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This Star Wars Legends article contains information that is affected by the Star Wars: The Clone Wars project. A definitive Legends Clone Wars timeline was never established by Lucasfilm. The exact chronology of the events described in this article is currently unknown.

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"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness! You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!" ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to the fallen Anakin Skywalker [src]

Anakin Skywalker was a Force-sensitive Human male who served the Galactic Republic as a Jedi Knight and later served the Galactic Empire as the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Born to the slave Shmi Skywalker in 41.9 BBY, Anakin was conceived by midi-chlorians, the symbiotic organisms that allowed individuals to touch the Force, and he and his mother were brought to the desert planet of Tatooine to be the slaves of Gardulla the Hutt. They soon ended up as the property of the Toydarian Watto, and Skywalker exhibited exceptional piloting skills and a reputation for being able to build and repair anything even at a young age. In 32 BBY, Skywalker encountered the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Padmé Amidala, and he helped them secure the parts they needed for their starship by winning the Boonta Eve Classic podracing event—only to learn that he had also won his freedom in doing so.

Reluctantly leaving his mother behind, Skywalker accompanied Jinn and his group to the Republic's capital of Coruscant and participated in the Battle of Naboo, helping to free Amidala's homeworld from the armies of the Trade Federation. While Jinn was killed during the battle, Jinn's student Obi-Wan Kenobi followed Jinn's wishes and took on Skywalker as his Padawan, and much of the Jedi Council believed that Skywalker was the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy: one who would bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith Order. Skywalker and Kenobi had a number of adventures during the Padawan's decade of training to become a Jedi, but as the Separatist Crisis threatened to tear the Republic apart in 22 BBY, Skywalker was reunited with Amidala when he was assigned to protect her from assassins. The two grew close during the course of the assignment, though they were caught up in the Battle of Geonosis and the beginning of the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Losing an arm during the fighting, Skywalker received a cybernetic replacement, and he and Amidala were secretly married in the days after the battle, despite the Jedi Code's restrictions on romantic attachments.

During the Clone Wars, which raged for the next three years, Skywalker was granted the rank of Jedi Knight and became known to the public as the "Hero with No Fear." Taking on the Togruta Ahsoka Tano as his apprentice, Skywalker fought alongside Kenobi and his fellow Jedi in scores of battles, and his friendship with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine deepened despite the Jedi Order's wariness of Palpatine's rapid acquisition of further powers during the course of the war. Throughout the Clone Wars, Skywalker's anger and sense of loss pushed him ever closer to the dark side of the Force, and his visions of Amidala dying in childbirth in 19 BBY made him desperate to find a way to save his wife. Palpatine, who was in fact the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, manipulated Skywalker into becoming his apprentice with the promise of saving Amidala, and Skywalker became the Sith Lord Darth Vader as Palpatine transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire and eradicated the Jedi Order.

Vader and Kenobi clashed on Mustafar after Vader attacked his wife in the belief that she had betrayed him, and the newly christened Sith Lord was left limbless and ravaged by fire at the end of their battle. Encased in a suit of life-sustaining black armor and believing his wife to be dead, Vader embraced his role as the Emperor's right hand and enforcer, hunting down Jedi survivors and enforcing the will of the Empire for years to come. The Sith Lord trained a number of secret apprentices and Dark Jedi, though his plans to overthrow his master had not advanced far when the Galactic Civil War erupted between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic in 2 BBY. In 0 BBY, the Death Star—the Empire's greatest superweapon—was destroyed by a young Rebel pilot despite Vader's efforts, and Vader became obsessed with discovering the pilot's identity, only to learn that it was Luke Skywalker: his own son, born before Amidala's death.

Vader continued to pursue both Skywalker and the Alliance over the next three years, finally luring his son into a trap on the mining colony of Cloud City in 3 ABY where the two dueled. Vader revealed his identity to Skywalker, though his son refused to join him and escaped. When Darth Sidious learned of Skywalker's existence, he set in motion his own plans to recruit Skywalker and thereby replace Vader, but Skywalker surrendered himself to Imperial forces on the forest moon of Endor in 4 ABY in hopes of redeeming his father and turning him back to the light side. In a final duel on the second Death Star as the Battle of Endor raged around them, Skywalker and Vader fought each other, and Vader refused his son's attempts to redeem him, learning that Skywalker had a twin sister named Leia in the process. Skywalker defeated his father but refused to kill him, and when Sidious attempted to kill the young man, Vader—moved by his son's love—abandoned the dark side and sacrificed himself to destroy the Emperor, fulfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One. Mortally wounded, Anakin made peace with his son and became one with the Force, though his reputation, his legacy, and his family endured for decades afterwards.

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Biography Edit

Before his birth Edit

"Is this—is this happening now, or in the future?" ―Q'Anilia [src]

Thousands of years before his birth, Anakin Skywalker appeared as Darth Vader, the Sith Lord he would eventually become, to the Jedi Master Q'Anilia in a Force vision. The vision also included the Jedi Zayne Carrick, Skywalker's son Luke, and his descendant Cade; all four of them would be affected by the Sith artifact known as the Muur Talisman.[22] Similarly, at an unknown period of time, Skywalker was also foretold by the Heinsnake Cult to overthrow both the Jedi Order and the Empire, and leave the galaxy in eternal chaos.[23]

Around 42 BBY, the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis and his Sith apprentice Darth Sidious were able to shift the Force and tip it towards the dark side after months of intense meditation. Plagueis sought to manipulate the midi-chlorians—microscopic lifeforms which lived symbiotically within all living things and allowed those with sufficient numbers of midi-chlorians to touch the Force—and use them to gain power over life and death. He was able to resurrect the Bith Darth Venamis (whom he had been using as a test subject for years) using only the power of the Force. Using his newfound power to heal his own body, Plagueis decided to take his powers further and reached out to the midi-chlorians across the galaxy in order to gain dominance over them, but the Force resisted his efforts and refused. In response, the midi-chlorians acted of their own accord and conceived a child within the Human slave Shmi Skywalker.[24]

Early life Edit

Life as a slave Edit

"There was no father. I carried him, I gave birth, I raised him. I can't explain what happened." ―Shmi Skywalker [src]

The Human male Anakin Skywalker was born to Shmi Skywalker in 42 BBY (7:4 BrS).[2] In 38 BBY, when he was around three years old, Anakin and Shmi were sold to the Hutt Gardula Besadii on the desert planet of Tatooine, and the two were brought to the planet by a freighter[25]—though they were not permitted to know their destination, and the ship's single refresher backed up during the flight, making the crowded ship's passengers extremely uncomfortable. During the flight, Anakin had premonitions of podracing, and he saw a vision of himself as an older man, racing across the flats of Tatooine. He was awoken from his dream by his mother, who carried him out of the ship when they landed, and they were lined up before Gardulla and her aides.[26]

However, when a shot rang out in a nearby alleyway, Skywalker did not duck for cover like the others in the area and instead watched as an Arcona slave rushed through the area to escape his pursuers. The Arcona's slave transmitter exploded moments later, killing the slave and showing Skywalker what would happen should he ever try to escape. Shortly afterward, Skywalker was implanted with his own transmitter. In the city of Mos Espa, the Skywalkers were forced to share quarters with six other slaves while they were owned by Gardulla,[27] but the fact that he was coupled with his mother allowed Skywalker to endure slavery with relative good humor.[28] Though Anakin was not altogether fond of Tatooine, he set about learning as much about the desert world as possible. He listened to traveling spacers and Gardulla's attendants, learning about the history and function of the planet in the galaxy. He heard of the Tusken Raiders, apparently bloodthirsty savages that roamed the wastelands, Jawas, and krayt dragons, but the element that interested the boy the most was Podracing, descriptions of which matched his premonition.[26] He tired quickly of Tatooine, however, and one day hoped to visit Coruscant, the galactic capital.[29]

While he was a slave of Gardulla, he became friends with fellow slaves Kitster Chanchani Banai and Pala Kwi'teksa, a Human and Twi'lek. Though the three were eventually sold to other masters, they remained friends, as they all lived in Mos Espa.[30] Several months after his arrival on Tatooine, while repairing a vaporator outside Gardulla's residence, Anakin decided to take the initiative, and modify the device. His handiwork was observed by Watto, a Toydarian junk dealer who frequently gambled with Gardulla on podraces. Impressed, the Toydarian gambled for custody of the Skywalkers and won, becoming the pair's owners two days later.[26] Skywalker began working at Watto's Shop as a mechanic,[9] and Watto reluctantly allowed the two to move into a small hovel on Slave Quarters Row in the city of Mos Espa, though he intended to quarter the rest of the slaves he intended to purchase with the Skywalkers when he could afford to buy more.[27]

At an early age, Skywalker exhibited signs of Force-sensitivity; he could sense things before they happened, occasionally sensed the emotions of others, and had exceptional piloting skills which Watto put to use when he made the child race his podracer—the first Human to survive and excel at the sport. Only Shmi knew of her son's abilities, and by the age of nine, Anakin was strong, quick, an expert driver, and an expert at building things.[31] A child prodigy,[32] Anakin excelled at mathematics and engineering.[33] Skywalker did not mind working for Watto as a mechanic, as he enjoyed building and repairing machinery and droids, and his room was filled with a workbench, tools, and various projects in different stages of completion.[30] Skywalker always had something to do at Watto's junk shop; with his mechanical aptitude, he was often called upon to fix the unfixable. Watto kept the Skywalkers in line by threatening to let other slaves share their hovel, should they disobey him. Over the years, Skywalker became familiar with the Mos Espa locals, picked up alien languages, and would often familiarize himself with the controls of starships, by "practicing" with derelict cockpits found in the junkyard.[26]

Even at a young age, Skywalker had a reputation for being able to repair or build anything. Around 34 BBY, Skywalker began to build both a podracer from the pieces he could salvage from the junkyards, restoring a junked podracer cockpit and a pair of Radon-Ulzer 620C racing engines. Knowing Watto would try to take it if it was valuable, Skywalker purposely kept the podracer in a state of seeming disrepair underneath a tarp. Watto gave Shmi an aeromagnifier that she used to clean computer memory devices, allowing the Skywalkers to have a modest income, but Anakin refused to give up on his dreams of freedom, making plans to create a scanner that could locate the transmitter in his body.[26]

Around 34 BBY, when Skywalker was seven, Watto traveled to Anchorhead in order to bid on parts from a recent crash, leaving the boy with a long list of chores to do. However, Skywalker was able to program the droids around the shop to finish the chores by midday, allowing him to take his pack that his mother had filled with meat pies and fruit and meet with his friend Amee for a picnic. In a small canyon near the city that had a strange tree with flickering leaves, the two ate Shmi's meat pies and turnovers made by Amee's mother Hala, but when they returned to Mos Espa, they found the city almost empty. From their neighbors, the two children learned that the pirate Krayn had conducted a slave raid, capturing a number of slaves and overriding their transmitters with their own. Terrified for his mother's safety, Anakin raced home but was relieved to find Shmi safe and sound at their house—unlike Amee's mother Hala. When the boy noticed Amee and Hala's master, Yor Millto, dismissing the abduction of Hala as a "nuisance," Skywalker resolved to remember every moment of that day, save the look of terror on his own mother's face, in order to fuel his ongoing struggle as a slave, and his eventual quest to free slaves.[34]

Around 33 BBY, Skywalker met a retired pilot who told him about the moons of Iego and the angels that supposedly lived there. That year, Skywalker was searching through Watto's junkyard when he came across an ancient battle droid. Curious, the boy dragged it behind Watto's shop and then once Watto was gone hooked it up a power source. The droid was too rusted to move, but its holoprojecter was able to display a damaged and chaotic recording of a battle that involved the Sith. Disturbed by the recording, Skywalker headed home later that day and encountered the pilot, who panicked and thought that the boy was saying the Sith had returned when Skywalker questioned him about the Sith. The pilot explained the history of the Sith Order and the New Sith Wars, a thousand-year conflict between the Sith and the Jedi, though the pilot also noted the rumors that some Sith had survived their defeat in the conflict.[29]

The Ghostling children Edit

"Mom. What if you want to do something good, but it's hard? Or what if you want to help someone, but you're afraid?"

