Anakin Skywalker is my favorite character. But he's hard for me to understand. How could he turn from a kind, helpful boy and a brave young hero into a villain, mass murderer who forgot about everyone? He promised not to forget Kitster and other slaves, but he did. He had promised Ahsoka that he would always protect her - but he wanted to kill her. He became a Sith = gone mad? How could he? (((
Hello there my fellow Anakin’s fan! Sorry for the delay, hectic weeks at work kept me busy.
Skywalker’s Fall to Dark Side is... very complicated. I know it is hard to accept how such sweet, helpful kid like Anakin could end as merciless Darth Vader, how at first glance it doesn’t make sense. But the point is, Skywalker’s Fall is a very logical process. Looking at it from retrospect, all Anakin’s reasons, choices and after-effects are connected to each other.
Skywalker didn’t become a Sith because he went mad, nor it wasn’t a random thought he get waking up one day and deciding screw the Jedi, screw the Republic and all people, I’m gonna be Dark Lord of the Sith! Even saying he fell to Dark Side because of fear for Padme is not exactly truth. Because yes, fear of losing Padme and unborn child(s), the need to protect them was a big element of the fall, but that wasn’t the solely reason. More like the straw that broke the camel's back.
See, my point is there was plenty things that ultimately pushed him on this path; things that alone may not be that big issue if he faced one problem at time. But together, cumulated, those became too heavy burden to carry on, even for someone so brave and helpful and strong as Anakin. The burden put on him was a mix of recent events - losing mother, killing Sand People, three years of ongoing war; the constantly lost of his men and friends/allies on various missions and brutal fight on battlefronts with little rest for sure changed Anakin into harsher, angrier young man than he was in TPM or AotC but we can’t forget things that shaped him for years, like being born and raised in slavery and decade of Jedi training that never taught Anakin healthy copy mechanism to deal with trauma.. Add to that the burden of too high expectations he couldn’t meet no matter how hard he tried and the feeling of being unwanted /distrusted by Jedi Council, and you get very dangerous mix.
The abusive nature of slavery and, sadly, Jedi Order gave a solid ground for Anakin’s mental & emotional problems and since he lacked a proper tool to deal with that, it’s not a surprise he finally broke down under stress of the last months of Clone Wars, when he was betrayed & used by his Jedi masters, cut away from any real friend/ally (Kenobi), or friend turned out to be enemy, plagued by horrific dreams about losing Padme and unborn child(s) and literally got depressed, what was strongly hinted in the book (not sleeping, not eating, not taking care for himself with the basic things and the feel of falling down).
The dreams of Padme’s death were a main motivation to take Palpatine’s offert, sure, but the things that pushed him to do so, pushed Anakin on the Dark Side’s path was desperation, feed by fear, isolation, insecurity and depression. He hit the lowest moment of his life, and the moment of his greatest vulnerability was used by Palpatine. I wouldn’t say Skywalker went mad, but I don’t think he was in position to think clearly either. He did what any desperate person in his position would, he grabbed the only hope that was left to him.
And I wouldn’t say he truly forget about others, because accepting slavery did not come that easily to Vader. The indifference for other people was rather coming from (A) Jedi idea that once person fell to Dark Side, there is no turning back to Light and (B) self-preservation. Because the relationship between Sith master and apprentice is really fucked up and I think Vader became disillusioned with many things. There was nothing to come back, so he simply pushed forward, adapting to new situation. Something he did as a slave and Jedi.Trust the Force and keep going.
Anakin made many bad decisions, but a lot of them comes from the fact he was never taught any healthy copy mechanism to deal with stress and trauma, he lacked friends/mentors he really could turn to in time of need and personal crisis. And in time of depression it’s truly hard to make right choices. After he lost everything, nothing really mattered anymore. At least until Luke showed up.
