Darth Vader is not alone one of the most despicable villains in star wars (though at least he didn't use the Dysonite children's dying screams to torture people), but also one of the most famous bad guys in all of cinema. He is a character who is immediately recognizable only by his silhouette; his stiff, expressionless "face" still offers a rather intense perpetual frown. The guy is just fear incarnate, someone you look at and immediately know is bad news.

Designing the character was not easy, and for Star Wars creator George Lucas, the key was how Darth Vader moved and acted. Of course, the costume did much of the work, as did James Earl Jones' fantastic vocal performance. However, David Prowse's physical performance was also essential in making the character a huge and terrifying presence even when he was barely moving.

Really, when you think about it, Vader barely moves in any of his appearances. Sure, he swings his lightsaber around a bunch and does heavy walking, but Vader never really runs. Even many Star Wars video games make him a slow walker, mostly forcing him to run to get places faster. Why is that? Well, we have some thoughts.

Mind you, walking instead of running is a pretty classic villain. It shows confidence and, as such, immediately makes the antagonist more threatening. You rarely, if ever, see Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, or the T-1000 in The Terminator (which is by far the scariest Terminator movie), so why should Vader be any different? He doesn't need to chase his enemies, they just need to hide from him and surrender to the inevitability of being cut down by Vader. After all, Anakin's last name was Skywalker, not Skyrunner.

Then there are the practical reasons. Much like Batman's suit, Vader's oversized suit isn't very comfortable or practical. Prowse could barely get his arms high in the air because of his Vader suit, so running would definitely look pretty silly in that outfit—not to mention the very real possibility of Vader tripping over his long cape. Vader's suit is meant to look cool, not necessarily move that well.

However, the most likely cause is also quite simple - lung problems. We all know that Vader needs help breathing, so doing physical activities like running can pose a major health risk to the middle-aged Sith Lord whose body was badly burned after his mentor and friend left him for dead. Then there's the fact that Vader has not one but two prosthetic legs, which may not allow as much mobility.

There is a long-standing theory among certain fans that Vader's suit is not actually cutting-edge medical technology, but is instead purposely designed to keep the Sith Lord in constant excruciating pain so that he can never be more powerful than Darth Sidious. According to this theory, Palpatine made sure his apprentice didn't kill him and take over as supreme dark lord, despite that being the whole Sith style (see also the entire "Rule of Two.").

In the non-canonical Expanded Universe known as Star Wars Legends, particularly in the novel Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, Vader himself points out that his mechanical limbs are less advanced than current technology at the time. This means that his master gave him a sick suit to be more in tune with the dark side of the Force thanks to his anger. (As we all know, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.)

However, this is no longer the case in the current canon. Now, Vader's suit is explicitly the single most advanced piece of machinery in the galaxy, although he has to constantly inject Vader with painkillers to ease his pain (from, again, burning in lava). Vader also comes to accept the suit and how it isolates him from the rest of the galaxy, allowing him to focus on his anger and hatred to become a stronger instrument of the dark side.

The new Star Wars canon has done a lot to expand on and explain Darth Vader, including how his lighthouse came to be and how his suit was made, but never whether or not there was a way for him to run more easily. Maybe that's a question for another unnecessary Disney+ show.