"Helping others isn't always easy, is it? If people paid us to be good, the galaxy would be overflowing with kindness. But most of the time there isn't much reward, and sometimes it even costs us dearly to do good things."

"Yeah. What if it costs so much that it hurts?"

"I think we should do it anyway. Make it a habit, like eating or breathing. Once you do, you'll hardly even notice the cost." ―Anakin and Shmi Skywalker [src]

Skywalker continued to race for Watto, frequently encountering the Dug racer Sebulba and losing to him, as the Dug was prone to cheating. One afternoon in 32 BBY, Skywalker was working in Watto's shop when Banai arrived and told his friend about the arrival of Sebulba and another racer named Gasgano in the spaceport, and Banai was able to convince Watto to let Skywalker investigate by telling the Toydarian about a mysterious crate that Sebulba had brought on his freighter. The two joined the growing crowd at Mos Espa's spaceport to watch the two racers' freighters unload. Studying Gasgano's podracer, Skywalker could instinctively sense that nothing was new or important about the changes Gasgano had made, but Sebulba's podracer drew his attention, and he soon noticed the new Kuat 40-Z stabilizers that had been installed.[30]

However, Skywalker's friend Kwi'teksa was uninterested in his discovery, and the other children nearby gathered to listen as she told them how she had been sold to the pirate Lord Tantos so that Tantos could train her as an assassin. Angry and saddened, Skywalker questioned Kwi'teksa as to Tantos's location so that he could go study Tantos and try and figure out a way to help his friend, but he suddenly realized that he had failed to investigate the crate when it was moved to a secure warehouse nearby. Kwi'teksa and the other children then served as a distraction to lure away the Gamorrean guards at the warehouse door, allowing Skywalker and Banai to slip inside and look at the crate, which they soon realized was an energy cage that was holding captured children. One of the children, Princess Arawynne, told the two boys that they were Ghostlings from the planet Datar and begged for their help, but Skywalker was unwilling to do so until she stated that the Ghostlings had not yet been implanted with transmitters.[30]

However, the Dug Khiss entered the warehouse at that point and opened fire on the two boys, who were wearing hooded cloaks and who he thought were trying to free the slaves. Banai and Skywalker fled into the darkness of the warehouse and escaped via another entrance, and the two returned to Watto and told him of their findings about Sebulba's pod—though Skywalker did not explain in detail about the Ghostlings. Dismissing Banai, Watto then ordered Skywalker to head out into the Jundland Wastes, where he was to barter with a tribe of Jawas—scavengers that were one of Tatooine's two native species. Taking his sandskimmer out into the Jundland Wastes, Skywalker reached the towering rock known as the Market after a few hours, where hundreds of the sandcrawlers that the Jawas used to traverse Tatooine's deserts were parked in the shadow of the monolith.[30]

Searching through the endless array of junk that the Jawas had laid out on the sand, Skywalker found the items he needed within an hour and negotiated a good price, though he decided to wait until nightfall before heading back to Mos Espa. In order to preserve his money and buy a present for Kwi'teksa before she left Tatooine, Skywalker settled for a hubba gourd to satisfy his hunger and thirst, and then he began exploring the junkyard in order to find a present. However, he was drawn to a Jawa who was offering a large Radon-Ulzer podracer engine, one that Skywalker believed he could use to repair his podracer, but the Jawa insisted on selling it for cash. When Skywalker was heading back to his sandskimmer, he noticed an old Jawa who was offering a pile of random items, and his attention was drawn to an ancient-looking cube that was small enough to fit in his hand.[30]

Studying the device, Skywalker noticed a number of pictures on the cube's sides, including two Jedi Knights battling each other, a star map, and a lamp with a knife blade through it—a symbol of forbidden knowledge. Unnerved by the darkness that he could sense in the cube, Skywalker was about to set it down when the Jawa offered to sell it for three wupiupi, which was the exact amount that Skywalker had in his pocket. Despite his reservations, the boy purchased the cube and headed back to Mos Espa, though he was unable to open it through any means. He was surprised to find his mother still awake and working on a maintenance droid when he arrived, and Shmi explained that she was helping her sick friend Matta finish her quota of repairs so that she would not be sold by her master Dengula. Anakin stayed up with his mother to finish the droid, though he continued to think about the Ghostling children and what he could do to help both them and Kw'teksa as the night went on and as he went to sleep.[30]

The following day, Banai and the Bothan child Dorn, both of whom were slaves of Gardulla, came to him with Pala and told him how they had hacked into Gardulla's computer network to learn that the Hutt intended to use the Ghostlings as lawn ornaments in her underground pleasure garden. Disgusted by Gardulla's disregard for how the Ghostlings would die in less than a year in those conditions, Skywalker agreed to help his friends break the Ghostlings out of Gardulla's dungeons. Donning Jawa robes and disguises, the three approached Gardulla's fortress on their sandskimmers, taking advantage of the dusk shadows to hide them, and Kitster led them to a narrow chasm that allowed them to reach the walls of the fortress unseen. An enormous cliffborer worm attacked them as they passed through the chasm, though the three escaped unharmed and reached the fortress, which they infiltrated through a ventilation grate in the outer wall.[30]

However, their plans went awry when Kitster was forced to stay with Gardulla the Hutt in the fortress's pool room, forcing Skywalker and the others to find their own way to the dungeons, and Dorn went ahead to scout around while Skywalker and Kiw'teksa stayed behind. When Kitster avoided being eaten by Gardulla, the fortress was thrown into chaos, and Skywalker and Kiw'teksa fled deeper into the dungeons when a Gamorrean guard pursued them—but Skywalker was unaware that his current route was taking them straight to the security control room. Skywalker managed to prevent the security chief from setting off the alarm by using his ion blaster, and Kiw'teksa closed the door just before the chief shot at him, causing the blaster bolt to ricochet and strike the man.[30]

The four children rendezvoused at the slave infirmary, but when Dorn opened the infirmary, they were confronted by an enormous Abyssin whom Skywalker was able to convince to leave, as he claimed that they were replacement guards for the Ghostlings. However, the four accidentally locked themselves in the infirmary, and Arawynne came up with a plan to use a box of bomb transmitters to blow open the door. Taking the rest of the transmitters, Skywalker and the others led the Ghostlings through the fortress to the open hangar, but the young slaves soon realized that they needed to hide the children and come back for them later, so Banai hid the Ghostlings in Gardulla's pleasure garden. The four slaves then snuck out of the fortess alone, with Skywalker using the transmitters to destroy the passage and a seeker droid that was pursuing them with a group of battle droids, and they then headed back to Mos Espa and their homes.[30]

The next day, Watto berated Skywalker for his lethargy, and the boy showed his owner the box he had bought at the Jawa market the previous day. Watto allowed Skywalker to go home and take a nap, but on his way, he encountered Banai, Dorn, and Kiw'teksa, who told him that Gardulla's security had a sample of Kiw'teksa's skin and would soon identify her as one of the perpetrators of the break-in. The old woman Jira brought the four of them into her apartment and began to scold them for trying to free the slaves, but told them that she knew someone who might take the Ghostlings off-world for a high price. Skywalker then offered to make a signal jammer so that Kiw'teksa could evade capture, and he split up with his friends to head back to Watto's in order to make the jammer. As he was heading back to his friend in the market, Skywalker had a strange sense that he was being followed, and Dorn confirmed his suspicions by pulling him aside and pointing out a Sakiyan tracker with a seeker droid who was searching for him.[35]

Donning a Jawa robe, Skywalker hid in a crowd of Jawas while Dorn distracted the hunter Djas Puhr and his partner, Sebulba, and Kiw'teksa sent him toward the podrace hangar before she disabled the seeker droid with a bucket of ganno juice that blocked its olfactory sensors. Grabbing his goggles from Watto's podracer, he heeded Banai's advice and stole Sebulba's podracer as a getaway vehicle, dodging the seeker droid's stun darts and destroying it by catching it between the podracer's energy binders. The reinforced podracer was able to smash straight through the partially open hangar doors, catching the Dug Khiss on one of the stabilizer fins as Skywalker struggled to slow down. To prevent the Dug from reaching him and Banai in the cockpit, Skywalker toggled a random lever that caused the engine to vent fire, sending the Dug flying.[35]

However, Sebulba began to pursue the two in Brant Rumble's podracer, and when Sebulba prepared to ram the podracer and kill the boys, Skywalker gave Banai the signal jammer and let him leap off the vehicle before he tried to open the throttles and escape. When they responded slowly, Skywalker realized that the reinforced engines Sebulba used as battering rams meant that he could not rely on speed alone, so a smaller and faster vehicle would be able to beat Sebulba. Evading Sebulba's blaster shots, Skywalker realized that the Dug was trying to protect his own podracer, and he tossed Sebulba's own goggles and hydrospanner towards Brant Rumble's podracer—where they were promptly sucked into the engine and caused massive damage.[35]

In the chaos, Skywalker escaped and returned to Jira's apartment that evening, where Banai, Dorn, and Jira were waiting for him. Banai explained that he had hidden Kiw'teksa with the Ghostling children, and the three slaves began to pool their money. However, when Anakin returned home, Shmi confronted him about Kiw'teksa, and though she did not say it outright, Shmi knew that Anakin had been one of the children who had broken into the fortress. That night, Skywalker had a dream of an evil voice telling him to open the cube, and when he awoke in the middle of the night, he was sure that the voice had been real—and he realized that the cube was giving off a small amount of heat, just as living creatures did.[35]

