Star Wars: How Anakin Skywalker Evolves into Darth Vader

I don't want things to change but you can't stop the change Star Wars is a story about the moral battle the blazes inside each of us and the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker demonstrates that the line between good and evil runs through every man's heart we all have the potential to be good we all have the potential to be evil but as each of life's many tests are thrown at you with every decision that's made one force starts to take over and gradually claims you for someone as powerful as Anakin a heavy focus is put on the notion of Destiny as when someone is born so naturally gifted others will inevitably want to use their ability for their own means whether it's in service of good or bad piling pressure and responsibility on the individual to ensure they use their powers for what they believe is right but that's precisely the problem no one ever truly believes they're in the wrong their actions feel Justified whether it be to protect those they love or to serve the greater good and it's only when they're pushed to their limit that their true priorities shine through and the means become secondary To The Ends they desire we all like to believe we know how we'd react in certain high stress situations but the body's natural response to danger is fight flight or freeze and until you're feeling the pressure of that reality the truth is none of us know who we truly are or what we do the decision will just be made in an instant we all have a gut instinct an intuition we trust that serves our interests and aligns with our moral code but where did that intuition come from was it hardwired from the very beginning or heavily influenced by our Social Circles and if we cannot control our gut instinct then are we really choosing or has the choice already been made and now we're merely tasked with rationalizing it to ourselves and others we like to think we're good but maybe we just haven't yet found a good enough reason to become bad making us mere products of our circumstance so let's examine how Anakin Skywalker fell into the dark side and why in his mind he was justified in doing so when we first meet Anakin he's a kind young boy who never had a father figure in his life his mother had raised him to believe that the biggest problem in this universe is that nobody helps each other so Anakin is generous he invites people into his home and offers to help them with no expectation of reward when he reveals that he and his mother were so the slaves he's emphatic that he'd be titled by his real name and not thought of as a slave you're a slave I'm a person and my name is Anakin but as much as he distinguishes himself he is scarred from having spent years of his life being forced to serve others interests initially he just seems to want to take risks that maximize his personal freedom and explore his potential but this moment plants the seed that a boy like Anakin will never want to feel controlled or constrained as an adult we often feel trapped by our physical limitations but we're just as restrained by The Narrative that plays in our own head and that narrative is fostered in our environment everyone in Anakin's life seems to have a plan for him his mother talks about him as if his face is sealed and Qui-Gon believes he's the chosen one that the prophecy depicted so from an early age he's being sold on the concept of destiny that whatever is going to happen will happen and nothing can stop it this mindset is constructive in building confidence but it's also destructive as it absolves you of your own responsibility to do the right thing that even a free will is an illusion it's an illusion worth preserving to avoid outright nihilism but not everyone is sold on Anakin being a Force for good Yoda detects fear in him and while fear may seem natural it's also dangerous fear leads to anger anger leads to hate hate leads to suffering this is Anakin's first encounter with the Jedi Council and they immediately attempt to Shackle his potential they say fear leads to the dark side but by rejecting him they're creating their own self-fulfilling prophecy as it's actually Yoda's fear of Anakin's ability that starts the conflict between he and the council at this point Anakin just has potential the potential to be good and the potential to be bad like anyone Qui-Gon sides with Free Will and believes in nurturing his ability to make him good whereas the cancel are being deterministic that he cannot Escape his fate of becoming bad either way they're validating the idea that he's destined to be powerful and subconsciously naturalizing the idea of the dark side to him as before he only believed he was destined for good but now the mental door is open to other possibilities so in stage one Anakin is a slave that believes in the importance of working together he's selfless and helps others with no expectation of reward he takes risks is optimistic about the future and Views Qui-Gon Jin as his father figure but when Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul his dying wish is that Obi-Wan teach Anakin the ways of the force when we meet him again years later it's clear that he's grown into an overconfident young man that believes he's destined for greatness this makes him even more happy to take risks and is why he feels so limited by following the Jedi council's rules it's through reconnecting with Padme that Anakin's human flaws begin to shine through he's loved her since the first moment he though dies on her and when he sees that she's not been as burdened by feelings as he has we see flashes of anger and frustration when something doesn't align with his desires he immaturely cannot accept it it feels like an injustice to him just like when the Jedi cancel rejected him after he was told it was his fate Padme rejects him after he believed they were destined to be together any degree of uncertainty causes him pain the natural results of being raised to believe your fate is sealed but the Jedi way stops making as much sense to him as it's not in sync with his desires so in stage 2 Anakin is a Jedi Apprentice that has doubts about working with others he's no longer selfless as he feels others distrust him he still takes risks but is uncertain about the future as he's being trained as a Jedi while receiving mixed messages about whether he belongs there and his father figure is Obi-Wan Kenobi Obi-Wan tries to teach Anakin the ways of the force to be more accepting that Jedi life is about compassionate Detachment to Simply let life unfold the way it's meant to and not try to control it this means undermining Anakin's instincts meanwhile Chancellor Palpatine feeds