write
Darth Vader Vader tells him that there was still good in him after all. Luke escapes the Death Star with his father's body, and cremates it in a pyre. Anakin's spirit reunites with those of Obi-Wan and Yoda to watch over Luke and his friends as the Rebels celebrate the Death Star's destruction and the fall of the Empire. Anakin first appears in the prequel trilogy in "", which takes place 32 years before the original "Star Wars", as a nine-year-old slave living on the planet Tatooine with his mother Shmi. Anakin was conceived without a father and he can foresee the