How Old Was Anakin When He Became Darth Vader? (& Was It Too Early?)

Anakin Skywalker was a pivotal character in the Star Wars universe. He was destined to bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith, but would eventually become one of the most powerful Sith Lords in the history of the Dark Side of the Force. Now, if you remember The Revenge of the Sith, you’ll know that Anakin Skywalker was quite young when he eventually became Darth Vader. In this article, we are going to tell you how old Anakin was when he became Darth Vader and whether he was too young at the time.

Anakin Skywalker, born in 41 BBY, was only 22 years old when he became Darth Vader. Palpatine saw his potential and used his young age and inexperience to manipulate him with more ease, making him – ultimately – into a perfect puppet. Since there are no age restrictions, Anakin might not have been too young per se, but he was certainly quite immature when he became Vader and definitely inexperienced.

The rest of this article is going to focus on Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader, and how the fact was reflected through his age. The whole story is going to be explained and presented to you in this article so that you know the whole background. If you haven’t seen all the Star Wars movies, we have to warn you about a lot of spoilers ahead.

How old was Anakin Skywalker when he became Darth Vader?

Anakin Skywalker was born in 41 BBY. That fact is officially known. The events we are going to describe happened in 19 BBY.

After returning to Coruscant, Skywalker was reunited with his wife, Padmé Amidala. After a brief welcome and mention of Anakin’s possible death, she was informed by Padmé that she was pregnant, to which he was overjoyed. They decided to keep that fact secret from the Jedi Council and the Galactic Senate for the benefit of both. Skywalker later had visions of Amidala dying in childbirth.

To save the woman from him, Skywalker wanted to search for information in the Jedi holocrons, whose vault could only be accessed by Jedi Masters. When Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine named Skywalker his representative on the Jedi Council, he assumed that he would be given the rank of Master, which would allow him access to the holocrons.

However, the other Jedi on the Council reluctantly accepted Skywalker’s appointment, but denied him the rank of Master, angering and frustrating Skywalker. After a session with the other members of the Council, a tense Skywalker expressed his opinion to Obi-Wan Kenobi on the matter, reflecting on the fact that he needed to be a Master to save Amidala.

Further diminishing his trust in them, the Council urged Skywalker to spy on Palpatine, though Kenobi had been against that decision. Realizing that this was why the Council had agreed to Palpatine’s request, Skywalker began to lose respect for the members of the governing body, an uncertainty and mistrust that he later revealed to his wife.

Skywalker sought advice from Yoda about his visions of his future, reporting that someone very close to him died in them, but without revealing the identity of the person in question. Yoda, unaware of the intensity of Skywalker’s love for Amidala, advised him to train himself to accept the loss of his loved one. Skywalker was not satisfied with her response.

Just prior to Kenobi’s departure for Utapau to capture or kill Grievous, Skywalker approached him, sensing that Kenobi needed him. Accepting that he might need Skywalker’s help, Kenobi declined his offer, as he did not want to risk the mission turning into a “feral bantha chase”. Skywalker also apologized for his earlier behavior to Kenobi, as he was grateful to him for mentoring him, and stated that he was just frustrated.

Unbeknownst to either of them, this would be the last time Skywalker and Kenobi would speak as friends and as Jedi. Anakin became suspicious due to visions of Kenobi near Amidala during her apparent death that Padmé might be having an extra-marital affair with Obi-Wan. Also, Anakin thought that Obi-Wan was beginning to realize about the secret marriage between him and Amidala, as well as the senator’s pregnancy.

As he continued to meet with Palpatine, the Chancellor began to slowly plant seeds of the dark side in him. Playing on his fear of losing Padmé, he explained to Skywalker the story of a Sith Lord, Darth Plagueis, who was powerful enough to keep the others from dying. Knowing that this would interest Skywalker in the situation he was in, Palpatine went on to report a dark power that the Jedi would not be able to teach him.

Feeling low in the regard of the Jedi Council, Skywalker met with Palpatine on more occasions and began to share his frustrations. Sensing that the time was right, Palpatine revealed his true identity, and offered Skywalker the option of learning the ways of the dark side and using his power to save Amidala.

Igniting his lightsaber, Skywalker contemplated killing Palpatine the moment he learned he was a Sith Lord, but decided against it when Palpatine told him that killing him would make him fall to the dark side and ruin his chances of saving Padme. Instead, Skywalker went in search of Mace Windu and informed him of Palpatine’s identity, though he regretted it as Palpatine’s words echoed in his mind.

