Matt Hummel
How does a young boy go from slave on Tatooine to angst-ridden apprentice, to conflicted Jedi Knight, to Sith Lord? The prequel Star Wars trilogy tells the origin story of the iconic sci-fi villain Darth Vader. When The Phantom Menace hit theaters in 1999, audiences eagerly anticipated Anakin Skywalker's transformation into the black-clad intimidator who blasted his way on screen more than two decades earlier. And from the moment the dusty little boy in Watto's shop asked Padmé if she's an angel, people wondered what the big turning point would be. Over the course of the prequel trilogy, it became apparent. It was Anakin's failure to understand the philosophical perspective of the Jedi that ruined his chance of becoming one.
The Jedi are “keepers of the peace.” Just as they protect the galaxy, Jedi are also called upon to keep the peace within themselves by aligning their wills to the Force. This requires self-restraint, abstinence from worldly pleasures, a virtue-driven mindset, incorruptible fearlessness, and total belief in following the will of the Force. As Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn warns a young, overeager Anakin, “Training to become a Jedi is not an easy challenge, and even if you succeed, it's a hard life.”
As we'll see, the principles of the Jedi Order closely mirror the “hard life” maxims of a school of philosophy known as Stoicism, represented by the slave-turned-philosopher Epictetus (c. 55–135). The comparison begins a long time ago in a city far, far away. …
Both Anakin and Epictetus were slaves eventually freed by their wealthy masters, both lived in the era of a power-crazy emperor,1 and both went on to study a life-changing discipline. While Anakin entered a well-established disciplinary order of more than “a thousand generations,” Epictetus studied and built upon a tradition of Stoicism based on principles more than three centuries old.2 For both Jedi and Stoics, philosophy is a way of life, not just a subject for study. Epictetus advised people to seek virtue through wisdom, to become conscious of what is and is not in their control, and to avert themselves from pleasure and pain by being aware of the present and practicing indifference.
A central claim of Stoic ethics is that only virtues and virtuous activities are good, and only vices and vicious actions are evil.3 Stoic virtue is the capacity to recognize and use the advantages of a situation wisely, like recognizing that “greed can be a powerful ally” in manipulating an avaricious junk-dealer. Vice involves using advantages but solely for personal gain. In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine tries to convince Anakin that the Jedi are just as lustful for power as the Sith. Anakin responds that the Jedi selflessly “care only about others,” while the Sith “think inwards, only of themselves.” For Epictetus, being virtuous and progressing toward personal excellence mean understanding the true nature of one's being and keeping one's moral character in the right condition.4 The same could be said of the Jedi, who seek to align themselves with the will of the Force rather than selfishly exploit its power.
What is power? The Force provides great power to those who know how to use it, even those who don't fully know they have it. Qui-Gon says as much about young Anakin: “He has special powers. … He can see things before they happen.” Power, however, is more than just special abilities. Epictetus asserts that true power lies in the capacity to adapt oneself to circumstances by making proper judgments of what's in a person's control:
Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions–in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing.5
I have power over my own mind. The opinions I hold, the intentions I form, the interests I develop, what I value, and to what I'm averse are all wholly up to me. What disturbs people is not what happens to them but their judgments on those happenings.6 Stoic strength of mind is quintessential to Jedi training – keeping them from slipping into uncontrollable feelings like hate and anguish. The need for a well-disciplined mind is why the Jedi Council usually refuses to train people past a certain age. “Younglings” haven't lived long enough to form desirous attachments, so they can be trained more easily to be mindful of their feelings and cultivate detachment. Remaining calm in the face of adversity and controlling one's emotions no matter the provocation are qualities often referred to as “stoic.” They're developed in the full Stoic sense by making proper use of one's awareness – in Jedi terms, being “mindful of the living Force.”
Awareness is the ability to “see each particular event in the context of the whole.”7 The wisest Jedi can perceive events within the context of the will of the Force. When Obi-Wan stops an impatient Anakin from rushing into a bar after the bounty hunter Zam Wesell, he admonishes his padawan, “Patience. Use the Force. