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Anakin Skywalker is the central character in the '', April 2005 . Retrieved 05-05 - 2007 . The Original and Prequel Trilogies follow Anakin's rise as a vessel of The Force , his fall to the Dark Side , and his ultimate Redemption . In the prequel films, Anakin is a Jedi Padawan, and later a Jedi Knight of legend. As revealed in '' The Empire Strikes Back '' and '' Return Of The Jedi '', he is the father of Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill ) and Leia Organa ( Carrie Fisher ), and the husband of Padme Amidala ( Natalie Portman ). In '''', Anakin (as Vader) is the central Villain . HISTORY Childhood and discovery of Anakin Skywalker .]] Events described in this section occur in the film In the timeline of the ''Star Wars'' films, Anakin first appears in '''' as a selfless nine-year-old boy (played by Jake Lloyd ). He is a Slave in the service of Watto , a junk dealer. A Child Prodigy , Anakin excels at Engineering ; even at his young age, he can build or repair nearly anything, evidenced by the creation of his own protocol Droid , C-3PO ( Anthony Daniels ), and Podracer , each from salvaged parts. He is also a remarkable pilot with quick reflexes due to his Jedi powers of seeing the future through the midi-chlorians in his blood. Anakin is found on the planet Tatooine by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn ( Liam Neeson ), who is convinced that he is the "Chosen One" foretold by the Jedi Prophecy to bring balance to the Force. His mother, Shmi ( Pernilla August ), says that he has no father, and that she simply ''became'' Pregnant with him. Qui-Gon discovers that Anakin has the highest known number of Midi-chlorians , a measure of Force-aptitude, and theorizes that the boy is the "Chosen One" of Jedi prophecy Destined to bring balance to the Force. Anakin forms a strong bond with Queen Padmé Amidala ( Natalie Portman ), whom Qui-Gon and his padawan apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi ( Ewan McGregor ), are guarding. After winning Anakin's freedom in a game of chance, Qui-Gon brings the boy to Coruscant and requests that the Jedi Council allow him to train Anakin. This request is denied, as the Council thinks that Anakin's future is clouded by the fear he exhibits. Ultimately, Anakin helps to win the final battle against the villainous Trade Federation in the Film's Climactic Scene . A dying Qui-Gon, slain by Darth Maul ( Ray Park ), urges Obi-Wan to train Anakin, and Council leader Yoda ( Frank Oz ) reluctantly approves. The Republic's newly-elected Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine ( Ian McDiarmid ), befriends the boy, promising to "watch his career with great interest." Events described in this section occur in the film In ''Attack of the Clones'', set 10 years later, Anakin (played by Hayden Christensen ), is now Obi-Wan's apprentice. Because his natural abilities place him far above his peers, he has developed into an arrogant loner during his years of Jedi training, and has begun to chafe against Obi-Wan's authority. He is assigned to guard Padmé, and eventually falls in love with her, even though such emotional attachments are forbidden to the Jedi. In conversation with Padmé, he reveals his affection for her, as well as his distrust of the political process and the need he perceives for there to be one strong leader. While guarding Padmé, Anakin senses that his mother is in danger. Upon returning to Tatooine, he finds his mother in a villiage of Tusken Raiders , but arrives too late; she has been Torture d and beaten beyond help, and she dies in his arms. Seized by a blind rage, he mercilesly slaughters the viliage's entire populace, even the women and children. He returns with his mother's body, and tearfully confesses to Padmé, who forgives him. Anakin and Padmé learn that Obi-Wan has been taken hostage by the droid forces of the Confederacy Of Independent Systems , a faction of star systems that want to Secede from the Republic. They rush to to the planet Geonosis to rescue him — where they are also captured. Faced with their impending demise in a gladiatorial arena, they profess their love to one another. Escaping the fray with the help of a cadre of Jedi and the clone army, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda engage Separatist leader and fallen Jedi Count Dooku ( Christopher Lee ) in a lightsaber battle. Obi-Wan is injured in the battle and Anakin is forced to fight him alone. He is easily defeated by the older, more experienced warrior, who severs his lower right arm. Back on Naboo, Anakin's arm is replaced with a mechanical Prosthetic , and he marries Padmé in a secret ceremony with only C-3PO ( Anthony Daniels ) and his counterpart, R2-D2 ( Kenny Baker ), to witness. Clone Wars During the events of '''', Anakin is made a full-fledged Jedi Knight despite the Council's reservations. During the next three years of fighting in the Clone Wars , Anakin becomes a legend throughout the galaxy, renowned as "The Hero With No Fear." Among his most noted