Anakin Skywalker Biography

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Early Years

Anakin "Ani" Skywalker was believed by many, notably Qui-Gon Jinn, to be the Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force. However, Anakin's arrogant behavior and emotional insecurities eventually caused him to turn to the dark side, becoming Darth Vader.

Son of Shmi Skywalker, Anakin was born in about 41 BBY. Some viewers have drawn narrative parallels between this tale and the New Testament stories of Jesus' conception and birth, as Shmi claimed that there was no father and that she just became pregnant with Anakin. Qui-Gon Jinn suggested that the midi-chlorians might have conceived him.

In The Phantom Menace, he appears as a kind, selfless nine-year-old boy (played by Jake Lloyd). 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. Among his many talents, he also was a remarkable pilot due to his enhanced intuition and quick reflexes (resulting undoubtedly from his sensitivity to the Force).

He is found on Tatooine by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and after his gifts are revealed, Qui-Gon is convinced that Skywalker is the individual told of in prophecy who will "bring balance to the Force." Ultimately, he helped to lead Naboo and Gungan forces to victory over the Trade Federation by destroying its Droid Control Ship. After Qui-Gon's death, Anakin is trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi as a Jedi — though some of the Jedi have reservations about his character. In the course of events he meets Padmé Amidala, with whom he forms a strong bond.

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, (2002), Anakin, now a young adult and thingyy Jedi apprentice (played by actor Hayden Christensen), again meets up with Padmé, on whom he has developed a massive crush. Assigned to guard Padmé, in conversation he reveals, as well as his affection, a distrust of the political process and his view of the need for one strong leader. After the death of Shmi at the hands of the Tusken Raiders, after having been freed from slavery and living in the deserts of Tatooine with her new husband, Anakin's dark side was more strongly revealed as he slaughtered an entire tribe of Tuskens in a bloody revenge, killing even the children. After losing his right arm in a lightsaber battle with Count Dooku, the movie ends with Anakin's elopement and marriage to Padmé on Naboo.

In Star Wars: Clone Wars, Anakin went though many battles in the war. One of such major events in it was his battle with Asajj Ventress. 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.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith will be released May 19, 2005. It will complete the three prequels to bring the viewer full circle back to Episode IV, first released in 1977. Both Clone Wars and Episode III bridge the large gap between a young Anakin the audience left 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." In Revenge of the Sith, he killed Count Dooku, but he was bestowed with the Sith title of Darth Vader after killing the Jedi to protect Palpatine from them. However, it was after being wounded in a duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar that he is required to wear a suit to sustain him, completing his transformation into Darth Vader.

In novelization of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker was the first to discover that Darth Sidious was actually Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. This discovery inspired fear inside of Anakin who fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith.

[lanerendell]

Darth Vader
Star Wars character
Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader Image:vader.jpg
Though he requires the life support systems in his suit to sustain him, Darth Vader is a terrifying symbol of power


After Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark Side of the Force, he became Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, and brutal apprentice to Palpatine/(Darth Sidious), the Emperor of the Galactic Empire. According to Obi-Wan Kenobi as soon as Vader turned to the Dark Side the good man that was Anakin Skywalker ceased to exist. This takes place in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on the planet Mustafar. Vader/Skywalker killed Mace Windu to protect Palpatine from the Jedi, launched the Great Jedi Purge with the destruction of the Jedi Temple, killed the rest of the Confederate Separatist leadership on Mustafar, caused the death of Padmé Skywalker, was seriously wounded in a duel with Obi-Wan, and by the time Palpatine rescued Vader and had him rebuilt, he had sown the seeds of the Galactic Civil War.

