1. Darth Vader
A Dark Lord of the Sith who was thought to be the chosen one destined to bring balance to the force, Anakin Skywalker became one of the most powerful Jedi in the Old Republic but was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, being renamed Darth Vader and spending the next 20 years hunting down the survivors of Order 66 while becoming the most feared man in the galaxy. Vader became a symbol of the tyranny of the Galactic Empire and was one of the chief antagonists of the Rebel Alliance. During the Battle of Endor he was successfully turned away from the Dark Side by his son Luke Skywalker and he threw his master over a shaft in the Death Star becoming mortally wounded in the process and dying shortly after. Darth Vader has the best arc of any character in the series, his theme music is one of the best in cinematic history, and he is probably the most recognizable movie character created in the last 50 years. He is responsible for most of the best moments in the saga and most importantly, he looks awesome and is voiced to perfection by James Earl Jones. He embodies all at once pure evil and pure awesomeness while still having a redemptive end and is not only easily the best character in the Star Wars universe, he might be one of the all-time great fictional characters regardless of medium.