his ego and tells him to trust and follow his own instincts so from Anakin's perspective the Jedi are trying to control him even though they pretend they're all about Free Will whereas Palpatine is encouraging him to be truly free by just following his own desires in essence the Jedi look out for the collective whereas Palpatine encourages Anakin to look out for the individual so despite romantic love being forbidden for a Jedi the more time Anakin spends with Padme the more he prioritizes what he believes is right for him and betrays the Jedi code after she cases him she later describes it as a mistake as she doesn't want to ruin his future again feeding into this idea of Anakin's Destiny the thought of not being with you I can't breathe this potential rejection makes Anakin more manipulative unable to accept the outcome of others free will his fear of losing her is so intense that he offers to do anything she wants as her love torments his soul this creates a choice that will reveal his true priorities be a Jedi or be with Padme and when faced with a tough binary decision that guarantees he loses something Anakin's first instinct is to cheat and suggests they keep it a secret this is a natural instinct for anyone to have to preserve what they feel is right for them and try not to lose out on other opportunities he has a choice but he did not choose to feel the way he feels and that feeling is too overwhelming so his instincts are about self-interest not honor or honesty but then Obi-Wan downplays Anakin's frequent nightmares about his mother being in danger he intuitively feels these are premonitions whereas Obi-Wan reassures him they're just dreams but when he has another nightmare and Obi-Wan isn't there to stop him he insists on going to see his mother I'm sorry I don't have a choice his feelings are so strong that he never tries to control himself as if his Destiny is always inviting him away from The Graces of restraint if going to see his mother approved Obi-Wan rice that she was safe and these were just dreams then it would have restored his faith in the Jedi way but instead he finds her as a prisoner and she dies in his arms the fear he had for his mother's safety when he first left was now validated and if Obi-Wan had let him follow his instincts earlier he could have saved her he immediately feeds his anger taking his revenge on the tuscans murdering not just the man but the women and children when he just listens to his emotions his mother's life is worth dozens of innocent lives showing how powerful and out of control his feelings can become that he loses all sense of proportionality Padme reassures him that there was nothing he could do that he's not all-powerful and his response sums up his entire psychology you're not all-powerful well I should be [Music] someday I will be his instinct is to control the world so he can protect the people he cares about at any cost that it's unjust for bad things to happen to good people The World Isn't acting in alignment this opens the mental door that perhaps you need to do bad to preserve the good as he can't handle the unpredictable chaos of life being out of control feels like being under control to a boy who was raised as a slave he no longer sees the value of democracy he sees it as slow and tedious just like the Jedi Council always undermining his powers and trying to look out for everyone else but him he feels he could have done more good if he had just been allowed to follow his instincts so he begins to prefer authoritarian rule as in his mind someone needs to take action and get things done from an early age the idea of there being slaves and Masters was normalized to him and now that he has power he wants to ensure that he's always the master and not the slave he's tasted the dark side and seen its benefits but he still listens to Padme and saves Obi-Wan even though it cost him his arm so in stage 3 no Anakin graduates to a Jedi Knight he believes he works better alone than with others he's self-interested as someone has to be looking out for his interests to protect his loved ones he still takes risks and his future is unclear as he's not living in line with the Jedi way he no longer has any man he looks up to as a father figure foreign he gets used to living a double life filled with secrecy marrying Padme and never telling Obi-Wan about his mother or his vengeful crimes but everything changes once Padme informs him that she's pregnant which means soon their private relationship will be exposed this further closes the likelihood of Anakin ever becoming a Jedi master if his Destiny is to have absolute power then he'll need to find some other Avenue of attaining it and just like the visions of his mother dying he now starts to Envision Padme dying during childbirth he previously felt he couldn't breathe without Padme in his life so her dying would be unbearable for him he seen tragedy fall all around him and doesn't want the love of his life to be another calamity Yoda implores Anakin to let go of everything he fears to lose essentially he cannot have human emotions and attachments and possess the power of the force they're too deadly a combination but how can he relinquish control if it means just sitting back and letting his loved ones perish he has no practical faith in the Jedi way as it only ever held him back the combined weakness of his lust for power his need to be in control and his fear of losing Padme leaves him wide open to being manipulated by Palpatine who is only ever encouraged Anakin to trust his instincts Palpatine creates moral ambiguity between both sides validating that the dark side can be used for good just like the light can be used for evil he helps Anna can see that the Jedi Council seek the power to control just the same as the dark side only they pretend they don't this creates more conflict within Anakin and encourages him not to see the difference between right and wrong for the collective but only for himself so once Palpatine tempts him with the dark side's power to prevent Padme from dying the seeds are planted now Anakin has a choice he can join Palpatine or report him despite all of his incentives there is still good in Anakin he resists Temptation and chooses to report Palpatine as a Sith but then he sees what he perceives to be the Jedi's hypocrisy in action if Democratic order is to be preserved Palpatine should face trial but Mace Windu is willing to break the rules to kill Palpatine as he's too powerful Windu is acting rationally and willing to break the rules to benefit the collective but whenever breaking the rules would have benefited just Anakin it's forbidden so he believes they're just as self-interested