Anakin Skywalker/Legends

Anakin "Ani" Skywalker (41 BBY - 4 ABY), with beginnings as a slave on Tatooine, led the Galaxy through times of both light and dark. 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 helped execute the Great Jedi Purge, which destroyed virtually the entire Jedi Order. He became a Sith lord, acquiring the name Darth Vader, and acted as Emperor Palpatine's right hand. In the end, however, he was redeemed by his son Luke.

Early Life


Anakin was born in about 41 BBY on Tatooine. His mother, Shmi Skywalker, claimed that she had become pregnant without being aware of any father. Qui-Gon Jinn took this as part of a prophecy about the Chosen One who would "bring balance to the Force." The wise Jedi Master suggested that the midi-chlorians might have conceived him. In fact, Anakin had a midi-chlorian count of over 20,000, which was even greater than that of Master Yoda.

Like his mother, Anakin was a slave. When Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala encountered him, he was a kind, selfless 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 boy in a podrace. Normally, humans lack the fast reactions needed to operate such a tremendously high-speed land vehicle. However, Anakin's latent Force sensitivity manifested in the form of limited prescience, which took the place of lightning reflexes.

Although Anakin was freed, the Jedi were unable to free Shmi. After the crisis in which they were entangled ended victoriously in the Battle of Naboo, it seems they did not return to free her, until an adolescent Anakin did so of his own accord. (This is unclear, however.)

The revelation of Anakin's gifts cemented Qui-Gon Jinn's belief that he was indeed the Chosen One. Master Jinn asked 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 further compounded by 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. Anakin was however much too difficult a student for the young Obi-Wan. Meanwhile, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine would "watch [his] career with great interest."

Padmé Amidala was one of Anakin's first glimpses of the galaxy beyond Tatooine. He was fascinated with her as a child, and as he grew to adolescence, this developed into a tragically flawed romance. They would eventually have two children, Luke and Leia, both of whom later became central figures in the Rebellion and New Republic eras.

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 partially viewed as inferior. He formed a friendship with Palpatine, who would say things to further fuel this pride (e.g. "I foresee you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi ...").

Assigned to guard Padmé, in conversation he revealed, as well as his affection, a distrust of the political process and his view of the need for one strong leader. He fell in love with Padmé, and she reciprocated. Both seemed entranced with the other and their different social castes. Anakin's pursuit of this relationship was in violation of Jedi tradition, which held that although Jedi were not required to be celibate, they must avoid attachment in their relationships.

Anakin suffered recurring nightmares about his mother, and went against 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, sleep-deprived, and dehydrated, she died in his arms, presumably of massive cardiac failure.

Anakin allowed the shock of her death to catalyze an explosion of his long-nursed anger and selfishness. He 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 repulsed; she tried to soothe him with sympathy. This fit with the mutual delusion and codependency that unfortunately characterized their relationship.

Anakin and Padmé, 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.)

An amazing pilot, during the Clone Wars the "Hero With No Fear" flew a customized Delta-7 Jedi starfighter on several missions. Anakin's exploits became legendary; testament to his battle experience was the scar over his right eye. He was later made a full-fledged Jedi, despite the fact that he never went through the final test prior to his knighting. During a mission to save the Nelvaanian Braves, Anakin went through a cave that revealed what would become him in the future.

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. With his fraternal bond with Obi-Wan strained under the weight of resentment and distrust, a rift in the Jedi Order due to the persecution of his friend and mentor, Chancellor Palpatine, and especially visions of the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, Anakin's transgression to the Dark Side was nearly complete. According to a lot 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 hatred 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 risks everything but is able to finally bring Anakin back from the dark side. Anakin never forgot the pain Dooku had once inflicted upon him with the lethal power of Force lightning and could not bear to see his son in such agony. In a final heroic effort of self-sacrifice, Anakin struggles to his feet to rescue his son from the Emperor (receiving mortal wounds in the process) and throws the Emperor down the Death Star's reactor shaft 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 from not being exposed to the sun for over twenty years. 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, at 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.

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.

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.