Dumbledore vs Darth Vader - Who Would Win

Dumbledore vs Darth Vader - Who Would Win

So my last battle post was a huge success and since many seemed to enjoy reading it and I certainly enjoyed writing it I thought I’d like to do them on a more regular basis. In my last post many Harry Potter fans accused me of being heavily biased. Yes I’m not a Harry Potter fan but at the same time I’m not a huge Godzilla fan. I do prefer Godzilla but I haven’t seen all his movies and while I do have a poster on my wall of his most recent movie I wasn’t even sure he could win once I started researching. I was honestly expecting Voldemort to monster it so was pleasantly surprised to find otherwise. So, onto the next battle.

 

Today we have Albus Dumbledore, legendary wizard from the Harry Potter series vs Darth Vader (aka Anakin Skywalker) antagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy and one of if not the most iconic villain of all time. Time to admit obvious bias, I’ve mentioned my opinions on Harry Potter. My favourite film does happen to be a film involving Darth Vader but I will leave my bias at home for this bout. This battle will involve no outside assistance and no escaping. Also it will be in an open environment giving neither combatant an advantage in terms of terrain. Now, let start with Dumbledore.

 

We’ll be assuming this is Dumbledore from the books at his most powerful, meaning he wields the Elder Wand. Despite his portrayal throughout the films, Dumbledore is powerful and commands authority. He may be an old man and while he is far physically inferior to Vader, this is likely to not be a factor. Dumbledore is also highly intelligent and was only killed because he planned it to happen that way. He even took on Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix. Since he owns the Elder Wand he in in possession of the most powerful wand in the Harry Potter world.

 

Let’s look at then wand more. Firstly it is worth pointing out he does not need the wand to cast magic but would he would be far less of a threat, probably to the extent of being easily defeated by Darth Vader. With the wand it is a different story. According to Harry Potter lore the owner of the wand can cast magic so powerful it is thought impossible by other wizards and witches. Something deemed impossible in a world containing magic highlights the possible levels of power the wand possesses. Something notable was its ability to repair other wands. It can’t do everything however, something of note it couldn’t do was cure people paralysed by the Basilisk.

 

There’s something else to consider about the Elder Wand. According to J.K. Rowling herself it is unsentimental and ruthless. The wand is only attracted to strength which may be something not in Dumbledore’s favour. This implies it would not be loyal to Dumbledore if it decided Darth Vader was stronger. However an issue here is that ‘strong’ is a very vague term. Vader and Dumbledore are both incredibly strong but in different ways.

 

Let’s look at what spells Dumbledore could cast. The killing curse stands out in a one on one fight and while some of you may say Dumbledore would be unwilling to use such a dark curse, he was willing to sacrifice Harry and had this planned out from when Harry was just a boy. He’s by no means evil but he is willing to do what’s necessary for the greater good. This is highly apparent when he sacrifices his own life. But just saying he has the killing curse as we found out last time is nowhere near enough so let’s keep looking. He would have expelliarmus, a disarming spell to attempt to disarm Vader and remove his lightsaber from the picture. He can cast powerful shield spells, he can apparate (Teleport) he can turn himself invisible without a cloak and I always think of the big fire vortex spell he uses in the Half Blood Prince (Apparently just called Firestorm). He can probably cast most spells in the Harry Potter world but another that could be highly relevant is called Magna Tonitrus which fires hot white lightening at the target but we will look more into this later.

 

Darth Vader is a strange person to analyse. In some ways he seems so immensely powerful he seems almost unbeatable while in other ways he almost appears vulnerable. Key to him defeating Dumbledore would be his mastery of the force. I looked into what powers he would have and found the following. Most iconic is his choking power. Anyone who can choke you with his mind is clearly a force to be reckoned with. He can use telekinesis, the sabre throw ability and force push. Vader also becomes more powerful as he channels his anger as it increases his strength and speed. Finally the force can be used for deflection to shield Vader. This is seen as he effortlessly deflects laser bullets from Han Solo in the empire strikes back. This deflection ability would be especially useful for deflecting spells. Vader should be able to use the force to shield himself from a majority of spells.

