Darth Vader

Anakin Skywalker was a Force-sensitive human male who served as a Jedi Knight of the Galactic Republic and was widely held to be the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy, destined to bring balance to the Force. Known as a hero of the Clone Wars, he fell to the dark side at the end of the Republic Era and became Darth Vader, the Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious. As Vader he enforced the rule of the Galactic Empire for a generation before his redemption and death at the Battle of Endor. He was the father of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, and the grandfather of Kylo Ren.

Childhood and discovery#

Anakin Skywalker was born in 41 BBY on the desert world of Tatooine in the Outer Rim Territories, the son of the slave Shmi Skywalker, who conceived him without a father. His blood carried an exceptionally high concentration of midi-chlorians, surpassing that of any other being then known, and the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who discovered him during the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, theorized that the boy had been conceived by the midi-chlorians themselves. As a child slave to the junk dealer Watto in Mos Espa, Anakin built droids and his own podracer, salvaging parts and showing an instinctive gift for machines.

After the Battle of Naboo, the Jedi High Council admitted Anakin into the Order as the Padawan of Obi-Wan Kenobi, though many on the Council felt he was too old and too prone to emotion to safely adhere to the Jedi Code. Throughout his first year as a Padawan he clung to his master, fearful of loss after giving up his life on Tatooine and the death of Qui-Gon Jinn.

Jedi Knight and the Clone Wars#

Anakin remained a Padawan into the early days of the Clone Wars, a conflict set in motion by the Separatist leader Count Dooku. Though the Jedi forbade attachment, he secretly married Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo. Serving as a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic, he commanded the clone troopers of the elite 501st Legion against the Confederacy of Independent Systems and earned a reputation as a fearless commander across countless campaigns. After receiving his knighthood, he took on his own apprentice, Ahsoka Tano.

By 19 BBY, when Tano left the Jedi Order, Skywalker had begun to struggle with feelings of failure toward his apprentice and the Order itself. During the Battle of Coruscant, he defeated Dooku aboard General Grievous's flagship and, at the urging of Chancellor Palpatine, executed the disarmed Count.

Fall to the dark side#

Following Dooku's death, Skywalker's faith in the Jedi was further shaken when he was placed on the Jedi Council without being granted the rank of Master. He learned that Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine was in truth Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord who had orchestrated the war. Tormented by visions of Amidala dying in childbirth and convinced that Sidious alone held the power to cheat death, Skywalker turned against the Jedi Order. Taking the name Darth Vader, he led his legion against the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where its inhabitants, including younglings, were killed as part of Order 66 and the Great Jedi Purge. He was then sent to Mustafar to exterminate the Separatist Council on behalf of his new Sith Master, who declared himself Galactic Emperor.

On Mustafar, Vader was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi and suffered catastrophic injuries, losing his limbs and being burned near to death. Sidious recovered him and had him rebuilt as an armored cyborg dependent on a life-support system. Amidala died shortly after giving birth to twins, Luke and Leia, who were hidden from their father and the Emperor as the Empire rose to power.

The Emperor's enforcer#

As the Emperor's apprentice and his Fist, Vader enforced the New Order throughout most of the Imperial Era. Elevated to supreme commander of the Imperial fleet, he was regarded as the de facto commander of the Imperial Military, hunting the surviving Jedi and crushing dissent across the galaxy. He pursued his own Jedi hunts even against his master's instruction, and Sidious tested and shaped him, secretly issuing a contingency order to the stormtroopers that would turn their weapons on Vader should the Emperor command it.

Redemption and death#

In the aftermath of his duel with Kenobi aboard the first Death Star and the Battle of Yavin, Vader discovered that Luke Skywalker was his son and became determined to turn him to the dark side. Luke, who sought to become a Jedi, believed his father could yet return to the light. At the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, Vader defeated Luke in combat, but the young Jedi refused to strike his father down in anger. Enraged, the Emperor tortured Luke with Force lightning. The sight of his son's suffering awakened the part of him that was still Anakin Skywalker, and he turned on Sidious, killing him at the cost of his own life. Having destroyed the Sith, Skywalker made peace with his son and became one with the Force, fulfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One.

The Skywalker bloodline endured in his grandson, Ben Solo, who turned to the dark side as Kylo Ren during the rise of the First Order and who, like his grandfather, found redemption before his death.