Anakin Skywalker - Darth Vader

Aside from Emperor Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker was probably the single most influential individual in the entire saga of the fall of the Old Republic and the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. In some sense he was responsible for the fall of both regimes.

Skywalker began his life as a slave on Tatooine, cared for by his mother, Shmi Skywalker, and owned by a Toydarian spare-parts dealer named Watto. It was obvious from the beginning that he was unusual and gifted: his mother claimed that she had experienced a virgin birth for Anakin, and even before he reached his pre-teen years he was successfully competing in podracing, a sport normally impossible for humans of any age due to inadequate reaction speed. In retrospect, it was obvious that Anakin was using Force precognition to glimpse a few moments into the future.

Young Anakin's life changed dramatically following the arrival of a band of desperate refugees from Naboo, led by two members of the Jedi order. A chance meeting on the streets of Mos Espa led to Anakin inviting these strangers into his home, where they were treated as guests by Anakin and his mother. This in turn led to several events: the revelation that the strangers needed spare parts put lacked the currency to purchase them; Anakin's volunteering to participate in an upcoming podracing derby to and donate the winnings for the sake of purchasing the parts; the testing of Anakin's midichlorian levels, revealing an individual with an extraordinarily strong connection to the Force; a bold bet made by the lead Jedi, a Knight named Qui-gon Jinn; and ultimately, a successful race on Anakin's part, which not only won him the proceeds to buy the parts but also, thanks to Qui-Gon's manipulations, his freedom.

Anakin left his mother and former owner to journey to Coruscant with the Jedi and their charges from Naboo. There he was subjected to testing by the Jedi Council, who were both greatly impressed with his Force abilities and intrigued by his possible relationship to prophecies of one who would 'bring balance to the Force.' However, they also considered him too old and emotionally conflicted to undergo training, and forbid Qui-gon from taking him as a Padawan apprentice. Qui-gon however was something of a nonconformist relative to the Council, and intended to train Anakin regardless.

Anakin eventually found himself on Naboo during the climactic battle between the Trade Federation occupation on the one hand, and the Gungan army and Naboo resistance forces on the other. Half by accident he wound up in a Naboo fighter, which he piloted against all odds into the heart of the Federation's droid-command vessel, where he used proton torpedoes to destroy the ship's power core, detonate the ship itself, and thereby deactivate all of the innumerable droid combat units responsible for holding Naboo.

Anakin spent the next ten years training under Obi-wan Kenobi, who had taken over in that role after Qui-gon's death at the hands of Darth Maul on Naboo. Anakin excelled in all feats of skill during his training, but his obvious prowess made him somewhat arrogant and left him feeling that he was being 'kept back' from what he was really capable of. This more than anything else was a serious concern for Obi-wan and Anakin's other teachers.

As that ten-year period ended, Anakin was assigned with Obi-wan to protect Padme Amidala - whom he had first met on Tatooine alongside Qui-gon and Obi-wan prior to the liberation of Naboo - from further assassination attempts, after her personal starship was destroyed upon landing at Coruscant. The two Jedi were also involved in investigating the possible culprit(s) behind that attack and those that followed. Eventually, Obi-wan took up the investigative aspect while Anakin remained in charge of Padme's personal security.

In that capacity Anakin escorted Padme back to Naboo. Shortly thereafter, however, Anakin began to experience intense premonitions of his mother's torment and death, which prompted him to leave for Tatooine, joined by Padme. On Tatooine they discovered that 1) Shmi had been purchased by a new owner, Cliegg Lars, then freed by him and married to him; and 2) more recently, she had been abducted by Tusken Raiders and taken with them into the depth of the desert. Desperate for any sort of closure and feeling that his mother might still be alive, Anakin headed out into the wilderness. After a hurried search and guided by information from local Jawas, he eventually found the Tusken camp where his mother was being held. She was indeed still alive, but she survived only long enough to see Anakin's face and exchange a few words with him. She had been beaten and worked literally to death.

This sent Anakin over the edge. Gripped by the first real wellings of the Dark Side within his psyche, he slew the entire Tusken camp, even the women and children. he brought his mother's body back to the Lars homestead and had her buried there. Not long after, he and Padme picked up a distress signal from Obi-wan, who had traced the assassination plot to the planet Geonosis. This signal was cut off abruptly, and it appeared that Obi-wan was in danger. Realizing that the Jedi Council's forces would take much longer to travel from Coruscant than they could from Tatooine, Anakin and Padme decided to respond immediately and head to Geonosis themselves. In tow came C-3PO, the protocol droid Anakin had assembled in his youth on Tatooine.