as he is making excuses for their decisions just like he does so why should he be the only one following the rules what about his interests Anakin wants to save Padme more than anything and if Windu sees killing Palpatine as the only way forward then he can't let that happen he uses his powers to stop Windu as by Saving Palpatine he believes he's saving Padme the moment this act is complete Palpatine reassures Anakin that this was him fulfilling his destiny but was this meant to be his destiny he tried to earn the council's approval but they never trusted him he tried to follow Obi-Wan's instructions but they just led him to more alas now the door is permanently shut on Anakin's chances of ever becoming a Jedi master this means all he has left is Padme and in order to protect her his only chance is by joining the dark side as predicted his fear leads to anger his anger leads to hate and his hate leads to suffering as Anakin helps Palpatine's men Slaughter all the remaining Jedi in the temple including the children he went from believing that the biggest problem in this universe is that nobody helps each other to killing innocent young children in the hopes that Palpatine can help him save just one person but Padme is not like him once she's told what Anakin has done she wants him to leave all of this behind and just run away and be with her but the more Anakin feeds his Dark Side the larger his appetite grows he claims Obi-Wan is lying about him willing to deceive and trick the one person he loves his megalomaniacal Tendencies shine through believing his actions have brought peace to The Republic that he can overthrow the chancellor and they could rule the galaxy together this is Anakin enter stage 4 where he becomes Darth Vader he now fully believes in authoritarianism that control is an underestimated form of love he's purely self-interested he takes anything he wants by any means necessary his future is with the dark side and his father figure is Chancellor Palpatine Padme still believes in good she believes in democracy and doesn't want any part in the dark path he's following Anakin did all of this to preserve his relationship with his wife but he's now out of control again he has no real choice but to lose her either she dies from childbirth or she stops loving him and leaves only adding fuel to the fire of hate that burns inside him the loss of his mother the bitterness of never being trusted or respected now only seeing the bad in every one and everything he thinks Obi-Wan is trying to steal Padme away from him and tries to kill him the closest thing he's ever had to a father the person who tried to see the best in him and lead him towards the light is now his sworn enemy as he reflects everything Anakin squandered everything he can never become his arrogance is what leads to his ultimate demise viewing himself as so much more powerful that even though Obi-Wan has The High Ground he doesn't believe anything can stop him he takes a leap of faith in his own abilities and his punishment has all his limbs cut off before catching on fire his hair his skin his identity is Anakin Skywalker the young boy with all the potential in the world melting into lava Palpatine finds his body and saves what remains of his life but for a boy that was raised as a slave that wanted ultimate freedom for himself his new mechanical body locks around his limbs like shackles as if he's a prisoner inside physically scarred with the viciousness of his crimes [Music] and although he told Padme he couldn't breathe without her he now has a machine to do his breathing for him he's asked everything he valued for absolute control and even then he's still a slave to Palpatine he's just too blinded by hate to see it but despite what everyone in his life told him was this Anakin's face was he always born to serve the dark side if Qui-Gon had never passed away would he have been raised by a father figure that truly believed in him if the council had embraced his abilities would he have had more faith in democracy if the Jedi allowed romantic relationships would he not have been able to seek their help instead of harboring a secret and if Obi-Wan had helped him to save his mother after his first nightmare would he never have found any other reason to seek vengeance if following the righteous path always led to the best outcomes the choice to be good would be simple but the complexity of morality is that sometimes the righteous path leads to worse outcomes and personal sacrifice people don't always get what they deserve or deserve what they get this is where each person's individual morality comes into play what do you prioritize more the righteous methods or the righteous results there's darkness in all of us but there's also light and given we're experts at rationalizing our own behavior sometimes it's hard to distinguish the difference but whenever we have a tough decision to make if we pay attention we can feel an internal Force intuitively guiding us in a direction and it's hard to decipher whether that force is self-interest our moral compass or fate inviting us down a path for Anakin Skywalker he understandably wanted the righteous results of saving his loved ones but the methods he used created worse outcomes for so many others he couldn't bear the feeling of being out of control he didn't just want to be a slave to the universe's whim and yet constantly being told he was born to fulfill his Destiny technically makes him out of control no matter what he chooses but if his lived experience only shows him the problems with the light side and the benefits of the dark then what is he expected to choose which makes the real question about Anakin Skywalker did he choose the dark side or did the dark side choose him [Music] if you enjoy content like this and want to see more of it please do consider supporting me on patreon as it really does make a difference to how much content I can pump out or if you can't afford that then simply like the video subscribe and leave a comment down below to help the algorithm do its thing

Channel: Just an Observation

Views: 535,996

Keywords: star wars anakin skywalker darth vader, star wars darth vader, star wars evolution, darth vader evolution, how anakin skywalker evolves, how darth vader evolves, how anakin turns to the dark side, how darth vader turns evil, analyzing anakin skywalker, darth vader analysis, is darth vader evil, just an observation, how anakin turns evil, star wars, anakin skywalker, darth vader, lord vader, star wars determinism, star wars destiny, fate, free will, Watching a man change

Id: TGb8uOiFgbA

Length: 21min 15sec (1275 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 23 2022