I’ve read a lot of Star Wars stories, but this one stuck with me—not because it’s action-packed or epic, but because it’s oddly… human. It’s from Star Wars: Tales (Marvel) Issue #16, and it shows a completely different side of Darth Vader. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be this emotional.
Table of Contents
Vader Had a Diary (Yes, Really)
First off, the setup is pure gold. One day, a stormtrooper is assigned to clean Darth Vader’s private quarters. That’s already a job with serious death-by-choking risk. But while sweeping and tidying, this trooper stumbles across something unexpected: Darth Vader’s diary. Not a battle log. Not an official Imperial report. An actual personal diary.
Naturally, he doesn’t keep it to himself. He shows it to his buddy, another stormtrooper named Bob. The two sit down, crack it open, and start flipping through the pages.
What they find isn’t just a collection of dark Sith brooding. There are doodles. Random thoughts. A few scattered memories. But then they land on a page that genuinely hits them in the feels: a birthday entry.
Vader’s Sad Little Birthday Confession
This entry is both hilarious and weirdly touching. Vader writes that nobody remembered his birthday. Not one soul. At one point, he thought the Empire was throwing him a surprise party… only to realize it was for another stormtrooper who happened to share the same birthday.
Brutal.
He talks about how he tried to play it cool and hide his feelings. But inside, he felt invisible. Forgotten. There’s even a mention that he ended up crying alone in his room and — no joke — drinking himself into a stupor. So much so that he passed out in what he described as a “flood.” Make of that what you will.
It’s honestly hard not to feel bad for the guy. Sure, he’s the Empire’s most feared enforcer, a walking nightmare in a cape… but apparently, even Darth Vader just wants someone to care about him once in a while.
Two Stormtroopers, One Bold Move
So what do our two stormtrooper buddies do with this information?
They go to a briefing with Vader. Nothing unusual at first — probably the usual “crush the Rebellion” type talk. But then, as they’re leaving, one of them turns around and just goes for it:
“Happy birthday, Lord Vader.”
Silence. You can practically hear every other stormtrooper in the room freeze. That’s not the kind of thing you just say to Vader. That’s the kind of thing that gets you Force-choked through a wall.
But Vader doesn’t respond with violence. He doesn’t even say a word.
Instead, he pauses.
And somehow — somehow — the stormtroopers are convinced that Vader actually smiled under the mask.
