"Seek Out the Boy": Palpatine Sent Vader on a Mission to Test Luke (Before RotJ) (2024)

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Darth Vader #47

In the latest issue of Star Wars' canonical Darth Vader series, Emperor Palpatine has finally given his Sith apprentice permission to seek out his son before the events of Return of the Jedi. Although the Dark Lord of the Sith and Luke had a brief starfighter dogfight in the weeks that followed Episode V, neither Vader nor Luke have truly been face to face since the younger Skywalker rejected his father on Cloud City. However, it certainly seems as though father and son are being set up to reunite before the final original trilogy film.

As seen in the new and canonical Darth Vader #47 from Greg Pak and Raffaele Ienco, Vader and his forces within the Schism Imperial successfully raid Palpatine's secret world of Exegol. Vader had been in search of great power that could aid in his desire to overthrow his master following the Sith's Rule of Two. As such, Vader's claiming and wielding chunks of the massive mound of corrupted kyber the Emperor had stored on Exegol was felt by both Palpatine and Luke Skywalker. To that end, the Emperor instructs Vade to seek out his son at the end of this new issue:

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Despite knowing full way that all the power Vader had been gathering was in the name of overthrowing Palpatine himself, the Emperor sending Vader to go after his son is quite the bold move, especially if it leads to a new encounter where Luke can sow the seeds toward his father's eventual redemption in the Star Wars canon before Return of the Jedi.

Palpatine Knows The Sith Status Quo Could Soon Change

Who Will Become The Galaxy's New Sith Lords?

Connected through their connection in the dark side of the Force, Palpatine is featured communing with his apprentice via the corrupted Sith kyber that had been bled red with dark side fueled emotions such as pain, fear, and hate. While the balance of power in the dark side could certainly remain in the possession of Palpatine and Vader himself, the Emperor finds the idea of Luke replacing Vader as his new apprentice appealing. In this way, Palpatine could continue corrupting the Skywalker legacy by gaining a younger and far more powerful apprentice beyond Vader, despite all of his brand-new power.

That said, Palpatine also finds the idea of Vader and Luke becoming the galaxy's new Sith Lords quite laughable. This is a prime example of Palpatine's overconfidence being his weakness, seeing as how he does end up being the Sith who draws the short straw. However, Palpatine doesn't even consider the other possibility that Luke could accomplish what he does in Return of the Jedi with the redemption of his father back to the light.

Even Luke Could Sense Vader's New Power Boost

He Could Feel His Father's Power Worlds Away

Using his new kyber weapons to decimate the horde of massive summa-verminoths around Exegol, even Luke could feel the added strength his father had just gained. Despite being entire star systems away with the Rebel Alliance, Luke senses that his father is preparing to seek him out, hence his decision to distance himself from the Rebellion, not wanting to risk his friends should Vader indeed locate him. As such, it will likely be only a matter of time before Star Wars' most powerful father-son duo reunites in future Star Wars comics set before Return of the Jedi.

Darth Vader #47 is available now from Marvel Comics

Darth Vader #47 (2020)
	Writer: Greg Pak Artist: Raffaele Ienco Colorist: Federico Blee Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna Cover Artists: Leinil Francis Yu & Romulu Fajardo Jr.