With Attack of the Clones (AOTC), George Lucas brings the character of Anakin Skywalker into sharper focus, demonstrating him to be an impetuous young man struggling under the weight of expectation, marked by personal loss, and developing his own growing frustrations with the Jedi Order. In keeping with Obi-Wan's promise to Qui-Gon to train the boy we met in The Phantom Menace (TPM), Anakin is now a Padawan, a Jedi-in-training. But it's pretty clear from the outset that Anakin is anything but an ideal apprentice, and the story of AOTC lays the groundwork for his eventual fall not by depicting a through-and-through villain, but by presenting a young man whose vulnerabilities are exploited by the Sith.
There are three key relationships in the film that give shape to Anakin's character:
- His apprenticeship to Obi-Wan Kenobi, and how their relationship reflects both camaraderie and growing tension.
- His romance with Padmé Amidala, which introduces the struggle between love and control that defines his character arc.
- The loss of his mother, Shmi Skywalker, the moment that cements his inability to let go of personal attachments and most clearly sets him on the path to becoming Darth Vader.
All of these elements are essential to understanding Anakin's character development in AOTC and the way that Lucas constructs his gradual descent into darkness.
Obi-Wan and Anakin
Anakin's first appearance in AOTC goes a long way in establishing his dynamic relationship with Obi-Wan. It's worth pointing out that there's a striking contrast between Kenobi and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn. Where Qui-Gon was patient and exhibited a willingness to challenge the Jedi Council, Obi-Wan is more cautious and willing to embrace the institution's philosophy. His exasperation with Anakin's defiance shows that, while he cares about his apprentice, he does not share Qui-Gon's willingness to question Jedi dogma. For Anakin, this is stifling. He sees Obi-Wan as less of an understanding mentor and more as someone holding him back.
The way Lucas structures their relationship reflects a key difference in their respective "worldviews." Obi-Wan trusts the Jedi's wisdom, believing that the best path for Anakin is strict discipline and adherence to the Code. Anakin, on the other hand, sees his emotions, his attachments, and his personal convictions as sources of strength. This ideological gap is one that Palpatine will later exploit.
Padmé and Anakin
While Obi-Wan represents the authority that Anakin resents, Padmé embodies the love and acceptance he craves. When they reunite, the shift in tone is immediate. Anakin, who often comes across as petulant or frustrated with Obi-Wan, becomes softer and more vulnerable. His feelings for Padmé, nursed since childhood, represent the one thing the Jedi have denied him: emotional attachment.
Anakin's relationship with Padmé in this film is marked by idealism and contradiction. On the one hand, Anakin presents himself as a hopeless romantic, deeply devoted to Padmé in a way that seems innocent. But there is also something darker simmering just beneath the surface: an emerging possessiveness, a fear of losing her that clouds his judgment. This is most evident in their conversation on Naboo, when Padmé challenges Anakin's political beliefs:
Padmé: You don't really like politicians, do you?
Anakin: I like two or three, but I'm not really sure about one of them. I don't think the system works.
Padmé: How would you have it work?
Anakin: We need a system where the politicians sit down and discuss the problem, agree what's in the best interest of all the people, and then do it.
Padmé: That's exactly what we do. The trouble is that people don't always agree. In fact, they hardly ever do.
Anakin: Then they should be made to.
Padmé: By whom? Who's going to make them?
Anakin: I don't know. Someone.
Padmé: You?
Anakin: Of course not me.
Padmé: But someone.
Anakin: Someone wise.
Padmé: That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me.
Anakin: Well, if it works...
This exchange is crucial because it subtly foreshadows Anakin's future. While spoken playfully, there is a kind of sincerity in his words that reveals a profound character flaw: he equates order with control. In his mind, wisdom should outweigh process. Democracy is too inefficient, too unstable. And this belief stems from his desire to impose structure on the chaos of the galaxy, a perspective that is deeply intertwined with his need to control those he loves. This scene also demonstrates Padmé's grounding influence. She challenges Anakin's views, yet he respects her in a way he does not respect Obi-Wan or the Jedi Council.
