Anakin Skywalker is the most complex character in the Star Wars franchise, straddling the fence between the Light and the Dark. Here are 15 moments that reveal his journey toward the Dark Side.
When Star Wars came out in 1977, audiences were introduced to a character whose name we wouldn’t learn until two episodes later in Return of the Jedi. At the time of Star Wars (later retitled A New Hope), all we knew about this character was that he was once a Jedi Knight who was once “the best star pilot in the galaxy and a cunning warrior.” And he was the father Luke Skywalker never knew because he was murdered by a Jedi who turned to the Dark Side named Darth Vader.
Of course, when it was revealed in The Empire Strikes Back that the man behind the mask of Darth Vader actually was Anakin Skywalker, the revelation was shocking, prompting audiences to want to know more. Who was this man who was once a hero turned a villain? George Lucas knew questions like these were worth exploring, and we were given Anakin Skywalker’s story and journey to the Dark Side in the prequel trilogy.
But Anakin’s story didn’t stop with the prequels; his character has been explored even further in episodes of the animated series The Clone Wars and in comic books published by Marvel. Here are the top 15 Anakin Skywalker moments from the prequels, The Clone Wars, and comics.
1. Anakin almost leaves the Jedi Order
Charles Soule, who has proven to be one of the most prolific Star Wars writers in recent years in novels and comic books, took on the task of exploring Anakin’s early training as a padawan under Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan and Anakin was a five-issue comic miniseries from Marvel Comics that was set just three years after The Phantom Menace, and it’s a story that reveals the closeness Anakin has developed with his master while also alluding to the manipulative relationship that is developing with Chancellor Palpatine.
Anakin and Obi-Wan are called to respond to a mysterious distress call on the planet Carnelion IV. Once they arrive, however, instead of finding who sent the distress call, they find themselves caught up in a war between rival factions on the planet, and the two try to help diffuse the situation and help the warring peoples find a place of compromise.
Throughout the story, we learn that Anakin has been considering leaving the Jedi, and this mission is Obi-Wan’s last chance to show Anakin that his destiny is tied with the Jedi, or else they will both leave the Jedi order. Anakin demonstrates his tenacity as well as his desire to be a force for good, even as he’s taken advantage of for his impressive skills. In the end, the mission and Anakin and Obi-Wan’s role in bringing the conflict to a peaceful resolution help Anakin to see the value and potential for great good in continuing on the Jedi path.
2. Anakin’s compassion in the midst of war
In 2019 Marvel Comics released a series of one-shot comics focused on heroes from the Age of the Republic. These featured stories about heroes such as Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and one issue, in particular, gave us a rare glimpse into the heroic nature of Anakin Skywalker. Age of Republic: Anakin Skywalker was written by Jody Houser and tells a story of Anakin that takes place during the Clone Wars.
The Republic discovers a Separatist droid factory in the Kudo system, being operated by the Kudon people. Admiral Yularen informs Anakin that the opportunity to destroy this factory is limited, which means they must drop in, destroy the factory and those running it, and get out. Anakin struggles with this plan, however, because it will mean all the Kudon droid factory workers will be casualties, and we quickly learn that Anakin would prefer not to take lives if he can help it. It’s not the Jedi way, we can almost hear him say. Anakin had heard that the Kudon people hadn’t taken a side in the war, but Yularen argues that their decision to help the Separatists build new droids makes them enemies of the Republic. Something about the mission doesn’t sit right with Anakin, however, and he chooses to check out the situation on his own, much to Admiral Yularen’s displeasure.
What Anakin discovers is the Kudon people making droids… against their will. As slaves, which brings up terrible memories from Anakin’s childhood as a slave himself. Anakin rushes into action to free the Kudon people and give them the opportunity to fight, not for the Republic, but for themselves for what the Separatists have done to them. In this story, Anakin demonstrates keen insight and a heart for those who can’t protect themselves. He’s guided by a clear sense of right and wrong, which means that he’s not afraid to challenge someone if he thinks there is a better path to be taken.