The next day, Jira confirmed that the smugglers would arrive the following sunset to pick up the Ghostlings and Kiw'teksa. However, that night, Dorn contacted him via comlink and reported that his master Jabba had ordered him to track down Kiw'teksa. Dismayed, Skywalker told Dorn to meet him at noon so that he could give the Bothan a signal jammer, and he fell asleep after remembering that he had just had a dream of a man with intense eyes, a lightsaber, and a tan poncho who had come to take him away from Tatooine. The next morning, Skywalker headed out to give Dorn his jammer, but he intercepted Sebulba when he noticed the Dug and his crew attempting to locate the Bothan. After giving Dorn the jammer, Skywalker incited a bar fight in the nearby Racer's Edge Cantina when Sebulba and the hunters tried to follow Dorn into the building.[36]

However, when Banai, Skywalker, and Dorn headed out to Gardulla's fortress in disguises, they were followed by Djas Puhr, Sebulba, and other hunters. The pursuers attacked the children in the pleasure garden, separating them, and Skywalker evaded the Abyssin Gondry by trapping him in quickclay from the planet Circarpous V before Sebulba began to pursue him. Coming across a Myrkr SS-23 sewage cannon, Skywalker fled into the bushes—only to come across an unconscious Dorn while trying to stay ahead of Puhr. When Dorn did not waken, Skywalker encountered a green Wistie, a small radiant creature who led him to the Ghostlings and Kiw'teksa just as Djas Puhr captured them. At the Wistie's urging, Skywalker fled the garden and headed home, leaving the Ghostlings and his three friends in Puhr and Sebulba's hands.[36]

When he reached Mos Espa, Skywalker headed straight for Jira and told her what had happened, just as a slave execution was announced for that evening. Jira suggested that Skywalker himself go with the smugglers, and she regretfully explained that she had been unable to gather all of the money necessary for the children and the Ghostlings to escape. However, the boy refused and told Jira to be ready at sunset before he departed, determined to rescue his friends. Selling some of the valuable junk from his room, Skywalker purchased glowrods, sandmasks, and a hand-held beamdrill, and he headed to the Mos Espa Grand Arena where his friends were being held. Entering a large drain in the unguarded holding pens, Skywalker soon located his friends and freed them, ushering them into the sand-drainage system through the drains in their cell just as a guard sounded the alarm.[37]

As they fled through the drainpipes, Skywalker gave the others sandmasks while Dorn led the way with a glowrod and Skywalker followed at the rear of the group with another. The group made their way towards the Podrace hangar, fighting off capture droids with Skywalker's ion blaster, but their path was blocked when sand began to pour into the tunnels and sent the children rushing along the pipes in a torrent of sand. Fighting off a rock wart that tried to steal his glowrod, Skywalker finally came to a stop with the others in a large catch basin, and Skywalker set off to find a way out through the pipes. Using his beamdrill to ward off womp rats and to mark his path, Skywalker was nearly detected by two Morseerian pirates who heard him through the grates, but he managed to steal their treasure from their storeroom after they departed the chamber, giving him enough money to buy passage for the Ghostlings and his friends.[37]

Searching through the pipes and the various grates, Skywalker was able to convince a slave man to let the Ghostlings and his friends out of the drainpipes by removing the grate in his house, but Skywalker was dismayed to learn that Dorn and an unconscious Ghostling named Coniel had been separated from the rest by slave hunters and would meet them at Bantha Rock, the place where the smugglers were supposed to meet the group. Using Watto's landspeeder, Skywalker ferried the Ghostlings and his friends out of the city, away from the slave hunters and to Bantha Rock, where Jira was waiting for them. The smuggler, whom Kitster recognized as his father Rakir Banai, accepted Skywalker's payment and took the children aboard, though Skywalker refused to go with them and leave his mother behind.[37]

However, when Dorn and Coniel arrived, Rakir informed the group that his ship's life-support systems could not take that many people—one of them would have to stay behind. A dismayed Kitster decided to let the others go in his place, as he was not wanted by Gardulla and her thugs, and Skywalker, Kitster, and Jira watched from a distant plateau as the ship lifted off just as Sebulba and the other hunters arrived. Jira gave the two boys the rest of the money, and Skywalker decided to save his money in order to one day buy his freedom. When he reached home, Skywalker found his mother up late working again, and she refused Anakin's offer of help and instead ordered him to clean himself up. Two days later, Skywalker raced Watto's pod yet again, but Sebulba used his exhaust vents to send the boy flying out of control as they went over Metta Drop, wrecking Watto's racer once again.[37]

Podracing and looking to the stars Edit

"You want to fly the big ships, I think maybe you will. Yep, Anakin Skywalker, I do think maybe one day you will." ―The retired pilot [src]

One day when Anakin was working, Watto kicked W. Wald and another child out of his shop before he left to meet with Jabba the Hutt, though Anakin let the two back in to the shop when he was gone. The others began to explore the shop, and Wald soon came across what he believed to be a lightsaber, the weapon of the Jedi Knights, but they were interrupted by a passerby who told them that the Dug Sebulba's new podracer had arrived. While Sebulba was not looking, Skywalker and his friends opened up the podracer's engines, and Skywalker was able to identify a vertigo flux override in the engine before an overeager Wald dropped the lightsaber in the open hatch. Skywalker was barely able to pull the lightsaber free before an angry Sebulba reached them, though Skywalker was unaware that the ancient weapon had damaged the inner workings of the podracer. The three of them headed back to Watto's shop, but when the owner returned and found them, he kicked Wald and the other boy out. However, as a result of Skywalker's unintentional sabotage, Sebulba crashed on his next race, ensuring that Watto did not lose his shop to the Hutt Jabba Desilijic Tiure in their bet on the race.[38]

One day, while chatting in the junkyard with Banai, Skywalker came across a broken 3PO-series protocol droid chassis. Though he surmised that the droid was very old, he was confident that he could restore the droid. Though not totally sure what purpose it would serve, Skywalker smuggled it back to his hovel piece by piece, making sure not to alert Watto. Shmi, apprehensive, explained that it was a protocol droid, and not very useful in their line of work. Anakin protested, claiming that the droid would be able to help with chores and converse with those using alien languages. Shmi relented, but explained to Anakin that the droid was his responsibility alone. Skywalker felt that the droid was a sort of kindred spirit, speculating that he had perhaps tried to escape from his masters, but had been demolished in the process. He named the droid C-3PO, the "three" due to the fact that Skywalker considered him a third member of the Skywalker family.[26]

A few days later, Skywalker dreamed that he won a podrace and was greeted in the winner's circle by a wise man and an angel, but his mother's voice roused him from sleep, and he told her of the dream over breakfast. Skywalker also told Banai of the dream on his way to Watto's shop, where Watto sent Skywalker out to Mochot Steep to acquire the thrusters from the pod of a famous racer named Regga the Hammerhead. Searching through the junk in Watto's shop to find things to trade, Skywalker found a vaporator cylinder and decided to keep it after he had a strange feeling that it would be useful. After picking up C-3PO to use an interpreter, Skywalker headed out to Mochot Steep to trade with the Jawas who had scavenged the thrusters. However, the Jawas wanted money or his water pouches, so Skywalker gave them the vaporator cylinder and offered to repair it in exchange for the thrusters when he realized the Jawas' vaporator was broken.[39]

The grateful Jawas gave Skywalker the remains of the pod, and Skywalker decided to keep the intact engine for his secret podracer. When he returned to Watto's shop that evening, Watto ordered the boy to install the thrusters the next morning, as he would fly Watto's podracer in the next race. The day of the race, Sebulba warned Skywalker of a "surprise" he was planning for the Human in Bimmira Canyon, but Skywalker reached the canyon before Sebulba did during the race. Sebulba and the racer Rimkar managed to pass Skywalker, but Sebulba used his afterburners to destroy Rimkar's pod in Metta Canyon, also causing Skywalker to lose control and crash.[39] An angry Watto demanded that Skywalker repair the pod that night, though Banai and Wald convinced him to go out for ruby bliels, and the three were discussing starfighters when the retired pilot who had told Skywalker about Iego intervened to compliment Skywalker's racing skills.[31]

Buying the boys more ruby bliels, the pilot told them of his exploits in the Republic Starfighter Corps, speaking of other planets and Jedi Knights. The three children spent so much time listening to the man's stories that Skywalker arrived home late for dinner, earning a reprimand from his mother. Shmi once again expressed her opposition to his racing, but Anakin reminded her that Watto would make him race. A little over a week later[31]—by which time Skywalker had C-3PO's intelligence and communication processors repaired—an angry Watto sent the boy out to Mochot Steep to trade with the Jawas.[31]

Picking up C-3PO from his house to use as an interpreter, Skywalker took Watto's speeder out to Mochot Steep, where he was able to barter for several mechanic droids, several multipurpose droids, and a damaged hyperdrive converter. Skywalker then headed back towards Mos Espa with the droids in tow, heading towards the Xelric Draw canyon that split the Mospic High Range on the Dune Sea's edge, but Skywalker stopped when he encountered an injured Tusken Raider—a hostile species native to Tatooine. The Tusken's leg was trapped beneath a boulder, and the Tusken and the slave stared at each other for several minutes before Skywalker decided to use the droids to free the Tusken. By the time they succeeded, night was falling, so the boy decided to stay the night there and had the droids set up a glow unit. C-3PO attempted to communicate with the Tusken when he was awake, but the Tusken remained hostile and wary of Skywalker's intentions. The next morning, Skywalker awoke to find that Tusken Raiders were surrounding him and the droids, but they left in peace after reclaiming their injured kin.[31]

The next day, Skywalker was working in Watto's junkyard, attempting to repair machinery, when a womp rat triggered one of Watto's snares in the junkyard and caused Skywalker to start, hitting his head on the machinery. His friend Amee arrived in time to witness this, and after realizing that the womp rat was very young, Skywalker freed the creature and began to search for parts for his podracer. The pair witnessed a herd of banthas stampeding past the city, leading Skywalker to realize a sandstorm was approaching. Just as Skywalker was about to return to Watto's shop, the womp rat he had freed earlier appeared again on top of what the boy realized was an energy binder after he shooed the creature away.[40]

Taking the part for his racer, Skywalker raced back to Watto's shop, where Watto ordered him to go to the market and trade with another group of Jawas who Watto believed had salvaged Skywalker's crashed podracer. Handing his mother the energy binder, Skywalker headed out to the market, where his friends Wald and Banai snuck up on him and convinced him to join them for ruby bliels at Maggy the Gorgon's cantina. Picking up fruits from Jira at his mother's request, Skywalker promised Jira that he would help fix her cooling unit, but the trio encountered Sebulba just outside the cantina. Fortunately for Skywalker, their fight was broken up by the arrival of the retired Republic pilot, whose presence deterred Sebulba from making any further trouble.[40] Before he left, Skywalker asked the pilot if he would tell him about the angels from Iego again the next time they visited, since the cantina was currently embroiled in a bar fight.[41] At the market, Skywalker and his friends arrived just in time to see the parts Watto wanted sold to a pit droid, and Skywalker returned to the shop and was ordered to clean the junk bins because of his failure.[40]

Discovery Edit

"You should be proud of your son. He gives without any thought of reward."

