<P> In the first draft of The Star Wars, tall, grim general "Darth Vader" was already close in line with his final depiction, and the protagonist "Anikin Starkiller" had a role similar to Luke Skywalker's as the 16 - year - old son of a respected warrior . </P> <P> After the success of the original Star Wars (1977), series creator George Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write the sequel with him . They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment . The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Vader does not reveal he is Luke's father . In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Luke's father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke . Lucas was disappointed with the script, but Brackett died of cancer before he could discuss it with her . With no writer available, Lucas had to write the next draft himself . In this draft, he made use of a new plot twist: Vader claiming to be Luke's father . According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the year - long struggles writing the first film . </P> <P> The new plot element of Luke's parentage had drastic effects on the series . Michael Kaminski argues in his book that it is unlikely that the plot point had ever seriously been considered or even conceived of before 1978, and that the first film was clearly operating under an alternate storyline where Vader was a separate character from Luke's father . After writing the second and third drafts in which the plot point was introduced, Lucas reviewed the new backstory he had created: Anakin had been Obi - Wan Kenobi's brilliant student and had a child named Luke, but was swayed to the dark side by Palpatine . Anakin battled Kenobi on the site of a volcano and was badly wounded, but was then reborn as Vader . Meanwhile, Kenobi hid Luke on Tatooine while the Galactic Republic became the tyrannical Galactic Empire and Vader systematically hunted down and killed the Jedi . This change in character would provide a springboard to the "Tragedy of Darth Vader" storyline that underlies the prequel trilogy . </P> <P> After deciding to create the prequel trilogy, Lucas indicated the series would be a tragic one depicting Anakin's fall to the dark side . He also saw that the prequels could form the beginning of one long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his death . This was the final step towards turning the film series into a "saga". </P>

Who played darth vader in star wars the force awakens