By the time of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Vader has been charged with tracing the stolen plans of the Death Star and finding the hidden base of the Rebel Alliance. In the process he (unknowingly) tortures his own daughter and is complicit in the deaths of billions by the destruction of the planet Alderaan, although that deed was Grand Moff Tarkin's idea. Vader kills (in fact helps force the ascension of) the now-elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi in their second lightsaber battle against each other, whilst Luke Skywalker and his motley crew assist Princess Leia to escape with the plans to the Death Star, though this is also a ploy conceived by Vader to determine the location of the Rebel Base. He then appears again piloting a distinctive TIE/Advanced fighter and almost prevents Luke's successful starfighter attack on the Death Star.

Vader confronts Luke in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back on Cloud City, and tells Luke that he, Vader, is his father. Vader tells Luke to join him so that they can destroy the Emperor and rule the galaxy as father and son. Luke however refuses to join Vader and escapes. For those interested in the saga, this represented a significant change in direction, as the ultimate symbols of good and evil were now understood to have a deeper connection that would demand some final resolution. Also, during the film, Vader kills two of his subordinates, while he lets Admiral Piett live even though he failed at capturing Luke. This is important as Vader's human side starts to become visible.

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi sees Vader in charge of the construction of a Second Death Star. When Vader detects the presence of Luke Skywalker, but the Emperor does not, it is the first indication that the Force is rising in Vader. Vader attempts to persuade Luke to join him in the Dark Side but this time Vader's interests are tinged by a desire to protect his son. When this fails, Vader takes him to Emperor Palpatine himself, onboard the incomplete Second Death Star. Luke reluctantly fights an extended Lightsaber battle with Vader, all the while attempting to persuade Vader to renounce the Dark Side of the Force.

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Finally, Vader telepathically examines Luke's mind and realizes that Leia is Luke's sister (and thus his daughter), and threatens to turn her to the Dark Side if he should fail with Luke. Realizing the threat to his sister, Luke's rage is finally unleashed, and he attacks Lord Vader with the Dark Side of the Force, driving him back with a whirlwind of blows. Severing Vader's right hand, Luke's fury is suddenly cut short -- as he stares at his own cybernetic hand, he realizes with a visceral horror that he has already begun transforming into Vader's successor. As the Emperor approaches, he throws down his lightsaber, abandoning this path, and his new powers. Gravely disappointed, Palpatine draws on pure darkness, in the form of force lightning, to destroy the unturnable Luke.

As Luke writhes in agony, begging his father for help, Vader finally turns back from the Dark Side to once again become Anakin Skywalker, and, with his remaining hand, lifts the Emperor and throws him into a shaft where he explodes in a fury of dark energies. The shock of this nearly kills Anakin. In his final moments, he pleads with Luke to remove his mask, and in his dying breath, finds redemption in the Light Side of the Force. In his final breaths, he tells Luke that he was right about him, and to tell this to his sister. He later dies and becomes one with the Force. There is some debate as to whether or not Anakin's body disappeared when he died: some argue that the movie would have shown his disappearance explicitly if that were the case. On the other hand, Steve Sansweet and the script for the Return of the Jedi Special Edition states that Anakin did indeed disappear [1] (http://www.starwars.com/community/askjc/steve/askjc20000131.html). In any case, what remained of Anakin/Vader was burned by Luke (in the manner of a Jedi's funeral) on the forest moon of Endor.
(left) as the spirit of Anakin Skywalker: replaced.
Enlarge
Sebastian Shaw (left) as the spirit of Anakin Skywalker: replaced.

Later that night, during the celebration on Endor, Luke is able to see the spirit of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, along with the deceased Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. (Note that in this final scene, Anakin was played by Sebastian Shaw, who played Anakin in his death scene, yet in the 2004 DVD release he is replaced by Hayden Christensen who plays Anakin/Vader in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.)
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Behind the Scenes

The character of Darth Vader was not originally planned to be a suited cyborg. This was created when the concept artist drew the opening scene where the Rebel ship Tantive IV was being boarded. It was initially imagined that Darth Vader would fly through space to enter the ship, necessitating a suit and breathing mask. This was later made permanent and incorporated in the story.

It is interesting to note that "Vader" is the Dutch word for "father" as well as that the German word for "father" (Vater) is similar, and it may be tempting to read the character name "Darth Vader" as "Dark Father", a word-play that may well be the root of the Sith title. However judging by the origin of the other Sith names, Vader may also possibly be a derivative of the word invader. It is also worth noting that in the original scripts for Star Wars, the name "Darth Vader" was given to a normal Imperial general. The name "Vader" may also come from Dark Lord of the Sith.

Vader's leitmotif is The Imperial March.
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Expanded Universe

According to the Alan Dean Foster novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye (which takes place shortly after the events in A New Hope), Vader first faces Luke in combat on the planet Mimban, where he discovers that it was Luke (whom Vader already knows is his son, though it is not mentioned in the book) that destroyed the Death Star, and both enter Lightsaber combat. Luke puts up a valiant fight, but is no match for Vader, though he does manage to cut off the Dark Lord's mechanical arm. Vader's victory is near, but he trips over his own severed arm and falls into a well, though he soon escapes Mimban and recovers from his duel. It has been adapted as a comic book by Dark Horse Comics.

Vader also had a prominent role in the 1996 novel/comic/video game Shadows of the Empire, which took place between Empire and Jedi. He also makes occasional appearances in Dark Horse's Star Wars comic books set between the movies (Mainly "Star Wars: Empire").
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Talents

Darth Vader was a brilliant strategist and one of the greatest pilots in the galaxy. Vader still possessed his former persona's amazing engineering skills, having overseen the design of the TIE/Advanced fighter. Also, his talent with the lightsaber was legendary. All of these skills, however, are secondary to his incredible mastery of the Force. As Anakin, he had the greatest known midi-chlorian count (a measure of Force-aptitude) in the galaxy, surpassing both Yoda and the Emperor's count. However, George Lucas states that after all of his limbs were severed and he was extremely burned on Mustafar he lost much of his Force potential. Lucas claims that as Darth Vader, Anakin had roughly 80% the strength of the Emperor. Had he sustained none of his injuries on Mustafar he would have been twice as powerful.
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Appearance

Anakin is a normal appearing human. As an adult he stands 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 metres) in height. His hair goes from blond as a child to light brown as an adult. During the Clone Wars he acquires a vertical scar near his right eye. Anakin dresses in traditional Jedi garb.

As the Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader is horribly disfigured and requires his life support systems to sustain him. He must wear his daemonic armour at all times when he is not in his pressurised containment-chamber. Also making him even more fear-evoking and intimidating than his ruthless reputation alone, the warlord Darth Vader is a towering figure, standing nearly 6 feet 8 inches (2.02 metres) in his armor. Even amongst his Imperial subordinates, Vader's frightful presence invokes dread.

Some have noted that Vader bears more than a passing resemblance to the classic Marvel Universe supervillain Doctor Doom. Darth Vader's head gear appears to be modelled on a Japanese kabuto (兜), which is consistent with the samurai-like order of the Jedi and kendo-like lightsaber duels. It also resembles a German World War II-era Stahlhelm.
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Cultural Figure

Due to his central role, Vader has entered the public consciousness as the quintessential frightening villain; the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movie villains placed him third, after Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates. Lord Vader's powerful, baritone voice coupled with his heavy breathing is easily recognizable to moviegoers-- it is symbolic of his transformation from a man of the light to an evil cyborg. He has been parodied by such figures as "Dark Helmet" from Spaceballs and countless other parodies from cartoons, such as "Duck Vader" from Tiny Toon Adventures and "Darth Koopa" from Super Mario Bros. (TV), and his name has become a synonym for frightening evil; for example, political strategist Lee Athingyer was known as "the Darth Vader of the Republican Party". During a major renovation, Washington National Cathedral held a competition for children to design new gargoyles for the west towers. One winner was a design featuring Darth Vader (see external links). Darth Vader's "Imperial Theme" is sometimes used as the leitmotif for Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons" to show a comical comparison between the two fictional characters. Moreover, the Polish death metal band Vader took their band name from this character.

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