Darth Vader Universe material. Darth Vader first appears in "Star Wars" (later retitled as "A New Hope") as a ruthless villain serving the Galactic Empire. He is tasked, along with Imperial Governor Grand Moff Tarkin, with recovering the secret technical plans for the Death Star, which were stolen by the Rebel Alliance. Vader captures and tortures Princess Leia Organa, who has hidden the plans inside the droid R2-D2 and sent it to find Vader's former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet Tatooine. During Leia's rescue, Vader kills Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel. Having placed a tracking device aboard the "Millennium Falcon",
Star Wars prequel trilogy Star Wars prequel trilogy The "Star Wars" prequel trilogy is a set of three prequel films in the "Star Wars" franchise, an American space opera created by George Lucas. Like the original trilogy, it was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy consists of "" (1999), "" (2002), and "" (2005). The first two films received mixed reviews, while the third was somewhat more well received. According to producer Gary Kurtz, loose plans for a prequel trilogy were developed during the outlining of the original two films. In 1980, Lucas confirmed that he had the