Profile

Name: Anakin "Annie" Skywalker
Played by: Jake Lloyd
Species: Human
Status: Shmi Skywalker's son
Age: 9 years old
Height: Unknown
Sex: Male
Homeworld: Tatooine
Political Affiliation: Slave
Weapon of Choice: lightsaber
Vehicle of Choice: Racing Pod
Quotes: "I had a dream I was a Jedi."
"I'm a pilot, you know, and someday I'm gonna fly away from this place."
"Wizards!"
"I'm a person and my name is Anakin."
"I know we're in trouble, just hang on!"
Anakin Skywalker
Anakin Skywalker
?1997 LucasFilm Ltd.

The Facts

The younger life of the man who becomes Darth Vader is unknown to us for the most part. Jake Lloyd, the young actor playing Anakin as a 9 year old, has said on a morning television program that his character is a good person who cares more for others than for himself. Anakin is around 19 in the second film and 22 in the third prequel. James Earl Jones has publicly said that his services will be called upon again for the voice of Darth Vader, which he reports will be needed towards the end of Episode III.

Here's the casting call for the young Anakin:

ANAKIN SKYWALKER (DARTH VADER): Caucasian, 8-9. Anakin is a handsome young boy with extraordinary charm. He has a vulnerability and earnestness that makes him totally disarming. His amazing aptitude for things mechanical together with his quick wit and physical fitness make him a natural pilot at an early age, maturing into a fighter pilot of exceptional talent. Anakin's resourceful imagination and inventive mind already set him apart from others. OBI WAN KENOBI is later to recognize his innate gifts, becoming his friend and mentor teaching him the attributes of a Jedi Knight. Anakin is a role model of the highest order, someone every boy would like to be...LEAD.

The following description of Anakin comes from the Official Star Wars Site:

A disheveled nine-year-old with blue eyes, Anakin Skywalker is an earnest and hardworking boy who lives in a desert city on Tatooine. A natural mechanic, he has a keen intuition with equipment and machinery. He can sense what makes an engine work. Living in a very humble home, Anakin dreams of becoming a starpilot and longs for a world of adventure. Hopeful and optimistic, this young boy little suspects the destiny and fearful challenges that await him.

The following description comes from the Darth Vader ("Classic") Figure File Card (courtesy of Sir Steve's Guide):

Darth Vader was known and feared throughout the galaxy as a incredibly ruthless and evil, one who used the awesome powers of the dark side of the Force to carry out Emperor Palpatine's horrific plans. But deep inside Lord Vader lay vestiges of the person he once was: young Anakin Skywalker, discovered on the planet Tatooine by a Jedi Knight who recognized the boy's special Force talents. Anakin showed much promise and grew up to be a great Jedi. Finally the Dark Side beckoned to him - and Anakin became Darth Vader.

Anakin and his mother live on Tatooine in less than perfect conditions. The following is a picture of Anakin's bedroom on Tatooine, as shown on the official Episode I site (notice a certain astromech droid in the corner):

This is the kitchen of the house that Anakin grows up in:

Though Anakin and his mother live in servitude, Anakin is able to enjoy one thing: Pod Racing. Thanks to his size and great skill, he's one of the few humans able to compete in the competition. His talent initially brings him to the attention of Qui-Gon Jinn. Anakin eventually leaves his mother and Tatooine to travel with the Jedi.

French Premiere Magazine wrote an article in early 1997 with some info from the Episode 1 set. The scenes they discussed were later seen in the trailer. The article that accompanied the famous French Premiere pictures told us that Liam Neeson's Jedi (now known as Qui-Gon Jinn) was telling Anakin to run back to their ship as he dueled a dark Jedi. The scene seems straight out of the first draft that George Lucas wrote for Star Wars. In that draft Anakin's father yelled for him to get back to their ship, while he dueled a Sith Knight who just murdered Anakin's younger brother. Fortunately, there's no gruesome ending for Anakin's siblings in this film.

Towards the end of Episode 1, Anakin will be involved in a battle on Naboo. This can be seen in the Episode 1 trailer and was reported to us by Bothan Spy in late 1997. In the battle, he will fly one of the yellow N-1 fighters. For more details on this battle, see our storyline spoilers section.

In these excerpts from the Return of the Jedi novelization Obi-Wan Kenobi explains a bit about what we'll see of Anakin in Episodes 2 and 3:

"When I first encountered your father," Ben continued, "he was already a great pilot. But what amazed me was how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train Anakin in the ways of the Jedi. My mistake was thinking I could be as good a teacher as Yoda. I was not. Such was my foolish pride. The Emperor sensed Anakin's power, and he lured him to the dark side." He paused sadly and looked into Luke's eyes, as if he were asking for the boy's forgiveness. "My pride had terrible consequences for the galaxy."

"I thought he could be turned back to the good side. It couldn't be done. He's more machine now than man--twisted and evil."


The Duel Between Anakin and Ben
Image by Mike Bastarache

"When I saw what had become of him, I tried to dissuade him, to draw him back from the dark side. We fought ... your father fell into a molten pit. When your father clawed his way out of that fiery pool, the change had been burned into him forever--he was Darth Vader, without a trace of Anakin Skywalker . Irredeemably dark. Scarred. Kept alive only by machinary and his own black will..."

Reborn as Darth Vader, he became an ally of Emperor Palpatine's new order. Vader carried out Palpatine's Jedi Purge, a genocide destroying and scattering the guardians of the Republic. Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, became a symbol of the fear inspired by Palpatine's Empire.

