Star Wars’ Darth Vader and Harry Potter’s Lord Voldemort are actually a lot alike. Support ScreenPrism on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7792695
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Transcript provided by Youtube:
00:00
If you only knew the power of the Dark Side…
00:05
Darth Vader and Lord Voldemort.
00:07
They are the villains of two of the most popular stories
00:09
in living memory.
00:11
And if you think about it, they’re a lot alike.
00:13
They come from humble beginnings —
00:15
one is a slave, the other an orphan.
00:17
They both lose their mothers at a young age
00:20
and have no relationship with their fathers.
00:22
And they start out as smart, super-talented youths
00:25
who shock their worlds by choosing
00:27
the dark side or the dark arts.
00:29
Their transformation takes a toll on
00:32
their dashing good looks —
00:33
Voldemort takes on a variety of deformed shapes
00:36
and splits his soul into horcruxes.
00:38
Vader puts on his armor and wears it
00:40
for the rest of his life
00:41
after he’s wounded in a fight with his former mentor.
00:44
And the two lords come to represent
00:46
ultimate darkness or evil.
00:48
Just the mention of their names
00:50
can make your blood run cold.
00:52
We do not speak his name.
00:54
They’re the dark fathers that Harry and Luke need to vanquish,
00:58
after resisting the temptation to follow in their evil footsteps.
01:02
So both are walking cautionary tales.
01:05
They’re dehumanized by trauma, pain, and hatred,
01:08
and they become monsters.
01:09
He’s more machine now than man.
01:12
But behind that black, skull-like mask and dark cloak,
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there’s just a weak, miserable person we should pity
01:19
because they never understood the power
01:21
of friendship and love.
01:23
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01:25
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01:31
The big question for Vader and Voldemort is:
01:34
how and why did the most evil person become evil?
01:37
Was it nature or nurture or more likely a bit of both?
01:41
Vader and Voldemort know they’re extremely
01:43
talented and special from a young age,
01:45
I can make things move without touching them.
01:47
I’m the only human who can do it.
01:50
and they have crazy high levels of ambition.
01:52
They won’t be satisfied letting their gifts go to waste.
01:56
Protection is a job for a local security, not a Jedi.
01:59
I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew
02:02
wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak
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when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world!
02:07
But this starting personality of a bright boy with outsized potential
02:10
interacts with a hostile, damaging environment.
02:13
When I first met young Mr. Riddle, he was a quiet,
02:16
albeit brilliant boy, committed to
02:18
becoming a first-grade wizard.
02:21
Not unlike others I’ve known.
02:23
Not unlike yourself, in fact.
02:25
If the monster existed,
02:28
it was very deep within.
02:31
For both, a complicated relationship to love is a big part
02:35
of what drives them to the dark side.
02:39
Voldemort as Tom Riddle was born into a
02:40
totally loveless marriage —
02:42
his witch mother actually used a love potion
02:45
to get his muggle father to marry her.
02:47
Tom’s mother died when he was a baby
02:49
and he grew up in an orphanage,
02:51
not knowing about his wizard heritage.
02:52
In all the years Tom’s being here he’s never once
02:54
had a family visitor.
02:56
He didn’t get the care and attention he needed
02:59
at this formative stage,
03:00
I can make bad things happen to people
03:02
who are mean to me.
03:04
Can make them hurt.
03:07
so by the time he got to Hogwarts it may have already been too late
03:10
to reach him and show him what it felt like to be loved.
03:14
Anakin also loses his mother —
03:16
and when she’s kidnapped and killed,
03:17
this is the moment when Anakin decides to massacre
03:20
the Sand People,
03:21
a key point in his turning to the Dark Side.
03:24
But while Voldemort never really learns how to love,
03:27
in George Lucas’ own words,
03:29
Anakin’s “undoing is that he loveth too much.”
03:32
When he’s worried he’ll lose his pregnant wife Padme,
03:35
Palpatine convinces Anakin he has to turn to the dark side
03:38
to save her life.
03:39
Just help me save Padme’s life.
03:43
I can’t live without her.
03:47
So Anakin’s strong love is manipulated and used
03:50
by the cruel world around him.
03:52
But it’s also clear that Anakin doesn’t understand
03:54
how to love —
03:55
Love won’t save you, Padme.
03:57
Only my new powers can do that.
04:00
and how to let go of those he loves —
04:01
in a healthy way.
04:03
He feels so strongly but ends up putting his passion
04:05
in the wrong place so that it’s actually destructive.
04:08
In the end, Anakin and Tom Riddle turn evil
04:11
because they don’t understand how to have
04:13
normal, loving relationships with the people around them,
04:16
and they don’t acknowledge how important this is.
04:19
Voldemort and Vader are both obsessed with immortality.
04:21
But only I can live forever.
04:27
To cheat death is the power only one has achieved,
04:31
but if we work together, I know we can discover the secret.
04:39
And this could be because they both lost their mothers
04:41
at a young age
04:42
and understand how traumatizing death really is.