Anakin and Padme were quickly captured on Geonosis, and sentenced to be fed to wild beasts in the Geonosian gladiatorial arena. After their capture but before being led into the arena, Padme gave in to Anakin's frequent romantic overtures and declared her love for him (despite being six years his senior). In the arena, a series of daring acts by Anakin, Obi-wan, and Padme kept them alive long enough for the Jedi to arrive with the support of the clone army discovered on Kamino, an army which ultimately drove the conspiratorial Separatist movement from the planet and thus sparked the Clone War.

In that vast and bloody conflict Anakin became a hero many times over. In its early stages he assisted in the liberation of a Wookiee-held moon which had served as a testing ground for an ancient Sith artifact of great power; participated in the assault on an enemy archaeological site on Raxus Prime, seeking other components of that artifact; and penetrated into the tomb of Ulic Qel-Droma. There Qel-Droma's Holocron-ghost gave Anakin the knowledge of how to protect himself from the Reaper, the ancient device being assembled by the Separatists. This knowledge, however, added a Dark-Side taint to Anakin that had been absent or weak previously. Anakin then participated in the huge assault against the Separatist world where the Reaper had been completed, and he more or less single-handedly penetrated the enemy base defenses and destroyed the Reaper, thanks to his relative immunity to its effects. Other Jedi, even Obi-wan himself, did not seem to either notice or be concerned by the Dark-Side knowledge Anakin had gained.

Anakin's next great trial was his contest with a Sith, or would-be Sith, assassin. Irresponsibly disregarding his command duties, he broke away from a battle zone to pursue an unusual enemy craft piloted by a Force-wielder. Tracking this fighter to Yavin 8, Anakin soon found himself locked in a vicious duel with a highly skilled enemy trained in the Sith arts. Anakin was challenged to the limit, and ultimately had to give himself over to his rage and aggression in order to summon the strength needed to finish off his opponent. While victorious, he had let himself slip still further down the path to the Dark Side.

Anakin had for some time been resentful of Obi-wan, feeling that his master was holding him back out of jealousy and resenting what he considered Obi-wan's overbearing and over-cautious attitude. This was amended considerably when Obi-wan nominated Anakin for Knighthood. While the Council was reluctant to break with tradition regarding Anakin's training, they ultimately agreed to grant Anakin Knighthood prior to the formal completion of all his trials. This was a move of desperation on their part, being pressed by an urgent need for more Knights, but it did much to reduce the rank distinction between Anakin and Obi-wan. The two became close partners after Anakin's promotion.

All during this time, Anakin had been having a secret affair with Padme. Anakin as a Jedi was forbidden from such a relationship, while Padme as a Senator could not politically afford to be associated with a 'rogue' Jedi in an illicit romance. The two hid their liaisons effectively, although Padme eventually became pregnant towards the end of the Clone War.

It was after his promotion to Knight that Anakin truly came into his own in matters of combat, proving himself a bold, courageous, and highly capable warrior in battle after battle. His final large-scale battle during the Clone War was the epic and pitched Battle of Coruscant, where he and Obi-wan collectively slew Count Dooku, forced General Grievous to flee, and rescued Supreme Chancellor Palpatine while the enemy flagship, the Invisible Hand, plummeted towards the surface of Coruscant.

Palpatine was in truth a Dark Lord of the Sith, and had had an eye on Anakin as a potential apprentice for years by the time of the Battle of Coruscant, clearly sensing both Anakin's power in the Force and his Dark-Side taint. Not long after the battle, Anakin discovered that Palpatine was in fact the Sith Lord whose Dark-Side influence had been clouding the entire Force for the Jedi. However, Anakin had also been experiencing traumatic nightmares foretelling Padme's death, and Palpatine's claim of knowing how to extend life intrigued a desperate Anakin enough to keep him from slaying the Chancellor outright. Nevertheless, Palpatine was found out and several Jedi were sent to apprehend him. Only one of these, Mace Windu, proved capable of matching the Sith Lord in combat.

But Palpatine's claims were, in fact, a matter of such importance to Anakin that, when Palpatine was about to be finished off by Windu, Anakin reacted on impulse and stopped Windu by severing his arm. Windu was then (presumably) killed by Palpatine. Shortly thereafter Anakin defected to Palpatine's cause, probably due both to his concern for Padme and because his allowing Windu to be killed had effectively destroyed his career with the Jedi Order. He was taken as an apprentice by Palpatine and appointed the title Darth Vader.

Palpatine then commanded the clonetroopers to execute Order 66, the result of which was the slaughter of the bulk of the Jedi forces around the galaxy. Palpatine's first order for Vader, probably as much a test of loyalty as a practical concern, was to eradicate the Jedi remaining in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Vader led a force of clonetroopers to the Temple and butchered numerous Jedi, including children in training. The act of killing so many former colleagues and innocent children caused the Dark Side to swell within Vader, which granted him additional power, which itself made his ego, anger, and lust for power even greater.

