But Anakin was strong enough with the Dark Side that he was able to emerge from the pit a hair from Death. The Emperor, who had sensed Anakin's nearly unlimited potential for the Dark Side, was by no means willing to let Skywalker die. He retrieved Anakin, and had the parts of his body damaged beyond repair replaced with mechanical and automated systems. Shedding his past, Anakin Skywalker took the name Darth Vader and became the Emperor's right-hand and pupil. When Obi-Wan recieved word that the former Anakin was still alive, he took Lord Vader's wife and two children, who Lord Vader did not know about, and put them into hiding. Lord Vader began to study the forbidden teachings of the ancient but powerful Sith. After mastering their powers and teachings, he pronounced himself Dark Lord of the Sith and became one of The Emperor's most powerful weapons.
Palpatine's first task for Lord Vader was to hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights, guardians of the Old Republic, as they were a threat to his New Order. Vader was a powerful warrior, and he single-handedly all but accomplished this task. Lord Vader was then sent to oversee the final stages of construction on the Death Star, an armored battle station that, when completed, would have enough firepower to destroy an entire planet. It was while on the Death Star that Lord Vader once again confronted his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had come to the station to rescue the imprisoned traitor, Leia Organa. "The circle is now complete," he said to Kenobi. "When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master." The two dueled, and Lord Vader, much stronger now than he was then, easily held his own and eventually struck down his former master.
During the Battle of Yavin, the an attack was made on the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance. Lord Vader took to his custom TIE to destroy the annoying Rebel X-Wings, which were evading the Death Star's turbolasers, ship to ship. He had almost succeded when Han Solo, a Corellian smuggler who had recently had ties to the Rebels, came out of Hyperspace and attacked. This caught his wingman by surprise and caused him to collide with Lord Vader's TIE, sending Vader tumbling out of control away from the Death Star. The lead Rebel pilot, who had narrowly escaped Lord Vader's wrath, managed to destroy the Death Star. Later, after making the Hyperspace jump back to Coruscant in his fighter and reporting to the Emperor the events that had transpired, Lord Vader became aware of the fact that the young Rebel pilot who had destroyed the battlestation was none other than his own son, Luke Skywalker. The Emperor was going to send Lord Vader to hunt down and kill him, but Vader convinced him that he could be a powerful ally if he could be turned to the Dark Side. The Emperor agreed and Lord Vader received command of a new task force of Star Destroyers, with two new orders from his master: to hunt down and destroy the Rebel Alliance, and to to find and capture Luke Skywalker. Lord Vader was to either turn him to the Dark Side, or destroy him. With the Executor, the first in a line of Super-class Star Destroyers, as his flagship, Lord Vader hunted the Rebels to the remote ice planet Hoth. After totally obliterating the Hoth base, Vader pursued the Millennium Falcon into the Hoth asteroid field. When the Millennium Falcon could not be found, Lord Vader contracted six of the most reputable bounty huters in the Galaxy to track them down. Only one, Boba Fett, succeded in tracking them to Cloud City on Bespin. Using Han Solo and Leia Organa as bait, Lord Vader set a trap for his son, and eventually Luke made his way to Bespin. Lord Vader drew him into a lightsaber duel in order to test Luke's ability. Although Luke got a strike on Vader's shoulder, which actually pleased the Dark Lord, he managed to back Luke onto a catwalk.
On the catwalk, Vader cut off Luke's hand, winning the battle. He then told his Luke that he was his father. Vader had hoped Luke would join him, so that they could destroy the Emperor and rule the galaxy themselves. But Luke, reeling from shock of losing his hand and from what he had just been told, jumped from the balcony and narrowly escaped Lord Vader's capture.
Though Vader wanted nothing more than to search for his son, he soon became embroiled in a political battle of wits with Xizor, the head of the galactic crime syndicate Black Sun. Vader, an honorable warrior, detested the dishonorable 'friend to your face, but stab you in the back' political style that Xisor drew him into. Soon he discovered that Xizor was behind numerous attempts on Skywalker's life; that Xizor had hoped to discredit Vader in the eyes of the Emperor by killing Luke Skywalker before Darth Vader could find him. Vader then led the Executor on an assault against Xizor's skyhook, destroying it and killing the treacherous Prince of Black Sun.
Vader was then ordered to Endor, where his presence "motivated" the construction on the second Death Star, which had fallen behind, back on schedule. The Emperor himself then came to Endor, and it wasn't long before Luke Skywalker accepted the truth and surrendered himself to Lord Vader, as the Emperor had forseen, to try and turn him back to the Light Side. Lord Vader brought his son before his master, who tried to goad the boy into embracing the anger, fear, and aggression of the Dark Side of the Force. But when Luke finally refused to turn, the Emperor used Dark Force lightning on the boy, planning to kill him. Darth Vader looked on as his son writhed in pain, begging and pleading for his father to help him. Seeing this, Lord Vader turned on his master, the Emperor, and hurled him down the Death Star's main reactor shaft. The raging Dark Side energy emanating from the Emperor destroyed Lord Vader's life support. Unable to survive without it, he died within minutes. So was the Death of one of the greatest warriors to ever have lived.