At the very end of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker looks on at the Force ghosts of his Jedi masters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, joined by a third: Anakin Skywalker. Luke smiles, having seen his father return to the light and defeat not just Emperor Palpatine, but Darth Vader. “Tell your sister, you were right,” Anakin told Luke right before he died, a Jedi once more.
It’s a beautiful moment. But it’s also a moment made a bit more complicated as further Star Wars stories continued to be told. In the prequel trilogy George Lucas had to address an elephant in the room: why didn’t all Jedi become Force ghosts like that? So at the end of Revenge of the Sith, Yoda tells Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon Jinn had learned how to do this and would teach him. Yoda’s own journey to learn these things was later shown in The Clone Wars. These stories helped explain why not every Jedi was manifest in this way, but it created another question: how did Anakin embrace it if he didn’t have the requisite training?
For a while fans just assumed it was because, as the Chosen One, Anakin had the raw strength and power through the Force to do so. That’s a perfectly defensible theory, but a recent Star Wars book expanded on it a bit further. In the excellent From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi, there are 40 different stories in honor of the 40th anniversary of the film. But the clear standout was Mike Chen’s chapter “Brotherhood”, about Anakin Skywalker’s journey immediately upon becoming one with the Force.
As Anakin passed away, he fought against fading into the Force entirely. As he heard voices from across space and time, he found the peace and quiet that he had always longed for. But he also felt great remorse for the pain he had caused, and as a result Anakin’s spirit refused to just fade away. He was resolved to undo his works of darkness, refusing to accept that his story would conclude with the pain and destruction he had caused so many. And it was at this point that he heard a familiar voice, as Obi-Wan Kenobi came to him. His friend taught him one more lesson, explaining that he was responsible for his own deeds, but not the destruction of the galaxy. And though Anakin had made poor choices, he also had chosen to overthrow Palpatine at the end.
In short, Obi-Wan asked Anakin to trust him one more time with one more challenge, and he took Anakin to Endor. The two watched as Luke conducted a funeral for Anakin on the forest moon. “When he called out, you answered,” Obi-Wan told Anakin as they looked on. “You chose him over the Emperor. You chose empathy over power. You chose a future for the galaxy, to break the rule of the Sith. You chose to bring balance.” And as they looked at Luke, Obi-Wan told Anakin that the younger Skywalker was both the present and the future hope for the galaxy. They then looked on at a party in the trees as Luke returned to his friends, including Leia. Anakin realized that he was manifesting in a corporeal form, alongside Obi-Wan – and Yoda!
And it was upon looking at Luke, and Leia, and their friends that Anakin was finally able to let go. He suppressed the urge within him to do more, to atone for his sins, and he trusted his children to do what he could not.
So while the chapter doesn’t go super in-depth about how the process worked of Anakin becoming a Force ghost, there are three important elements that emerge from it:
- First, by sheer will Anakin fought against fading into the netherworld of the Force, convinced he needed to do more to atone for his sins.
- Second, his good friend Obi-Wan Kenobi came to him to teach him one last lesson, and it was Obi-Wan who had a role to play in Anakin’s coming to be a Force ghost. It was Obi-Wan who took him to Endor to show him these things. This is similar to how Luke would speak to Leia at the very end of her life to teach her this one final lesson as well.
- And third, his children allowed Anakin to be at peace and let go, because he knew that Luke and Leia could do more to help the galaxy grow and thrive than he could now. It was upon seeing them that Anakin finally was able to embrace this reality.
All of which is quite fitting, because the dark side is a path of isolation and loneliness and pain. But the light? Anakin Skywalker has friends like Obi-Wan, allies like Luke and Leia. He is not alone. And the burden of galactic redemption does not rest upon his shoulders alone.
Star Wars Thoughts 