"He knows nothing of greed. Only of dreams. He has…"

"Special powers."

"Yes." ―Qui-Gon Jinn and Shmi Skywalker [src]

While exploring the junkyard a few days later, Skywalker came across the womp rat from earlier, which led him to an intact cooling unit for Jira. Looking up in the sky, Skywalker witnessed a starship flying by overhead, and he sank into daydreams of Jedi and angels. However, he was roused by Watto's shouting for him to come inside, and Skywalker entered the shop to find a tall man, a young woman, a Gungan, and an astromech droid conversing with Watto. At Watto's instructions, Skywalker manned the shop while Watto took the man, Qui-Gon Jinn, into the junkyard. Skywalker found himself unable to look away from the young woman, viewing her as supremely beautiful, and he hoisted himself onto the counter before asking her if she was an angel from the moons of Iego. The woman introduced herself as Padmé Naberrie, just as the Gungan—Jar Jar Binks—activated a DUM-series pit droid that began to wreak havoc in the shop. As Naberrie and Skywalker laughed, he told Binks to hit the droid on the nose, and after peace was restored to the shop, Skywalker declared that he would one day marry her.[9]

Just then, Watto and Jinn returned to the shop, and Jinn informed his companions that they were leaving. Fortunately for Skywalker, Watto allowed him to leave after he cleaned up the mess that Binks had made. As he headed home, Skywalker came across Binks, who was being attacked by Sebulba after the clumsy Gungan had disrupted the racer's meal. Breaking up the fight, Skywalker greeted Naberrie and the rest of her group when they arrived to see what was happening, and he convinced the group to follow him to Jira's fruit stand nearby, where he told the old woman about the new cooling unit he had found and then purchased four pallies. When Skywalker dropped one of his coins and Jinn reached to pick it up, the boy was astonished to see a lightsaber on the man's waist when his poncho opened slightly. Masking his surprise, Skywalker realized he only had enough for three fruits, and he forewent a pallie so the others could have one. When Jira warned the group that a sandstorm was coming, Skywalker insisted that the unprepared group come with him to his house.[31]

When they reached his house, he introduced the group to his mother and explained about the sandstorm before pulling Naberrie into his room to show her his project. Naberrie was genuinely impressed by Skywalker's work on C-3PO, prompting him to turn the droid on, and he also told her about the podracer he was constructing. The two spent the rest of the day examining Skywalker's various projects as the sandstorm continued to rage, and during dinner he began to explain life as a slave, though a brief argument between Naberrie and Shmi about slavery led Anakin to the subject of podracing. Mustering his courage, Skywalker asked Jinn about his lightsaber, and he refused to believe the Jedi's statement that he was not there to free the slaves. As the conversation turned to the group's damaged Nubian starship, Skywalker volunteered to race in the Boonta Eve Classic podrace so that Jinn could get the prize money. When his mother objected, Anakin reminded Shmi of her belief that people needed to help one another, convincing her to allow Anakin to race for Jinn.[31]

The next morning, Jinn and the others accompanied Skywalker to Watto's shop, and the boy began to tell Watto about Jinn's proposal when Naberrie stopped Jinn outside for a brief conversation. To appease Watto, Jinn put forth his ship as the entry fee, and convinced the Toydarian to front the cost of Skywalker's entry into the race in exchange for splitting the winnings fifty-fifty. Watto accepted the deal, and Skywalker was dismissed immediately with instructions to check out Jinn's podracer. Skywalker arrived home before Jinn and the others did, and he led the group to the bone yards behind the slave quarters to where his podracer was concealed under a tarp. With the others' help, Skywalker activated the antigrav lifts and brought the podracer out back behind his house, and there he began preparing the vehicle for the race. As Skywalker worked, his friends Banai, Seek, Amee, and Wald arrived, but Wald, Amee, and Seek were skeptical of Skywalker's chances and left to go play elsewhere. Despite Skywalker's warnings, Binks became caught between the podracer's energy binders, causing his face to go numb. Jinn then helped the boy into the cockpit, where he used a power pack that Jinn had lifted from Watto's shop to start the podracer, and the group was heartened to witness the engines activating and running perfectly.[9]

That afternoon, Skywalker sustained a cut on his arm, though he did not notice it until later that night when Jinn tended to it and took a sample of his blood. Before Skywalker could get Jinn to tell him what he was doing with his blood, his mother called him inside their house for bedtime. That night, Skywalker had a strange dream of darkness, war, and armies—and Naberrie was leading an army into battle. When he awoke, he told Naberrie about the dream, though he soon forgot about the dream in the excitement of the pre-race preparations. With the two eopies Banai brought to help, Naberrie, Banai, Shmi, Anakin, R2-D2, and C-3PO hauled the podracer to the arena hangars, where Jinn had gone to meet with Watto. The Toydarian angrily left the hangar just as they arrived, confusing Skywalker with a comment about Jinn and betting, but Banai unintentionally revealed to Naberrie and the others that Skywalker had never actually finished a race, causing Naberrie to lose hope in the boy's chances.[31]

Racing to freedom Edit

"You carry all our hopes."

"I won't let you down." ―Naberrie and Skywalker [src]

A little while later, the racers and their pods entered the arena and lined up for the race, and Shmi stopped her son to ask him to be safe before he headed out to his racer. Naberrie reminded him that their hopes were riding on him, furthering his determination to win the race, and not even Sebulba's threats rattled Skywalker as Jinn helped him into the podracer cockpit. But to Skywalker's dismay, when the starting light turned green, the pod's engines stalled immediately, leaving him stuck at the staring line with only Ben Quadinaros and his stalled racer as the rest of the competitors flew off. Realizing that he had fed the engines too much fuel, he rapidly flipped switches and adjusted settings to reset the engines and succeeded in starting the engines, flying out of the arena and chasing after the others.[31]

He soon caught up to the other racers, passing two before they even noticed him, and he prepared to pass the Troiken Gasgano as they approached Arch Canyon. Gasgano blocked his first few attempts, but Skywalker overtook him as they dropped over a short mesa and proceeded to slip into Arch Canyon quickly and without any trouble. As he left the canyon, Skywalker witnessed Sebulba cause the racer Mawhonic to crash into a rock formation when Mawhonic tried to claim the lead, and Sebulba took out Xelbree by venting fire from one of his exhaust vents when he tried to pass the Dug. Skywalker was in eighth place as they shot through the arena, completing the first lap of three, but he soon became seventh as Ody Mandrell's podracer was damaged in the pits by a clumsy pit droid.[31]

As they started the second lap, Skywalker passed Aldar Beedo and Clegg Holdfast just before Arch Canyon, unknowingly drawing on the Force to strengthen his perceptions and virtually become one with his podracer. When the racers exited Arch Canyon, they were surprised to encounter a group of Tusken Raiders who began to potshot the racers from the nearby cliffs of Tusken Turn, taking out Teemto Pagalies's podracer. Passing Elan Mak and Habba Kee, Skywalker began to creep up on Mars Guo and Sebulba, but Sebulba damaged Guo's engine and caused him to slam into Skywalker's—ripping one of his engines lines free. It took a great deal of maneuvering to keep the podracer stable as Skywalker used a magnetic retriever to catch the engine line that was now loose and reattach it, causing him to fall behind Mak, Kee, and Obitoki. Recovering, Skywalker shot after the four leaders and passed Elan Mak again, only to see Obitoki put of commission the same way he did Xelbree.[31]

Obitoki's damaged racer collided with Habba Kee's and caused both to explode, but Skywalker used the Force to guide himself through the smoke and debris cloud, evading the dangerous wreckage and shooting off after Sebulba. He caught up with the Dug just as they shot through the arena and began the third and final lap, but Sebulba tried to eliminate Skywalker as he done to Obitoki and Xelbree just as they left Arch Canyon. Swerving upward and out of reach, Skywalker was forced onto a stone ramp covered in warning signs, sending his podracer skyward. To recover, he accelerated forward and came down just in front of Sebulba right before they entered a series of caves that led to Tusken Turn. He maintained the lead until they finally reached open plains again, where Sebulba tried to capture the lead as one of Skywalker's horizontal stabilizers on his engines began to shudder violently. Experiencing a vision of Sebulba sabotaging the stabilizer before the race, Skywalker jettisoned the stabilizer but was forced to lose ground to Sebulba.[31]

As they approached the arena, Sebulba blocked every attempt of Skywalker's to pass, and he finally swerved his larger racer into Skywalker's in anger at the boy's repeated attempts—only for the two racers's steering rods to be caught together. When Skywalker's rod finally snapped completely, his podracer began to shudder violently but broke free of Sebulba's racer, the engines of which shot forward and went flying out of control, slamming into rock and sand and exploding. As Sebulba's pod skidded to a halt, Skywalker shot toward the arena and across the finish line, emerging victorious as the youngest winner of the Boonta Eve Classic ever.[31]

As he came to a halt, the crowd swarmed Skywalker's racer, and Banai was the first to his pod and began hugging his friend tightly. The crowd hoisted Skywalker onto their shoulders in celebration, chanting his name, and it was not until almost an hour later that the arena emptied of people and Skywalker could meet up with his family and friends. As Jinn approached, Anakin became embarrassed at Naberrie and his mother's constant hugs and kisses, but Jinn soon departed with Binks and Naberrie to take their parts back to the ship. Anakin, Shmi, and C-3PO walked home together, and he stored C-3PO in his room and headed out to Mos Espa Way—only to be confronted by a Rodian child who accused Skywalker of cheating. Skywalker attacked the Rodian, but Jinn's timely arrival ended the fight, and the Jedi gave him a pouch of credits that Jinn had received for selling the podracer to Sebulba.[31] On their way back to Skywalker's house, Jinn intervened when he saw several slaves being mistreated by their master, and the Jedi used the Force to convince the slaves' owner to treat them better.[41]

Returning home with Jinn, Skywalker ecstatically showed his mother the credits, and his happiness only increased when Jinn told him that he had been freed and Jinn wanted him to become a Jedi. Anakin was so excited that it was several minutes before he realized that Shmi had not been freed as well, and he was dismayed when Shmi insisted that Anakin go with Jinn to a better future without her.[9] Packing his stuff, Skywalker bid goodbye to C-3PO and Banai,[9][31] but when it came time to leave, Anakin's resolve broke and he ran back to his mother. Despite their sorrow at being parted, Shmi convinced her son to go with the Jedi,[9] and he said goodbye to Jira as he and Jinn left Mos Espa. However, Jinn destroyed a strange probe droid that had been surveying them on their way out of the city, and the concerned Jedi urged Skywalker to hurry with him.[31]