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.
4. Anakin’s attachment to R2-D2
In the sixth episode of Season 1 of The Clone Wars, “Downfall of a Droid,” R2-D2 is believed to be lost out in the vacuum of space after a battle with the Separatists. This episode and the one immediately after it demonstrate Anakin’s attachment to this astromech droid we all know and love so well. Anakin’s affection for the droid reminds us that in the Star Wars universe, droids aren’t just soulless machines. When Anakin finds out that R2-D2 is alive and on board General Grievous’s secret listening post, Anakin mounts a daring rescue. The Republic, of course, doesn’t want Artoo to fall into enemy hands for Grievous to discover the Republic’s secrets, but for Anakin, rescuing him is about much more than that.
Some might argue that Anakin’s primary flaw is his inability to follow the Jedi rule that forbids attachments, and this is another perfect demonstration of that. Artoo is his trusted friend, rather than just another astromech droid, and he’s not willing to let him go. The complexity of the episode is increased through a replacement droid Anakin has to take on named R3-S6. Anakin isn’t willing to give the droid a chance, and his reluctance proves to be well-founded when he discovers the droid is a spy for Grievous.
The next episode is aptly titled “Duel of the Droids” because Artoo and the spy droid face off with Artoo walking away unscathed while the R3-S6 is destroyed. Though Anakin was able to rescue Artoo, Obi-Wan disapproves of Anakin’s willingness to risk everything to save a droid, but because Anakin sees Artoo as a friend, this moment demonstrates the core difference between Anakin and Darth Vader: Anakin was driven by compassion while Vader’s anger choked it out.
5. A friend betrayed by the Jedi
The Clone Wars did much to explore the ways in which Anakin became disillusioned with the Jedi, and episodes 7-20 of season 5 was the perfect example. After a mysterious Jedi temple explosion, believed to have been committed by a Jedi, Anakin and Ahsoka investigate. The investigation leads to a series of events that make Ahsoka look like the Jedi responsible for the bombing. Ahsoka is arrested, tried, found guilty, and expelled from the Jedi Order, but Anakin doesn’t believe she’s guilty.
While Ahsoka is on the run from the Jedi and the Republic, Anakin launches his own investigation to find the person responsible for the bombing and framing of Ahsoka. He’s the only one who believes in Ahsoka’s innocence, and he’s not willing to let her fate be decided by a Jedi order that won’t listen to reason. His investigation leads him to discover that Ahsoka’s friend and fellow Padawan Barriss Offee bombed the temple, believing the Jedi have lost their way and were never meant to become military officers, and framed Ahsoka for the crime.
Even though Ahsoka is cleared of all charges, she feels betrayed that the Jedi council didn’t believe her, and she decides to leave the Jedi order. Anakin is heartbroken to lose Ahsoka, and the events likely had a lasting impact on his opinion of the Jedi from that moment until his own betrayal of them.
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.
7. Anakin kills Tal Merrik
In the season 2 episode of The Clone Wars, “Voyage of Temptation,” Anakin and Obi-Wan expose a Mandalorian traitor named Tal Merrik. Merrik, who is a member of the rogue Mandalorian faction Death Watch, kidnaps Duchess Satine, and Obi-Wan, who has always secretly loved Satine and would have left the Jedi to be with her if she’d asked, is desperate to save her. Satine manages to get away from Merrik and aims a blaster at him while Obi-Wan holds his lightsaber.
Merrik finds the situation amusing, taunting each of them to kill him. If Satine kills him, she’ll be violating her pacifist views, and if Obi-Wan kills him, he’ll lose the respect of the woman he loves. In a shocking move, Anakin removes the choice from both of them by running his lightsaber through Merrik’s back, killing him instantly. Anakin feels no remorse over the action. If you listen carefully during this moment, you’ll hear the Imperial March in the background.
