Star Wars: Every Apprentice Darth Vader Had (In Canon & Legends)

If you consider yourself a Star Wars fan, but think Darth Vader never took a Sith Apprentice of his own, then you're in for a surprise. As the future of the franchise far, far away is making Darth Vader a more pivotal character in movies, books, comics, and video games, it's time fans did some homework on just how many men, women, aliens, and killers Darth Vader has called his "apprentice."

When Disney purchased the rights to all things Star Wars, many fans were devastated to learn that the movie studio would be wiping the existing "canon" of the Expanded Universe clear, so as to chart a new course free of restrictions or expectations. And that also meant erasing the established Sith Apprentices of Darth Vader, right? Wrong. At least not unless that is explicitly stated. You see, those old stories still qualify as Star Wars Legends, even if they're not canon... yet. But as The Last Jedi hints at Darth Revan still being considered canon, and Solo adds Legends back to Star Wars canon, the trend has been set.

So as the comic books set the stage for Darth Vader to return in future movies, there's never been a better time to brush up on the Apprentices who may also be coming back into the Star Wars universe. Some will be more iconic than others, but one fact is clear: Ahsoka Tano was the only Jedi to call Anakin Skywalker "Master"... but young Sith were a different story.

Galen Marek a.k.a. Starkiller

The hero of the hugely successful Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game is likely to be the best known apprentice of Darth Vader's, given the honor of being personally blessed by George Lucas himself. He deserves the fame, too, since his story is one of the best ones not to be told in the movies. The child of two runaway Jedi Knights, Galen Marek was spared a similar slaughter by Vader once he had tracked them down, with his strength in The Force too powerful for Vader to ignore. And so, the Sith Apprentice took his own student to one day help him overthrow his own master, Emperor Palpatine.

Galen-- sorry, Starkiller's story from there is known to every player of the game. While the title of 'Sith Lord' was denied Starkiller, along with an official 'Darth' title since he and Vader never succeeded in killing Palpatine, Starkiller is the most formal apprentice in the true meaning of the term. He was so powerful in The Force that even the Emperor tried to claim his over Vader, but in the end (canonically) Starkiller sacrificed himself for the sake of his Rebel allies. Even if the game isn't back in the canon - yet - his family's crest became the insignia of the Rebellion in the game's universe.

Starkiller's Clone, 'Subject 1138'

Star Wars Vader Apprentice Starkiller Clone

Never one to let such a perfect apprentice as Starkiller go to waste, it was revealed in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II that Vader took the remains of his pupil to the cloners of Kamino shortly after the first game's ending. The result was a long line of failed copies, but only 'Subject 1138' (a nice nod to George Lucas' student film THX 1138) proved viable enough to be trained by Vader to nearly identical levels as the original Starkiller. And to be the star of the video game, of course.

The Kaminoan process of memory and training/programming and accelerated aging mean Subject 1138 was a less 'true' apprentice compared to Starkiller's years of study at Vader's side. That said, Vader did see him as having the potential to be just as powerful. Subject 1138's shift towards the light, and not the Dark Side was a flaw to Vader, but may also show he had more of Galen Marek's true nature in him than his Sith Master desired. A problem Vader would address later... because why stop cloning when perfection may be around the corner?

Kharys of Skye

The first non-human apprentice of Darth Vader was actually revealed to Luke, Lei, and Han long after the training had taken place. When the group of heroes wound up on the planet Skye in Marvel's Star Wars Annual: The Long Hunt (1979), they came to learn of the planet and its people's terrifying ruler. She was a winged, female S'kytri who turned out to be a powerful Force user... and personally trained by Darth Vader after the end of the Clone Wars.

As they soon learned, the planet had been in dire need of assistance when three Jedi - Obi-Wan Kenobi, Halagad Ventor, and Anakin Skywalker - arrived to free them from tyranny. When Anakin sensed the Force sensitivity of Kharys, but her years disqualifying her from training (as he had almost been, years earlier) he promised to return. He did so as Darth Vader, training her in the creation and use of a lightsaber, and placing her as the Majestrix of the planet. Sadly, she was vanquished by Luke Skywalker, so no hope of a winged Sith any time soon.

Lumiya a.k.a. Shira Elan Colla Brie

If Starkiller is the truest successor of Anakin Skywalker, then Lumiya would probably be the truest successor of Darth Vader - the half-machine, fascist soldier of the Empire. Those Star Wars fans who are familiar with the novels side of the Expanded Universe will already know Lumiya, and those who don't - learn quick. In no uncertain terms, this Lady of the Sith is one of the most pivotal figures in the legacy of the original legacy of the Skywalker family. And even before she learned The Force, Darth Vader was guiding her on her path.

First as an Imperial operative, fast-tracked through the ranks at Vader's urging before going undercover to oppose Luke Skywalker. When defeat left Shira Brie a broken creature, Vader had her rebuilt in his own image, cybernetically. What she became next is as close to 'a female Darth Vader' in appearance and power as can be found in the Star Wars lore. And as modern writers realized the strength of her story, she grew to further prominence as not only too much of a fighter for any Jedi or Sith to face, but the Shadow Hand of Darth Vader. Oh, and the master who seduced Han Solo and Leia Organa's son to the Dark Side.

Next Page: The Secret Starkiller, The First Inquisitor & More

Starkiller's Perfect Clone, 'The Dark Apprentice'

As we alluded to before, the line of cloned Starkillers in The Force Unleashed lore didn't actually end with the betrayal of Subject 1138. But depending on how players of the video game decided to take vengeance on their Sith Master, they may or may not have even known of this next, more perfected clone. Dubbed the 'Dark Apprentice,' this student actually was everything Vader hoped he could be. All the powers of Galen Marek, but none of the weakness.

During the final act of the game, players rose to face, and ultimately defeat Darth Vader in lightsaber combat as part of a Rebel victory. If the player chose to embrace the Dark Side and slay Vader, then the Dark Apprentice intervened with a lightsaber through Subject 1138's back. And the clone, like the player, learned that the Dark Apprentice had become Vader's perfect weapon (yellow Sith eyes and all). Having seen that very fate in a vision, though, the canonical ending of The Force Unleashed II sees Subject 1138 stay his hand, and live. But either way, the Dark Apprentice lived... to do what has not yet been revealed.

Antinnis Tremayne, Sith Inquisitor

If you're looking for proof that not every recruit of the Jedi Order was a devout believer, merely a kidnapped, Force-sensitive baby, then Antinnis Tremayne is definitely going to help your case. Fortunate to simply be taken prisoner, and not outright executed in Order 66, Antinnis was deemed of particular interest by Imperial Intelligence. So when it came time for Vader to see if the political prisoners showed spunk, Antinnis knocking of Vader's breathing apparatus convinced him. He then killed the others who disappointed, but for Antinnis, it meant a promotion to the first member of the Inquisitorius.

Charged with both hunting down rogue Jedi in hiding, and recruiting potential Force-Adepts into the ranks of the Inquisitorius, Antinnis would eventually prove effective enough to become High Inquisitor. And even when his tussles with Jedi cost him his right arm and the right side of his head, Antinnis Tremayne proves an important point: falling to the Dark Side of The Force can be easy, if you're more than happy to have Darth Vader as your boss, and mentor in the ways of the spirit and saber.

Rillao & Hethrir

In Antinnis' mission to hunt down those Force-Adepts whom he suspected of secretly aiding Jedi survivors of Order 66, he came across two would end up playing a much larger role in the galaxy's story. Unfortunately for the Firrerreon named Hethrir and his mate, Rillao, it wasn't until after Antinnis had tortured them that he decided to offer them an invitation into the Empire. As luck would have it, they accepted! But when the pair were brought to learn from Darth Vader himself, Rillao's unique attunement to the healing aspects of The Force made the Dark Side seem intensely unappealing. She fled with the pair's unborn child, but Hethrir's path up the Empire's chain of command went a much different way.

The pair's story begins in the Star Wars novel The Crystal Star, and Hethrir wastes little time in proving he had the constitution to not only survive in the Empire, but thrive. The Empire viewed non-humans as lesser creatures? Hethrir unleashed a virus to wipe out his entire planet. And if his ascent to the role of rigid and 'just' Procurator of Justice didn't get his cruelty across, how about building his fortune selling 'body-wood' - trees resembling human flesh? Hethrir's failed efforts to create a new Empire after Return of the Jedi aside, he sure made Vader and Palpatine proud.

Flint

It's no secret that Flint was created to offer a glimpse of the life Luke Skywalker could have had, assuming he followed through on his mission of joining up with the Empire. As the son of a Jedi Knight slain by General Grievous at the end of the Clone Wars, Flint's first meeting with Luke Skywalker was that of a young man meeting his idol... until Luke dismissed him, and Flint grew disillusioned. Pairing that moment with witnessing his mother's death, and Flint came to embody Anakin more than Luke. As a result, his explosion of emotion popped him onto Darth Vader's radar.

Taking Flint under his wing and recruiting him as one of his Stormtroopers, Flint left behind the white helmet and armor of the Empire's shock troops for a greater calling long before Finn in The Force Awakens. Flint eventually was called up to become Vader's new apprentice, mastering the ways of The Force in a larger plan to compete with Lumiya, to determine the true apprentice worthy of ascending when Vader killed the Emperor. Alas, it wasn't to be. Fortunately for Flint, his pull to the Dark Side was shaken when Vader fell, and he would eventually return to the side of the Rebels before dying in action.

Those are the known apprentices of Darth Vader, but who knows how many more might be added into the NEW Star Wars canon? Whether they're Force Users recruited to become true Sith Lords, or Force-sensitives brought under Vader's cape to help fortify his Empire, each of them is deserving of more time in the spotlight. And if Disney is rethinking their plans for future Star Wars movies, maybe spending some time on heroes and villains that audiences haven't met is a smarter path forward?