15 best Anakin Skywalker moments in Star Wars
By Tom Farr
3. Anakin learns and forgets his destiny
One of the most intriguing storylines to appear in The Clones Wars television series was the four-episode Mortis arc, beginning with episode 15 of season 3. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka are drawn to a mysterious planet called Mortis, where they find three powerful Force beings known as the Father, the Daughter, and the Son. They’re more powerful in the Force than any Jedi the three have ever encountered, and, in fact, they each resemble a certain aspect of the Force. The Daughter represents the Light Side of the Force while the Son represents the Sark Side. The Father acts as the authority maintaining balance between the two.
The Father, however, is getting old, and learns that Anakin is the Chosen One. Because he’s dying, he believes that it’s his time to pass on the torch of maintaining balance between his children to Anakin, which is why he drew Anakin to the planet. He tells Anakin that if he is the Chosen One, then it is his destiny to stay on Mortis and maintain the balance. Anakin doesn’t believe his destiny is tied to Mortis, and he, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka try to get off the planet. The Son complicates things by first using Ahsoka to try to lure Anakin to the dark side, then killing Ahsoka. Anakin is deeply distraught by Ahsoka’s death, revealing his strong attachment to her. The Daughter, dying because of an attack by the Son, transfers the last of her life force to bring Ahsoka back to life, foreshadowing Rey’s Force heal ability in The Rise of Skywalker.
Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka try to leave again, but the Son isn’t finished. He shows Anakin his future. Yes, that future. All of it. The pain he’ll cause. The end of the Jedi because of him. The death of his wife. Every terrible moment. And Anakin agrees to align himself with the Son, believing it’s the only way to stop this future from happening. The important thing to note is that Anakin’s turn isn’t driven by selfish dark desires; he hates what he’s going to become and believes it’s the only way to stop it. He has no choice. His knowledge of his terrible future is short-lived, however, because the Father erases what the Son showed him from his memory.
The Mortis arc is one of the most important moments for Anakin because it reveals his attachment to Ahsoka, foreshadowing the effect her departure from the Jedi order will have on him later on, and it shows the light that exists in him, despite what he will become. He doesn’t want to become Darth Vader. The thought sickens him. Still, it is his destiny.