The following contains spoilers from Star Wars: Darth Vader #26, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
Throughout the most recent arc of Marvel's Star Wars: Darth Vader comic series, the titular Sith Lord has grappled with the ghost of the man he once was. While helping Padme Amidala's former handmaiden, Sabé, free interplanetary settlers enslaved by the traitorous Imperial governor, Tauntaza, Darth Vader has encountered numerous reminders of his former identity as Anakin Skywalker. His mission also reveals the deep insecurities that haunted him through every stage of his life.
In Star Wars: Darth Vader #26 (by Greg Pak, Raffaele Lenco, Carlos Lopez, and VC's Joe Caramagna), Vader found himself braving the artificial sandstorm that protected Tauntaza's fortress. While the former Jedi Knight's aversion to sand has been a running joke to Star Wars fans for years, Star Wars: Darth Vader #26 added a tragic new dimension to Vader's hatred of seemingly harmless mineral particles by tying it to the all-consuming fear of loss that led him down the path of the Dark Side.
In Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Anakin's confession that he didn't care for his homeworld of Tatooine's defining geological feature to his soon-to-be wife Padme is supposed to be a touching display of the trust he's willing to place in her. Hayden Christian's stilted delivery of an already awkwardly written line of dialogue turned this moment of emotional intimacy into one of the most ridiculed moments in the entire franchise. Since the film's release, Anakin's admission of vulnerability has become a convenient punchline for jokes among even the most dedicated Stars Wars fans.
However, Star Wars: Darth Vader #26 shows that Vader's distaste for sand isn't a laughing matter. Tatooine is already one of the most dangerous planets in the Stars Wars galaxy, but Anakin's status as a slave made the experience of growing up in Tatooine's harsh environment even more harrowing for him. As shown in a flashback, Anakin and his mother Shmi's meager lodgings provided them with little shelter from the sandstorms that regularly ravaged Mos Espa. For Anakin, sand wasn't just a harmless skin irritant -- it was a threat to his survival that nearly claimed his and his mother's lives on multiple occasions.
Having spent his formative years in constant danger of being suffocated by it, sand was cemented as a symbol of death and helplessness in Anakin's mind, and it would continue to haunt him long after he departed Tatooine. By coincidence or fate, sand would be present in many of the most traumatic moments in Anakin's life. Whether it was when Shmi succumbed to the wounds she had received as a prisoner of Tuskan Raiders or when Padme fell out of a dropship, the unforgiving dunes that had nearly claimed him as a child seemed to follow him, ready to swallow those he cared for the most.
Even after his brutal scorching in the fires of Mustafar, sand remained the only natural phenomenon that Vader feared. To him, sand was a reminder that he'd failed to save his mother or Padme from death. Still, when faced with the thought of losing Sabé after learning that she'd been pulled into Tauntaza's artificial sandstorm, Vader chose to confront his fear head-on. Shielding Sabé from the overwhelming deluge with the Force, Vader finally found the strength to defeat his mind's embodiment of death, conquering his greatest fear.
Throughout its run, Star Wars: Darth Vader has re-contextualized many of the prequel trilogy's more awkward moments by presenting them in a new light. While Anakin Skywalker's animosity towards sand was once a joke, it's finally being shown for what it is -- a haunting representation of death to the most feared man in the galaxy.