As they raced towards the starship that Naberrie and Jinn had come to Tatooine on, Skywalker was suddenly ordered to drop to the ground and complied just as a dark-robed figure shot overhead on a speeder. The man leapt at Jinn, drawing a red-bladed lightsaber and attacking the Jedi as Jinn urged Skywalker to get aboard the ship and to take off. Rushing aboard, he told Naberrie and the security officer with her Jinn's instructions, and Naberrie pulled him aboard to the cockpit to tell Jinn's apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi what had happened. The pilot Ric Olié followed Kenobi's instructions to fly towards the fight, and Skywalker scrambled into a seat as Kenobi raced to the landing ramp and helped Jinn escape from the dark warrior. Skywalker rushed to help Jinn as the ship took off and left Tatooine.[9]

New worlds Edit

"Anakin, this path has been placed before you. The choice is yours alone." ―Shmi Skywalker Listen (file info) [src]

Later that night, aboard the ship, which Skywalker learned was the personal starship of the Queen of the planet Naboo, Skywalker struggled to fall asleep in the central chamber, as the ship's temperature was radically different to the constant heat of Tatooine that he was used. As he huddled in silence and wondered whether leaving was a mistake, Skywalker witnessed Naberrie enter the room and watch a recording of a plea for help from the Naboo official Sio Bibble. She soon noticed him and gave him her overjacket as a blanket, and the two discussed the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo and Naberrie's hopes that the Republic's Galactic Senate could resolve the crisis. Skywalker gave her a japor ivory wood pendant that he had carved for her so that she would remember him, and Naberrie comforted him as he once again began to cry as he remembered his mother.[31]

When they finally arrived at the Republic capital of Coruscant, Skywalker watched from the cockpit in awe as they approached the city-planet, and the ship was greeted when it landed by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, Senator Palpatine of Naboo, and a contingent of Senate Guards. The Queen and her handmaidens—including Naberrie—departed with Palpatine, though they brought Skywalker and Binks along with them to Palpatine's office and left them outside while they discussed the situation. Skywalker soon began to listen at the door, though he began to wonder where Jinn and Kenobi had gone. Amidala changed into a new outfit before the group departed for the Senate Building, though Skywalker was unhappy to not see Naberrie among the handmaidens who accompanied the Queen, Panaka, Palpatine, Binks, and Skywalker to the Senate.[31]

The boy was amazed by the size of the Senate chamber, and he and Binks watched the proceedings from a small viewscreen that Rabé gave them when Amidala and Palpatine addressed the Senate. However, when Amidala's request for an intervention was denied through bureaucracy, the Queen moved for a vote of no confidence in Valorum just as Palpatine recommended. Less than an hour after the Senate went into recess, Skywalker was met by Qui-Gon Jinn, who told him he would be brought before the Jedi High Council. Before he went to the Jedi Temple, Skywalker went to the Queen's chambers in search of Naberrie, but the Queen promised to pass on his message when the handmaiden was absent.[31] Unbeknownst to Skywalker, however, the Queen was in fact Padmé.[9] However, Skywalker grew impatient at the amount of time it took for Jinn to meet with the Council at the Jedi Temple, and decided to explore the premises, eventually getting lost after a sparkly pyramid-like building caught Skywalker's eye.[42]

While trying to find his way back to the temple, Skywalker and Binks encountered a Coruscanti boy named Finn, who ended up not only lost, but his nanny droid ended up malfunctioning. Skywalker and Finn eventually stopped the nanny droid and repaired it, and returned both the droid and Finn to the latter's mother. In return, the mother directed him to the Jedi Temple, where he met up with Jinn.[42]

Harboring strong premonitions he had received on Tatooine, Qui-Gon Jinn believed Anakin Skywalker to be the "Chosen One" of Jedi prophecy who, it was foretold, would bring "balance to the Force"; Jinn revealed his belief and Anakin's corroborative midi-chlorian test results to members of the Jedi High Council before bringing the boy before them for their consideration of the boy's aptitude for life as a Jedi.[31] At the Jedi Temple, Skywalker faced the twelve Jedi Masters on the Council who began to question him almost immediately, testing his memory and knowledge. Mace Windu then began to test Skywalker's abilities by asking him to determine what images were appearing on a screen that the Jedi was holding but that the boy could not see. Skywalker found his mind filled with images of what appeared on the screen, and he was able to name them all with perfect accuracy. However, when Windu and Master Yoda began to question him about his feelings and his mother, Skywalker asked how that was relevant. Yoda explained that fear was the starting point on the path of the dark side. Staying silent on the subject,[9] the boy put aside his fear and continued the examination.[31]

As night fell, Skywalker, Kenobi, and Jinn were called before the Council. The Jedi Masters acknowledged Skywalker's great power, but refused to train him on account of his age—causing Jinn to declare that he would take the boy on as his own apprentice. However, Windu declared that the matter would be dealt with later, as the Naboo problem was more pressing. The Council permitted Skywalker to accompany Jinn, and the three returned to the Queen's starship, where Skywalker questioned Jinn about midi-chlorians. The Queen and her retinue departed not long afterwards, leaving Coruscant and heading back to the occupied Naboo in hopes of freeing the world from the Trade Federation.[9]

The Battle of Naboo Edit

"The Sith Lord was supple and quick … He was skilled, Anakin saw―more skilled, perhaps, than the men he faced. And he was confident in a way that was disturbing. He would not be overcome easily… The Sith Lord [drove] the Jedi across the hangar and through an opening into a room beyond, pressing them backward relentlessly, pursuing them with a fury that was terrifying. Then they disappeared from view … and the boy was alone…" ―young Anakin Skywalker's thoughts in an N-1 cockpit, concerning the Zabrak assassin earlier met on Tatooine, who now faced his Jedi friends in the Theed hangar before Anakin's departure to heroically dismantle the Trade Federation's orbital Droid Control Ship [src]

As they came out of hyperspace and approached the Naboo system, Skywalker sat in the cockpit with Olié and learned about the ship's controls while Queen Amidala held a meeting with the Jedi and her staff and announced her intentions to ally with the Gungans in order to drive the Trade Federation off Naboo. The group landed in the swamps of Naboo and sent Binks to the Gungan capital city of Otoh Gunga, and Skywalker talked briefly with Naberrie while they were waiting for him to return. He explained that the Council had decided not to accept him as a Jedi, but he became excited when Naberrie revealed that there would be a battle against the Trade Federation soon. When Binks finally returned, he explained that Otoh Gunga was empty, but he took the group to the Gungan Sacred Place where the Gungans had no doubt fled after the Trade Federation invaded.[31]

When the group was brought before Boss Rugor Nass, the leader of the Gungans, Skywalker was astonished to learn that Naberrie was in fact Padmé Amidala, the Queen, and that she had been posing as her double's handmaiden as a safety precaution. Skywalker, the Jedi, and Amidala's handmaidens joined the Queen in dropping to their knees before Boss Nass in a plea for Gungan aid, and Nass agreed to lend his army to the Queen's cause. In the hours that followed the meeting, Amidala and the Jedi began strategizing with the Gungan generals, leaving Skywalker to wander over to the Gungan sentries who were keeping watch for the returning Captain Panaka. Skywalker was dismayed to learn of Amidala's true identity, as it only furthered the distance between them, but his ruminations were cut short by the return of Panaka with several speeders of Naboo security officers who had escaped the Trade Federation's occupation. When Skywalker questioned Jinn as to what he would do in the upcoming battle, the Jedi told the boy that he would be safe as long as he stayed close to Jinn.[31]

When the group entered the Theed hangar bay, Skywalker heeded Jinn's command for him to stay hidden in the cockpit of one of the hangar's N1 starfighters. When several droidekas cornered the Naboo personnel in a firefight, Skywalker attempted to aid them with the N1's blaster cannons, although he accidentally activated the ship to go into space in the process.[9]

Ultimately, Skywalker fought in the Battle of Naboo in a vicious starfighter battle above the planet. After accidentally joining the battle in orbit, Skywalker single-handedly destroyed the orbital Droid Control Ship from within the ship, moments after Lt. Gavyn Sykes destroyed the deflector shield generator, thus rendering the Trade Federation's ground forces inactive and saving the Gungan Grand Army from destruction. The following celebration, however, was tainted with the death of Jinn, slain by Darth Maul.[9]

The Master's dying wish was for Kenobi to undertake Skywalker's training, which Kenobi promised to fulfill. The Council reluctantly agreed for Kenobi to begin Skywalker's training, though they were concerned that Skywalker would be too difficult a student for young Kenobi to handle, due to Kenobi's young age.[9]

Meanwhile, Palpatine, the Republic's newly appointed Supreme Chancellor, promised Skywalker that he would watch the young Jedi's career with "great interest,"[9] beginning a long friendship between the young Jedi and the new ruler of the Republic.[10]

At this age, Skywalker participated in more podraces. He was the racetrack champion on the Naboo-based Lianorm Raceway.[43]

Jedi apprentice Edit

Early years Edit

"The boy has exceptional skills."

