Skip to main content

The personality disorders of Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) in the Star Wars movies

Avirat Kampani

The Star Wars saga is an extremely popular series of science fiction movies based in the future and in outer space. The saga is known for its many beloved characters, but for this blogpost I will be focusing on the character of Anakin Skywalker or more popularly known as Darth Vader. I will be investigating the personality disorders depicted through the character and critiquing how the disorders are depicted through Anakin and speaking a little about how he developed them. I chose the character of Anakin Skywalker because his story depicts him turning from the potential protagonist to the primary antagonist of the story and displays aspects of these disorders through the process. In this blog I will be critiquing a few scenes from the movies that can potentially explain the development of these disorders and then critiquing displays of characteristics of these disorders by Anakin.

The primary disorders depicted through Anakin are borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. The characteristics that Anakin displays that indicate he has borderline personality disorder are his impulsive and erratic behaviors his recurring fits of anger and even his identity crisis. The indicators of his narcissistic personality disorder are his arrogant attitude caused by his prodigal status and excellent skills, his lack of empathy and his obsession with power and immortality.

Since a young age Anakin had the perception that he was capable of exceptional things and was extremely confident in himself. As a child Anakin was an exceptional engineer, he created and repaired complex technological objects for example he created the C-3PO droid and repaired multiple crafts for his pod racing. Anakin was also exceptionally skilled and had enough confidence as a pre-teen child to go up against skilled pod racers and even defeat them. Another factor that could contribute to his narcissistic personality as an adult could be his time spent as a slave. Going from the status of a slave to one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy can have a major impact on one’s self-image and perception of others. The theme of powerless to powerful is a recurring one in this saga, the journey from powerless to powerful can inculcate narcissistic views within the mind of the individual making the journey, making them believe that they are destined for greater things and better that the people around them. The experience of being born a slave can also be viewed as a traumatic event, even though Anakin did not necessarily view it as a traumatic experience it can still be a subconscious traumatic factor that could have led to the personality disorders.

The first instance where Anakin’s disorder was displayed was right after one of the most traumatic events of his life. Anakin’s mother whom he had not seen for years was kidnapped by a group of Tusken raiders; the native species of the planet where Anakin’s mother had settled. They captured and tortured her because they did not like the settlers on their planet. Anakin rushed to help his mother as he found out but once he reached her, he was too late, His mother uttered her last words to him and passed away in his arms because of the torture. Anakin was enraged and proceeded to slaughter the entire village of the native species including innocent women and children. This event displayed the lack of empathy, impulsiveness and anger brought on by Anakin’s Narcissistic personality disorder and borderline personality disorder and the traumatic event that potentially led to the unveiling of these disorders.

Another aspect that could reflect his narcissistic tendencies is his relationship with his wife. As a Jedi Anakin was not allowed to be betroth to anyone as stated by the higher ups. Anakin still refused to follow this law and secretly wed his wife which could be another reflection of his grandiose personality as he believed he was above the law. Another factor that contributed to his narcissism and belief that he was better than his peers was his awareness about his DNA. When his blood was tested it was found that his blood contained a special component that Jedis have called midichlorians and to add to this as a young boy Anakin had more midichlorians than one of the most powerful Jedi’s. The knowledge of this only added to his self-promoting nature. Anakin then began dreaming of the death of his wife and since most Jedi’s are connected to “The Force” a source of energy that the Jedi use to their advantage. This Force also gives them visions of the future. Anakin had also dreamt about the death of his mother before it happened. These dreams about his wife led him to become desperate and easy to manipulate by the enemy. Anakin was manipulated by the enemy into thinking they can save his wife and eventually betraying the Jedi.

After his betrayal Anakin began displaying more characteristics akin to borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. Anakin slaughtered a bunch of children who were training to become Jedis displaying unwarranted violence, and lack of empathy. He then dueled his Jedi master with the intent of killing him displaying grandiosity, lack of empathy, unwarranted violence and impulsiveness. Anakin also tried to justify betraying the Jedis to his wife by saying he could takeover the republic and establish the empire which only displays his narcissistic tendencies. After the death of his wife, he completely succumbed to his narcissistic and violent tendencies even knowingly trying to kill his own children on multiple occasions while also trying to make his son join him. The character of Anakin Skywalker is an effective portrayal of how these personality disorders affect an individual overtime, the portrayal of these disorders was not completely accurate since it was depicted in a science fiction movie with extraordinary circumstances.

 

Padm Amidala (Canon). (n.d.). Wookieepedia. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Padm%C3%A9_Amidala?so=search#Death

Wiki Targeted (Entertainment). (n.d.). Wookieepedia. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Shmi_Skywalker_Lars#:%7E:text=Prior%20to%20leaving%20for%20his,would%20return%20and%20free%20her

Tusken Raider (Canon). (n.d.). Wookieepedia. 

            https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tusken_Raider

 

Who Knew Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker? (n.d.). Wookieepedia. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Anakin_Skywalker#Accepting_the_dark_side

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hardin's trauma

“After”, is a 2019 teen romantic drama directed by jenny gage that revolves around the love of  Tessa, an inexperienced teenage girl, with Hardin, a mysterious ‘bad boy’ . Hardin, the main male character, never had a secure relationship with his father. When Hardin was young, his father used to be an alcoholic with a lot of debt. When he was just eight years old, intruders broke into his home looking for his father for money, however, there was only Hardin and his mother. The intruders forced themselves on Hardin’s mother, and Hardin, who was sleeping then, came downstairs to see what was wrong. To Hardin’s shock, his mother was being raped by three men, one by one. Hardin’s mother told him to leave, however, one man forced him to watch everything.  I would assume that Hardin has PTSD as a result of this incident, and in this paper I will try to prove it. Symptoms of PTSD and scenes that prove Hardin had it: The person subsequently re-experiences the event through both intrusi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Analysing “Anniyan”: Dissociative Identity Disorder meets Personality Disorders

Pranaya Prakash In the movie “Anniyan” (Shankar, 2005), the protagonist Ramanujam Iyengar, also known as Ambi, is the host of his alters: Remo and Anniyan. While the focus of the movie is only on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), the host, Ambi, and the alter, Anniyan, show symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), respectively. In this blog post, I attempt to critically analyse the portrayal of DID and the possibility of the protagonist having comorbid Personality Disorders. While it is highly unlikely for individuals with DID to have comorbidities with Personality Disorders ( Antisocial Personality Disorder ), especially with OCPD and ASPD (Fink, 1991), it is interesting to think of the possibility and analyse the developmental trajectory of these individuals.  The movie starts with the character development of Ambi, a lawyer who is meticulous and very particular ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Psychological Depth of Good Will Hunting

Shorya Sehgal Good Will Hunting revolves around the interaction of two rebellious characters, Sean Maguire and Will Hunting, who, to a certain extent, help each other to conform slightly. Will is a brilliant but troubled, young adult. He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), inferiority complex, defence mechanisms and attachment disorder. A mathematical genius, Will had a complete disrespect for authority and for his own considerable talents. As the story progressed, I was able to see Will’s personal growth as he developed an extremely strong relationship with his therapist, Sean. Sean had fought his own battles in life which had made him tough. This significantly helped Will and Sean to connect to each other on a deep, emotional level. What struck me the most in the movie is how coherently Will's journey is tied together. His transition from an inexpressive, troubled young guy to a mature and responsible one is shown very exquisitely. By the end, he was able to be...
Post a Comment
Read more