04:45
I won’t lose you the way I lost my mother.
04:48
So while we can’t forgive the terrible things they do
04:50
or relate to the terrible people they become,
04:53
we know that their darkness came from
04:55
a place of real pain.
04:59
Another thing they have in common is an obsession
05:02
with a young son figure which they want to destroy.
05:06
As we all know, Vader is literally Luke’s father,
05:10
No!
05:11
whereas Voldemort’s not related to Harry by blood.
05:14
But Voldemort’s still like a twisted father figure
05:17
to our young wizard,
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because when he tries to kill Harry,
05:20
he inadvertently passes on some of his traits,
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like the ability to speak parseltongue.
05:25
And he makes Harry the seventh horcrux,
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so Harry contains a piece of Voldemort’s soul,
05:30
just as a child carries on his parent’s genes.
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In a way Harry’s scar is like a birthmark
05:36
from this dark father.
05:37
Both Luke and Harry have some darkness in them
05:40
because of their connection to these evil, power men.
05:44
You’re greatly mistaken.
05:47
You won’t convert me
05:48
as you did my father.
05:49
Not Slytherin, eh?
05:50
Are you sure?
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You could be great, you know…
05:54
That connection makes the young boys special,
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but it also makes them fear they might
05:59
turn to the Dark, too.
06:00
And it places a huge burden on these young boys
06:03
to bring down their much stronger father figures.
06:06
Both stories are fundamentally about a son figure
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growing into his own and overcoming that dark father
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as he chooses his adult path.
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It’s relevant to remember that Vader and Voldemort
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also grew up with daddy issues of their own.
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Anakin never had a father.
06:22
There was no father.
06:24
Tom Riddle hated his dad for abandoning the family
06:27
and even more for being a muggle
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and making Tom a half-blood,
06:31
Surely you didn’t think I was going to keep
06:34
my filthy muggle father’s name?
06:37
although it’s likely that his hatred for muggles and half-bloods
06:40
comes from hurt over his father’s absence
06:43
and a resulting self-hatred.
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So in a way both are taking out their personal shame and anger
06:49
on their new son figures.
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The archetype of the dark father represents
06:53
not accepting death and the passage of time —
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and they see these young men as usurpers,
06:59
threatening their goal of living forever.
07:01
They want to turn their sons into their servants,
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Together, we’ll do extraordinary things.
07:08
With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict
07:14
and bring order to the galaxy.
07:17
or else kill them.
07:20
Vader and Voldemort are ultimate villains,
07:23
but they’re also pathetic, weak old guys.
07:25
They’re very physically weak and vulnerable.
07:28
They’re obsessed with their reputations,
07:30
but they’re outraged to find they don’t get the respect
07:33
they feel they deserve.
07:35
Not from their servants,
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I confess myself disappointed.
07:38
Not one of you tried to find me.
07:44
their employees,
07:45
Don’t try to frighten us with your sorcerer’s ways,
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Lord Vader.
07:48
or from Vader’s boss.
07:50
Take your father’s place at my side.
07:54
Voldemort doesn’t have a superior,
07:56
and we can still see a bit more of the man in Vader,
07:59
whereas Voldemort is more purely true evil
08:02
by this point.
08:03
So Voldemort could be seen as kind of
08:04
a Vader plus Emperor Palpatine.
08:07
Like the emperor, Voldemort is brought down
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by overconfidence,
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and he totally disdains and underestimates
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the value of friendship.
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Shall l divulge how l truly lost my powers?
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It was love.
08:21
Your overconfidence is your weakness.
08:23
Your faith in your friends is yours.
08:27
In the end, whatever it is that drives Voldemort and Vader
08:30
to the dark side is also what allows
08:32
the son figure to succeed.
08:34
Voldemort doesn’t know how to love,
08:37
so he doesn’t think love matters.
08:39
Again like the emperor, he haughtily believes
08:41
that the love of common people could never be a match
08:44
for sophisticated evil magic.
08:46
How is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent
08:50
was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time?
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He’s overlooked that love, family and friendship
08:56
are the most powerful, ancient magic we know.
08:58
You’re the weak one, and you’ll never know
08:59
love or friendship.
09:03
And I feel sorry for you.
09:11
Anakin’s original weakness was loving too much,
09:15
and Luke appeals to his father’s compassion.
09:18
I feel the good in you.
09:20
A conflict.
09:21
So love brought him to the Dark Side,
09:22
but then it also redeems him and brings him
09:25
back to the light.
09:26
For most of these stories, Vader and Voldemort insist on
09:29
the power of the dark side,
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but by the end they reveal its failings.
09:33
The most powerful, intimidating god-like men in these stories fall —
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because no individual is truly strong without love in his life.
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Pity the living, and, above all,
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those who live without love.
09:49
It’s Debra.
09:51
And Susannah.
09:52
You’re watching ScreenPrism.
09:53
Thank you guys so much for watching.
09:54
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09:57
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10:02
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This post was previously published on Youtube.
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