"But he still has much to learn, Master. His abilities have made him… well, arrogant." ―Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi [src]

As Kenobi's Padawan, Skywalker was given his own room in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, in which he soon installed a workbench with tools. He continued to tinker with machines and droids despite the fact that the Order largely had no use for them, and his droids could often be found throughout the Temple on various assignments. Skywalker found himself uncomfortable with the fact that the Jedi Council and other Jedi, though they strove to be equitable, treated him differently than other Padawans. But it was because the boy's skills and abilities were far more advanced than his fellows, a fact that was impossible to ignore. Skywalker and Kenobi soon developed a bond of mutual love and respect, though Anakin continued to test the limits of their relationship, to reassure himself that Kenobi still cared for him (as had so deeply his mother Shmi). But whenever the boy tried to look inward with the Force, he was terrified by the great pain and power that he sensed in his future—a sensation that he described as "burning like a sun inside"—and his fear drove him to recklessness.[44]

Not long after arriving at the Temple, Skywalker met the Cerean Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi and his Tusken apprentice A'Sharad Hett. The newly arrived masked Padawan, also from Tatooine, attempted to meditate on a Temple balcony in the cool night air when Anakin encountered him. The Tusken's Master, Ki-Adi-Mundi, came out to scold Hett because of the late hour—his new Padawan, after all, needed his rest for a mission that they would embark on the next day. But Mundi thought better of it, when he saw that Anakin Skywalker might actually be striking up a friendship, something that both he and the boy's Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, knew to have been a difficult thing to do so far, it had seemed, for the young Mos Espa native.[25][45]

First mission Edit

About three years into his training, Skywalker and Kenobi embarked on their first mission together: to investigate cult leader Kad Chun aboard the BioCruiser, a nomadic ship from Telos IV owned by UniFy, a mining cartel. Chun, calling himself Uni, was the leader of many disenchanted idealists and refugees who wanted to flee their crime-plagued worlds, whose corrupt bureaucrats were intent on bleeding their planets of their natural resources. Some, including the refugees' extended families and members of the Galactic Senate, suspected the idealists were being held aboard the BioCruiser against their will. Kad's father, Vox Chun—the cult's original inspiration, who'd once been a pawn of the Dark Jedi Xanatos (as had been Vox's other son, Bruck, who was ultimately killed by the then young Jedi Padawan Kenobi)—was killed when Kenobi and Skywalker came to investigate. In the end, Kad Chun was able to finally forgive Kenobi (for his brother's death years before) but also his own scheming father (for his intended betrayal due to greed).[46]

Zonama Sekot Edit

Still craving thrills and adventure at the age of twelve, Anakin salvaged a pair of race wings to secretly participate in the highly dangerous and illegal garbage pit races held in the lower levels of Galactic City. But before the race began, and before his Master could reach him, Anakin was nearly killed by a Blood Carver assassin named Ke Daiv (who'd been employed by the Trade Federation to serve a vendetta against Skywalker for his key role in their defeat at the Battle of Naboo).[44]

The next mission the Jedi duo took was to the living planet of Zonama Sekot to find Jedi Knight Vergere, who had recently vanished on a mission there. Unbeknownst to Kenobi and Skywalker, however, Wilhuff Tarkin and Raith Sienar had followed them to exploit Zonama Sekot's ability to fuse organic and high technology into living starships, creating them at an astonishing rate and at an extremely high quality—and, as such, at a very high price. On the planet, the colonists sold "seed-partners," which bonded with their (typically wealthy) hosts and allowed the planet to customize a starship for the individual. Funded by the Jedi Order in aurodium ingots, Skywalker attracted many more seed-partners than anyone else had ever done, and thus, had a bigger and more intricate ship. Combining his twelve seed-partners with Kenobi's three, he named his new biological ship the Jabitha. When Tarkin and Sienar arrived, the planet "Sekot" revealed its sentient consciousness to the Jedi, explaining that Vergere had left with the mysterious "Far Outsiders" in order to protect Zonama Sekot from invasion and destruction. Skywalker and Kenobi could not rescue the Fosh Jedi, but they were able to halt Tarkin's attack.[44]

When Ke Daiv, now Tarkin's bodyguard, attempted to kill Skywalker, the boy, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, telekinetically burned the Blood Carver from the inside out—it was Anakin's "first personal kill." Skywalker, however, was captured and brought before Tarkin. But Kenobi then managed to destroy Tarkin's flagship and rescue his Padawan. During this altercation, Zonama Sekot was able to activate its massive planetary hyperdrive, causing the planet to vanish, bound for the Unknown Regions. Afterward, Sienar and Tarkin returned to the Republic. Skywalker's organic ship, unfortunately, had been irreparably wounded in the Tarkin attack, and she later died on the remote Jedi outpost-planet, Seline. After the conclusion of the Sekot mission, Kenobi and Skywalker returned to Coruscant. The encounter with Tarkin had been Skywalker's first.[44]

On the occasion of the fourth Temple celebration of his birthday, Padawan Skywalker received from his Master the special gift of a river stone that Qui-Gon Jinn had given to Obi-Wan when he was Anakin's age. The young man came later to regard it as "his most precious possession."[47][48][49]

Pursuing Adas's holocron Edit

Skywalker, now 13 years old, next accompanied Kenobi on his mission to recover from the planet Kodai the ancient Sith holocron of King Adas,[50] which the mad Sith historian, Murk Lundi, once tried to claim. With Lundi accompanying them, the three found that Lundi's pupil, Norval, a dark-side fanatic, had found and taken the holocron for himself. Kenobi, after facing and killing the deranged student, was able to recover the holocron, only to learn that their quest to reclaim it had exacted a heavy toll on Lundi's body. Skywalker and Kenobi spent the last moments of Lundi's life at his side, as the old Quermian professor expressed regret for his fanatical pursuit of the holocron years ago. With the dangerous artifact at last secured, Kenobi and Skywalker returned the holocron to the Jedi High Council for safekeeping within the vaults of the Jedi Temple at Coruscant.[51]

Crafting a lightsaber Edit

"We are not here on a mission. It is a quest. It is here that you will gather the crystals to fashion your own lightsaber." ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to 13-year-old Anakin Skywalker at the Crystal Caves of Ilum [src]

In 28 BBY, when Anakin was thirteen, Kenobi took his Padawan on a journey to the ice planet Ilum and the Temple above the Crystal Caves to construct his first lightsaber, though he did not tell Skywalker where they were going at first. When they arrived, Skywalker landed their ship on a small ledge below the Crystal Caves, their final destination. When Kenobi told him the name of the planet and their purpose there, Skywalker became excited at the prospect of finally fashioning his first lightsaber, and the two pulled on their winter survival gear before departing ship. They used cable launchers to climb the icy cliff face nearby, which led to the caves' entrance, but the two encountered there a group of sleeping gorgodons—large, hulking predators native to Ilum. One of the creatures awoke suddenly and immediately attacked, striking Skywalker with its enormous tail and tossing him back towards the cliff edge, though Kenobi was able to pull him to safety.[34]

Using his training lightsaber, Skywalker aided his master in battling the gorgodons, though when Kenobi slipped on a hidden patch of ice and was in danger of being pinned, Skywalker used the Force to leap to Kenobi's aid, only to be swatted by another gorgodon into a far wall. Recovering, Skywalker rushed to Kenobi's aid while failing to notice the predatory approach of yet another gorgodon; Kenobi, who did notice, jumped protectively in front of his apprentice, but was ultimately pinned against the cliff by the beast that initially threatened him. Using his cable launcher, and remembering what his Master had told him of gorgodons, Skywalker was able to climb the creature's back and, after a momentary struggle, to stab the beast with his training lightsaber at a vulnerable point in the gorgodon's neck, killing it. The other gorgodons fled the cave when they caught the death scent of their fellow.[34]

Removing their survival gear, the Jedi duo prepared now to enter the cave. Kenobi, who stopped just inside the cave entrance as Skywalker went on alone, first warned his student, however, of the "visions and voices" that he would face within, as part of his rite-of-passage Trial. Striding confidently into the caves, Skywalker at first ignored the voices that he heard whispering in the darkness, but when he encountered a vision of himself at the age of seven or eight seated on the ground, he stopped dead. A small, silver bell that his child-self had been playing with (very much like that of Hala of Tatooine) suddenly rolled towards Skywalker, stopping near his feet; blood suddenly began pouring from the bell's opening, spilling out over Anakin's boots, though Skywalker reminded himself that it was all just an illusion. But it became terrifyingly real when he next beheld a vision of his mother being attacked by a shadowy, indeterminate, yet strangely familiar figure—a slaver from his past—which drove the boy to charge the illusion in desperate anger.[34]

The visionary Trial finally ended when Anakin, glancing down, saw formations of lightsaber crystals protruding from the cave floor. Suddenly, Kenobi was there at his side, and, at his Master's urging, Skywalker reached out and chose three crystals that "seemed to speak" to him. Following Kenobi's instructions that it was now time to enter a state of trance, Anakin began to meditate. But as he did so, Kenobi's form suddenly began to twist and contort into that of Darth Maul, the Sith Lord who had killed Qui-Gon Jinn at Theed. Maul began to taunt Skywalker. He tossed him a red-bladed lightsaber, stoking the boy's rage as he tried to lure Anakin to the dark side. But Skywalker resisted Maul's attempts—that is, until the Zabrak mentioned Skywalker's mother, accusing Anakin of abandoning her. Enraged, the Padawan attacked Maul, but the Sith Lord quickly destroyed the boy's training lightsaber and sent him flying into the cave wall.[34]

Determined and undeterred, Skywalker summoned his will to finally banish the vision, despite Maul's ominous warning that his darkness would ever remain within the boy's soul, to taunt and torture the Jedi aspirant. When Skywalker opened his eyes, he found that the lightsaber Maul had thrown him—one identical in aspect to the one he had envisioned for his own—remained in his lap. Its blade glowed blue when he activated it.[34]

Returning now to the cave entrance, Skywalker showed his new weapon to Kenobi, who was astonished at the short period of time in which it had been produced. Anakin told his Master that he must have constructed the weapon during his entranced state, though he could not remember fashioning it, and he did not tell his Master about the vision of the Sith. Just then, Kenobi was contacted on his comlink and informed that they were being summoned back to Coruscant for a mission.[34]

Indeed, their next adventure was to be a Colicoid escort mission. But that mission unexpectedly turned into a joint mission with undercover Jedi Siri Tachi to Nar Shaddaa, in 29-28 BBY, at the conclusion of which Anakin killed the T'surr slave trader and crime lord, Krayn, by impaling him with his new lightsaber. Before Krayn's demise, the notorious slaver had not only kidnapped and enslaved Anakin, but also imprisoned him with Tachi, Obi-Wan's childhood comrade and friend. Kenobi, too, then went undercover as an advisor and slave-operations inspector for the Colicoids in an attempt to rescue Tachi and his Padawan. The death of Krayn by Skywalker effectively freed all the moon's slaves, and brought an end to the undercover mission of Tachi, who was soon thereafter Knighted.[25][34]

Mission to Radnor Edit

"You are thinking of Qui-Gon."

"How did you know?"

"Your face. It changes. Some knot inside you loosens. Something smooths out. I see it happening."

"Stop being so perceptive.

"Now you are not thinking of him at all. The knot is back."

"And you have tied it." ―Fourteen-year-old Anakin startles Obi-Wan with his already prodigious gifts of Force perception [src]

In 27 BBY, the young Jedi and his Master were called upon―along with Siri Tachi, Soara Antana, Ry-Gaul, and their Padawans, Ferus Olin, Darra Thel-Tanis, and Tru Veld, respectively―to embark on a mission to Radnor to help with the evacuation of the planet, known for its development of high-tech weaponry. The evacuation was due to a deadly toxin that had spread because of a bio-weapons leak. The Jedi later discovered that the toxic leak was connected with Radnoran raiders and their sponsors, the imminent Avoni invaders from a neighboring world. The path of guilt led to Galen, a traitorous Radnoran scientist, who was taken into custody for his treachery on behalf of Avon and its ambassador, Dol Heep. However, ultimately, the Avoni did not pay for their genocidal crimes; the Galactic Senate never thereafter forced them to make amends. To fourteen-year-old Skywalker, it almost seemed as if the planet was worse off than when they'd found it, but in the end, it was not their mission nor their mandate to rebuild Radnor.