Finally, Lucasfilm registered the domain names www.darthvader.net, anakinskywalker.com, darth.net, sith.net, anakin.net, and anakinskywalker.net.

Spy Reports

11/1/98 - Anakin's nickname in the prequel is "Annie". Yup, that's correct! I'm personally visualizing a scene in the later episodes similar to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Anakin kills a bunch of guys, then turns to Ben and says, "DON'T CALL ME ANNIE!" Or how about one of the classic Lucas sunset shots, and Anakin singing, "The sun will come out....tomorrow!" :) Sorry about that. Anyway, who are we to question The Flanneled One. One of our favorite characters is called "Chewie" for cryin' out loud.

Delta Source: SPOILERS! Highlight area below to uncover them!
Anakin will be involved in scenes that take place in the backyard of a slave quarters in Mos Espa, and in scenes depicting a pod race in the Mos Espa Arena. The Slave Quarters scenes involve Padme, Kister and R2-D2, while the Pod Race scenes involve Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Jar Jar, Wald, Padme, Kister, Sebulba (a CG creature who has an "interaction with Anakin's engine), Jabba and a number of extras in the crowd and as human and alien crew members for the other "pods" in the race. Delta also mentioned the Qui-Gon Jinn-Darth Maul lightsaber duel which was shown in the French Premiere photos.

Delta also told us that Madison Lloyd, Jake's five year-old sister, would be playing a character named Ellie (believed to be a younger sister of the Queen).

Unnamed Source: In the first film, young Anakin Skywalker will do amazing things well beyond his age that blow everyone away. The source did not elaborate. But for those of you who went to Sunday school, they likened it to young Jesus in the temple courts. "Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished..." Luke 2:47-48.

The following is some spoiler information on the relationship between Watto, Shmi, and Anakin:

Watto is a fairly significant character in the prequels. His role, as you'll find out, is rather important. Remember how we knew that there were some slave quarters in Mos Espa? It turns out that Watto is a slave owner. Care to guess who two of his slaves are? Both Anakin Skywalker and Shmi Skywalker are Watto's slaves. Ponder that for a while and a lot of the puzzle pieces start coming together, eh?

Other Unofficial Sources

ANONYMOUS SOURCE - A rumor appeared stating that Anakin Was "immaculately conceived", meaning he didn't have a father and was born through the Force. One of our sources who is very familiar with the production felt the need to address this. Without further ado:

"First of all, Anakin's parentage. There is no immaculate conception; that is not what is in the film. Qui-Gon understands the curious nature of Anakin's origins, but it is not so simplistic or religiously aligned as the Revanche posting indicates. It is really NOT some religious statement, and it is understated. And about religion in general, there are no more religious overtones in this film than there were in the classic trilogy. It remains about myth, and to miss that is to really distort the voice of the film. In fact the main statements of this film are about symbiosis, and the interdependence of all life forms. That is where the midi-clorians come in-they are about the most basic kind of symbiosis. They are basically mitochondria (remember high school biology?)--necessary for higher cellular life to exist. But much more in the film is about this theme, that what affects one affects the other, and that to ignore this is at one's own peril. The Force remains the spiritual thing that it has always been. It is about realizing that in everything, in the most important things, you are not on your own, you are always interrelated with other life, and one thing always affects the other. And this works at all levels in the film, from Coruscant to the Queen's world to Anakin's blood. This, to me, is a rather better situation than the slop postings might suggest."

The following is more discussion on Anakin being "immaculately conceived". Bothan Spy was having so much fun reading everyone's name speculation that he decided to throw his in, too. Please keep in mind this is merely his speculation , not one of his spy reports. It's kind of in reference to the old "immaculate conception" talk:

Also, something of interest that I've been pondering on... the origins of the name Anakin. Look at the word - it's actually two words in a way: Ana-Kin. Now Kin means Kindred - e.g. 'Next of kin' being someone's relative. Right? So what about 'Ana'? Well, most words in the English dictionary beginning with 'Ana' mean 'lack of' or 'missing'... something. E.g. Anacoluthon - a sentence that LACKS proper grammatical sequence (rather like this one!) Or there's Anemia - lack of red blood cells. Or Anesthesia - loss of sensation. Or Analgesia - loss of ability to feel pain. Or Anastigmatic - 'free' from astigmatism. Or... well, you get the idea. So Anakin really equals "Lack of/free from relatives". Now isn't that interesting...!

Hmmmm. Maybe! While this might be a stretch, it's always interesting to bring up for discussion's sake. JhettDark also had a thought on the subject:

Well, I really think that this is a stretch and a half, but I was just looking at an early edition of the novelization of Star Wars. It might be in the later editions also, not sure. Anyway, they have a quote from "the Journal of the Whills" as a sort of prologue, and in it there is a quote:

"And in the time of greatest despair there shall come a savior and he shall be known as: THE SON OF THE SUN..." (Journal of the Whills, 3:12)

OK, here is where it starts getting stretchy. There has been talk of Anakin possibly being created through "immaculate conception." Since that quote says he shall be known as "the son of the sun," maybe it is some sort of indication on this matter. See? Told you it was out there, but what can I say, I am in the middle of a 14 meg download and have very little to occupy my mind.

John Hudgens pointed out later that it was not from the novelization. It's from the second draft of Star Wars written by Lucas on January 28, 1975. It's called "Adventures of the Starkiller - Episode 1 - The Star Wars". Want to read it? Visit our Multimedia section.

Anyway, gotta agree with Jhett. It is probably a stretch, but by this time next year we'll probably find a lot of clues in the early novelizations that we've missed before. It is interesting to consider if we'll see the "Whills" in the new movies.