moments are a fierce duel with Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress and the liberation of the Nelvaanians from the Techno Union . During a certain Clone War battle he is left with a scar on his right temple. During the mission rescuing the Nelvaaians, he goes on a spiritual journey which gives him a cryptic glimpse of his future. The ordeal costs Anakin his prosthetic arm, though he later creates a modified version with help from R2-D2. A Hero Falls Events described in this section occur in the film In ''Revenge of the Sith'', Anakin and Obi-Wan return from the Outer Rim to rescue a kidnapped Palpatine during the Battle Of Coruscant . They board the '' Invisible Hand '', flagship of the Separatist fleet and its Cyborg leader, General Grievous ( Matthew Wood ). Tracking the captive Chancellor to the observation deck, they duel with Count Dooku . While Obi-Wan is unconscious, Anakin faces the Sith Lord alone. Following a short duel, Anakin overpowers Dooku and neatly sears off both of his hands. Palpatine then commands Anakin to behead the shocked Count. Anakin gives in to his anger and complies, but instantly regrets it, as killing a defenseless prisoner is not the Jedi way. After rescuing the Chancellor, Anakin finds that the flagship is in critical condition, and, with some help from Obi-Wan, barely lands its front half safely on an airstrip. Anakin returns to Coruscant, where Padmé tells him she is Pregnant . He is initially overjoyed, but that night has a horrible nightmare of Padmé dying in Childbirth . He is immediately afraid this vision will come true, as it is similar to the one he had of his mother just before she died. Palpatine, who by now has amassed near- Dictator ial power in the Senate , makes Anakin his representative on the Jedi Council. The suspicious Council accepts Anakin, but denies him the rank of Jedi Master, and tell him to spy on Palpatine. Angered, Anakin loses all faith in the Council. Ultimately, the Chancellor offers him the chance to learn the dark side, which he claims holds the power to prevent death. Anakin realizes that Palpatine is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and reports Palpatine's secret to Jedi Master Mace Windu ( Samuel L. Jackson ). He soon follows Windu to the Chancellor's office to make sure Palpatine is taken alive. Anakin arrives to find Windu holding his lightsaber on a disarmed Palpatine. Windu declares the Dark Lord Of The Sith under arrest, but Palpatine defiantly unleashes a torrent of Force Lightning at Windu. The Jedi Master deflects the lightning with his lightsaber back at Palpatine, hideously scarring his face. The attack continues unabated until Palpatine seemingly tires, giving Windu a chance to strike a deathblow. Anakin pleads with Windu to spare Palpatine's life, but Windu refuses, insisting that Palpatine is too dangerous to be kept alive. As Windu raises his lightsaber to deliver the final blow, Anakin intervenes, severing Windu's right hand. Palpatine then springs to life, bombarding him with Force lightning and hurling him out the window to his death. Anakin then submits to the Dark Side, and is henceforth re-christened Darth Vader. Vader's first task as a Sith Lord is to help execute Palpatine/Sidious' Order 66 by assaulting the Jedi Temple and to kill everyone inside, including the Younglings . Vader is then sent to Mustafar to assassinate the Separatist leaders. After completing this task, he is met by Padmé, who pleads with him to flee Palpatine's grasp with her. He refuses, saying that the two of them can overthrow Palpatine and rule the galaxy together. Obi-Wan, who had hidden himself on Padmé's ship, suddenly emerges. Vader accuses Padmé of conspiring against him, and Uses The Dark Side To Choke her into unconsciousness. Kenobi and Vader then engage in an intense lightsaber duel throughout the mining complex. After a fierce duel, Kenobi severs Vader's left arm and both of his legs. As Vader comes into contact with the molten metal, he catches fire and is nearly Immolated . Obi-Wan leaves him to die, but Palpatine comes to Vader's rescue. .]] Palpatine reconstructs his apprentice's ruined body with the iconic suit of black armor first seen in ''A New Hope''. Once Vader regains consciousness, Palpatine tells him that Padmé had died as a result of Vader's anger. (She had in fact died in childbirth after delivering Luke and Leia.) This half-truth breaks what remains of Anakin's spirit, and he screams in torment. As he realizes this shocking truth, Vader blames himself, while subconsciously not realizing he has, in Obi-Wan's words, "become the very thing {Link without Title} swore to destroy". He is last seen overseeing the construction of the first Death Star at Palpatine's side. Rise of the Dark Lord As chronicled in '', Vader sheds his identity as Anakin Skywalker shortly after incurring his injuries on Mustafar ; in the months afterward, he systematically pursues and kills the survivors of the Order 66 (save Obi-Wan and Yoda) and, in the process, fully embraces his new identity as a Sith Lord and