Anakin Skywalker, circa Revenge of the Sith
Immaculately conceived by the Force and born into the life of a slave, Anakin Skywalker is the central character in the Star Wars saga. In Episodes I, II, and III, he is the central protaganist and, once he ceases to become Anakin Skywalker and becomes Darth Vader in Episodes IV, V, and VI, he is the central antagonist.
Anakin has been played by three different actors: Jake Lloyd (Episode I), Hayden Christensen (Episodes II & III) and Sebastian Shaw (Epsiode VI).
The Phantom Menace: Anakin begins Episode I on Tatooine as a slave owned by the Toydarian junk dealer Watto. Though he still lives with his mother, his life as a slave is still one of work and not education. He's also forced (quite willingly) to compete in Podracing, a dangerous sport that human's don't generally compete in. When Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn arrives, stranded on Tatooine, the will of the Force brings his destiny in line with Anakin's. After deftly gambling with Watto for the parts needed to fix his ship and the freedom of Anakin, Qui-Gon is able to leave Tatooine and present Anakin to the Jedi Council for training. It was during these fateful events that he met Padme Amidala, his future wife and then-Queen of Naboo.
Initially, the Jedi Council was reluctant to allow Master Qui-Gon to take Anakin as his padawan learner, but after the battle of Naboo things didn't quite go according to plan and they changed their decision. Qui-Gon was slain by the the Sith apprentice Darth Maul and it was left to Qui-Gon's padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to train Anakin as a Jedi.
Attack of the Clones: We pick up with Anakin about a decade from where we left him in The Phantom Menace. He is working to come into his own under the tutelage of Obi-Wan Kenobi but suffers from his ego, feeling that he's being held back. He's also haunted by dreams of his mother's death (whom he still feels guilty for leaving on Tatooine to train as a Jedi) and he's further distracted by his assignment to protect Padme, whom he's remained in love with all these years.
With the deft manueverings of Chancellor Palpatine (secretly the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious) Anakin is assigned to accompany Padme to her home planet without his master present. There a secret love affair blossoms, confusing the boy. But before the actions of Anakin and Padme can come to a final conclusion, Anakin is stricken with more vivid dreams of his mother and insists he must go back to Tatooine for her. There, he discovers that she's been abducted and killed by Tusken Raiders whom he promptly tracks down and murders. All of them, including the women and the children.
As he dispatched the Tusken Raiders, Anakin's master, Obi-Wan, was captured by Count Dooku and the Trade Federation and is in desperate need of rescue. Anakin and Padme race promptly to Geonosis where Obi-Wan is being held and are, in turn, promptly captured themselves by Jango Fett. Count Dooku sentences them to be executed, but they are rescued at the last minute by the arrival of Master Yoda and an entire army of Clones.
Set free, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme race to catch an escaping Count Dooku, in the hopes of preventing a war. Though they catch Dooku and confront him, they are defeated and Anakin's right arm is cut off by Dooku at the forearm.
This chapter of the saga ends with the Clone Wars in full swing and Anakin and Padme consecrating their love in a secret wedding ceremony.
Clone Wars: Coming Soon.
Revenge of the Sith: This chapter of Anakin's saga opens with the final, decisive battles of the Clone Wars. Anakin comes out a hero, having killed Count Dooku and rescued the Chancellor from General Grievous with Obi-Wan unconscious on his back.
The waning days of the war involve Anakin in a political struggle between Chancellor Palpatine (secretly a Sith Lord) and the Jedi Council in the handling of the Clone War. Unfortunately, Anakin is more preoccupied with visions of Padme's after she reveals to him that she's pregnant.
Soon, Palpatine reveals to him that he's a Sith Lord with the power to teach him to save the ones he loves. Using this ruse, facing the choice between his sense of duty and his overriding love for his wife, Palpatine (Darth Sidious) is able to convince Anakin that the only way to save her is become a Sith Lord and exterminate the Jedi.
After killing Mace Windu with the aid of Palpatine, Anakin ceases to be Anakin Skywalker and is dubbed Darth Vader. After massacring the Jedi remaining at their temple, Vader travels to the volcanic planet of Mustufar to kill the remaining Separatist leaders. He's followed by his extremely pregnant wife whom he ends up choking into unconsciousness when he believes she's led his old master, Obi-Wan, to kill him.
The two face off in an epic duel and Vader is left badly burned in lava with all of his limbs cut off.
Palpatine arrives in the nick of time to save his life and turn him into the machine we all know from Episodes IV, V, and IV.
Return of the Jedi: On his death bed, coaxed by his son, Anakin reverts from the mindless monster, Darth Vader and kills the Emperor. The shock of doing so is his undoing.
His son, Luke Skywalker, cremates him in a traditional Jedi funeral pyre on the forest moon of Endor.
(Character Profiles are works in constant flux. If there is something you feel that needs to be added, be sure to let me know.)
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