Everything aboutAnakin Skywalker’s tragic backstory is meant to culminate in his fall to the dark side as Darth Vader, but one crucial part of it was largely ignored throughoutStar Wars: The Clone Wars, which completely changes his character in that story and beyond. Anakin had one of the most difficult upbringings imaginable in theStar Warsgalaxy, as both he and his mother were enslaved on Tatooine prior to him joining the Jedi Order at Qui-Gon Jinn’s insistence.
We’re made to understand that Anakin’s fall has much to do with this upbringing, along with all the manipulation he experienced under Palpatine’s wing and the disillusionment he continued to experience with the Jedi Order, but oddly enough, it’s not always a major factor. InThe Clone Wars, it mainly comes up during the Zygerrian arc that specifically has to do with slavery, but otherwise, it fades into the background - when it should have been central for an entirely different reason.
Anakin’s Childhood As A Slave Is Fundamental To His Character
It Lays The Groundwork For His Dark Side Fall
Anakin growing up as a slave on Tatooine is no doubt the most fundamental aspect of his backstory, and easily the most tragic. This is especially true when considering the way his mother died; she had barely been freed from slavery, and because of the restrictive institution Anakin had joined,he didn’t get to enjoy any of that free life with her. That doesn’t include the amount of trauma Anakin endured in the first nine years of his life while he was still enslaved with her.
The Zygerrian arc inThe Clone Warsemphasizes just how much of a toll this took on Anakin, as he shows his dark side during that arc in any and all efforts to make the Zygerrian slavers pay for what they were doing. Still, as mentioned before, this is one of the only - if not the only - times it’s ever brought up in such a way.It should have played a much bigger role in what Anakin’s life looked like as a generalin the Grand Army of the Republic.
One of the biggest redeeming qualities about the Jedi during the Clone Wars is that they are some of the only people who actually treated the clone troopers like the individual, flesh-and-blood humans that they truly are. Where much of the galaxy and the Republic itself often saw them as “property,“the Jedi acknowledged their individuality, from using the names they had given themselves to doing what they could to prevent unnecessary clone trooper deaths.
That, however, doesn’t change the fact thatthe Jedi readily accepted what was essentially an entire army of enslaved men - Anakin included. The clones were never given a choice to join the Grand Army of the Republic;Cut Lawquane’s story inThe Clone Warsseason 2 perfectly exemplifies how some clones felt about that. To make matters worse, these clones were all implanted withinhibitor chips, similar in some ways to chips that are implanted in slaves inStar Wars.
The fan-made story “Dominoes” bymeridianponyraises this point, and portrays what Anakin may have done had he truly come to terms with this realization.
It’s not like the Jedi weren’t aware of this, either. The clone Slick even betrayed his own brothers to the Separatists due to his desire to get out of the army, something Anakin was around for. The fact that this didn’t open his eyes to this reality, or at least tothe similarities between what the clones were experiencing and what he experienced during his upbringing on Tatooine, poses some big problems for his character inThe Clone Wars.
Or At Least Listened More To Fives
Anakin was certainly one of the more empathetic generals in the Republic army when it came to the clones, but he still should have had more of a problem with leading these men in battle when none of them had chosen to be there. It’s not as if they could easily walk away; if Rex had truly turned in Cut Lawquane on Saleucami, then he would have been court-martialed and either imprisoned or executed.There was no real way outfor the clones.
Anakin should have recognized this, especially after hearing what Fives had to say inThe Clone Warsseason 6 about the chips. As someone who would have had a chip implanted in him as a child slave,that truly should have set off more alarm bells in Anakin’s head, regardless of the orders that were secretly implanted in said chip. The fact that it doesn’t, and that Anakin seems to have no problem with the clones' predicament, unfortunately affects his character.
The Anakin ofThe Clone Warsis a hero that’s meant to make his fall to the dark side inStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sithall the more devastating, butforgetting his own traumatizing upbringing as a slave when it comes to the clones makes this a bit harder to believe. If this played the role it should have, then Anakin would have at least addressed it as a concern inThe Clone Wars, but instead, he was unfortunately as ignorant as the rest of the Jedi.
