BEFORE YOU READ THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL NEED SOME UNDERSTANDING OF STAR WARS TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THIS ARTICLE.
“If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy!”
-Anakin Skywalker
Anakin Skywalker- also known as ‘Darth Vader’… His fall to the Dark Side was one of the greatest, yet one of the saddest.
Backstory:
Anakin Skywalker was born in 41 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin). He was brought up on a desert planet with twin suns called Tatooine. He was brought up as a slave but when he turned 9, a spaceship carrying the Queen of Naboo (Padmé) and two Jedi (Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn) crashed onto the desert planet. In search of fuel and someone to repair their ship, they stumbled into a hut. A woman named Shmi Skywalker greeted them. She and her son Anakin Skywalker lived in that hut. They were both slaves owned by a Toydarian called Watto. Anakin at that time was about 9 years old and he’d already made his own protocol droid called C-3P0. Anakin also met Padmé then.
“You underestimate my power!” – Anakin Skywalker
Ever since the moment they arrived, Qui-Gon sensed and knew that Anakin was strong. He even called him the “Chosen one”. Qui-Gon wanted to take Anakin back with him to the Jedi Temple but he knew Anakin was too old as the Jedi trained their padawans the moment they learned to walk. Either way, Qui-Gon had to find a way to get back to the Jedi temple so he made a bet with Watto. If Anakin Skywalker won the pod race tournament, Watto would give them fuel and repair their ship but if Anakin lost, Watto would get to keep their ship.
“I don’t like sand.”
-Anakin Skywalker
Anakin won the Pod race tournament in the end and decided to go to the Jedi temple with the two Jedi. He asked his mother to come with him but his mother refused and said she’d wait for him back on Tatooine. Anakin then promised to return back to her as soon as the time was right.
His fall to the Dark Side:
Between his 10 – 21 years of age, many things happened. He fell in love with Padmé and married her secretly, he lost his arm in a fight with the fallen Jedi Count Dooku and he learned to think of Chancellor Sheev Palpatine as a father.
During 19 BBY, Chancellor Palpatine had been captured by the Separatist General Grievous. This resulted in a war between the Separatists and the Republic. Obi-Wan had become Anakin’s master at this time.
The two Jedi set out to rescue the chancellor and attempted to capture General Grievous. As expected, the two Jedi freed the Chancellor but ran into Count Dooku on the way. They began to fight. During their fight, Obi-Wan was knocked unconscious and Anakin was left to fend off on his own. Count Dooku began to mock Anakin. This angered him and resulted in him using the Dark Side to beat Count Dooku. Anakin wanted to keep Count Dooku as a prisoner to bring back to the Jedi temple but the Chancellor insisted that he was too dangerous to be kept alive. Anakin then gave in to his hate and killed Count Dooku. This began his path to the Dark Side of the force and his transformation into the most feared being in the galaxy.
“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”
–Darth Vader
Anakin and Obi-Wan then escorted the chancellor back to Coruscant. It was then that Anakin learned that Padmé was pregnant. Anakin was very joyful but he knew that if the Jedi Council found out, he may be banished from the council. For this reason, Anakin decided to keep it all to himself.
After Padmé became pregnant, Anakin started having visions of her dying at childbirth. This had happened before, as he had visions of her mother dying and she died. He knew he had to stop this, and he vowed he’d do whatever it took. He knew in the Jedi temples, there would be scrolls that would help save Padmé’s life but they were restricted to only Jedi Masters. After these visions, Chancellor Palpatine decided to make Anakin his personal representative on the Jedi Council, this meant he would gain access to the restricted sections to the Jedi Temple, or so he thought.
“You are on this council, but we do not grant you the rank of master.”
-Mace Windu
As the quote above says, Master Windu told Anakin he’d be on the council, but would not be granted the rank of master. This outraged him because he would not have access to the restricted sections of the temple. He knew that the only way to save Padmé was gone and he’d have to resort to other solutions, such as the Dark Side. After the council meeting, Obi-Wan told Anakin that the council has become suspicious of the Chancellor’s movements and wanted Anakin to spy on him. The chancellor was the closest thing Anakin had to a father, and having to spy on him felt treasonous, yet, he couldn’t disagree with the council so he attempted to do as he was told. Little did he know that this would lead to his downfall…
“Did you ever hear one tragedy of Darth Plague is the wise?”
-Chancellor Palpatine
Soon after this council meeting, Chancellor Palpatine summoned Anakin to talk to him. He told his bodyguards to leave. Palpatine then proceeded to tell Anakin about Darth Plagueis, who had the power to save people from death. This was exactly what he needed to save Padmé. He had to know more about this power but Palpatine also mentioned he couldn’t learn about it from a Jedi.
Soon after this, Anakin realised Palpatine was a Dark Lord of the Sith, but not just any Sith. He was the one who had been controlling everything. Anakin hurried to go tell Mace Windu because Obi-Wan and Yoda were both off-planet on different missions. Mace Windu then headed to the Chancellor’s chambers to arrest the Chancellor with four other Jedi Masters.
“It’s treason then.”
