It can be easily argued that the Star Wars saga is Anakin Skywalker's story: the original trilogy focuses on Luke, yes, but the complete story arc belongs to Anakin, whose finest hour comes at the end of that trilogy in The Return of the Jedi. As Darth Vader, Anakin is as bad as they come, feared across the galaxy and questioned by no one: he is one of the greatest villains in film history - if not the greatest - and even he is still overcome by his conscience at the very end. The mechanical breathing of Vader as he enunciates lines like "apology accepted" is in stark contrast to the maskless Anakin hoarsely declaring that his son Luke is right with his final breath. His conscience is drawn out by his family, his legacy, his true name passed down into a new generation€ and all of this makes it harder to swallow that the I-III trilogy cast Anakin as such a whiner. Nonetheless, Vader rediscovering his humanity in the murk of the dark side still stands as the greatest example of a villain seeing the light and doing the right thing. What are your favourite examples of movie villains being overcome by their conscience before the end? Let us know in the comments section below.