This moment reveals the cold detachment Anakin will develop with the act of killing others. Even if Merrik deserved to die, Anakin clearly didn’t struggle with the moral complexity of the situation as Obi-Wan and Satine did. This demonstrates a clear contrast with the moments of compassion we see in Anakin in earlier moments in his life, which means that the ugliness of war is corrupting his good heart, slowly making him into a cold-blooded killer.
8. Anakin tortures Poggle the Lesser
In the season two episode of The Clone Wars, “Brain Invaders,” Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee are trapped on a medical ship on its way to take medical supplies to Mace Windu on Dantooine. The clones aboard become infected with Geonosian mind-controlling worms. Ahsoka and Barriss are forced to fight for their lives as the infected clones try to catch both of them. Without knowing how to defeat the worms while preserving the lives of the clones they’ve infected, Ahsoka manages to send a transmission to Anakin, asking for help.
When Barriss is infected, Ahsoka narrowly escapes and has to fight on her own until Anakin can help. The Republic has the Geonosian leader Poggle the Lesser in custody, and Anakin goes to question him. Poggle refuses to reveal the secret to defeating the worms, however, and Anakin becomes more aggressive with his negotiation tactics. In a moment that reveals the depth of his attachment to his Padawan and his willingness to flirt with the dark side if it will get him what he needs to help someone, Anakin hits Poggle the Lesser before Force choking him. Poggle finally relents and gives Anakin the information to save Ahsoka.
Anakin doesn’t tell anyone how he got the information, but it’s clearly a moment that reveals Anakin’s subtly slow descent toward the dark side and the often noble reasons that led him there.
9. Anakin beats Clovis
In the season 6 episode of The Clone Wars, “The Rise of Clovis,” Padmé agrees to work with Clovis, who had previously betrayed the Republic, to uncover a conspiracy in the Banking Clan. Anakin insists that Padmé not work with Clovis because he can’t be trusted. He also doesn’t want her working with Clovis because the two of them were once close, and he knows Clovis still loves her. Bound by duty, Padme tells Anakin to trust her.
But Anakin is right that Clovis is still in love with Padmé, and Anakin walks in on Clovis attempting to kiss Padme. Blinded by jealous rage, Anakin Force chokes Clovis and ignites his lightsaber. Clovis challenges Anakin to fight him without his “Jedi tricks,” and the two begin a vicious hand-to-hand battle in which Anakin clearly has the upper hand. Anakin nearly beats Clovis to death as Padme begs him to stop. Anakin finally sees how much his emotions have gotten out of control, and he stops. But the damage is done, and Padmé is sickened by the darkness she saw in him. Clovis covers for Anakin, claiming the two were attacked and that Anakin had saved him.
Anakin apologizes to Padmé, but she tells him that because he didn’t trust her and because their relationship is built on lies, she wants them to take a break from their relationship for a while. This moment, like many others in Anakin’s life, reveals the intense rage that will characterize him completely as Darth Vader later on. Anakin and Padmé restore their relationship later on, but the experience of losing her because of his anger surely increased his attachment to her to the obsessive level we see in Revenge of the Sith.
10. Anakin kills Count Dooku
The beginning of Revenge of the Sith finds Anakin wiser and more confident than he was at the end of Attack of the Clones. This is a result of being a hero of the Clone Wars, as demonstrated again and again in the animated television series. Anakin and Obi-Wan are on a mission to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who has been kidnapped by General Grievous and Count Dooku. Once the two find the Supreme Chancellor, they’re confronted by Dooku, who quickly incapacitates Obi-Wan. But Anakin has something to prove. When he first encountered Dooku in Attack of the Clones, Dooku defeated him easily, slicing off his hand.
