I have more Star Wars questions...

[mjr]

Ok, here are the questions:

1. Assuming that the 2nd death star didn't get destroyed, and Vader didn't die, how long (in theory) could he have lived in his armor? Assuming that when he got the armor he was 30, in "A New Hope" he would have been approaching (or been at) 50 years old. So how long, theoretically, could he have lived?

2. What happens to the blaster bolts that miss, when they're dog fighting in space? Do they just keep going and eventually hit something? do they dissipate? What happens?

3. Was Vader really the "chosen one"? The Jedi Council makes the mistake of assuming a Jedi would be "the chosen one" that would bring balance to the force. Although I guess you could argue that when Vader redeems himself at the end of "Return..." he becomes a Jedi again, and thus fulfills the prophecy. Or is Luke the "chosen one"? Or someone else?

4. As my wife points out, there are always stories where prophecy is fulfilled. If Qui-Gon had listened to the Jedi Council and not trained Anakin, how would he have been led to the Dark Side of the Force?

[Deserted]

Ok, here are the questions:

I'm speaking as a minor Star Wars nerd.

1. Assuming that the 2nd death star didn't get destroyed, and Vader didn't die, how long (in theory) could he have lived in his armor? Assuming that when he got the armor he was 30, in "A New Hope" he would have been approaching (or been at) 50 years old. So how long, theoretically, could he have lived?

Vader was 22 when he became the galaxy's most powerful biker dungeon master leather fashion model human sausage Sith Lord and 45 when he died. [...] I had this big long paragraph typed out and then the browser glitched.

TL;DR: He was insanely powerful in the Force and was encased in a life support suit. He'd live until the emperor got tired of him, whether a week or a century.

2. What happens to the blaster bolts that miss, when they're dog fighting in space? Do they just keep going and eventually hit something? do they dissipate? What happens?

Blaster bolts are plasma. They dissipate after some unspecified distance.

3. Was Vader really the "chosen one"? The Jedi Council makes the mistake of assuming a Jedi would be "the chosen one" that would bring balance to the force. Although I guess you could argue that when Vader redeems himself at the end of "Return..." he becomes a Jedi again, and thus fulfills the prophecy. Or is Luke the "chosen one"? Or someone else?

Yes.

Luke might have been it -- Obi-wan certainly thought so, later in his life -- but Anakin was probably the Chosen One.

4. As my wife points out, there are always stories where prophecy is fulfilled. If Qui-Gon had listened to the Jedi Council and not trained Anakin, how would he have been led to the Dark Side of the Force?

Darth Sidious probably would have found him anyway, somehow, and instead of the roundabout way he turned to the Dark Side, Anakin would have been raised a Sith Lord.

[EricKei]

Another minor SW geek here

1- I agree with Deserted. As long as the Emperor had a need for him; if no interference, as long as the suit and maybe the occasional bacta tank immersion would allow. If he underwent an even further conversion -- a la Grievous -- indefinitely. Keep in mind that the Emp designed Vader's suit such that he would be more or less functional, but in constant pain, and denied him upgrades that would alleviate these problems. He didn't sound asthmatic because "that's just how the suit works;" Sidious put in a faulty breathing system on purpose. After all, if Vader is focussing on staying alive despite that crappy suit (and I am assuming he's using a decent amount of Force energy at all times to that end), he has that much less time and mental effort to focus on treachery. Vader would probably jump at the chance to live pain-free, even if it meant living as a brain in a jar within an otherwise truly robotic body.

2 - According to this discussion (and, I'm sure, many others), yes, there is a hard limit on effective range (meaning, "will it hit at all," not "will it hit with accuracy"). Small ship weapons (e.g. X-Wings or the Millenium Falcon; as one movie explicitly states when some TIEs they can see are out of the MF's range): Somewhere around 100km, +/-20; the books say as far as 400; the video games, as low as 15. Capital ship weapons: Probably 1000km or better (5k seems more likely). Ground-based emplacements: at least 5000km.

3 - I think Anakin was, as well. He was supposed to bring Balance...and, well, by the time he was done, there were only one or two active Jedi and ditto for the Sith...So~ Balance

4 - He would likely have ended up on the dark side anyway -- Growing up as a slave, I would imagine, does not make it likely that one would end up with a very positive view of life/people/etc. Some tragic event such as his mom's death, or an abusive owner, would likely have pushed him over the edge, especially once he reached adolescence and his inner asshole came to the fore.

[Pixelated]

Not sure I even qualify as a SW geek but am definitely a fan who can repeat a lot of the dialogue of the first trilogy verbatim. I did see the prequels but have to admit I didn't like them as much.

Ok, here are the questions:

1. Assuming that the 2nd death star didn't get destroyed, and Vader didn't die, how long (in theory) could he have lived in his armor? Assuming that when he got the armor he was 30, in "A New Hope" he would have been approaching (or been at) 50 years old. So how long, theoretically, could he have lived?

I don't think it's ever really been clarified what the average lifespan of a person would be in that "galaxy far far away." Nor am I sure what a connection to The Force -- whether for good or bad -- would have on a person's lifespan. It could be that at 50, he's just a misbehavin' kid who needed a really LONG time out. I also agree with EricKei about the benefits of occasional bacta tank immersions.

2. What happens to the blaster bolts that miss, when they're dog fighting in space? Do they just keep going and eventually hit something? do they dissipate? What happens?

I think they just dissipate, as any other arms fire would do.

3. Was Vader really the "chosen one"? The Jedi Council makes the mistake of assuming a Jedi would be "the chosen one" that would bring balance to the force. Although I guess you could argue that when Vader redeems himself at the end of "Return..." he becomes a Jedi again, and thus fulfills the prophecy. Or is Luke the "chosen one"? Or someone else?

Again, I like EricKei's assessment of this. Prophecies are more often than not really wide open to interpretation -- and misinterpreation. The Oracle at Delphi prophesied that, if Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire. She just happened to leave out the teensy detail that it would be his own. So yeah, by the time Anakin had finished raising hell, there weren't many left of either the Jedi or the Sith, which does qualify as 'balance' ...

4. As my wife points out, there are always stories where prophecy is fulfilled. If Qui-Gon had listened to the Jedi Council and not trained Anakin, how would he have been led to the Dark Side of the Force?

I realize that the prequels were really soft-soap, but even so, Anakin's life as a slave didn't look all that freakin' bad. I guess you'd have to use your imagination for the parts that weren't shown in a family-friendly movie. With that in mind, I'm guessing that his mother's violent death would have been the tipping point for him, especially if somebody had offered him a chance to avenge her suffering and turn it back tenfold onto her killers.

[EricKei]

Sauce for some of my suit info (which references other sources) -- and it's an interesting vignette in any case