George Lucas first introduced the concept of a vergence in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, where Jedi master Qui-Gon Jin refers to a young Anakin Skywalker as “a vergence in the Force.” The idea of a concentration of Force power was later expanded to refer to physical locations, like the mysterious pit Rey explores in The Last Jedi, the home of the witches of Brendok in The Acolyte, and the cave on Dagobah where Luke Skywalker has his dark vision in The Empire Strikes Back. So it’s fitting that, thanks to a new Star Wars book, the same concept once applied to a young Anakin is being used in a clever way to offer new insight into his fractured psyche as Darth Vader.
In Adam Christopher’s Master of Evil, Vader encounters a vergence while on a mission for Emperor Palpatine. Christopher uses this opportunity to offer a fresh look at the inner workings of his character, while also challenging our understanding of what a vergence is.
[Ed. note. The following contains spoilers for Master of Evil.]
Set mere days after Revenge of the Sith, Christopher’s book explores the transitory period of the fledgling Empire and the early days of Emperor Palpatine’s relationship with his new Sith apprentice. Furious over the death of Padmé Amidala, Vader directly disobeys the Emperor and hunts for ways to bring her back from the dead. This leads him to an ancient Force temple that Count Dooku previously stole and hid inside a freighter anchored in hyperspace. Inside the temple sits a dark vergence, an imposing black hole that calls out to whoever approaches. Seeking the power to resurrect Padmé, Vader ignores the obvious warning signs and jumps inside, where he experiences several visions.
Inside the vergence, Vader walks across the cold sands of Tatooine at night. He encounters Padmé on a dune, but before he can reach her, he is blocked by himself, as Anakin Skywalker. “Anakin” goads Vader, saying the Emperor kept the truth about the power of the Dark Side from him because it benefits the Emperor not to share that secret. The Sith follow the Rule of Two, where a master wields the power, and an apprentice desires it. The master then uses the apprentice’s resentment at not having that power to fuel their own abilities. As “Anakin” tells Vader, it’s only by gathering secrets and knowledge that he’ll eventually gain the power he needs to become more powerful than his master. He tells Vader to take the power inside the vergence, and master it.
This may seem like a bombshell revelation about the way the Dark Side of the Force works, but Christopher tells Polygon that we shouldn’t read too much into what the vergence tells Vader. It may just be repeating what he wants to hear.
“The vergence quite literally makes a copy of Vader,” Christopher says. “It’s not because Vader is so powerful that he gets power from the vergence, but the vergence also gets power from him. [Vader’s] mind is so powerful, his will is so powerful, that we get all the reflections of his mind in the vergence.”
Vergences often fall into three categories: Dark Side, Light Side, and neutral. Interacting with them, regardless of their category, can lead to visions that hone in on a person’s thoughts and feelings. Vader’s interaction with the vergence gives us a glimpse into the man behind that skull-like mask during a period in his life we’ve never seen before. In that sense, the vergence acts as a mirror that reflects Vader’s psyche.
In one vision in the book, Vader reunites with Padmé in a loving, tender moment where he transforms back into the man he used to be, the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. However, the vision soon breaks, with Padmé appearing in the same suit Vader wears, while a laughing Emperor stands behind her. In another vision, Vader relives his fateful duel with his former Jedi master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on Mustafar. But this time, Anakin’s positions and Obi-Wan’s are reversed: Obi-Wan is the chosen one, just as Padmé was in the vision before she turned into Vader.
“Part of the visions he experiences when he is in the Dark Side vergence are these paths of the Dark Side,” Christopher says. “These are what could have happened and what might happen, but they are also reflections of his own mind.”
Christopher also explores Darth Vader’s psyche through another lens: how others view him. That’s why Master of Evil is mostly told through the perspective of Halland Goth, an Imperial Royal Guard Palpatine sends to spy on his apprentice.
“The important thing about Vader — and keeping his mystery — is how others react to him and see him.” Christopher says. “We can’t really get inside his head, because he’s different from us. The transformation that he undergoes from Anakin to Vader, both mentally and physically, is so huge, we can’t comprehend it. So we can’t see what is in his mind, but it can be reflected in the visions that he has in the vergence.”
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