Anakin Skywalker: Psychological Mechanisms In Star Wars

With the release of the new Star Wars trilogy it seems that the passion for this saga is back in all its glory. Although the new films have received overall positive reviews from critics and have been successful in theaters, something is missing that made the original trilogy unique. We refer, of course, to the character of Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin Skywalker , later better known as Dart Vader, was one of the main characters of the first six films, as well as one of the icons of cinema history. The Chosen One of Prophecy, it is undoubtedly the most complex character in the saga.

Understanding some of the actions performed by this character can be complicated. Why did he go from being a warrior fighting for peace to the right arm of a tyrant oppressing the entire galaxy? In this article, we will examine the psychological mechanisms behind the character of Anakin Skywalker to answer this question.

Anakin Skywalker: discovering the most famous Star Wars character

While the three prequels are not as popular with fans as the original trilogy, these latter films hold the key to fully understanding Anakin Skywalker’s psychology. The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith , in fact, focus almost exclusively on the development of this character.

We are told the true story of Anakin, which begins when he was just a child and ends with him exterminating an entire population by destroying the Jedi temple. Later, by now become Dart Vader, he suffocates the galaxy forcing it to live in terror for decades before redeeming himself and returning to the light side of the Force.

But what caused these abrupt changes in Anakin’s personality? The answer must be found in its history.

The aftermath of a difficult childhood

To understand Anakin Skywalker, we need to turn to his childhood. Living on the planet Tatooine (a desert with almost no resources and where living conditions were brutal), he and his mother are slaves to a scrap dealer. Little Anakin has to take care of his mother’s health from an early age.

According to many studies, the absence of the father figure has several negative consequences. Among these it is possible to develop an elusive attachment, an attitude that we can observe in Anakin, especially in his relationship with Padme.

People who show this type of attachment avoid expressing their emotions and try to show themselves as totally self-sufficient beings. We can find this aspect in the psychological mechanisms of Anakin Skywalker, who places his own decisions before the council of the masters, despite appreciating and respecting them.

On the other hand, Anakin has a large number of traits typical of gifted children. Being very intelligent means having to face more and more problems: this intelligence leads the child to have conflicts with his teacher, makes him feel different and makes him very innocent and idealistic. All of these traits will determine his penchant for the dark side.

Adopted by the Jedi

When he meets Obi Wan and Qui Gon Jinn, Anakin believes he has found a way to break free from bondage and be able to help others. This fact is very important, given that one of the reasons why he complains most often in the first film is precisely the fact that no one helps those most in need. For the young Anakin, the Jedi represent the “good” of the world, he idealizes them. Sadly, while joining the Jedi sounds like everything the young Skywalker wants, many complications will arise:

• By leaving with Qui Gon Junn and Obi Wan , Anakin will have to abandon his mother to her fate. She is the only person who has shown unconditional affection for him, and although the technology of the Star Wars universe is very advanced, there seems to be no way for him to communicate with his mother.

• Although Qui Gon is convinced that Anakin is the chosen one to annihilate the Sith and restore order to the Force, the Jedi Council does not want to train him. Claiming that he is too big, but in reality with an obvious fear of the child’s possible future, they refuse to accept him as a padawan. This causes in Anakin a strong feeling of rejection, for which he will gradually lose confidence in the Council.

• One of Anakin Skywalker’s most important traits is his independence. However, the Jedi masters try to give him a great deal of rules to prevent him from making mistakes with harmful consequences. This, together with the resentment of the Council’s refusal, increases resentment in him.

Some very turbulent relationships

Over the course of the three films we notice that  Anakin goes from being an innocent child to a rebellious teenager, to becoming a narcissistic adult. Confident of his superiority, but at times also insecure and unable to open up to others, the young Skywalker feels isolated and misunderstood. On the other hand, the relationships he maintains cause him many problems:

• Obi Wan Kenobi, his teacher, has more of an older brother role than  a mentor. Although the two have an excellent relationship, it is possible to glimpse a competition at times.

• Padme, his wife, is the person Anakin will be in love with all his life, because he idealized her. It will also help that they spend most of their time away from each other, a situation that won’t allow them to really get to know each other; Furthermore, they both need to keep their relationship a secret, because if it turns out, Anakin’s position among the Jedi could be compromised.

• Chancellor Palpatine, one of the people Skywalker most admires, is actually a Sith master who wants to bribe him. For this reason, Anakin forms a toxic relationship with him, the Chancellor causes in him a feeling of insecurity.

Due to his isolation and subsequent social complications, Anakin feels very lonely and insecure. This will help bring him closer to the dark side.

The betrayal of his ideals

When Anakin, now a young Jedi, discovers that the desert dwellers (The Sand People) have murdered his mother, blinded by anger, he slaughters every member of this race that inhabits Tatooine, including women and children. This act goes against the ideals in which Skywalker had hitherto believed and transforms him into an even more arrogant and overwhelmed being.

In the first three films, Palpatine pits him against the Jedi Council, convincing them that their interests go against his. When Anakin discovers that Padme is pregnant and begins to have premonitory dreams of her death in childbirth, she seeks advice from the Chancellor. The latter reveals to him that he is actually a powerful Sith master, and convinces him that the dark side of the Force can save his beloved.

Assailed by doubt (central to Anakin Skywalker’s psychology), the young Jedi denounces Palpatine to the Council, but when he sees the way Mace Windu threatens to kill him, he stands in defense of his mentor. In doing so, he betrays the Jedi and transforms himself into Darth Sidious’s apprentice.

Under the orders of the new master, Anakin (now Dart Vader) begins to commit a series of atrocities that will take him deeper and deeper into the spiral of hatred and self-destruction. The most serious are the destruction of the Jedi Temple and the murder of all the children who were in the temple at that time, as well as the attack on Padme when she refuses it.

Having lost everything and now on the verge of dying after colliding with Obi Wan, Palpatine saves him and turns him into his servant. As a result, Anakin hates him for all he has lost because of him, but he is left with no choice but to join the master.

However, it is this hatred for the Emperor that allows Dart Feder, in  Return of the Jedi , to sacrifice himself  to save his son Luke by assassinating his master. In this way, he has the opportunity to redeem himself and return to the Light Side, reuniting with Obi Wan – his first master – in the form of a ghost of the Force.