The Death of Shmi
The defining moment of Anakin's arc in AOTC is the death of his mother, Shmi Skywalker. When Anakin is plagued by visions of her suffering, he immediately acts, traveling to Tatooine to find her. This moment is key because it reinforces the difference between Anakin and the Jedi. Whereas the Jedi teach detachment, Anakin is driven by attachment.
When he finds Shmi in a Tusken Raider camp, barely alive, the scene is deeply emotional. She dies almost immediately, stating that she is now "complete." This, of course, suggests that what had kept her clinging to life despite the hardships she endured was the chance of seeing her son again (an idea that will later be echoed in the Sequel Trilogy in the context of Leia's relationship to her son, Ben).
It is a devastating moment, and Lucas frames Anakin's response with deliberate intensity. His sorrow instantly gives way to rage, and he slaughters the entire Tusken village in an act of pure vengeance. Later, when he confesses his actions to Padmé, his words are appropriately chilling:
Anakin: I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead. Every single one of them. And not just the men... but the women and the children too.
This is the moment Anakin Skywalker crosses the line. While the Jedi might argue that attachment itself is dangerous, it is important to note that it is not Anakin's love for his mother that leads him here so much as it is his inability to let go. He is haunted by his powerlessness, and in his mind, the only way to prevent further loss is to exert control. His inability to save Shmi cements his greatest fear: that he will lose those he loves if he does not act.
Lucas himself comments on this idea in a conversation with Bill Moyers for Time back in 1999:
"[The Phantom Menace] is ultimately about the dark side and the light side, and those things are designed around compassion and greed. The issue of greed, of getting things and owning things and having things and not being able to let go of things, is the opposite of compassion—of not thinking of yourself all the time. These are the two sides—the good force and the bad force. They're the simplest parts of a complex cosmic construction."
Compare this to Lucas's words in a 2002 interview with Time to promote Attack of the Clones:
"[Anakin Skywalker] turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things. He can't let go of his mother; he can't let go of his girlfriend. He can't let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you're greedy, you are on the path to the dark side, because you fear you're going to lose things, that you're not going to have the power you need."
The thematic underpinnings here are consistent. Both the on-screen sequences and Lucas's comments point to the narrative intent.
The Making of Darth Vader
Throughout AOTC, Anakin's story is one of internal conflict as much as it is external conflict. He desires love, yet his fear of loss leads him to seek control. He is frustrated by the Jedi, yet he does not fully reject them. He is caught between youthful idealism and anger, compassion and possessiveness. He is the definition of a maladjusted young adult.
What makes his arc so compelling is that these emotions are deeply human and relatable. Lucas presents Anakin not as a villain-in-waiting, but as a tragic figure, a man whose greatest flaw is his inability to accept loss. See Lucas's comments to Rolling Stone in a 2005 article on Episode III: Revenge of the Sith:
"Well, a lot of people got very upset, saying he should've been this little demon kid. But the story is not about a guy who was born a monster—it's about a good boy who was loving and had exceptional powers, but how that eventually corrupted him and how he confused possessive love and compassionate love. That happens in Episode II: Regardless of how his mother died, Jedis are not supposed to take vengeance. And that's why they say he was too old to be a Jedi, because he made his emotional connections. His undoing is that he loveth too much."
As Lucas points out here, Anakin's corruption begins in earnest in the second film of the saga. And while there is certainly an element of gradation to Anakin's fall to the dark side, the loss of his mother and his choice to take revenge against the Tuskens—the event that Lucas goes back to in his own comments—stands as the primary transitory moment in the narrative.
In our next post, we will turn our attention to the climactic moments of Attack of the Clones, as the galaxy erupts into war, the Jedi become generals, and the Sith tighten their grip on the unsuspecting Republic. As always, may the Force be with you!
