Space Battles Round 1 – Darth Vader vs Q

In the world of Space Battles there are two giants that reign above as the most well-known. Star Wars and Star Trek fans have been notoriously at odds with each other throughout the years with the debate being which series is the best space opus? The best story, the best characters, which is truly the best overall in terms of development?



Let’s Do This!

*** WARNING *** SPOILER ALERT ***

Now for this particular article I am not pitting the two against each other, just taking what are arguably the strongest from each series and dissecting who would win if by chance they were to ever face each other. 

[image error]Star Trek The Next Generation

One from each of the series that are some of the most notable characters, for this article I will be taking quite the sassy and mischievous Q from Star Trek Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine played by John De Lancie and putting him against the culmination of all the dark side of the forces conniving of Darth Plague is and Darth Sidious resulting in one of the most well-known characters regardless of knowledge of the genre fandom, Darth Vader.

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So, with such a big battle and so many variables that go into a battle such as this, how do we decide the victor? Well first let us introduce a bit of history of each character. Not going too in depth but enough to give you an idea of each character and the powers that they possess and would readily use in a fight. Let us start with Star Trek’s Q.

Q from the Q Continuum

To begin with Q is not just Q’s name but his race; it is what each of the beings that make up his race is called.  Q is an extra-dimensional being of unknown origin who possesses immeasurable power over normal human notions of time, space, the laws of physics, and reality itself, being capable of violating or altering them in unpredictable ways with a hand gesture cue.

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So like Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet but for Q none of the finery is needed.

Q is introduced in the pilot episode Encounter at Farpoint for Star Trek: Next Generation and from the bat we get to watch what eventually ends up being more of a friendship begin between Q and Picard. Q is never clear on his intentions but in later episodes we see his own race state that he is far too fond of the humans signalling that he does in fact end up on the side of good as we see it being on Picard and his team’s side.  

That being said while Q and his role are ultimately supposed to be as judge of whether or not humanity poses a threat to the universe or not, which for me throws me to the book by Bruce Coville, My Teacher Flunked The Planet which features the same plot only 6 years later, he becomes more of a mentor to Picard overall. A friend if you will.

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While Q has all this power and will to manipulate things, he also has this need to be mischievous and to talk. He is typical archetype of a monologuer. With Q pretty well and explained, let us move to Darth Vader and see what makes him up.

The One & Only Darth Vader

Darth Vader wasn’t always knowns as such.  He has quite the complicated story, for those who don’t know Star Wars for all the purposes of this article and the info needs, has two major sets of players. There are those of the Jedi Order who are for lack of a better comparison the good side being like monks who use the life essence that makes up all things, The Force, for the good of the universe.

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And then there are the Sith, who use the Dark side of the Force to achieve their means. Now in other canon we learn there are other parts and variables that make up the Force and how it affects anyone who is in tune with it, but like I said for this article we will sticks to the barest basics.

Darth Vader in the beginning was known as Anakin Skywalker apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi and even as a young child showed not only great promise but was perhaps one of the greatest in tune with the Force, until we later meet his apprentice during The Clone Wars Ahsoka Tano—Fight me if you feel you must but even the creator himself said that she was meant to be the purest of the Jedi and what a true Jedi was meant to be. She is still one of the best female character developments I have ever seen hands down.

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That said The Jedi truly trust themselves to the Force and to its will unfolding as it must. Anakin is a firecracker who tests fate and even makes the biggest decision in front of the psychical representations of The Force themselves in which path he is choosing to take sealing his fate.

Anakin goes up against one of the most ridiculously good villains in the series Emperor Palpatine, Darth Sidious in disguise, and is lured away from the Light side of the Force and after a series of unfortunate events including the death of his wife Padme, he falls into the Dark side of the Force and Vader is born.

Darth Vader has the powers of foresight, Force shield, extreme levels of pain tolerance, Force lightning, Force sensing—meaning he can sense the slightest disturbance in his surroundings, Cloaking his presence using the Force, Force Absorption, which means he can take the energy and power of those around him and turn it into his own energy, Force Healing, and of the major powers he wields the last I will mention is Force Flight.

The Verdict

I mean at the end of the day either of these opponents are winners in their own rights, both wield formidable powers indeed.  The breakdown of it all can come to many different conclusions depending on where the characters fight and whose home territory they are in.

But after breaking it down and having seen both characters in action through the whole of their sagas up to now it truly depends on one thing. You ready? It depends on if Q speaks. *patiently waiting for the tomatoes to be thrown at me.*

[image error]Star Trek The Next Generation

Hear me out, both have what could easily be considered God like powers for their separate universes. Q and his race literally are judge and jury in theirs and while never actually granted that title Vader does the same in his universe, at first for the Jedi Council and in the end for Darth Sidious.

They are both EXTREMELY intelligent and intuitive so if a move were to be made, as in the game of chess, both would be at the same step steps ahead of the actual move. Vader is a Master Strategist in the art of battle but Q is like Griffin from MIB 3 in which he can foresee some of what is to come if things go according to a certain path.

Vader has already proven several times that he goes against fate and chooses his own path making that null.

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So it really boils down to the very beginning of the fight and whether Q monologues or not. If Q opens his mouth to speak Vader has him. I truly believe that. But again there are variables that I cannot calculate for and honestly it is just my opinion of the fight at the end of the day.

So dear Readers, what are your thoughts? Who do you put your money on in a battle? Let us know in the comments below and I look forward to the next match up!

~Sith Lord Zee~

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