Anakin Skywalker: Difference between revisions

Template:SW Character Anakin Skywalker is a central character in the Star Wars saga. He first appears as a young boy — a slave on the desert planet Tatooine; then a teenager — a Padawan learner of the noble Jedi Order; and finally a young adult — a heroic yet conflicted Jedi Knight. In the Star Wars Original Trilogy (Episodes IV, V, VI), Anakin Skywalker is the former identity of the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. Before his fall to the dark side of the Force, Vader fathers both Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa; Luke ultimately redeems his father in Return of the Jedi, and Anakin sacrifices himself to save his son and destroy the Sith.

Sebastian Shaw portrayed Anakin in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in the scenes where Darth Vader's helmet is removed and when he appears as a Force-ghost with Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. In the prequel trilogy, Anakin is portrayed by Jake Lloyd in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and by Hayden Christensen in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Stock footage of Christensen appears in the 2004 DVD release of Return of the Jedi, replacing Shaw in the movie's final scene.

Development

A character named "Anakin Starkiller" appears in an early draft of Star Wars, playing a role similar to Luke Skywalker's, as the 16-year-old son of a respected warrior. In one of the earlier drafts, Anakin was an older man in his 50s. On one of the final drafts, the name was changed into Anakin Skywalker. For Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, series creator George Lucas changed Anakin's age from twelve to nine to make the character's departure from his mother more poignant. Anakin Skywalker grows up as a slave on the planet Tatooine, where he is the only known human capable of competing against aliens in podracing. He is discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who believes him to be the "Chosen One" destined to bring balance to the Force, and he later becomes Obi-Wan Kenobi's Padawan learner. He becomes a full-fledged Jedi and war hero during the Clone Wars, but falls under the spell of the evil Palpatine — who is secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious — and turns to the dark side, serving the tyrannical Galactic Empire as Darth Vader. Years later, he redeems himself by killing Palpatine in order to save his son, Luke, sacrificing his own life in the process.

Darth Vader

Main article: Darth Vader

Skywalker is mostly seen as Darth Vader in episodes A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. However, he is shown unmasked at the end of Return of the Jedi, and briefly seen in his suit briefly at he end of Revenge of the Sith.

Over time, Vader has advanced in his ability to manipulate the dark side of the force, as well as to persuade opponents of his will. Under the Emperor's guidance, Vader learns to kill with mere suggestion.

Vader's injuries in a battle with his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi that occured in Mustafar, where his organic limbs and his robes and body are later burned by lava in Episode III.

Vader is a Supreme Imperial Officer for the Galactic Empire, and incurs the wrath of high officers by piloting his own fighter into combat (as Anakin was quite a good pilot).

The horror and tragedy of Darth Vader are revealed in The Empire Strikes Back when Vader tells Luke, "I am your father". Vader hopes to bring Luke down the same path of hatred and anger that destroyed his former self. Instead, he finds that Luke is committed to being a Jedi and finding redemption for his father in spite of all that Vader has become.

Depiction

Films

Main article: Star Wars

Return of the Jedi

Main article: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Original scene with Sebastian Shaw (on the left) as Anakin Skywalker. The scene is no longer the official version: the most recent release of the film replaces Shaw with Hayden Christensen.

The character's first appearance was at the end of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi which is his final appearance within the fictional, narrated chronology. In the film's climactic scene, Palpatine attacks Luke with Force lightning after the young Jedi refuses to turn to the dark side, and Luke begs his father for help. The sight of his son in pain breaks the dark side's hold on Vader, who then turns on his master, throwing him down the second Death Star's reactor. In the process, however, he is mortally wounded by Palpatine's lightning.

In his final moments, he asks his son to remove his breathing mask. Looking upon him with his own eyes for the first and only time, a redeemed Anakin Skywalker tells Luke that the good within him had not been destroyed after all. With that, Anakin dies, finally at peace. Luke cremates his father in the manner of a Jedi funeral on Endor. That night, as the Rebels celebrate the destruction of the Empire, Luke sees the spirit form of his father, Anakin, reunited with Jedi Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The Phantom Menace

Main article: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

File:Anakinyoung.jpg

Jake Lloyd portrayed 9-year-old Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).

In the Star Wars universe chronology, Anakin first appears in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as a selfless nine-year-old boy. Anakin and his mother, Shmi (Pernilla August), are slaves in the service of Watto, a junk dealer. As an engineering prodigy, Anakin can build or repair nearly anything, evidenced by the creation of his own protocol droid, C-3PO, and podracer, both from salvaged parts. He is also a remarkable pilot who, according to Qui-Gon Jinn, can "see things before they happen".

Qui-Gon finds Anakin on Tatooine, and is soon convinced that the boy is the "Chosen One", foretold by a Jedi prophecy to bring balance to the Force. Shmi reveals that there was no father. Over the course of the narrative, Qui-Gon goes on to discover that Anakin has the highest known number of midi-chlorians, a measure of strength in the Force. While on Tatooine, Anakin forms a strong bond with Queen Padmé Amidala, whom Qui-Gon and his Padawan apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, are guarding.