disavows any connection to his former Jedi self. Before he fully embraces the dark side, Vader questions the confinement and limitations of his body suit, and if his master has cheated him of the unlimited powers to save his wife, and to sucumb to the dark side fully. Sidious, however, reveals that the killing of his "betrayers" will grant him the power he desires, and that the black vessel he lives in will have no limitations once connected to the dark side. The novel also reveals that Vader plans to eventually overthrow Palpatine, and that he had betrayed the Jedi because he resented their supposed failure to recognize his power. Vader then knows that someday he will be an equal to his master, and that he will eventually become a Dark Lord after he learns all that his master has to give. Battling the Rebellion and his son Events in this section occur in the films In ''A New Hope'', Vader (now portrayed by David Prowse ) is charged with recovering the stolen plans of the Death Star , the Empire's Superweapon , and finding the Rebel Alliance 's secret base. He captures and Torture s Princess Leia ( Carrie Fisher ) and, along with Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin ( Peter Cushing ), destroys her homeworld of Alderaan . Shortly afterward, he duels his former master, Obi-Wan (now played by Alec Guinness ), who has arrived at the Death Star because the tractor beam pulled them in, and strikes him down, turning him into a spirit in the Force. He then encounters Luke, during the Battle Of Yavin , and senses in him a great strength in the Force — confirmed moments later when the boy destroys the battle station. In '' The Empire Strikes Back '', Vader kidnaps Leia, Han Solo ( Harrison Ford ), Chewbacca ( Peter Mayhew ), and C-3PO on the planet Bespin to lure Luke into a confrontation. Luke, who has been partially trained by Yoda, duels Vader, but is eventually defeated, losing his right hand to the Sith Lord's lightsaber. Vader then reveals his true identity as Luke's father and offers Luke the chance to overthrow Palpatine and rule the galaxy as father and son. Luke refuses, throwing himself down a mine shaft. He is sucked into a garbage chute and rescued by Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO and Lando Calrissian ( Billy Dee Williams ), and is fitted with a robotic hand to replace the one Vader had severed. Redemption and Death Events described in this section occur in the film In ''Return of the Jedi'', Vader is charged with overseeing the completion of the second Death Star. He meets with Palpatine onboard the half-constructed station to plan Luke's turn to the dark side. to Palpatine in an attempt to turn him to the dark side.]] By this time, Luke has nearly completed his Jedi training, and has learned from a dying Yoda that Vader is indeed his father. He learns about his father's past from Obi-Wan's spirit, and also learns that Leia is his sister. On a mission to the forest moon of Endor , he surrenders to Imperial troops and is brought to Vader. Aboard the Death Star, Luke resists the Emperor's appeals to his anger and fear for his friends, but snaps when Vader Telepathically probes his mind, learns of Leia's identity as his second child, and threatens to turn her instead. Enraged, Luke nearly kills Vader, severing his father's right hand. He controls his anger at the last minute, however, as he looks at Vader's cybernetic hand and then at his own; he realizes that he is perilously close to suffering his father's fate. As the Emperor approaches, encouraging Luke to kill Vader and take his place, Luke throws down his lightsaber, refusing to perform the killing blow. Angered, the Emperor attacks Luke with Force lightning. Luke writhes in agony under the Emperor's torture, begging his father for help. Unable to bear the sight of his son in pain, Vader spritually dies and the good self that was Anakin Skywalker resurfaces. Anakin turns on his master and throws him into a deep shaft, where he explodes in a fury of dark energies. However, Anakin is mortally wounded in the process by the Emperor's lightning. Moments from death, he begs his son to take off his breath-mask. Luke complies and for the first time, father and son truly see each other. Unmasked, Anakin (played by Sebastian Shaw ) is a sad, withered man with ghost-pale skin, his sunken eyes looking up on his son and back at a lifetime of regret. In his dying breaths, Anakin Skywalker is redeemed, finally admitting to Luke that the good within him was not destroyed after all. Luke escapes with his father's body as the Death Star explodes, destroyed by the Rebel Alliance. That night, Luke burns his father's Sith armor in the manner of a Jedi's funeral. During the victory celebration on the forest moon of Endor, Luke sees the redeemed spirit of Anakin Skywalker (Sebastian Shaw in the original version of ''Return of the Jedi'', Hayden Christensen in the 2004 DVD), standing once again with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. NOTES AND REFERENCES SOURCES
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