The Outbound Flight project Edit

"Sometimes a Jedi's most important duty is to stand and wait. I presume you've mentioned that to Anakin on occasion?"

"Not more than twice a day." ―Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi [src]

Skywalker and Kenobi were next sent to Barlok to monitor the overbearing Jedi Knight Jorus C'baoth and his timid Padawan, Lorana Jinzler, in their negotiation mission between the Corporate Alliance and the Barlok. Unbeknownst to them, Kinman Doriana, on behalf of Darth Sidious, had planned for the negotiation to work splendidly in C'baoth's favor, gaining him enough prestige to go ahead with his pet project, Outbound Flight.

Skywalker and his master were then sent to observe the self-proclaimed Jedi Master C'baoth on this extra-galactic venture, at least until the Outbound Flight's last stop within the known galaxy. Kenobi did not approve of C'baoth's overseeing the project, butting heads with the Jedi Master on numerous occasions. However, the hardheaded and arrogant C'baoth would not listen, and was satisfied when Kenobi and his Padawan disembarked the venture on Outbound Flight's last stop, Roxuli. Despite the problems his master and C'baoth had had, Skywalker greatly admired C'baoth, whom he saw as an example of a great leader. This perception and assessment would later shift Skywalker's view to an infinitely improved and better-managed galaxy under the harsh rule of Palpatine.

Trouble on Ragoon VI Edit

Also in 27 BBY, a simple Jedi training mission to Ragoon VI caused Skywalker and Kenobi to get tangled up with a mysterious man whose mission in life seemed to be to track them down and kill them. Further research on Granta Omega revealed that he was from Nierport VII, collected Sith artifacts, and was extremely wealthy—though he had no traceable sources of income.

Anakin and Obi-Wan met also on Ragoon the brother-and-sister bounty-hunter team Floria and Dane (bounty hunter). There were four other bounty hunters also—Teleq, Mol Arcasite, Hunti Pereg, and an unknown hunter.

The Galactic Games Edit

"Watch it, you gravel-maggot! [./.] I know, I know … 'Feel my anger, and let it go.' But do I have to be a Jedi all the time, even in space traffic?" ―Fourteen-year-old Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker, piloting a Galan starfighter, fires an expletive at a cruiser pilot cutting in the line waiting to land on the planet Euceron [src]

Skywalker and Kenobi were then dispatched to the planet Euceron for the Galactic Games of 26 BBY in order to keep the peace during its events. Skywalker found out about an illegal podrace taking place, and decided to participate in order to help a fellow Tatooine native free his sister from her master, Sebulba. Meanwhile, Kenobi, with the help of Siri Tachi and apprentice Ferus Olin, unraveled a Galactic Games Council plot to ruin several senators' careers by framing them in false-gambling bets made on several rigged events.

The plan was orchestrated by former Games champion and Council member Maxo Vista. Kenobi learned from Vista that the podrace was also rigged so that the lead podracer would lose control of his pod and, via that sabotage, possibly kill hundreds of spectators. Too late, Kenobi set out to warn Skywalker: his Padawan, however, had already begun racing. While Skywalker eventually took the lead, Kenobi could only watch helplessly as Skywalker's pod malfunctioned. Calling upon the Force, however, in combination with his matchless piloting skills, Skywalker managed to gain control of his craft and avert a terrible tragedy, while also securing the freedom of a slave.

Student and warrior Edit

Mission to Haariden Edit

"There is one Sith still alive … I'm not Force-sensitive. I can never be a Sith. I have found something at last that I cannot buy. But I can be close to that power. I can sit at his side, as I am sitting by your side." ―Force Blank Granta Omega to Anakin Skywalker [src]

When Anakin was fifteen, the Galactic Senate and the Jedi High Council dispatched a team of Jedi Knights to the planet Haariden—a world embroiled in civil war—to rescue and retrieve five Republic scientists who had traveled there on an environmental research expedition that emphasized titanite mapping, sponsored by the Galactic Senate.

Anakin and his Master were assigned to the Jedi rescue mission, along with Master Soara Antana and her Padawan Darra Thel-Tanis, who was wounded in a fierce battle as they protected the expedition team. Unknown to all, however, was the fact that among the scientists was an impostor—"Tic Verdun"—whose real identity was Force Blank Granta Omega.

Soon Obi-Wan learned from a Haariden troop commander that Omega was indeed on the planet. After first returning the scientists to Coruscant, further investigation on the man who had previously tried to kill him and his Padawan led Kenobi to the alarming revelation that Omega and "Verdun" were one and the same. More alarming still, he was trying to take over the entire galactic market of bacta production through a titanite-monopoly mining venture, which would cause millions needless suffering and death from a financial inability to secure it due to inflated prices.

Meanwhile, Omega had deceived and captured Skywalker, who came to the same realization almost too late, saved only by Kenobi's rescue. Anakin also discovered that Omega was trying to draw the attention of, and to impress, a Sith Lord: he told Skywalker that he would accomplish this by gaining even more wealth and power in the galaxy than he already had (and what he had was formidable) and by also achieving the personal kill of a Jedi Master (Kenobi).

Notwithstanding, by mission's end, peace was restored to Haariden when its great volcano erupted and when Omega's machinations were stopped through the actions of Kenobi and Skywalker. But Omega himself—once again—escaped their grasp.

Mission to Andara Edit

"You had a responsibility! Just as I had one to Siri. You betrayed me and the Order by your actions. And your inability to see that troubles me the worst of all." ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, berating Skywalker [src]

Not long after, in 25 BBY, sixteen-year-old Skywalker and his Master were given a mission to investigate a senator's son's disappearance, which they suspected was linked with an elite leadership school for children of the galaxy's rich and powerful. In order to investigate a squad of renegade mercenary students harbored within the school itself, the Jedi Council gave Skywalker and Ferus Olin the task of infiltrating the school, which was located on Andara, by posing as privileged, high-profile transfer students. Soon, Skywalker had located the renegade students and acquired their trust. He decided to join them in a mock attack on a Senator Berm Tarturi's ship, which in Skywalker's view would be helping those who were unrepresented under the Senator's jurisdiction. Olin did not like the plan and warned Skywalker of its problems; however, Skywalker dismissed his caution due to his rivalry with Olin.

Later, Olin suddenly disappeared also, but Skywalker neglected to inform his Master. Before the "mock" attack could begin, he found out that the attack would in fact be real, and it threatened to start a war. Before he could leave to inform Kenobi, the leader of the group—revealed as Gillam Tarturi, the Senator's missing son—informed Skywalker that the Padawan would have to die in order for Gillam's plan to proceed. Left with no choice, Skywalker disarmed Gillam and the rest of the squad members, shut down the lasers of the starfighter the group was planning to use, and, at the same time, destroyed ten attack droids. At this point, Kenobi, along with Siri Tachi and Ferus Olin, had arrived to aid Skywalker, but he had already finished the fight. Skywalker's level of skill, already nearly equal to some great Jedi Masters, left Kenobi unnerved. Moreover, Skywalker's master was furious that Skywalker had not told Kenobi that Olin was missing, and for the first time, Kenobi shouted at his Padawan, in unbridled albeit righteous anger. The incident unfortunately widened the emotional gap between Skywalker and Kenobi—one that both had theretofore striven to lessen or close, in emulation of their personal hero Qui-Gon Jinn.

The Poisoned Jedi Edit

Kenobi and Skywalker were later sent on a mission to find out what had happened to the Consular-class cruiser, the Radiant IX, which was carrying the Jedi Et Rex and Alysun Celz back to Coruscant to be punished for falling to the dark side. They discovered that, while on their flight, a large group of mynocks had fed on energy from the ships electrical couplings, causing the ship to plummet into the gravity well in the Hoth system, and crash landed on an asteroid known as the Poison Moon. The distress signal was sent even as Celz killed everyone on the ship. Rex managed to escape Celz and befriend a group of mynocks.

When the Jedi found Celz on the bridge of the ship, she insisted that it was Rex who did it. Kenobi went to find Rex, leaving Skywalker with Celz. When Kenobi found Rex, Rex convinced him that Celz was framing him, and the two hurried back to save Skywalker. In the meantime, Celz tried to convince Skywalker to leave his master, but failed. Celz angrily knocked out Skywalker with her Force lightning, revealing to the Jedi as they entered that she had killed everyone on board. Kenobi engaged her with his lightsaber, only to be knocked back by a dose of Force lightning. Rex sent his mynocks after her lightning, feeding on it like they would electricity. The Jedi left the moon on Kenobi and Skywalker's ship, with Celz as their new prisoner, and headed back to Coruscant.

Yaddle's sacrifice Edit

"When you look back, lose your place on the path, you do. Learn, you will, Anakin, that stars move and stars fall, and nothing at all, do they have, to do with you." ―Yoda, on the death of Master Yaddle [src]

Later, that same year, Skywalker, Kenobi, Yoda and Yaddle were sent on a negotiation mission to Mawan to settle a devastating gang war, in which three criminal organizations fought one another. These gangs, led by Decca the Hutt, Feeana Tala, and the mysterious Striker, caused the remainder of the population to take refuge underground.

During the mission, Skywalker was kidnapped by Striker's men. Striker, revealed to be Granta Omega, tried tempting Skywalker to leave the Jedi Order and come with him, offering visions of freeing the slaves and his mother on Tatooine. When he saw that Skywalker would not yield, he made Skywalker arrange a meeting with himself and Yaddle. Unbeknownst to her and the rest of the Jedi, the chaotic planet was a trap set for the Jedi by Omega. He released a fatal chemical weapon that killed Yaddle when she absorbed it through the Force. However, through her sacrifice, she saved the capital city of Naatan. The weapon was intended by its vengeful maker to kill Skywalker and Kenobi, but it failed because of what Yaddle had done. Kenobi and Skywalker immediately contacted Master Yoda, who knew Yaddle had died, and so prepared his own transport to Mawan. Skywalker and Kenobi managed to bring peace to Mawan, but even after Yoda's words of comfort, Skywalker still felt responsible for the death of the Jedi High Council member.

The Zone of Self-Containment Edit

Skywalker's guilt about Yaddle's death caused friction between him and Kenobi, who felt that he was less than capable of teaching the mischievous Skywalker properly. When sent on a rescue mission in the Uziel system to TY44, one of the moons of the planet Typha-Dor, the two were afforded the opportunity to try and reconcile their differences. When forced to crash land on the planet Vanqor, they passed through several tribulations, including a run-in with a nest of gundarks as a result of Kenobi falling into the nest, with Skywalker having to go into the nest to rescue his master (Obi-Wan would later note that, until guarding Padme Amidala from an assassination, this had been the most tense Skywalker had ever been). Skywalker was then put under the influence of a drug called the Zone of Self-Containment, and taken prisoner by the insane and fanatical scientist Jenna Zan Arbor. Siri Tachi, Ferus Olin, Garen Muln, and Clee Rhara, who were engaged in another mission entirely, received a distress signal from Kenobi while en route to their own destination. They picked up Skywalker and Kenobi on Vanqor.