Qui-Gon bets Watto that the boy will win the upcoming podrace. When Anakin pulls off an amazing victory, Watto reluctantly gives over the boy; he refuses to give up ownership of Shmi, however, and Anakin reluctantly parts from her. After winning Anakin's freedom, Qui-Gon is attacked by Sith apprentice Darth Maul outside of their ship. After a short duel, they escape to Coruscant. However, upon Qui-Gon's arrival, the Jedi Council denies Qui-Gon's request to train Anakin as a Jedi, saying the boy's future is clouded by the fear he exhibits. Ultimately, Anakin helps win the final battle against the corrupt Trade Federation at the film's climax by destroying a power cell in the Droid Control Ship. A dying Qui-Gon, slain by Maul, urges Obi-Wan to train Anakin. Obi-Wan tells Jedi Master Yoda that he must fulfill his master's dying wish to train Anakin, with or without the council's approval. Yoda reluctantly agrees. Palpatine, newly elected as the Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, befriends the boy, promising to watch his career "with great interest."

Attack of the Clones

Main article: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

File:AnakinEp2.jpg

Ewan McGregor (left) as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002).

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, set 10 years later, Anakin is Obi-Wan's Padawan learner. He has grown arrogant over the years, and has begun to chafe against Obi-Wan's authority, turning instead to Palpatine, who feeds the young man's ego by telling him he will one day be the greatest of all the Jedi.

Anakin's first official assignment is to go with Padmé to Naboo and protect her from assassins who tried to kill her. They develop strong feelings for each other, even though she believes that the relationship cannot work because of their respective duties to the Republic. While on Naboo, Anakin confesses his love for her, and she responds that they cannot act on their desires because they would be forced to keep the relationship a secret.

While guarding Padmé, Anakin has a vision that his mother is in danger. Upon returning to his home planet, he finds that his mother, who had been freed by and married to Cliegg Lars, has been kidnapped by Tusken Raiders. Anakin tracks the Raiders to their camp, and finds Shmi there; beaten and tortured beyond all hope, she dies in his arms. He flies in a violent rage and slaughters the entire tribe, including the women and children. He returns with his mother's body and tearfully confesses to Padmé, who forgives and comforts him.

Anakin and Padmé then learn that the Confederacy of Independent Systems — a faction trying to secede from the Republic — has taken Obi-Wan prisoner. The two rush to the planet Geonosis to rescue him, but they are also captured. Faced with their impending demise in a gladiatoral arena, they confess their love for each other. Escaping the fray with the help of a cadre of Jedi and the clone army, Anakin and Obi-Wan engage Separatist leader, former Jedi turned Sith Lord Count Dooku, in a lightsaber battle. Dooku severs Anakin's right arm, but it is replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. In the film's final scene, he marries Padmé in a secret ceremony, with C-3PO and R2-D2 as their witnesses.

Revenge of the Sith

In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, set three years later, Anakin has become a full-fledged Jedi Knight and hero of the Clone Wars. While rescuing Palpatine from the Separatist leader General Grievous, Anakin and Obi-Wan encounter Dooku. A battle ensues in which Dooku knocks Obi-Wan unconscious and duels Anakin alone. Anakin overpowers him, cutting off his hands and, at Palpatine's urging, beheading him in cold blood. He is initially remorseful, but Palpatine reassures him that Dooku was "too dangerous to be kept alive."

Upon returning to Coruscant, Padmé tells Anakin that she is pregnant. Shortly afterwards, he has a vision of Padmé dying in childbirth. He fears that this vision will come true, as it is similar to the one he had of his mother just before she died.

Palpatine makes Anakin his representative on the Jedi Council. The suspicious Council accepts Anakin, but denies him the rank of Master. To add insult to injury, they order him to spy on Palpatine, who has by now become a virtual dictator. Anakin is outraged, as he sees Palpatine as a mentor and a friend, and begins to lose faith in the Jedi.

Ultimately, Palpatine reveals to Anakin that he is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the mastermind behind the war, and that the dark side holds the power to prevent Padmé's death. Confused and conflicted, Anakin reports Palpatine to Jedi Master Mace Windu. Despite his orders to remain behind, he soon follows Windu to the Chancellor's office to make sure Palpatine is taken alive. Anakin finds Windu holding his lightsaber on a disarmed Palpatine, ready to strike. Anakin pleads with Windu to spare Palpatine's life, but Windu refuses, insisting that the Sith Lord is too dangerous to be kept alive. As Windu raises his lightsaber to deliver the final blow, Anakin severs Windu's right hand. Palpatine bombards Windu with Force lightning and hurls him out the window to his death. Anakin then pledges himself to the Sith and becomes Sidious' apprentice, Darth Vader.

