Darth Vader (2017) 19: Fortress Vader: Part 1
What is it ? : A Zabrak mother has just given birth and the father asks to hold his newborn, when Vader enters the room addressing him as Eeth Koth. Koth declares he is no threat, he is just a priest now, that he was kicked off the Jedi Council and has no loyalty to them. He offers secret codes, contact frequencies, to help Vader find other survivors of the purge, but the mother just asks for her baby back, and Eeth Koth throws a chair at Vader using the force, shattering a rock formation which contains his lightsaber.
As Vader attacks, he tells Koth that he senses, Fear, Anger and Resentment coming from him, which gives him more power than a Jedi would normally have. Koth responds that maybe it's the Zabrak in him, or maybe now he just has more to lose. Vader orders the inquisitors to find the woman and baby who have fled, and Koth shouts that he won't let him take them, that he is no Jedi any more but a husband and father who will defend those he loves.
The Inquisitors split up to find the woman and baby, and the Thirteenth Sister senses the force potential in the baby and pursues, catching the woman just outside a transport ship. The mother begs for her child, woman to woman and the Thirteenth Sister lets her go, but is confronted by the other Inquisitors, and uses the Force to snatch the baby from her mothers arms as the ship takes off. The mother collapses in tears, and her companion on the ship tells her that the Inqusitors don't seem to want to harm the child, as they want it alive, but the mother asks they want it alive for what?
Vader and Eeth Koth are still fighting, when the Inquisitors return with the child, which distracts Koth allowing Vader to stab him through the back.
They return to Coruscant where the Grand Inquisitor is waiting for them, and Vader passes the baby onto some carers who fawn over the child. The Grand Inqusitor shows Vader the list of remaining Jedi, telling him they currently have no clues as to where they might be, so future hunts will just have to wait. Vader returns to his residence and meditates,, and repairs his suit, and practices against droids.
Meanwhile the Inquisitors celebrate with a drink from the world they just killed a Jedi on, saying how horrible it is and asking why they can't hunt Jedi on Corellia or Alderaan. They discuss how Vader now has no Jedi to hunt, and that Vader will always find someone to kill, looking up to find him standing over them with his lightsaber ignited and ready. . . .
High Points : It's interesting to see a Jedi who has gone beyond just hiding, we see so many of them living in fear and hiding out, Obi-Wan for example is on Tatooine to watch over Luke, but he has no life there, he doesn't even have a pet, his life is totally revolving around hiding from the Empire. But Eeth Koth has found a new role, admittedly he's just gone from Monk to Priest, but he's married, having a family, has found something more natural than just serving the Jedi order. And even Vader senses this gives him something stronger to fight for, which makes him more powerful than a Jedi.
So does that mean that Love is as powerful as peace or hate, or does loving something or someone just mean that you fear losing it, and that gives you the power of the Dark Side?
And for that power, it's the distraction of the Inquisitors having his child which distracts Eeth Koth and gives Vader his opening to kill him, signalling that it's not any real advantage or great source of power.
Low Points : I'm not entirely sure what was going on with the Thirteenth Sister. The mother begs her woman to woman to let her go, and then when caught letting a fugitive go by the other Inquisitors, she grabs the baby with the force and claims it was a lesson to the mother to not trust other women? So is this just an excuse she's made up when caught breaking the rules? Was she actually going to let the mother and child escape if she hadn't been caught? Or was this really something she'd planned, and what would she have done if they'd actually closed the starship doors before taking off as we've seen virtually every other starship do? Was it really an evil Inquisitors scheme which would have been foiled by closing a door?
So what do you really think ? : A fairly good issue, mainly because of the interplay between Vader and Eeth Koth. It demonstrates an interesting hunt by Vader and the Inquisitors, as Vader identifies the weakness in Koth, that while he has stepped away from the Jedi Order, he now has feelings for his wife and child which can be exploited leading to his defeat.
Final Words : While it's a good issue, the name of this story arc, Fortress Vader, doesn't seem applicable as of yet, and I'm interested to see where this story goes, perhaps now he has more time on his hands because he's hunted all the Jedi fugitives he has the opportunity to set up a little holiday home for himself to get away from things.
Score : 7.5/10
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