Having faithfully completed his mission, Vader was entrusted by Palpatine to carry out a more pressing matter: stopping Palpatine's own minions in the Separatist movement, such that the Republic would not be destroyed by their forces before Palpatine could cement his power over it. Vader was sent under false pretense of being a new advisor for the Separatist leaders, and upon entering their meeting chamber on Mustafar he immediately slew them all. Leaderless, the Separatist movement no longer presented an organized threat to the newly formed Empire, at least on any large scale.

Obi-wan and Padme tracked Vader to Mustafar, where Padme attempted to reason with him and express her fear and disgust over his actions. This could almost have turned Vader from his course, except that he soon realized that Obi-wan was present. Consumed by paranoia and contempt, Vader accused Padme of insincerity and of leading Obi-wan to him so as to assassinate him. In his blind rage he briefly Force-choked Padme - the first of many such victims - and then turned his attention to Obi-wan.

Teacher and apprentice fought a heated duel over the lava flows of Mustafar, as Obi-wan repeatedly begged Vader to turn way from the Dark Side and promising forgiveness if only he would repent. Vader was however steeped in the Dark Side and gave no heed to such entreaties. The two fought blow for blow to a virtual standstill, until Obi-wan found himself in a position of advantage in terms of dueling. But Vader, driven nearly mad with mistrust and hatred, ignored his peril, attacked Obi-wan regardless, and paid the price when Obi-wan severed his legs at the knees and his remaining (biological) arm at the elbow. Vader immediately fell to the banks of a lava flow, where the great heat ignited his clothes and burned most of his body. Only by summoning the power of the Dark Side did he manage to survive such greivous wounds at all. He was left for dead by Obi-wan.

Palpatine sensed Vader's state and was visibly anxious that his powerful new servant might soon die, which would not only strip him of an enormously valuable asset but also leave him without any apprentice at all, a potentially awkward situation if Palpatine needed to monitor and intimidate possible rivals in the Senate or Imperial Navy. As such Palpatine personally rushed to Vader's location and had him placed in a stasis pod. Bringing him back to Coruscant, Palpatine then had Vader rebuilt cybernetically and provided him with life-support systems to take up the functioning of his broken body. Upon regaining consciousness, Vader was told by Palpatine that Padme was dead, and that his own Force-choke had killed her. Vader was deeply suspicious of this, as he had felt life within her the last time he had seen her, but nevertheless rapidly succumbed to grief. After this point, he was less prone to blind anger and more servile to Palpatine.

Vader spent much of the next two decades hunting down the remaining Jedi, eliminating virtually all of them during that time. The fact that Padme had borne him two children just prior to her death was kept hidden from him, the children being secreted away to the royal family of Alderaan (Leia Organa) and the Lars family on Tatooine (Luke Skywalker). By the time Palpatine finally disbanded the Senate and took sole authority over the Empire, Vader's role had shifted from ferreting out Jedi to tracking down members of the Rebel Alliance. In this capacity he and his forces captured Leia and her cosular ship, the Tantive IV, over Tatooine - unaware that he had taken his daughter into custody and that his son was on a farmstead below.

Aside from dealing with the Rebellion, Vader had taken on another key role at that time: acting as Palpatine's 'insurance' on the first Death Star. Vader, being wholly loyal to Palpatine and more than capable of personally implementing policies through force, was placed on the Death Star to act as a check on the power of Grand Moff Tarkin. Tarkin too was an extreme loyalist, but Palpatine trusted no one in the Empire aside from Vader. Vader thus served to monitor Tarkin and would have relieved him of command, one way or another, if he had attempted to use the Death Star to challenge Palpatine's authority.

Leia's mission at Tatooine had been to contact Obi-wan Kenobi, one of the only remaining Jedi - and the individual responsible for watching over Luke's security and personal development. Obi-wan received her message via R2-D2, who also happened to be carrying the schematics of the Death Star, which represented the Alliance's only possible hope for resistance. Enlisting Luke's help after Owen and Beru Lars were killed by stormtroopers seeking the schematics, Obi-wan hired smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca to take them to Alderaan, presumably to meet with Bail Organa, one of the founding members of the Alliance. Upon arrival in the system they discovered that Alderaan had been annihilated, and they were subsequently captured by the still-lingering Death Star.

At Vader's behest, the passengers of Millennium Falcon were allowed to escape, with both Leia and an Imperial tracking device on board. One passenger he did not allow to escape, however - Obi-wan. Confronting his former master near one of the Death Star's hangars, Vader briefly sparred with Obi-wan until the old Jedi allowed himself to be killed. In doing so Obi-wan lost the ability to act as a physical agent in the conflict, but gained the vital ability to communicate with Luke and Master Yoda whenever and wherever he deemed necessary.