Darth Vader's first task is to kill everyone inside the Jedi Temple, including the children. He then travels to Mustafar to assassinate the Separatist leaders. There, he is met by Padmé, who has learned what he has done. She pleads with him to flee Palpatine's grasp with her, but he refuses, saying that the two of them can overthrow the Sith Lord and rule the galaxy together. As a horrified Padmé draws back, Obi-Wan, who had stowed away on Padmé's ship, emerges. Vader accuses Padmé of conspiring against him, and uses the Force to choke her into unconsciousness. Obi-Wan and Vader then engage in a fierce lightsaber duel over a raging volcano, at the end of which Obi-Wan severs Vader's left arm and both of his legs. As Vader comes into contact with the molten rock, he catches fire and nearly burns to death. Obi-Wan leaves him to die, taking Vader's lightsaber.

Palpatine arrives just in time to rescue Vader, and reconstructs his apprentice's ruined body with the cybernetic limbs and suit of black armor first seen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Once Vader regains consciousness, Palpatine tells him that Padmé died as a result of Vader's anger. (She had in fact died after giving birth, having lost the will to live.) This revelation breaks what remains of Anakin's spirit, and he screams in torment, destroying several objects in the operating room. He is last seen at Palpatine's side during the construction of the first Death Star.

Expanded Universe

See also: Star Wars Expanded Universe

File:Anakin Skywalker.jpg

Anakin Skywalker as seen in episodes I, II, III and VI (original).

In the animated series Star Wars: Clone Wars, Anakin (voiced by Matt Lanter) is made a full Jedi Knight despite the Council's reservations. During the next three years of fighting in the Clone Wars, Anakin becomes a legend throughout the galaxy, renowned as "The Hero With No Fear." The final episodes of both Clone Wars seasons depict Anakin dueling Dooku's minion Asajj Ventress and liberating the Nelvaanians. Anakin's adventures in the Clone Wars are also chronicled in the Star Wars: Republic comic series. In the series, Anakin learns to use the Force to choke someone, fights another duel with Ventress (this one leaving him with a scar on his right temple), and commands his first few missions. In the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the following television series, Anakin (now voiced by Matt Lanter) takes on a Padawan learner named Ahsoka Tano shortly after becoming a Jedi Knight.

In the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is described as a master of the Djem So form of lightsaber combat. At his best, Anakin is almost like "a destroyer droid with a lightsaber . . . every step a blow and every blow a step."

As chronicled in James Luceno's book Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, Vader sheds his identity as Anakin Skywalker shortly after incurring his injuries on Mustafar; in the months afterward, he systematically pursues and kills the survivors of Palpatine's order to destroy the Jedi; in the process, he fully embraces his new identity as a Sith Lord and disavows any connection to his former Jedi self. The novel also reveals that Vader plans to eventually overthrow Palpatine, and that he betrayed the Jedi because he resented their supposed failure to recognize his power.

The redeemed spirit of Anakin Skywalker appears in the novel The Truce at Bakura, set a few days after the ending of Return of the Jedi. He appears to his daughter Leia, imploring her forgiveness. Leia condemns him for his crimes and banishes him from her life. He promises that he will be there for her when she needs him, and disappears. In Tatooine Ghost, Leia learns to forgive her father after learning about his childhood as a slave and his mother's traumatic death.

In the novel The Unifying Force of the New Jedi Order series, set 30 years after A New Hope, Anakin's voice speaks to his grandson, Jacen Solo, telling him to "stand firm" in his battle with the Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong. In the Dark Nest Trilogy, Luke and Leia uncover old recordings of their parents in R2-D2's memory drive. For the first time, they see their own birth and their mother's death, as well as their father's corruption to the dark side. In Bloodlines, the second novel in the Legacy of the Force series, Jacen uses the Force to "watch" Anakin slaughter the children at the Jedi Temple and become Darth Vader.

Psychology

Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at Toulouse University Hospital in France, argued in a panel at the 2007 American Psychiatric Association convention that Anakin met six of the nine diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD), one more than necessary for a diagnosis. He and a colleague, Rachel Rodgers, published their findings in a 2010 letter to the editor of the journal Psychiatry Research. Bui says he found Anakin Skywalker a useful example to explain BPD to medical students.

In particular, Bui points to Anakin's abandonment issues and uncertainty over his identity. Anakin's mass murders of the Tusken Raiders in Attack of the Clones and then the young Jedi in Revenge of the Sith count as two dissociative episodes, fulfilling another criterion. Bui hoped that his paper would help raise awareness of BPD, especially among teens.

See also

• Skywalker family
• Darth Vader

Further reading

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Novelization, 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas, ISBN 0-345-43411-0
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Novelization, 2003. R. A. Salvatore, ISBN 0-345-42882-X
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Novelization, 1st edition hardcover, 2005. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, ISBN 0-7126-8427-1
• The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
• Vader: The Ultimate Guide, 2005.
• Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1998. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-3481-4
• Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1999. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-4701-0
• Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2002. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-8588-5
• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2005. James Luceno, ISBN 0-7566-1128-8
• Star Wars Databank. Skywalker, Anakin, Vader, Darth

External links

• Anakin Skywalker in the StarWars.com Databank
• Anakin Skywalker on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki