Newbie or old junkie – all kinds of fans of the Great American sci-fi franchise Star Wars have mandatorily come across one question: Who was Anakin Skywalker’s father?
But the difference between a new fan and an old one is that the latter knows there is never a straight answer to any question in the Star Wars universe.
Especially not ones related to legacies of heroes and villains, and we know Anakin fits both of those categories! So the official answer to that question is that Anakin Skywalker was born without a father.
He was carried by his mother Shmi Skywalker, brought up by for 9 years on a remote planet and later taken away to the Republic by Qui Gon Jinn to be trained as a Jedi.
But a recent Star Wars canon comic has alluded that Emperor Palpatine may have ‘willed’ Anakin’s creation, making him the father.
1. A Fatherless Child
Born in 41 BBY on the remote planet of Tatooine, Anakin was first discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.
The master has immediately sensed the greatest “vergence of the Force” he had ever encountered in the little slave boy. It was he who first asked the obvious question: who is this boy’s father?
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace touched on this by explaining that Anakin’s mother Shmi had simply carried him, gave birth, and raised him. She couldn’t explain how it happened but there was definitely no father.
However, Shmi Skywalker did confirm that Anakin’s link to the Force came from his father, Just not the way Qui-Gon expected.
Jinn’s fascination grew when the boy’s mother, Shmi Skywalker, revealed that her son was born without a biological father. Even in the world of Star Wars, “virgin birth” is a major development.
Since there was no way to discover the truth about his parentage, we believed the mother who said that Anakin had no father.
Meanwhile, recognizing the child’s unprecedented connection to the Force, Jinn was determined to see Skywalker trained as a member of the Jedi Order.
Thus began the story of Anakin’s official training in the ways of the Force.
2. Mid-Chlorian Midwives
Before Anakin was taken back to the Republic, his Force levels were tested and went on to surprise everyone. His blood had the highest levels of Force “particles” known as Midi-chlorians in them.
Mid-chlorians were these microscopic, intelligent life forms that originated from the foundation of life in the center of the galaxy, and ultimately resided within the cells of all living organisms, thereby forming a symbiotic relationship with their hosts.
It is believed that the Force spoke through the Midi-chlorians, allowing certain beings to use the Force if they were sensitive enough to its powers.
As a result, an individual’s potential in the Force was done using blood tests that estimated the number of Midi-chlorians within the subject’s cells.
Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, possessed the highest known count in galactic history—over 20,000 midi-chlorians—surpassing the potential of all the Jedi including Grand Master Yoda.
This revelation of unusually high levels of “Power beings” in Anakin led to Qui-Gon suspecting that the Midi-chlorians were themselves behind his conception.
Qui-Gon had come to believe that Anakin was born from the force itself given its unnatural concentration in his body.
This is where it gets interesting. The movie ends the discussion here with Qui-Gon explaining Anakin’s incredible Force levels by blaming the Midi-chlorians for acting as the midwives themselves, and giving birth to him from Shmi Skywalker’s womb.
That was Qui-Gon’s theory, at least, and it was left as the only explanation in the Star Wars movies.
Now Qui-Gon may have been busy obsessing over the boy’s entry into the Jedi cadre to not bother looking for his father. But fans were not.
They wanted more than just some tiny invisible insects of life as explanation for creation of one of the greatest Jedi of all time.
3. When Sith Created the Chosen One
Fast forward 19 years, seven movies, and a bucket load of comics and other Star Wars-related releases later, enters Darth Vader No. 25.
A panel of the comic shows a demonic looking Palpatine manipulating The Force, in a swirling red cloud of energy, implying that Palpatine crafted Anakin out of sheer will and energy.
Thus seemingly proving one long-held fan theory which claims that Anakin Skywalker was designed, or engineered – and not conceived naturally.
The fan theories first began after the Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. In the waning days of the Clone Wars, Anakin’s fears of losing his secret wife, Senator Padmé Amidala to complications during childbirth started growing.
When the Jedi, including Master Yoda, failed to pacify Anakin, Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith lured him with a so-called Sith legend.
This legend of course involved the Midi-chlorians. According to Sidious, Darth Plagueis was a wise and powerful Sith Lord who could manipulate Midi-chlorians to create new life. He extrapolated this to an ability that extended to preserving life from death itself.
Assured of his wife’s safety, Anakin ultimately turned against the Jedi, becoming the Sith’s apprentice, in the hope of gaining Plagueis’ knowledge and saving her.
Now Anakin only heard that he could keep his wife alive through the Dark Side… but fans heard Darth Sidious had learned the power to create life from his master.
4. LucasFilm Disagrees!
It turns out that the folks at the Lucasfilm Story Group don’t want everyone to interpret it as it is.
On December 19, 2019, just before The Rise of Skywalker hit the theaters, Matt Martin pointed out that a “direct connection” between Palpatine creating Anakin’s birth wasn’t really the intention.
Martin works for the Lucasfilm Story Group, and him saying Palpatine is not Anakin’s dad, spiritually or otherwise has to mean something. Maybe the panel is just an impression of Anakin’s mind, and not something we should take too seriously.
Another source of confusion has to be the purchase of Lucasfilm by Disney. In the Darth Plagueis novel by James Luceno, written in the pre-Disney era, the story was laid out quite similar to the fan theories.
Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious had reached out through the Force, to try to create a child that they could use as the ultimate weapon.
But the Midi-chlorians, sensing their attempt, would foil their plans and instead create a child that would bring about the end of the Sith.
Of course, that was before Disney bought Lucasfilm and wiped Plagueis from canon, along with all other novels. So you know where the confusion comes from now!
Anyway, conclusion remains that Anakin was not a natural conception and was willed into creation.
Now who is the father, remains a mystery for future franchise productions. But what are your crazy fan theories? Comment below and let us know!
5. About Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon.
It has three trilogies at its core – Original, Prequel, and Sequel, spread across five decades and interspersed with at least a dozen spin-off series and films.
Created by George Lucas and his Lucasfilm, the franchise is currently under the Disney umbrella. All the Star Wars films and shows are now available to binge on Disney+ streaming service.
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