Some may say Yoda and Obi-Wan made a mistake by giving up on Anakin Skywalker, that if they’d just tried a little harder, maybe he could’ve been saved before Luke came along. But if you have gone through the comic Darth Vader: Cry of Shadows, you will start to see why walking away wasn’t the failure people think it was – it was the only option that made sense.
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Vader Wasn’t Just Lost – He Was Committed
Cry of Shadows tells the story of a clone trooper named Hock. He was abandoned by the Jedi during the Clone Wars and left for dead. That betrayal led him to hate the Jedi deeply, and eventually, he joined the Empire. Like many others, he saw Darth Vader as a figure of strength, justice, and revenge – a man who shared his pain.
But the more Hock got to know Vader, the more he realized he was dead wrong.
Vader wasn’t a tragic hero on a hard path. He was a monster wrapped in black armor. No empathy. No remorse. Just power and violence.
And it wasn’t just about leading missions or crushing uprisings. Hock saw Vader do things that haunted him for the rest of his life – things no human should ever be capable of. The “Dark Lord of the Sith” wasn’t just a title. It was who he was.
So when people say Obi-Wan should’ve kept trying, I think it’s fair to ask – try what, exactly? You don’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. And Vader didn’t.
Even His Allies Realized He Was Gone
At first, Hock admired Vader. He thought they were on the same side, bonded by loss and anger. But during a mission on a remote planet, things changed. The mission was supposed to be about putting down insurgents, but Hock saw Vader slaughter civilians – people who were only standing up for their beliefs, who just wanted to live in peace.
These weren’t soldiers. These weren’t threats. They were people. And Vader killed them anyway.
That moment hit Hock hard. All the respect he had for Vader vanished. He finally understood: Vader wasn’t just following orders. He enjoyed domination. His power wasn’t a burden – it was a choice.
So again, let’s bring this back to Obi-Wan and Yoda. If a man’s own soldiers end up realizing he’s irredeemable, is it really fair to expect his old friends to do better?
“There Is Still Good in Him” – But When?
It’s easy to point at Return of the Jedi and say, “See? Luke was right.” But that redemption didn’t come until the very end. It took decades of violence, the love of a son, and the threat of that son’s death to finally make Vader turn.
Even then, it was a split-second decision. A final act of defiance against the Emperor. And it killed him.
Up until that point, he was more machine than man – physically, emotionally, spiritually. He had choked his pregnant wife. Slaughtered children. Hunted down Jedi. Built his life on fear and obedience. That’s not a man with a little darkness in him. That’s someone who let it consume him.
Yoda and Obi-Wan weren’t naïve. They had seen it all up close. They had felt what Vader had become through the Force. And they knew, better than anyone, what he was capable of.
The Jedi Were Realistic – Not Ruthless
People say, “Yoda and Obi-Wan gave up too soon.” But the truth is, they didn’t give up. They just stopped trying the wrong way. They focused on Luke. They put their hope in the next generation. And they trusted that if Anakin had any good left, it would come out in his own time.
Not because someone forced it. But because someone believed in the good, without expecting it to come easy.
And that’s exactly what happened.