Why Anakin Skywalker Isn't the Hero of "Star Wars" [Rant]

Last year, I wrote about a Star Wars poster that (to me) illustrates everything that went wrong with the series. In the process, I was surprised to find myself arguing about something I thought was a given; that Luke Skywalker is the hero of Star Wars. Some people argued that Anakin Skywalker is the hero. Let's set the record straight.

The argument on Anakin's side is that he is the focus and main character in the prequels. They tell the story of young Anakin, a Jedi who falls to the Dark Side. That carries the narrative arc through the original trilogy, where we see Darth Vader redeemed by his son, and turned back to the light side.

It's true, that's the story the prequels told. That's the problem. Because as much as Lucas wants us to see Anakin as the hero, he's not.

Let's look at it a different way, the way we all did before the prequels. As much as we all loved Darth Vader, was anyone really on his side in the original trilogy? Were we cheering when he destroyed Alderaan? Or when he tortured Han Solo? Or rooting on the AT-AT walkers as Vader sent them to destroy the base on Hoth? Did our hearts break when the Death Star was blown up, and did we sigh with relief when we found out the Empire built another one? Did we all think, "Sure hope Vader manages to crush that pesky rebellion?" Let's take it closer to home. In the new trilogy, how many of you were applauding when Anakin slaughtered the younglings in the Jedi Temple? Show of hands? When the 2011 Scream Awards gave Darth Vader his award, was it for Ultimate Hero? No, it was for Ultimate Villain.

Okay, so let's think. There was someone who we did all cheer for in the original trilogy. Someone you were cheering for when he rescued Princess Leia, blew up the Death Star, and single-handedly destroyed an AT-AT on Hoth. Remember him? What was his name again? Oh, yeah. Luke Skywalker. The hero of Star Wars for twenty years.

The truth is that Vader's central role in the original trilogy was an accident. In the original movie, there was no master plan for six movies or Darth Vader. If you notice in Star Wars, Vader was really more of a sidekick to Grand Moff Tarkin. It's also been established that Vader's breathing mask, which defines his cyborg status, was developed in pre-production, not in the original script. Lucas made the first movie, but we begged for more, especially Darth Vader. So Lucas gave us more Vader. He was the main villain in Empire Strikes Back, not a sidekick. The concept of Darth Vader as Luke's father and fallen Jedi wasn't conceived of until 1978, during the second draft of the script for The Empire Strikes Back. And in Return of the Jedi, we loved Vader so much that Lucas made him turn good in the end, so it was okay to like him. End of story.

Then Lucas wanted to make the prequels that we've all been begging for, but he had a little problem. The story would have to be set before Luke Skywalker was even born. Who would the prequels center around? Lucas decided to make it Anakin Skywalker, a.k.a. Darth Vader. And even better, Lucas realized that doing so gave the original trilogy greater significance.

But even then, it didn't really work in the prequels. Anakin was just a little kid in Phantom Menace who had little to do. There was a lot of talk about how important he was, and he managed to accidentally blow up the Trade Federation ship, but he still wasn't the hero in that movie. Most of it had nothing to do with him. And in the second and third episodes, Anakin was a creepy, sulking jerk who caused more trouble than he solved. In Revenge of the Sith, we're rooting for Obi-Wan to defeat him and end his reign of terror. In many ways, Obi-Wan is the real hero of the prequels, despite Lucas' best efforts.

So the real problem here is that Luke always was and still is the hero of Star Wars. All the prequels did was muddy the waters. But Luke will always be the hero to me.

Scott Copperman of Perspectives agrees with me, and gets more into how the Clone Wars TV series has done even more to establish Anakin as the hero in the minds of young Star Wars fans. That makes me very sad.

Do you think Anakin Skywalker is the hero or villain of Star Wars?

[Image Source: Sodahead]

Posted in: Movies,StarWars