This time, Anakin is able to hold his own, eventually disarming Dooku by slicing off both of his hands. As Anakin stands over Dooku, defeated and on his knees, Palpatine, still posing as the good Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, orders Anakin to kill Dooku. Anakin wrestles with the decision. Killing isn’t the Jedi way. Palpatine argues that Dooku is too dangerous to be kept alive, and Anakin finally cuts off Dooku’s head with his and Dooku’s lightsabers.
This is an important moment because it demonstrates Anakin’s struggle to follow the Jedi code and do the right thing while also being influenced by someone he doesn’t realize wants to pull him to the dark side.
11. Anakin refuses to leave Obi-Wan
Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship throughout the prequels is marked by Anakin’s frustration that Obi-Wan is holding him back from achieving his true potential as a Jedi. This is most obvious in Attack of the Clones, which reveals Anakin to be a petulant whiny teenager.
The Clone Wars television series explored their relationship more in-depth, revealing the friendship and brotherhood the two shared. It also showed Anakin growing out of the immaturity that characterized him in Attack of the Clones. After Anakin kills Dooku in Revenge of the Sith, he knows that the rescue mission for Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is far from over. The ship they’re on is on a collision course, and Anakin must get Palpatine and Obi-Wan, who was knocked unconscious in the battle with Dooku, to safety. Palpatine suggests that Anakin leave Obi-Wan because there isn’t enough time. Anakin responds, “His fate will be the same as ours.” He refuses to leave Obi-Wan, which demonstrates the genuine care he has for his master and friend.
It also demonstrates a significant area of blindness Anakin suffers when it comes to Palpatine. When Palpatine insists that they leave Obi-Wan behind, there’s no compassion laced in his voice. Instead, there’s a cold detachment to it, as if Obi-Wan’s life is easily expendable. Anakin doesn’t see what’s right in front of him, however, and Palpatine continues to manipulate Anakin until all the good in him is drowned out by the Dark Side.
12. Anakin versus Mace Windu
Anakin’s relationship with Mace Windu is marked with tension almost from the beginning. Mace doesn’t trust Anakin, and Anakin feels like he constantly needs to prove himself. When the Jedi council is manipulated into making Anakin a member of the council in Revenge of the Sith, Mace is the one to break the news to Anakin that he won’t be granted the title of Jedi Master. Anakin feels betrayed. He’s given his life to the Jedi Order, and though he’s reckless, he has proven himself repeatedly.
But Mace Windu and other members of the council refuse to see it. When Anakin reports to Mace that Palpatine is the Sith Lord they’ve been looking for, Mace tells him to stay at the Jedi temple and that if what Anakin has told him is true, then Anakin will have earned Mace’s trust. But Anakin believes he needs Palpatine alive to show him how to save Padme from dying, so when he finds Mace in a confrontation with Palpatine with Mace clearly winning, Anakin jumps in just before Mace deals a killing blow to Palpatine, slicing Mace’s hands off. Palpatine takes the opportunity to strike Mace with Force lightning, sending him falling to his death.
Immediately after, Anakin can’t believe what he’s done, but because Mace treated him with mistrust throughout the course of their relationship, you get the sense that Anakin also feels vindicated in that moment. And it demonstrates how powerful Anakin has become, easily overtaking a Jedi Master like Mace Windu.
13. Anakin versus Obi-Wan
The most climactic moment in the prequel trilogy is the moment Anakin and Obi-Wan face one another as bitter enemies in Revenge of the Sith, leaving behind the friendship and brotherhood that previously marked their relationship before Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side. Obi-Wan follows Anakin to the lava planet of Mustafar by hiding in Padme’s ship. Anakin, blinded by the Dark Side and believing Padme brought Obi-Wan to kill him, Force chokes Padme before Obi-Wan steps in, demanding him to stop.
The two then begin one of the most epic lightsaber battles of all time, moving across the fiery landscape of Mustafar. The battle demands both of them to give all that they’ve got, drawing from opposite sides of the Force. Anakin is young, confident, and powerful, and given that he just defeated Mace Windu before killing all the younglings at the Jedi temple, he seems to be more than powerful enough to defeat his former master.
