I have always been curious about this. Anakin was a boy who grew up to learn the ways of the jedi. Anakin became a jedi and then betrayed the republic for the empire. His master became Darth Sidious who was a Sith. If Anakin who is Darth Vader was taught by darth Sidious the ways of the Empire..that would make Vader a Sith right? Well then why cant he shoot lightning out of his hands? I would think that would be the first things Darth Sidious would teach his apprintcie since that is the main thing he does. I know darth Vader can force choke which is also a Sith thing, bt why cant he shoot lightning?

Not all sith can force choke. It requires very precise force control to not just break someones neck.

 

Its no different than real life. Some actors can sing, some can dance, some can do both, and some cant do either.

Being able to use lighting, doesn't make you or not make you a sith. Reason why Vader can't is because if he tried he would have fried his life support suit and killed himself. He is a sith lord, so he can't use lighting who cares? Force lighting DOESN'T determine wiether someone is a sith lord or not.

 

Infact Sidious was suppose to be the ONLY force user ever able to use lighting.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Wolfninjajedi

I have always been curious about this. Anakin was a boy who grew up to learn the ways of the jedi. Anakin became a jedi and then betrayed the republic for the empire. His master became Darth Sidious who was a Sith. If Anakin who is Darth Vader was taught by darth Sidious the ways of the Empire..that would make Vader a Sith right? Well then why cant he shoot lightning out of his hands? I would think that would be the first things Darth Sidious would teach his apprintcie since that is the main thing he does. I know darth Vader can force choke which is also a Sith thing, bt why cant he shoot lightning?

 

Vader is also totally encased in a mechanical life support suit <_< He would have no incentive to generate an ability that could be reflected back on him and in all likelihood kill him from mechanical failure.

Vader was a Sith. The reason he was unable to use Force Lightning was that his body had been partially replaced by mechanical prosthetics, hindering his ability to access the Force, especially for high-level techniques such as Force Lightning.

ph ya i totally forgot about that lol i guess that would be why

James Luceno actually explains it in the book Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, which is an excellent novel. Check it out

He lost both hands so he didnt have hands to shoot the lighting out of. Thats how its explained in the books.

Vader is still a sith but the force is very much a living thing. When he became "more machine than man" he lost some connection with the force.

Against Count Dooku and Darth Sidious in the movies, Yoda returns force lightning back to the casters, and Yoda happens to be a Jedi, soo.... =/

Force Lightning can be seen and deflected/absorbed, I haven't seen anyone yet absorbing/deflecting Vader's Force choke. Edited December 29, 2011 by GhostRiderLSOV

Against Count Dooku and Darth Sidious in the movies, Yoda returns force lightning back to the casters, and Yoda happens to be a Jedi, soo.... =/

 

he didnt actually cast it back he force deflected it didnt actually reach his hand thats why theres like a blue shield thing around his hand when hes holding it

Vader is a Sith warrior not an Inquisitor so cant shoot lightning lol just joking.

 

Yes most of the answer had been found already as vader are more machine than human so if he cant shoot lightning think it will reflect back at him - Frying him.

 

The best conductor of lightning??? - Metal surface..

 

Remember the scene when he carry sidious and threw him over the deathstar reactor? Sidious didnt actually shoot force lightning at him but the force lightning reflected and still contact with vader.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Ringwraiths

Against Count Dooku and Darth Sidious in the movies, Yoda returns force lightning back to the casters, and Yoda happens to be a Jedi, soo.... =/

 

he didnt actually cast it back he force deflected it didnt actually reach his hand thats why theres like a blue shield thing around his hand when hes holding it

Technically he has no hands.

Don't forget that the only real time Vader came in contact with force lightning (when he decided to caber toss the emperor), it did indeed short out his suit and kill him.

Vader is still a sith but the force is very much a living thing. When he became "more machine than man" he lost some connection with the force.

 

No he didn't. Most of those wounds came from Obi-wan; which means Palpantine would have been looking for a new replacement asap.

I forgot about Alan Dean Foster's book: Splinter in the Mind's Eye.

 

There was, however, one case where Vader did use Force lightning. When Vader was in close proximity to the presence of the Kaiburr crystal on Circarpous V, the amplification effects of the Force caused his affinity with the dark side to expand. As a result, Vader was able to utilize this power, a feat normally impossible for him.

A fun quote on the subject.

 

The emotion for Force-choking someone is "I hate you specifically so much I want you to die twice." The emotion for Force lightning, a far less precise and discriminatory use of the Dark Side, is "I'M SO MAD I'MA GONNA BREAK EVERYTHING URRRAAAGH".

This explains why Darth Vader can't use it — not just that his cyborg body can't handle it, but he's also way too mopey and tormented inside to indulge in Palpatine's exultant break-everything gleeful rages. Palpatine smiles, cackles, expresses sheer exultant anti-joy at the pleasure of being evil * all the time* ; Vader, by contrast, never seems happy at all.

Don't forget that the only real time Vader came in contact with force lightning (when he decided to caber toss the emperor), it did indeed short out his suit and kill him.

 

That wasn't the first time and all other times force lightning has proven ineffective. It was Sidious' strength in the force that destroyed him.

Being able to use lighting, doesn't make you or not make you a sith. Reason why Vader can't is because if he tried he would have fried his life support suit and killed himself. He is a sith lord, so he can't use lighting who cares? Force lighting DOESN'T determine wiether someone is a sith lord or not.

 

Infact Sidious was suppose to be the ONLY force user ever able to use lighting.

 

You forgot about Count Dooku lol.

Vader's title is Dark Lord of the Sith in the original books and screenplay. And he doesnt need to shoot lightning. He can kick your butt with a sabre, and his force abilities without it.

You forgot about Count Dooku lol.

 

No this was before Count Dooku and the PT, Sidious was suppose to be the only force user ever to use lighting. But then later on they changed it.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Wolfninjajedi

He lost some of his midichlorians when his arms and legs got cut off.

 

LOLOL

As mentioned Vader is mostly cybernetic, which is why he can't fully utilize all force powers. One of the books also does an excellent job of explaining why Sidious would never waste his time training Vader on how to fully use the dark side as (according to some books) you have to be mostly organic or have a life force going through the body.

 

It would have been very cool to see how Vader would have turned out if he had the full access to the force before taking a lava bath.