R.I.P. Darth Vader

I missed memorializing Donald Sutherland when he passed, so I'm certainly not going to lie down on the job when it comes to noting the departure from this world of James Earl Jones.

Unfortunately, I would not say I have any truly unique words in reflecting on the legacy of one of our most beloved cultural icons and recognizable voices. 

However, as a child who saw Star Wars in the movie theater when he was not yet four, I do have a perspective on him shared by only those within a couple years of my age.

For many of us, Jones' voicing of Darth Vader was the first time we heard the blood-chilling sounds of evil. When we heard Darth Vader, we suddenly had a perfect encapsulation of an unimaginable threat to our safety. Our parents had kept us safe from harm, but somehow, some way, this villain could still get us, if we weren't careful.

I was first in line for the next two releases -- to the extent that my parents cooperated with that agenda, though I can't really remember for sure. As much as I dreamed myself away into the exploits of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, the pull of Darth Vader's menace -- not phantom, but very tactile and real -- was an equivalent part of the adventure, the same sort of glimpse into the pit of darkness that would later make me and others into horror fans.

And though Darth Vader was obviously Jones' most iconic role, when we think of him, we don't think of a cruel and twisted man.

We think of the wonderful grandfatherly figure in Field of Dreams, who helps Ray Kinsella on his journey to build a baseball diamond in his Iowa cornfield. I may not love that movie the way I once did, but I cherish the portrayal Jones gives us.

We think of the stern but ultimately loving father in Coming to America, whose underlying gentleness was passed down to his son, Prince Akeem.

We think of The Lion King's Mufasa, another paternal figure, whose warmth and light were extinguished by the vicious Scar.

I was leading up there to a point that the on-screen and voice-only Joneses were very different types, but Mufasa, of course, was also a voice-only role, and there he is the ultimate good rather than the ultimate evil.

Few actors have had such careers where they thrived equally as heroes and villains, and that may be the ultimate compliment to an actor's range. 

We had no reason to expect James Earl Jones to live very much longer than the 93 years he lived. But the fact that he was still supplying the voice of Darth Vader as recently as 2022 in the Disney series Obi-Wan Kenobi, 45 years after he originally gave life to the character, indicates that we didn't feel like we were even done yet with Jones as a working actor, let alone as a person living in this world. 

Now any future attempts to create Darth Vader's voice on screen will likely be the product of AI, and don't think we won't get them. In fact, they might even sound as good, almost, as Jones himself, though that's as much of a twisted fate involving the blending of human and machine as Darth Vader himself.

But those of us who first heard the booming voice of darkness, and the labored breathing that went with it, in a movie theater in 1977 as three-year-olds, we'll know the difference.

We'll know.