Tarkin expressed doubt over Vader's tracking-device plan, but it worked without flaw. The Millennium Falcon made straight for the Alliance base of operations on Yavin 8 under Leia's instruction, and the Death Star followed close behind. The ensuing battle saw the first Death Star destroyed and the Alliance saved against all odds, with Vader surviving thanks to his personal fighter being knocked away from the station by the Millennium Falcon.

With such a catastrophic loss inflicted upon the Empire by the Alliance, and with many systems responding to the destruction of Alderaan not with fear but with rage, Vader's mission for the next several years was to hunt down the ever-shifting primary headquarters of the Alliance. While this operation was not exclusive, it was his principle activity during that time. On the side, he was tasked with searching for his son - whom he had learned to be Luke Skywalker. Palpatine initially wanted Luke eliminated, but Vader convinced him that turning Luke to the Dark Side could yield a powerful ally. Both Palpatine and Vader probably wanted to enlist Luke's aid to destroy the other, Palpatine to gain a fresh apprentice and Vader to take revenge on the Emperor and rule the galaxy according to his own vision (and perhaps because, deep down, he felt some amount of affection for or responsibility to his son).

Vader wanted his son taken alive, and to do so he used Leia, Han, and their companions - captured not long after the Battle of Hoth - as bait. Luke had been training under Yoda for a while after the escape from Hoth, having been directed there by Obi-wan. Now, sensing that his friends were in pain (or about to be in pain), he set out for the planet where they were being held, Bespin. There Vader hoped to use Bespin's carbonite-freezing equipment to place Luke in suspended animation, but Luke proved more able and wily than Vader had anticipated. Nevertheless Luke was no match for Vader, and after fleeing the trap he dueled against his father before being brought to bay within the vast processing tunnel beneath Cloud City. There Vader offered Luke the chance to rule the galaxy at his side, but Luke refused and lost his right hand to Vader's lightsaber. Luke then plummeted down the shaft, narrowly grasping a small antenna. Leia and company, having fled Cloud City thanks to Lando Calrissian's call for evacuation, managed to find Luke in that precarious spot and rescure him. Vader must have been well aware of this, being able to sense his son's presence.

Vader's hunting of the Alliance continued until the second Death Star was nearing completion. At that point he arrived in orbit at Endor to notify the DS II's command staff that Palpatine himself would be arriving at the station shortly. It was at Endor that Vader once more sensed the presence of his son. However, no capture was necessary: Luke delivered himself to Vader, in his staunch belief that Vader still had some amount of good in him and could yet be turned from evil. Vader eventually brought Luke before Palpatine, who tested Luke's discipline and resolve. Luke in some sense failed this test when he attempted to kill the Emperor, but vader prevented him from doing so and thus entered into a second duel with his son.

This time around Luke's skills had increased exponentially compared to their last encounter, and the two fought on nearly even terms. Luke unfortunately betrayed the fact that he had a sister and thus that Vader had a daughter, leading Vader to express interest in corrupting her if Luke would not be turned. Ultimately Luke (again succumbing to anger) was able to overpower Vader and sever one of his mechanical arms below the wrist, taxing Vader's life-support and leaving him prostrate. Palpatine, in his pragmatism, had no concern that Vader might die, indeed probably feeling that for Luke to kill his father would seal his conversion to the Dark Side. This would grant the Emperor a new, more capable apprentice.

But Luke mastered his anger and refused to kill Vader, for which Palpatine began to torture him with Force lightning. Vader, damaged but functional, was left to witness his treacherous master tormenting Luke, his son, who begged him to stop the Emperor as he writhed in agony. At this point Vader sided with the son he had sought for so long, turning on the traitorous self-serving Palpatine and tossing him down a vast shaft. Vader suffered multiple strikes from the Emperor's Force lightning, irreparably damaging his already battle-scarred frame. In so doing, Vader once again became Anakin Skywalker, and perhaps fulfilled the prophecy that he would bring balance to the Force.

Luke attempted to save Anakin, but the damage to the life-support systems was too extensive. Anakin lived only long enough to see his son without his mask, and to tell him to tell Leia that Luke had in fact been right - there had been some good left in him. He then passed on and became a Force ghost, probably through the help of Qui-gon, Obi-wan, and/or Yoda, all of whom had themselves chosen that path.

Anakin was treated to a traditional Jedi funeral on Endor, burned in full armor upon a pyre, surrounded by the heroes of the Alliance - including his children - and their Ewok allies.

Record 1515 - character - Last update 16 Nov 2007, 11:12:29

Entry written by: Torvus

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