 

The other key factor is Vader’s armour. It has pros and cons so we’ll start with cons. By just looking at it you can see how cumbersome it is. The suit is not actually up to date technology and it not as well optimized as perhaps it should be. The suit is very heavy and also extremely uncomfortable. If Dumbledore could damage it sufficiently Vader would die as it is basically a mobile life support machine. But the biggest flaw in the suit is not the suit itself but the fact that Vader needs it. Nearly all Vader’s sense were damaged and thus most are replaced with machinery. He still has the same sense as other Human Beings (Sight, smell etc) but they are artificial and thus theoretically should not be enhanced by the force to the same extent as other force wielders. Being in the suit does actually limits Vader’s full force potential. It should be noted however that Vader even with the suit is still one of the most powerful force users ever known.

 

Due to the cumbersome nature of his suit Vader has had to drastically alter his lightsaber fighting technique, although this will not be relevant in a fight with Dumbledore. The last issue is the suits weakness to electricity. The suit can be shorted out with a powerful enough electrical discharge as shown in Return of the Jedi when the Emperor’s force lightening kills Vader. The Magna Tonitrus spell could be a key weapon in taking down Vader.  

 

The suit does have advantages though. Perhaps most obviously it serves as a suit of armour as well as life support. The armour is extremely tough and may be able to withstand many attacks, including Dumbledore’s spells. It also enhances Vader’s strength and stamina. Vader’s increased strength and stamina is key to Vaders new lightsaber technique. It is highly durable and could be a key factor in shielding him from attacks.

 

The last thing to consider is the lightsaber. Vader could easily kill Dumbledore with one strike of a lightsaber but there is no way it would be that easy. A lightsaber blade is made of pure plasma so could probably not block a majority of spells. It could however act as a physical barrier to block the killing curse. The lightsaber would be used as a defensive option in this battle. It is worth noting of all materials a lightsaber cannot cut the only one Dumbledore could have access to is water, so this would not be relevant.

 

This seems very tough to call. It’s difficult to compare their abilities as they seem to cancel each other out. Vader could see invisible Dumbledore with the force sensing his location. Vaders sabre throw could easily be cast away and equally Vader could use the force to grab back his lightsaber if he was disarmed as we see throughout the Star Wars films. A lightsaber should be able to block the killing curse. Dumbledores firestorm spell should be able to be avoided by Vader and his force deflection ability. Finally while Magna Tonitrus would kill Vader we have seen before that a lightsaber can block lightening attacks as in the films force lightening is block by a lightsaber. Yoda was also seen using a force deflection ability to reflect force lightening and it seems likely Vader could do the same to Dumbledores spell. Dumbledore can cast powerful shields to block Vader’s force attacks.

 

Dumbledores apparating ability would also be irrelevant as Vader could sense where he was and has fast enough reactions thanks to the force to not be attacked from behind. Vader’s far superior strength and physical power would be made irrelevant however. Stamina would likely not be a factor as both should be able to have extremely high stamina due to the force and suit and magical ability respectively.

 

The winner here would probably not be guaranteed. It would probably vary between fights however I do think one would win more often. The winner here is Darth Vader.

 

This is because of one reason. Vader and Dumbledore appear equally matched above but this was not taking into account Darth Vader’s anger. If angry, Vader would channel the dark side of the force to increase his speed strength and power. The power of the dark side and anger of Vader I think would be the thing to tip the scales of this battle. It would be a long hard fought battle and if Dumbledore and while this isn’t a guaranteed victory, Darth Vader would likely be able to eventually overpower Dumbledore. One strike from a lightsaber would kill Dumbledore but I think he would kill the legendary wizard with his force choke ability. Fuelled by anger I think Vader’s dark force powers would break through Dumbledore’s shields and choke him to death. This battle, while very close and certainly far closer than the last fight goes to Darth Vader.