Trailing Jenna Zan Arbor Edit

Zan Arbor escaped, however, and did not resurface again until Skywalker was seventeen. From information given to them by Tyro Caladian, they discovered that she had reappeared on Romin, a focus of corruption and villainy and a shelter for criminals. In order to infiltrate the planet, he, his Master, Tachi, and Olin disguised themselves as a band of thieves looking for refuge on the planet. They discovered that Zan Arbor had allied herself with Roy Teda—the ruler of Romin—and Granta Omega, Kenobi and Skywalker's old adversary. The Jedi were about to be captured when civil war erupted. The underworld was trying to overthrow Teda, and, in the midst of it, Teda and Zan Arbor fled. The two criminals contacted the Jedi—thinking they were actually criminals—to try to find a way offworld. Unfortunately, Zan Arbor recognized Skywalker from their previous encounter, and Teda ordered his men to seize the Jedi. Before they could do so, Mace Windu and a team of Jedi arrived, arresting Teda and Zan Arbor. In spite of this, since the Jedi were trying to get to Omega, and they knew the two would lead them to him, they set the two captives free.

Trouble on Coruscant Edit

Only a few weeks later, Kenobi and his apprentice trailed Zan Arbor and Teda to Falleen, where the rogues had managed to set up the Blackwater Systems facility to mass-produce her drug, the Zone of Self-Containment. When they were found, Zan Arbor was forced to destroy the facility and they once more fled.

Skywalker and Olin were again paired when the trail of Zan Arbor and Teda led back to Coruscant. Sano Sauro—a friend of Granta Omega—and Bog Divinian started to make anti-Jedi accusations in order to convince the Galactic Senate to lessen or completely dissolve its support of the Order. This vote, which was about whether or not the Jedi should be involved in the Senate's activities, was all a part of Sauro and Omega's plan to leak the Zone of Self-Containment drug into the Senate's vents and assassinate Chancellor Palpatine. Skywalker and Olin, who were learning to forget their rivalry and understand each other, managed to prevent the assassination attempt on the Supreme Chancellor. Omega's plan was uncovered, but not in time to save twenty-one Senators and several other Senate employees from being killed by seeker droids programmed by Teda. Unbeknownst to the renegade, since Zan Arbor and Omega had no more use for the man, a seeker droid killed him, as well. Afterward, Kenobi, Skywalker, and Tachi set off to find Omega, leaving Olin to protect the Senators and Palpatine.

Confronting old adversaries Edit

Tracking Omega and Zan Arbor to Korriban, four Jedi pairs—Skywalker and Kenobi, Tachi and Olin, Ry-Gaul and Tru Veld, and Soara and Darra—journeyed there to confront and stop them. During the course of the hunt, the apprentices were split up from the Masters to better accomplish the mission. The investigation of Dreshdae led them to the Valley of the Dark Lords. Because of the dark side power of the planet, the Padawans, instead of working as a team, started fighting amongst themselves. When Skywalker found out about Olin's opportunity for advanced training, he was extremely jealous of him, and, because of all of the friction, their journey to find Omega was catastrophic. They were caught and halted by numerous traps that they would have been able to avoid were they able to function as a team. Because of this, the confrontation with Omega was a complete and utter disaster.

Previously, during the fighting, Veld's lightsaber was damaged, and Olin decided to repair it. Skywalker, who was more mechanically adept than Olin, noticed that what Olin did to the lightsaber might require a check of the flux aperture in case it might need an adjustment to compensate for the power boost. Instead of speaking out and properly repairing the saber himself, he kept quiet, believing that Olin had fixed it since he did everything perfectly. He also felt resentful that Veld had reached out to Olin instead of him, not knowing that Veld had kept quiet so Skywalker wouldn't get in trouble for keeping the faulty lightsaber a secret. During a battle in one of the tombs, Veld's lightsaber began to fail. Olin switched lightsabers with Veld in order to protect him. Darra noticed the faulty lightsaber and leaped to protect Olin. However, she was riddled with blaster fire from Omega and killed. Kenobi, who showed up just in time, was forced to kill Granta Omega with a stroke of his blade. Zan Arbor managed to elude capture once more, and was not seen again by the Jedi or the Republic.

Veld and Olin were reprimanded for not telling their masters that Veld's lightsaber was faulty. When Veld realized that Anakin knew something might be wrong with the saber beforehand, this caused friction between Veld and Skywalker. Olin, blaming himself for Darra's death, resigned from the Jedi Order.

Growing up Edit

Sometime later, Skywalker and his Master were sent on a diplomatic mission to a planet wishing to join the Galactic Republic. They soon found out, however, that the planet's indigenous population considered thievery an important social asset. During their stay, Skywalker's lightsaber was stolen. The Padawan searched for it, ashamed to tell Kenobi that he'd lost it, but soon had to admit defeat. Asking Kenobi for help, he found that the Jedi Knight knew the lightsaber had been stolen, and, using a trick of the Force, had "acquired" it from the thief. Kenobi had merely been waiting for Skywalker to admit that he had lost it.

Kenobi and his apprentice, who was sixteen at the time, were then assigne the task of protecting Senator Simon Greyshade from assassination. Greyshade had recently filled the station of Senator of the Commonality; a Senatorial seat left by his assassinated cousin. Simon's cousin, Jheramahd Greyshade, had been thrown off of the roof of 500 Republica in an attempt to stall the passage of the Financial Reform Act, which the Senator had supported. The act was a bill that addressed and was meant to reduce the amount of corruption that was causing the Senate, and, through them, the Republic, to disintegrate.

Senator Greyshade, who had received a death threat for his stand, was now under the protection of the Jedi duo. Commander Zalin Bey of the Senate Guard and her unit were assigned to investigate Jheramahd's assassination. Skywalker and Kenobi had their hands full protecting Simon from myriad assassins: droids; Keluda, a Dug; and Princess Tsian, whom they could not seriously investigate because of her diplomatic immunity. Despite these hurdles, Tsian was arrested and Keluda was killed.

Sagoro Autem and Isaru Omin continued the investigation of the Senator's murder, turning up several disturbing facts. Sagoro's brother, Venco, had assassinated Jheramahd, and convinced Reymet Autem, Sagoro's son, to unwittingly help him in another assassination, this time an attempt on Simon's life, but this second attempt failed. Sagoro managed to let his son escape, but, unfortunately, when Omin discovered his obstruction of justice, too late for him to arrest Reymet, he arrested Sagoro. The man took the blame and disgrace for what his son had done, and was removed from the office of Senate Guard. Simon Greyshade was safe once more.

Because it was found that the assassination and attempted assassination was because of the Financial Reform Act, it never got a vote. Some say that this was the cause of a good portion of the seceding planets that would soon make up the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and could have prevented the Clone Wars had it been passed.

War on the horizon Edit

"A fine student, Barriss. The Force flows strongly within her."

"So it does, but not like it does in young Anakin. He is a wild river, your Padawan, full of repressed energy that needs channeling."

"He's often impetuous, which is worrying. Sometimes it carries over into impatience, which is dangerous. But he has gone through and survived a great deal, and he is an avid student of Jedi lore. There are subjects in which he excels, such as lightsaber combat. And he's a natural pilot. But he has little time for the intricacies of history and diplomacy, and politics positively make him ill. Yet he perseveres. A trait he gets, I believe, from his mother, whom Qui-Gon knew but briefly as a quiet yet strong-willed woman."

"If anyone can turn such unwieldy raw material into a polished Jedi Knight, I suspect it is you, Obi-Wan." ―Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli reflect upon their Padawans on the secession-threatened planet Ansion. [src]

At the age of nineteen, in 22 BBY, Skywalker and Kenobi, along with Luminara Unduli and her apprentice, Barriss Offee, were sent to Ansion to settle a border dispute that had the potential to cause the extremely strategic planet to secede to the Confederacy. If Ansion fell, so would countless other worlds. The Jedi negotiated a settlement with city dwellers to remain in the Republic, provided they also convinced the nomadic Alwari to allow expansion into the grasslands. Little did they know that Presidente Shu Mai of the Commerce Guild was pulling the strings to cause Ansion to secede. Arriving early, Kenobi and Skywalker were just in time to rescue Unduli and Offee from a mob of killers. Thanks again to Shu Mai and her minion Soergg the Hutt, the Jedi were in constant danger from attack by hired killers, including a successful kidnapping of Offee by two Ansionians, Kyakhta and Bulgan. Offee healed the two killers of injuries, though, and they became guides for the Jedi to find the nomadic clans, particularly the Borokii overclan. Traveling on suubatars, the Jedi braved hazards such as flying chawix, kyren hordes, capture by the Yiwa clan and shanhs. On one occasion, the Jedi were required to publicly entertain their hosts, each in turn and in their own way. When called up himself, Skywalker chose to sing a ballad he had known and often sung in childhood, impressing both the Ansionians and his fellow Jedi with his deep and resonant voice.

The Jedi eventually made contact with the Borokii overclan, who, after requiring the Jedi to retrieve a tuft of rare albino surepp wool, agreed to the Jedi's settlement—provided they help wage war against their rivals, the Januul clan. Skywalker was shocked when Kenobi agreed, but he had a plan. When the battle lines were drawn, the Jedi marched out into the middle and refused to fight either side, calling on both clans to negotiate a settlement. Kenobi, Skywalker, Unduli, and Offee were subsequently attacked by both sides, but they deflected the assaults, and amazingly parried only the weapons' strikes or blasts, defeating both armies with no loss of life. In the wake of the following peace between the tribes, the Jedi journeyed back to the capital of Cuipernam to inform the Unity Council controlling the planet's fate of their success. While they were attacked again by thugs, the two clans sent an Alwari honor guard to help the Jedi, and Ansion remained in the Republic, thanks to the efforts of Skywalker and his companions. Because of her status as Presidente, Shu Mai was not discovered to be a key mover behind the matter.

Reunited with Amidala Edit

"Ani…? My goodness, you've grown." ―Padmé Amidala to Anakin Skywalker, upon their reunion [src]

"You're asking me to be rational. That is something that I know I cannot do. Believe me, I wish I could just wish away my feelings, but I can't." ―Skywalker, to Amidala [src]

Just one day after his twentieth birthday,[52] the bounty hunter Zam Wesell made an attempt on the life of Padmé Amidala, now the Senator of the Chommell sector. Skywalker was personally assigned to protect and escort Amidala back to her homeworld. To avoid looking conspicuous, the two traveled as refugees. Skywalker had not seen her in ten years, though he had thought about her almost daily since their parting at Naboo. His childhood fascination with her had turned into a powerful infatuation. In conversation, Skywalker revealed his affection for h