Windu, after asking Skywalker to remain in the Jedi Temple, set out with three other Jedi — Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, and Kit Fisto — to arrest the Chancellor. Sidious fought the Jedi, killing three of them almost immediately and leaving Windu alone. He and Sidious continued to fight until the Jedi Master gained the upper hand.

Back at the Jedi Temple, Skywalker was struck by an overwhelming thought: with Sidious dead, he would lose the opportunity to save Amidala from the death that appeared in his visions. That caused Skywalker to decide to leave the Jedi Temple and head to the scene of the arrest.

Tormented by the thought of Padmé Amidala dying without the benefit of Darth Sidious’ knowledge, Skywalker left the Jedi Temple, taking a vehicle to reach the Chancellor’s Office. Not knowing what was going to happen, Skywalker made his way to Palpatine’s office, where he was supposed to be arrested.

By chance, Skywalker arrived just in time to see Mace Windu facing an unarmed Sidious, his lightsaber ignited and pointed at the Supreme Chancellor’s throat. Sidious, seeing Skywalker, claimed that the Jedi were attempting to take control of the Galactic Republic, and proceeded to attack Windu with Force lightning while pleading for Skywalker’s help, attempting to convince him to spare his life.

Almost unable to stop Sidious’ lightning bolts, Windu asked Skywalker not to listen to Palpatine. As his beams were deflected by Windu into his face, the Sith Lord began to disfigure himself as he increased his dark side attacks. His face distorted and his eyes turned yellow. The true Sith in Sidious was becoming more and more apparent in Palpatine.

Windu managed to deflect the bolts that were aimed at him and stated that it was time to kill Sidious and end the Sith once and for all. However, Skywalker confronted him, claiming that Palpatine should be put on trial and that executing him was not befitting a Jedi. Windu replied that despite everything, Palpatine was too dangerous to remain alive.

With Sidious pleading one last time, Windu ignored Skywalker and raised his lightsaber, prepared to kill Sidious, but in a moment of desperation and haste, a terrified Skywalker severed Windu’s right hand, leaving him helpless and in agony. Before Windu could respond, Sidious seized the opportunity and used Force lightning to launch Windu through a window, sending his electrocuted body to the ground.

Realizing the significance of what he had just done, Skywalker was overcome with guilt and remorse, questioning his actions, but he was too exhausted and emotionally stunned to resist Sidious, who claimed that Skywalker was doing his bidding. destiny of him. Knowing that Skywalker was emotionally unstable, Sidious encouraged Skywalker to embrace the dark side and become his apprentice, allowing Sidious to teach him everything he knew.

Anakin then realized that Sidious had been manipulating him — as well as the galaxy — all along. However, due to his role in Windu’s death and his desire to keep Amidala alive, he had no hope of returning to the Jedi Order. Overcome with anguish, Skywalker agreed to do whatever Sidious wanted; only wanting to save Padmé’s life.

Though he claimed that cheating death was a power only one person had attained, Sidious promised Skywalker that together they could uncover the secret, subtly admitting that he did not have the ability to prevent the deaths of others, but Skywalker was too blind to do so. see him. Anakin Skywalker then knelt and swore allegiance to the Sith, so Sidious named him his new apprentice with a new name: Darth Vader. Since, as we have said, all of these events happened in 19 BBY, Anakin Skywalker was only 22 years old when he became Darth Vader.

Was Anakin too young to become Darth Vader?

There is no age restriction when it comes to being a Sith. The Jedi have a more fixed hierarchy, but Anakin was certainly past the age of a Youngling, and based on his skills, he was on the level of a Jedi Master. Based solely on these facts, Anakin definitely wasn’t too young to become a Sith Lord, but there is another question we have to consider here – Anakin’s psyche.

Although Anakin’s skills were formidable, he wasn’t mature enough for his role. The Jedi had a different structure so his immaturity did not come to the forefront, but with the Sith being more individualistic, Anakin’s unstable psyche was more expressed. Due to his young age, Anakin was easy to manipulate, which Palpatine, being experienced as he was, knew and decided to use.

He knew Anakin’s weakness towards Queen Amidala and he used it to manipulate him into betraying the Jedi. Had Palpatine tried the same with Obi-Wan Kenobi or someone else, he would have failed, but with Anakin, he succeeded because Anakin was young and immature. He did not have the emotional experience nor the emotional intelligence to cope with Palpatine.

Now, for the Dark Side, such strong emotions were a plus, as they made Vader a threat, but it’s debatable whether Anakin was ready for the role he was given. On the one hand, Palpatine used him well for his purposes, but on the other, Anakin was still a child pushed into a world of hatred that he simply could not cope with. From that perspective, he definitely was too young to become Darth Vader.