Noooooooooo

Fans of Star Wars might have cringed when they first heard Darth Vader’s lament of Padme’s untimely death in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, but now they can laugh repeatedly at it. What was probably meant to come across as a genuine display of despair has instead become part of our pop culture lexicon as an overly dramatic expression of disappointment. And hey, this isn’t actually a bad thing. We’ve all been quoting Star Wars out of context for decades.

I was recently on the official Star Wars website and I came across an excellent soundboard featuring a per-character breakdown of voice clips. Upon clicking to Darth Vader’s page and finding that “Noooooooooo” was one of the clips I could make Vader spout at my whim, I was instantly seduced by its power. Yes, there are some funny clips from other characters (including “Utinni!,” which prior to “Noooooooooo” was my favorite Star Wars quote – it’s Jawese for either “go there” or “come here,” I think) but Vader’s sad cry is the best of the bunch. Not only is it funny, but it’s also representative of the human condition which we are all a part of, whether we like it or not.