15 best Anakin Skywalker moments in Star Wars
By Tom Farr
6. Anakin’s hatred of slavery
The Phantom Menace revealed that Anakin and his mother were slaves on Tatooine, so it’s no surprise that as Anakin gets older, he has a deep hatred for slavery and those who enslave others. In the season 4 episode of The Clone Wars, “Kidnapped,” it is revealed that the Togruta people have been taken by Separatist forces and taken into slavery. Anakin is infuriated by this, and Obi-Wan reveals Anakin’s past experience with slavery to Ahsoka.
When confronting a Zygerian slaver named D’nar, Anakin threatens his life if he doesn’t reveal the location of the Togruta slaves. The interaction makes it clear that Anakin is embittered by his past. If he and his mother hadn’t been slaves, their lives may have ended up different. After all, Anakin was bought out of slavery to become a Jedi, but his mother was forced to remain.
Separated from his mother at a young age left a toll on Anakin that affected him throughout his entire life, eventually helping to lead him to the dark side in a desperate attempt to stop Padme from dying the way his mother did. Anakin infiltrates the Zygerian slave trade to find the missing Togruta, but the experience puts him right up against the slavers he hates so much and the slaves he wishes he could free. This moment is a reminder that Anakin’s path toward the Dark Side began early as Anakin was forced to live a life of slavery.