Anakin Skywalker
Anakin Skywalker is a fictional character from Star Wars.Warning: Plot details follow.
Son of Shmi Skywalker and, according to Qui-Gon Jinn in , The Force, Anakin was born in about 41 BBY. Some viewers have drawn narrative parallels between this tale and the New Testament stories of Jesus Christ's conception and birth.
In The Phantom Menace, he appears as a young child. He is found on Tatooine by the Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn, two Jedi, 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." After Qui-Gon's death, Anakin is trained by Kenobi as a Jedi - though some of the Jedi have reservations about his character. In the course of events he meets Padme Amidala, at that stage a teenager, with whom he forms a strong bond.
In , (2002), Anakin, now a young adult and cocky apprentice Jedi (played by actor Hayden Christensen), again meets up with Padme, on whom he has developed a massive crush. Assigned to guard Padme, 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, freed from slavery and living in the deserts of Tatooine with her new husband, at the hands of the "sand people", Anakin's dark side is more strongly revealed as he slaughters a whole tribe of them in bloody revenge. After losing his right arm in a light saber battle with Count Dooku, the movie ends with Anakin's elopement and marriage to Padme on Naboo.
Episode III is scheduled for release in 2005. It will complete the three prequels to bring us full circle back to Episode IV, first released in 1977. The as-yet 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 second-in-command 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.
From about the time of Episode III until the final moments of The Return of the Jedi Anakin was known as Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker - his son - risks everything but is able to bring Anakin back to the Light. In the final moments of the film, Darth Vader becomes Anakin Skywalker once again. After telling his son that he was right about him - that there was good still in him - and telling him to tell his sister Leia Organa the same, Anakin Skywalker dies and becomes one with the Force.
Luke Skywalker burns his father's empty armor on a simply pyre on the planet Endor. He appears to Luke at the victory celebration held on the planet, along with the spirts of Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
In the books that follow the events of the film, Anakin does not appear to Luke again, but he does appear at least once to Leia. Over the years, Leia has a great deal of difficulty with the fact that her true father was Anakin. However she did use her position as the daughter of Anakin to free the Noghri people from Imperial domination.
See also: