Although Anakin Skywalker is one of the Star Wars franchise’s most important characters, not every part of his story makes sense. First introduced as the villain Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker’s story — including his eventual fall from grace to become a powerful Sith Lord — was more robustly explored in the prequel trilogy, which followed Anakin from his childhood as a slave on Tatooine all the way to his transformation into the franchise’s most iconic villain. Once one of the most powerful Jedi in Star Wars canon, Anakin Skywalker’s story was perhaps the most important individual arc in the franchise’s entire Skywalker Saga.
Anakin might be a central character in the Star Wars franchise, but that isn’t to say that everything about him truly adds up. Throughout his cinematic story, Anakin Skywalker was played by multiple actors, each adding something slightly different to the character. Between this and a number of small inconsistencies and plot holes, there are a few elements of Anakin’s story that don’t quite make sense.
5) He Didn’t Mention Padme to Luke Before Dying
Anakin and Padme’s love story was an essential part of the Skywalker Saga, not least because it led to the birth of Luke and Leia. When Anakin finally comes face-to-face with his son shortly before death, the two share a brief moment before Anakin’s story comes to an end. The story of the prequel trilogy makes this moment seem a little odd, though.
Considering Padme was clearly the love of Anakin’s life, and his entire reason for siding with Palpatine, it seems bizarre that he didn’t mention her to Luke. This is especially odd as Padme’s death was undoubtedly one of Anakin’s greatest regrets, and finally properly meeting his son would surely have made the older Skywalker think of his late wife. While there were obviously real-world reasons for the inconsistency, the Return of the Jedi scene now seems a little strange in retrospect.
4) Anakin Never Asked About The Fate Of His Child
While Luke and Leia’s story was defined by Padme’s death, the trajectory of Anakin’s life was altered massively by his wife’s passing. The scene in which Obi-Wan defeats his former Padawan sees Anakin left dismembered and on the verge of death, only for him to be rebuilt as Darth Vader by Palpatine. What happens next for Anakin doesn’t make a lot of sense, though.
When Anakin wakes, he asks about Padme and learns of her death. What he doesn’t do, however, is ask about the fate of his child. In fairness, it was clear that Padme was made to look pregnant for her funeral in hopes that Anakin would assume the child died with her, but that still doesn’t quite work. The fact that Anakin seemingly didn’t even think to ask about whether his child survived is pretty bizarre, and now seems destined to go unexplained.
3) He Should Have Found Luke Much Earlier
Although Luke Skywalker is the hero of the original Star Wars trilogy, Anakin is arguably more important to its story. One part of Anakin’s life that makes no sense at all concerns the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, when Luke was growing up on Tatooine. In short, Anakin should have been aware of Luke’s existence long before the events of the original trilogy.
Luke was being raised with the name Skywalker, with Anakin’s only living relatives, on his former home planet. It seems beyond unbelievable that nobody alerted Vader to the fact that another Skywalker was being raised by his step-brother in his late mother’s former home. Even though Luke was supposed to be hidden from Vader, it’s absolutely astounding that Anakin didn’t learn of his son years earlier.
2) Killing Tusken Raiders Didn’t Have Much Effect On Anakin
Anakin Skywalker is perhaps the most famous Jedi to turn to the Dark Side, and that journey seemed to begin in earnest in the scene where he takes revenge for his mother’s death. While attempting to rescue his mother, Anakin avenged her death by killing an entire settlement of Tusken Raiders, including — in his own words — the women and the children, too. What makes no sense isn’t Anakin’s emotional reaction to his mother’s death, but how little it seemed to actually affect him.
Anakin’s story continued after his slaughter of Tusken Raiders in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and then in Revenge of the Sith. Throughout the animated show and at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is largely lacking the darkness he previously displayed in Attack of the Clones, which seems odd considering it was clearly intended to be the first dark deed that set him on the path to becoming Darth Vader.
1) Anakin Never Tried To Free His Mother
Anakin Skywalker’s mother, Shmi, didn’t feature heavily in the prequel trilogy, but she was a huge part of Anakin’s story. When Qui-Gon rescues Anakin and takes him on as a Jedi Padawan, he is unable to free Shmi, who remains on Tatooine in slavery. Anakin later returns approximately a decade later to check in on his mother. However, in many ways, their story makes no sense at all.
Considering Qui-Gon and, presumably, Yoda knew about Shmi being in slavery and had their concerns about Anakin’s inability to check his emotional attachments, the most obvious thing would have been to simply go back and free Shmi to allow Anakin to move on without worrying about her fate. As this didn’t happen, Anakin must have spent years worrying about Shmi’s life of slavery, although he seemingly did not attempt to return or free her for a full decade, by which point it was too late. It’s a strange and largely unexplained aspect of Anakin’s story, and it simply doesn’t add up considering what we know of the character.
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