But Anakin isn’t just confident; he’s overconfident, blinded by his own arrogance. In the end, Obi-Wan has the high ground, and Anakin is defeated, his limbs cut off and his broken body ignited by the flames of Mustafar. Both literally and metaphorically, Anakin is broken. This moment demonstrates the corrupting nature of the dark side of the Force, turning Anakin’s love for Obi-Wan into bitter hatred.
14. Battle with Ahsoka in Rebels
Several years after the “death” of Anakin Skywalker, his former Padawan Ahsoka Tano discovers that the evil Sith Lord Darth Vader actually is Anakin Skywalker. The contrast between the compassion and goodness of her former master and the cold cruelty of Darth Vader couldn’t be more extreme, and she struggles to cope with what Anakin has become. In “Twilight of the Apprentice,” the season 2 finale episode of Star Wars Rebels, Ezra Bridger has come to the Sith temple on Malachor to find a Sith holocron. He’s confronted by Darth Vader, and the two have a short lightsaber battle before Darth Vader destroys Ezra’s lightsaber.
Just as Vader is about to strike Ezra down, Ahsoka shows up, finally ready to face the cruel monster her former master has become. Vader assures Ahsoka that Anakin Skywalker is dead because he was weak. Vader separates himself from his former identity, believing that he “killed” Anakin, just as Obi-Wan told Luke in A New Hope. Ahsoka says that if it’s true that Vader killed Anakin, then she will avenge his death, and the two fight, lightsaber against lightsaber. Vader is strong, but so is Ahsoka, and she manages to strike a blow against Vader that destroys part of his mask, revealing half of his face and his yellow Sith eye.
Anakin’s voice calls out to her, no longer modulated by his mask. It’s only one word, but there’s so much weight in that moment as if Anakin is crying out for her help behind the persona of Darth Vader. Ahsoka vows to never leave him again, believing she’s reached Anakin somehow. Anakin’s moment dies quickly, however, as he’s replaced again by Darth Vader, who vows to kill her as the two start fighting again.
It’s a short moment, but a powerful one nonetheless because it’s a rare moment that reveals Anakin still exists somewhere inside of Darth Vader and foreshadows his later redemption.
15. Anakin’s redemption
There are so many moments that shape the character of Anakin Skywalker. We see him as a genuinely good person who struggles with the darkness that calls out to him, and we see him turn to the dark side and become Darth Vader. Anakin’s most pivotal moment comes at the end of his life, after decades of being Darth Vader.
He revealed the truth of his identity to Luke at the end of The Empire Strikes Back in hopes that Luke would join him and the two of them could overthrow Emperor Palpatine and rule the galaxy as father and son. But Luke doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps to the Dark Side. Instead, Luke says that he believes there is still good in his father. When Luke turns himself over to Vader in Return of the Jedi, the two share a moment before Vader turns Luke over to the Emperor. Luke begs Vader to leave with him, to turn back to the light, but Vader says to him, “It is too late for me, son.” The words are laced with regret over a lifetime of choices that only served to destroy the good man he once was.
But even when Vader does turn Luke over to the Emperor, Luke still believes that there is still good in his father. In the most climactic moment of the entire series, Luke is proven correct when Vader can no longer watch the Emperor torture his son with Force lightning. He picks up Palpatine and tosses him down the reactor shaft on the second Death Star, saving Luke and demonstrating that Anakin Skywalker isn’t as dead as he believed.
With the Emperor dead and with his own life quickly slipping away, Vader asks Luke to take off his mask so that he can see Luke with his own eyes. He tells Luke that he was right, that there was still good in him, and then tells Luke to go. Luke insists that he still has to save him. “You already have,” Anakin says and then breathes his last. This moment of redemption is the moment all the other moments of Anakin’s life, both good and bad, are pointing toward.
What’s your favorite Anakin Skywalker moment? Let us know in the comments!