Anakin Skywalker/Legends

Anakin Skywalker (41 BBY - 4 ABY), with beginnings as a slave on Tatooine, led a truly remarkable life, though unfortunately mostly on the side of infamy. Extremely strong with the Force, he became a powerful Jedi under the tuition of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but after turning to the Dark Side, he executed the Great Jedi Purge, destroying virtually the entire Jedi Order. He became a Sith lord, with the name Darth Vader, and acted as Emperor Palpatine's right hand, yet to then be redeemed by his son Luke.

Early Life


Anakin was born in about 41 BBY, on Tatooine. His mother, Shmi Skywalker, claimed that she had simply become pregnant, without any father she was aware of. Qui-Gon Jinn took this as part of a prophecy about a Chosen One who would "bring balance to the Force."

Like his mother, Anakin was a slave. When Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala encountered him, he was a nine-year old chattel to a scrap-shop owner named Watto. Even at this young age, he had a reputation for being able to build or repair anything, evidenced by the creation of his own protocol droid C-3PO and podracer, each from salvaged parts. A child prodigy, Anakin excelled at mathematics and engineering.

They were able to win his freedom by entering the kind, selfless boy in a podrace, where his latent Force sensitivity partially emerged in flashes of prescience that took the place of the fast reflexes that enabled a few species (whose number does not include humans) to participate in this dangerous sport. The group was unable to free Shmi. Indeed, after their current crisis ended victoriously in the Battle of Naboo, they did not return to free her, until an adolescent Anakin did so of his own accord.

Master Jinn requested of the Jedi Council to allow him to take Anakin on as a student, after his current apprentice, Obi-Wan, completed the trials necessary to become a Jedi Knight. This request was denied. Anakin was much older than usual, and they were concerned that his prior experiences would interfere with his training. In particular, he exhibited much fear and anger, left over from his days as a slave, and the separation from his mother and home. Later, a dying Qui-Gon, slain by Darth Maul, urged Obi-Wan to train Anakin. The Council reluctantly approved. Unfortunately, Anakin would prove much too difficult a student for the young Obi-Wan.

Adolescence
Anakin developed as an arrogant, socially awkward loner, doubtless in part because of his transition from scrapyard slave to rising star of the Jedi Order. His natural abilities placed him leaps and bounds above his peers, and this fed his ego. He frequently showed off, and displayed little respect for Obi-Wan, whom he partly viewed as inferior. Though, he did state that he was like a father to him and he claimed he had the wisdom of Yoda and the power of Mace Windu.

He fell in love with Padmé, whom he had been fascinated with ever since he was young, and she reciprocated. Both seemed entranced with the other as a different social caste, and their defining youthful years were intertwined by chance. Anakin's pursuit of this relationship was in violation of Jedi tradition, which held that Jedi ought to be unattached and celibate.

Anakin suffered recurring nightmares about his mother, and broke the spirit of his orders to guard Padmé by bringing her to Tatooine, to find Shmi. He found that she had been carried off by Tusken Raiders, and set out in pursuit on a speeder bike. The young Jedi discovered their camp, and slipped into the tent that contained his mother, presumably locating her with his Jedi senses. Battered and (apparently) dehydrated, she died in his arms. Anakin allowed this to catalyze an explosion of his long-nursed anger and selfishness, and flew into a rage, killing everyone present - even, as he confessed to Padmé later, "the women and children." (A number of Jedi, including the recently dead Qui-Gon Jinn, sensed the shock of this massacre, amplified by Anakin's powerful Force presence turning "dark.") Padmé was clearly troubled by what he had done, but had invested herself too much in him to be truly revulsed; she tried to soothe him with sympathy. This fit with the general theme of mutual delusion and codependence that characterized their relationship.

Anakin and Padmé, completely in violation of Anakin's vows, went so far as to marry, not long after the Battle of Geonosis, during which Anakin lost an arm in a duel with Darth Tyranus. (It was replaced with a prosthetic.)

Adult Life
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith will be released May 19, 2005. It will complete the three prequels to bring us full circle back to Episode IV, first released in 1977. Episode III will bridge the large gap between a young Anakin we leave at the end of Episode II and the high-ranking Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith, and apprentice to the Emperor we meet at the beginning of Episode IV. According to lots of post-Star Wars fiction, he landed in a volcano, and this is what required him to don the famous suit, making him more like a cyborg. As Obi-Wan said in Return of the Jedi, "he's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."

Anakin/Vader is knocked into lava on the Outer Rim planet of Mustafar. He begs his former master for help (just as his son Luke would do about twenty years later while being attacked by Palpatine) as he falls into the lava. Obi-Wan replies, "You were my brother, Anakin. I love you, but I won't help you." The lava then sets Skywalker aflame and consumes him and Obi-Wan leaves him for dead. Palpatine arrives almost immediately after the fight and has his medical droids begin the reconstruction of Vader. When he awakes to find out that Padmé died at his own hands, his subsequent scream destroyed med droids and damaged the facility. Palpatine smiled as he realized that Vader's hatered would serve him well.

From about the time of Episode III until the final moments of Return of the Jedi, Anakin was known as Darth Vader. During this time, Darth Vader becomes the brutal second in command of the Galactic Empire. He has the blood of many millions, including almost the entire Jedi Order, on his hands. Vader tortures Princess Leia &mdash; who he did not know was his own daughter. He also nearly kills his son Luke Skywalker several times.

Luke Skywalker &mdash; his son &mdash; risks everything but is able to finally bring Anakin back from the dark side. As a result, Darth Vader ceases to exist in the closing moments of the Return of the Jedi when he becomes Anakin Skywalker once again. In a final heroic effort of self-sacrifice, Anakin struggles to his feet to rescue his son from the Emperor (thus further injuring himself from the Force's energy) and throws the Emperor down the Death Star's reactor shaft and to his death.


 * "You were right, Luke. Tell your sister. You were right." Wikiquote

Nearing death, Anakin asks Luke to help him remove his mask, so that he can see his son with his own eyes. Luke helps disconnect the mask. Anakin is bald, with white skin that resulted from not being exposed to the sun for over twenty years. He also has a large scar on one side of his head. After seeing his son directly, he tells Luke that he was right about him &mdash; that there was good still in him &mdash; and to tell his sister, Leia Organa, the same. With these last words, Anakin Skywalker dies and becomes one with the Force.

His body is cremated in the manner of a Jedi, and the end of the film Luke sees what appears to be a vision of an apparently forgiven Anakin (whole and without the artificial body of Vader), Obi-Wan, and Yoda smiling down upon him. Thus ends the six-part saga, with a restored order to the galaxy through the "return" of Anakin back to the good side, thus the prophecy of the Chosen One bringing balance to the Force was finally fulfilled. In Return of the Jedi, the unmasked Vader and the spirit of the forgiven Anakin were played by actor Sebastian Shaw. In the release of the DVDs, however, Hayden Christensen has replaced the body of Sebastian Shaw when appearing as the Jedi spirit.

Portrayal
Anakin is played in the films by Jake Lloyd as a child, Hayden Christensen as a young adult, and Sebastian Shaw as a dying, elderly (and redeemed) person. The name "Anakin" means "warrior." In real life, the name was taken from George Lucas' friend and fellow film director, Ken Annakin.