Join The Dark Side: 6 Reasons We Love To Hate Star Wars Villains

1) Star Wars’ Baddies Are Often A Mix Of Good And Bad

What makes the most memorable villains in Disney’s blockbuster franchise so engrossing is how the series often blurs the lines between good and bad.

Super villain Darth Vader helped to “redeem” himself by throwing his master Emperor Palpatine into the Death Star’s reactor chute at the end of Return of the Jedi, in one of the most iconic redemption scenes in the whole of cinematic history. Furthermore, The Force Awakens’ Kylo Ren wasn’t initially a full-blown evil villain, but began his life as a Jedi on the path of the Light Side. The Commander of the First Order was trained by none other than his uncle – Luke Skywalker – before becoming seduced by the Dark Side of the Force by Supreme Leader Snoke.

And don’t forget, much of the promo material leading up to the launch of this December’s The Last Jedi suggests that Luke Skywalker – AKA the greatest Jedi the universe has ever seen – may well be on his way to making the switch to the Dark Side, too.

Adding credence to the latter theory is Mark Hamill’s interesting statement in a recent ABC interview. After reading The Last Jedi’s script, he told Rian Johnson (Episode 8’s writer-director): “I fundamentally disagree with virtually everything you’ve decided about my character…” Ouch. It’s hard to say for certain, but it looks as if Luke’s character arc may well be swinging like a pendulum towards the bad guy’s ranks as well. I guess we’ll have to wait to find out for certain later this year.