First, please read this piece of dialogue, which I had added a few lines to make my point:

Darth Vader: No. I am your father.
Luke: No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!
Darth Vader: Search your feelings, you know it to be true!
Luke: No! No!
Darth Vader: Luke, you can destroy the Emperor, he has forseen this. It is your destiny. Join me, and together, we can rule the galaxy as father and son!
Luke: Wait what?
DV: I said, we can rule the galaxy as father...
L: No I got that piece, I just don't quite get why you want to rule it, or even why you are still standing here, alive and all.
DV: Stay on topic, Luke. I was saying...
L: You want to rule the galaxy with me. Kind offer, but no thanks; because I don't know why do you want to rule it.
DV: I don't follow.
L: I just read your mind and I can see that you are more machine than human, and that you cannot live without regular replacements of breathing tubes in your meditation chamber. When is the last time you breathed unporcessed air? Dagobah may have a lot of bogs, but the air there was ok, Hoth's air is cold, Tatooine's was hot, but at least I got to breathe them in, unpocessed. When is the last time you breathed unporcessed air? 
DV: This is totally unrelated to the current...
L: And when is the last time you ingest food? My survival kit food rations I ate on Dagobah may not be much, but the sense of being full is good. When is the last time you ate? And I don't mean fluid food injected into your remaining bloodstreams, I mean real food.
DV: This is getting really off-topic here Luke...
L: And when is the last time you felt the warmth another body in your arms? A few days ago a hot chick kissed me squarely on my lips, and that's awesome. Do you remember the taste of that? (My fanfiction dialogue is starting to sound creppy I know, please bear with me.)
DV: Actually no, but...
L: So are there anything that guves you satisfaction in your life? From what I got from reading your mind, I don't think you enjoy force-choking. (I, the author, don't think it was shown in the movies that DV enjoys it; it is more like intimidation to me.) Seriously 'dad', I don't think you get any satisfaction in life, and the way I see it, you are not getting it even if you rule the galaxy with me. So, seeiing that you gain no satisfaction in life from what you do, why don't you stick that red blade through your helmet?
DV: ehhh... I don't know son. You digress too much. Would you rule...
L: No, bye! [Let go and fall]

In case you don't get my point here, I asked myself, "What drives Darth Vader to do what he does? What does he get from his actions?" And I cannot come up with answers. That's why I wrote this article.

Now, let's compare Darth Vader to a number of other great villains.

1. Khan Noonien Singh, from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

He was marooned on a planet, with the promise that there would be regular checkups. Then his new planet was destroyed because a neighbouring planet exploded, and as a result of that and no promised checkups, his wife and most of his followers died. Khan is angry about that, and when he did what he did in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he got satisfaction because he was making the 'culpirt', Captain Kirk, suffer; that and outsmarting Kirk was fun.

Bottomline, Khan's motivation: get Kirk to suffer. Khan's satisfaction: seeing Kirk suffer.

2. The Operative from Serenity

River Tam somehow got information about the origin of the Reavers and Miranda, therefore she has to die/ be brainwashed by the Alliance. The Operative was sent to do the job, and he said in the movie that he believes that the information (he didin't know and didn't care whatever the information is ) cannot be publicized. He believes that killing River Tam was the right thing to do.

Bottomline, The Operative's motivation: he believes it has to be done, he blieves he is doing something that benefits the Alliance, and by extension, everyone. His satisfaction: seeing it done.

3. The Joker from The Dark Knight (who fought me and made Harvey crazy, damn that guy!)

The Joker believes that people are acting 'cilivzed' because they want to pretend that they are 'civilized'. Therefore, Joker went on a mission to show that everyone was as rotten as rotten can be. He made two ships of people 'take part in a social experiment', tried to make Batman kill, and succeeded in turning Harvey Dent into Two-face, a murderous lunatic.

Bottomline, Joker's motivation: show the world human's true natue. Joker's satisfaction: succeedin in doing so.

4. The Kurgan from Highlander (the only one)

The Kurgan is an Immortal. When an Immortal cuts off another Immortal's head, the survivng one receives the dead's 'energy' if you will, and the last Immortal standing, after all other Immortals lost their heads, receives the 'prize', which is (I believe) ultimate knowledge and a bunch of other awesome powers. The Kurgan wanted to rule the world, and what better way to rule it than to get the 'prize' and use the 'prize' to rule it? Because of this urge for power, The Kurgan goes around killing other Immortals, one of them being James Bond, Raiden's frined and mentor. (Get the refernce yourselves people.)

Bottomline, The Kurgan's motivation: the desire to rule the world, by getting the 'prize'. The Kurgan's satisfaction: getting closer to the prize day by day, and dreaming of his rule.

5. Sauron from Lord Of The Rings

Sauron used to serve another Dark Lord (I forgot the name, anyway that's not improtant), but now Sauron ruled Mordor, and he used Orcs and other creatures to plunge Middle Earth into darkness.

Among my examples Sauron is relatively most similar to Darth Vader, still I think I found Sauron's motivation: to get the finger to the 'Gods' living in the western prardise, and (I think) if Sauron got the ring back, he could reform his body, and he can start enjoying other things too, like the satisfaction of destroying things with his mace.

6. General Francis X. Hummel from The Rock (not exactly a 'great villain per se, please bear with me.)

He saw many of his fellow soldiers killed in action, and their deaths were not acknowledged by the government. He wanted to do something for his men, and he wanted to show the world that such things were done to soldiers. Therefore, he got some dealy weapons and tried to make the government paid money (or something like that, details not important.)

Bottomline, the general's motivation: to do something for his dead comrades and their family. His satisfaction: to know that he successfully got something for his dead comrades. (A pity he failed in the movie, I like that guy.)

So, let's go back to Darth Vader. Throughout Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of The Jedi, I never see Darth Vader express any sense of satisfaction. He didn't seem to enjoy force-choking his men, didn't seem to enjoy torturing Han. Well, okay, he could still grab power right? Yes he can, but the problem is, I still cannot see how political power can satsify him. As I mentioned above, he cannot enjoy any basic human enjoyment: breathing fresh air, eating, and company (I wrote something quite creepy I know). He doesn't seem to have friends, he doesn't seem to take joy in the fact that he was a very powerful dark-force user.

You may say, "T-800 and T-1000 has similar problem!" Yes, you are right. The Terminators have a similar problem with Darth Vader. They have no personal motivation, they don't know what is satisfaction. However, there is a major difference: the Terminators are robots! They are programmed to kill. Their motivation, though not personal like Khan's, are legit and believable and strong. In contrast, we know that Darth Vader was still human, his brain was still the 'command centre'. That is why Darth Vader's lack of a personal motivation bugs me.

And I get it. Darth Vader was pure evil, he was intimidating, he was iconic, and all that good stuff. And I am trying to trash talk Darth Vader. I am simply asking you, who are reading right now, to answer this question, "What is Darth Vader's personal motivation? What satisfaction could he gain from his actions, that could prompt Darth Vader to continue doing what he did? If there was no satisfaction, why didn't Darth Vader just kill himself? Or is it that Darg Vader is so cool and so awesome that he does not need a 'motivation' like the other pussy villains?"

What do you think? Please comment below! Please 'enlighten' me on this subject! Please no trolling!