By: Emma Shipley Posted on October 9th, 2023
Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker lived a life full of wars, conflict, heartbreak, and pain. From 9 years old, his whole life was laid before him as the Chosen One. He was destined to train under the eye of the Jedi order, grow to the status of master, and bring balance to the force.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple for him. It’s not easy bringing balance to the force when your mind is full of uncertainty.
Anakin is complicated in terms of emotions, relationships, abilities, and character growth. He is the tragic hero of the Star Wars universe. His actions evoking Alexandre Cabanel’s “Fallen Angel”.
So why bother analyzing him if he’s a complicated character? Because he’s more than the character we met in the prequel trilogy. It wasn’t just the death of his mother and his wife that set him off toward a path of destruction and power, there’s so much more to Anakin Skywalker.
So buckle up, “this is where the fun begins”.
Early Life
Anakin was born to a single mother, Shmi Skywalker. Living on Tatooine his whole life kept him secluded from the other planets. As a slave, he spent the majority of his time working for a junk dealer named Watto.
He’s a smart, amicable, and resourceful kid: One who built his own pod racer and a protocol droid on his own. From a young age, Anakin showed his cleverness and a strong connection to the force. This interested Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, who knew Anakin was the prophesied Chosen One.
His skills show the level of his power going forward. After winning the Boonta Eve pod race, it’s evident that he is special. He shows off his extraordinary piloting skills as he helps take down the Trade Federation’s Battle Station. This allows him to earn his title of “best star pilot in the galaxy”.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s a lot to ask for a nine-year-old to leave behind everything he knew. Over the span of hours, he loses his friends, his mother, his lifestyle, and all elements of comfort. This casts a layer of doubt in his mind and the minds of the other Jedi council members as he trains into the Clone Wars.
The Clone Wars
At 19, Anakin becomes more complicated. It’s not just about winning a pod race and taking down the Trade Federation on Naboo. The responsibilities of Jedi knighthood impact him in more ways than one. He gains friends, enemies, experience, and hardships.
After training under Obi-Wan Kenobi for ten years, Anakin rose to the status of knight. In Attack of the Clones, Anakin struggles to find himself. Despite being considered the Chosen One, he struggles to accept certain qualities of his new life. His emotions are strong, something that is frowned upon by the council.
Anakin is pained with visions of his mother. The fear of losing her is what casts a shadow over him. When she dies in his arms, his fate becomes sealed.
The amount of suffering that Anakin goes through in Attack of the Clones is how we, as the audience, are able to see that he is crumbling. He is purposefully angry in this movie, it’s not because he’s not getting what he wants but because his understanding is flawed.
“Mom, you say the biggest problem in this universe is nobody helps each other.”
Anakin, The Phantom menace, 1999. Lucasfilm
Relationships
Anakin is a passionate person, he always has been. He forms tight bonds with many characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padme Amidala, and Ahsoka Tano. To him, they are his family who trust could with his life. Each person had an immediate impact on Anakin and his fall to the dark side.
Padme Amidala
Padme and Anakin share a deep love for one another. They survived countless battles against the Separatist army for many years until the fall of the Republic. Since the Jedi Code forbids things such as marriage, Anakin and Padme are forced into secretude.
Anakin was the one to initiate his feelings towards Padme. Since he was nine, he grew deep feelings for her. Over the course of Attack of the Clones, Padme begins to reciprocate those feelings. This results in a secret marriage ceremony on Naboo at the end of Attack of the Clones.
At the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, we see how truly happy they are as a married couple. He learns that they’re expecting twins, Luke and Leia, and expresses his utter joy for them. This leads to a series of nightmares where he sees Padme die during childbirth.
Anakin indirectly causes her death. He tries everything in his power to save her but ends up hurting her in the process. His nightmares become reality when Padme dies soon after the twins are born.
During this period of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin believes that the Jedi are holding him back. They’re the evil ones in this war while he and Palpatine are the good guys. He believes she has betrayed him, bringing Obi-Wan to Mustafar in order to kill him.
We see the way Anakin, now Vader, reacts when Palpatine blames Anakin for her death. Visually we see how when Padme takes her last breath, Anakin takes his first breath as Vader. (Compelling detail huh?) This just makes Vader full of rage, causing him to hate not only himself but everything about the events that transpired with Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Probably the most tragic friendship is between Anakin and Obi-Wan. They got to form a close master/apprentice relationship and had a brotherly bond.
Obi-Wan was the one to train Anakin after the death of Qui-Gon during The Phantom Menace. Over the years, they came to rely on each other and see each other as equals. Obi-Wan advised him on training a padawan, helped him when he struggled to see opposing views and raised him to be a hero.
Making their fight on Mustafar more heartbreaking.
Anakin relied on Obi-Wan to guide him through the trials of becoming a Jedi, seeing him as a mentor. Obi-Wan tries to guide him but his ideals are different. He couldn’t have understood Anakin’s actions and didn’t get the chance to. All he knew was that by the time the fight ceased, the boy he knew as Anakin had died. All that remained was Lord Vader.
The emotions that come with Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship are what make Anakin more relatable. He was frightened and expected Obi-Wan to guide him through these feelings. When he wasn’t helped in a way that made him a better Jedi, things went downhill. Rapidly. Resulting in the monster who terrified the galaxy by a single breath.
Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka played a huge role in Anakin’s life during The Clone Wars. Ahsoka was his first padawan and someone he grew to view as his little sister. He taught her how to duel enemies bigger than her, how to fight when she was outnumbered, and how to use the enemy’s own strength against them. This resulted in her being a highly skilled warrior who shared Anakin’s passion for others.
Ahsoka’s departure in season 5 tore Anakin apart. He had begged her to reconsider, telling her he understood wanting to walk away from the Jedi Order. Unfortunately, Ahsoka has made up her mind and left the life of a Jedi behind. This left Anakin in shambles, feeling like he failed her as a master.
In season 7 of The Clone Wars, the pair are reunited, only to be torn apart again by opposing battles. Ahsoka found solace in helping the smaller groups struggling while Anakin and Obi-Wan were forced to consider the larger picture of the war.
In Star Wars Rebels, the pair meet again as enemies. Ahsoka comes to the startling realization that Anakin had become Vader. In a painstaking duel, Ahsoka nearly loses her life to bring Vader to his knees.
This relationship haunts both of them. We see in an earlier Rebels episode, “Shroud of Darkness”, that Ahsoka felt responsible for his fall. She felt that she should have been there for him instead of turning her back on him. Ultimately, Ahsoka was a part of his fall. Her departure caused him to lose faith in the Jedi and lose respect for the Jedi masters.
The Empire
By now, the power Darth Vader possesses is displayed. His emotions are his best weapon. We see him cut down an entire hallway full of soldiers in Rogue One, take down multiple ships single-handedly in A New Hope, and see just how terrifying he can be in Kenobi. Vader is the hound Palpatine sends out to do his bidding and he’s damn good at it.
The one Anakin-like quality that Vader carries is his passionate nature. He is obsessed with finding Luke after fully discovering his parentage. Vader doesn’t let anyone get in the way of making sure he completes his own missions, taking down whoever does stand in his way.
Conclusion
Anakin being the tragic hero of Star Wars is what drives films like Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi. Luke bringing his father back to the light after twenty or so years of being cast in the darkness is remarkable.
His actions make him more than just a tragic hero. It’s what makes him unique in a storytelling sense. He is a great character who is deeply flawed and broken. Anakin Skywalker is more than the Anakin many fans grew up knowing. He is compelling, passionate, misunderstood, and a fantastic character who wasn’t given enough time to grow.