-Chancellor Palpatine
When Mace Windu went to arrest the Chancellor, they engaged in a battle. Palpatine swiftly killed the three Jedi masters, leaving only Mace Windu to fight. All that was there to be seen was purple and red lights flashing everywhere. Anakin was stuck waiting at the Council Chambers, imagining what would happen if Palpatine died. He would lose his only way to save Padmé, and he’d have no reason to live. No, he couldn’t let Palpatine die. He rushed to Palpatine’s office only to see Palpatine, begging for mercy on the floor, and Mace Windu, pointing his lightsaber to his throat. Palpatine knew he had to make Anakin save him, or he would die along with sith. Force lightning burst from his fingers, directed to Mace Windu but Mace quickly deflected the lightning back at Palpatine, making him weaker. Anakin knew he had to do something. Palpatine halted his force lightning, being too weak to go on. Mace Windu raised his Lightsaber to strike at Palpatine but Anakin interfered, he cut Mace Windu’s hand off. This gave Palpatine the advantage he needed. He struck at Mace Windu until he was no more. Anakin fell back, asking himself what he’d just done. Palpatine rose up and Anakin knelt down to him. That was Palpatine said “Henceforth, you shall know as Darth… Vader”. Palpatine then told Anakin to go to Jedi Temple and eliminate all the Jedi before going to the Mustafar system and wiping out Vice Toy Gunnery and the other separatist leaders. His final words were “Once more the Sith shall rule the galaxy, then we shall have peace.”
Anakin took a battalion of clone troopers and went to the Jedi Temple and did what he was ordered. After that, he went to the Mustafar System (a volcanic Planet) and eliminated the Separatist leaders. He shed a few tears for what he had done but he knew there was no turning back. It was then he saw his wife’s ship land. He ran to it to see why she was here.
Padmé talked about how worried she was and what Obi-Wan told her. She said Obi-Wan told her Anakin turned to the Dark Side and did horrible things. She wanted to run away and go to her home planet to raise their children. Then Anakin said they don’t have to run away, that he could overthrow the chancellor, that they could rule and shape the galaxy to how they wanted it to be. Padmé then realised what she had been told was true- that Anakin had changed. She tried one more time to convert him back to the Light Side but Anakin saw the one person he least wanted, Obi-Wan. Out of anger, Anakin force checked Padmé until she fell unconscious.
Anakin shouted, “You turned her against me!”
Obi-Wan replied, “You have done that yourself.”
Anakin then said, “You will not take her from me!”
Obi-Wan came back with, “Your anger and lust for power have already done that. You have allowed for this dark lord to twist your mind until now, now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.”
Anakin’s eyes were glowing yellow, showing it was too late to turn him back. There was only one thing Obi-Wan could do, and he had to do. Anakin had to be defeated.
They started one of the greatest battles of all time, master versus apprentice, brother against brother. They clashed lightsabers for the first time. The fight carried on and on until they had to escape a ship that was falling into the lava. Anakin escaped first and jumped onto a garbage droid hovering over the lava. Obi-Wan followed him shortly, jumping onto a bigger hovering pod. They exchanged a few words. Obi-Wan said, “I have failed you, Anakin, I have failed you”.
Anakin replied with, “I should’ve known the Jedi would take over!”
Obi-Wan came back with, “Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!”
Anakin shouted, “From my point of view the Jedi are evil!”
Obi-Wan had enough and said, “Well, then, you are lost!”
They resumed their fighting until Obi-Wan jumped onto higher ground and shouted, “It’s over Anakin! I have the high ground!”
Anakin saw this as a direct threat as back in 31 BBY, Obi-Wan defeated Darth Maul, the first sith to be defeated in a thousand years. During their fight, Darth Maul had the high ground. Obi-Wan, against all odds, jumped over him and defeated him. Anakin had done many simulations of this. Overconfident, he was sure he’d won, but that would be his downfall.
Anakin attempted to do the same move Obi-Wan did to Darth Maul but Obi-Wan saw this coming. He struck Anakin with his lightsaber. Anakin fell back to the lower ground, near the lava. Obi-Wan shed a few tears. He said, “You were the chosen one! It was said you’d destroy the Sith- not join them! Bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!”
Anakin shouted back, “I HATE YOU!”
Obi-Wan, in tears, replied with, “You were my brother, Anakin, I loved you!”
Anakin then touched the lava and began to burn. Obi-Wan couldn’t bear to watch anymore; he took Anakin’s lightsaber and left. This is what turned Anakin to the Dark Side.
Palpatine arrived shortly after as he sensed Anakin was in danger. He hurried and took Anakin to a medical bay to save his life, or give him a new one. The medical robots replaced most of his body parts with mechanical ones. The only thing that kept him alive was the thought of Padmé. Once the robots finished their job, they put a black, menacing mask on his face. The medical table he was on then rose up. Palpatine asked him, “Lord Vader, can you hear me?”
Vader replied “Yes, master.” After a short pause, he inquired, “Where is Padm-, is she safe? Is she alright?”
Palpatine, without any sense of human emotion, replied with, “It seems in your anger, you killed her.”
Vader, full of anger and hate, got out of his medical bed and destroyed all the droids around him. He then shouted, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The death of Padmé is what fueled his hate and brought him to the Dark Side. Anakin’s story is truly a tragedy.
Glossary:
Darth Plagueis:
Darth Plagueis was a dark lord of the Sith, so powerful that he could influence the midichlorians to create life. He knew so much about the Dark Side, he could even save the ones he cared about from dying. The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He became so powerful that the only thing he was really afraid of was losing his power, which, of course, eventually he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironically, he could save others from death, but not himself.
Pod Race Tournament:
A dangerous sport held on planets such as Malastare, Kergans, Theron, Cantonica, and Tatooine.
-StarWars.Fandom.com
The Chosen One:
Long ago, a prophecy was made that spoke of a Jedi who would bring balance to the force by wiping out all the Sith.
