How Did Anakin Get His Scar?
In canon, nobody knows: Anakin has the scar over his right eye from The Clone Wars onward, and no film or series shows how he got it. In Legends, Asajj Ventress gave it to him in a lightsaber duel on Coruscant in a 2004 Dark Horse comic. Here is what each continuity says.
In canon, the films and series never show how Anakin got the scar over his right eye. He doesn't have it in Attack of the Clones, he does have it from the first episode of The Clone Wars, and nobody on screen ever explains it. In the older Legends continuity, Asajj Ventress cut his face during a lightsaber duel on Coruscant, in the Dark Horse comic Star Wars: Republic 71. (Attack of the Clones; Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film); Star Wars: Republic 71)
What canon shows#
The timeline is clear even if the cause isn't. At the end of Attack of the Clones, Anakin loses his right arm to Count Dooku, but his face is unmarked. (Attack of the Clones)
When The Clone Wars picks up the story in 2008, he has the scar, and it stays through every season and into Revenge of the Sith, where you can see it running from his eyebrow down past his eye. (Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film); Revenge of the Sith)
Marvel's canon comic story 501 Plus One, set early in the war at the Battle of Arantara with Captain Rex and the 501st, draws him without it. So canon places the injury some time in the opening stretch of the war and leaves it there. (501 Plus One)
Interpretation: the plain answer is that it's a battle wound, one of many from a war fought largely with lightsabers. The obvious suspects are the dark side users Anakin keeps fighting in The Clone Wars, Ventress and Dooku chief among them, but no canon story names who did it. (Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film))
The Legends answer: Asajj Ventress#
Before Disney reset the continuity in 2014, Dark Horse's Star Wars: Republic comics gave a full account. In issue 71, written by John Ostrander and drawn by Jan Duursema, Ventress catches Anakin alone in Coruscant's industrial sector as he listens to a private message from Padmé's household. She learns of their secret relationship, destroys the recording and taunts him that she'll kill Padmé. (Star Wars: Republic 71)
In the duel that follows she toys with him and slashes his face, leaving the vertical scar over his right eye and two small marks on his left cheek. Anakin fights on, wraps her in electrical cables and sends her falling into the depths of the city. She survives, as she always does. The issue is collected in Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 6: On the Fields of Battle. (Star Wars: Republic 71; Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 6: On the Fields of Battle)
That version was written before The Clone Wars came out, so it fit the Legends timeline at the time: the scar arrived late in the war, just before Revenge of the Sith. The 2008 film then showed him scarred much earlier, and when Legends was set aside in 2014, the comic's account went with it. (Star Wars: Republic 71; Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film))
Not to be confused with Vader's scars#
The eye scar has nothing to do with the burns under Vader's mask. Those come from Mustafar, where Obi-Wan cut off Anakin's legs and remaining arm and left him beside a river of lava. Anakin's face under the helmet, glimpsed when Obi-Wan cracks it open in their last duel in Obi-Wan Kenobi, is the result of that day, not the Clone Wars. (Revenge of the Sith; Obi-Wan Kenobi, "Part VI")
So if you're asking about the single line through his eyebrow in Revenge of the Sith: canon says battle wound, cause unknown, and Legends says Ventress. (Revenge of the Sith; Star Wars: Republic 71)
Read more#
Anakin Skywalker covers his whole life and Clone Wars the war he got it in. For his other injuries, see how Anakin lost his hand and how Anakin survived Mustafar.
Frequently asked questions
- Which eye is Anakin's scar over?
- His right. It runs vertically through the eyebrow and down onto the cheek. He has it in The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith, but not in Attack of the Clones.
- Did Ventress give Anakin his scar?
- In Legends, yes. The Dark Horse comic Star Wars: Republic 71 has Ventress cut his face in a duel above Coruscant. No canon film or series shows it happening, so in canon the cause is still unknown.
- Why does Anakin have a scar in The Clone Wars?
- Because the show is set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and Anakin already has the scar from its first film in 2008. The show never explains it.
- Are Vader's scars the same as Anakin's scar?
- No. The eye scar dates from the Clone Wars. Vader's burns and the damage under his mask come from Mustafar, where Obi-Wan left him beside the lava.
Sources
- VideoAttack of the Clones, Lucasfilm, 2002
- VideoRevenge of the Sith, Lucasfilm, 2005
- VideoStar Wars: The Clone Wars (film), Lucasfilm, 2008
- Comic501 Plus One, Age of Republic Special 1, Marvel Comics, 2019 (canon)
- ComicStar Wars: Republic 71, John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, Dark Horse Comics, 2004 (Legends)
- ComicStar Wars: Clone Wars Volume 6: On the Fields of Battle, John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, Dark Horse Comics, 2005 (Legends collection)
- VideoPart VI, Obi-Wan Kenobi, season 1 episode 6, 2022
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
How Did Anakin Lose His Hand?
Count Dooku cut off Anakin's right arm in their duel on Geonosis at the end of Attack of the Clones, and he wore a mechanical replacement from then on. Here is how it happened, how he paid Dooku back, and how the same wound runs through his son's story.
How Did Anakin Survive Mustafar?
Obi-Wan left Anakin Skywalker legless, armless and on fire beside a lava river on Mustafar. He lived because Palpatine sensed he was in danger and got to him in time, and because the dark side kept him going long enough to be rebuilt as Darth Vader.
What Happened to Anakin's Face?
Anakin's face was burned on Mustafar. Obi-Wan left him limbless beside a river of lava, the heat set him on fire, and he spent the rest of his life scarred, hairless and unable to breathe without Vader's mask. The single scar over his eye is older, from the Clone Wars. Here is every time the saga shows what is under the helmet.
Anakin Skywalker
Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi Knight of the Galactic Republic and the prophesied Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force. He fell to the dark side and became the Sith Lord Darth Vader, then found redemption at the cost of his life by destroying the Emperor.
Clone Wars
The Clone Wars was a galaxy-spanning conflict fought from 22 to 19 BBY between the Galactic Republic and the breakaway Confederacy of Independent Systems. Secretly engineered on both sides by the Sith, it ended with the Jedi purged and the Republic reformed into the Galactic Empire.
Coruscant
Coruscant was a city-covered world in the Core, the political heart of the galaxy for thousands of years. Capital of the Galactic Republic, the Empire, and for a time the New Republic, it was home to the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Temple, with a teeming underworld buried beneath its towers.
Mentioned in2 entries
How Did Anakin Lose His Hand?
Count Dooku cut off Anakin's right arm in their duel on Geonosis at the end of Attack of the Clones, and he wore a mechanical replacement from then on. Here is how it happened, how he paid Dooku back, and how the same wound runs through his son's story.
What Happened to Anakin's Face?
Anakin's face was burned on Mustafar. Obi-Wan left him limbless beside a river of lava, the heat set him on fire, and he spent the rest of his life scarred, hairless and unable to breathe without Vader's mask. The single scar over his eye is older, from the Clone Wars. Here is every time the saga shows what is under the helmet.
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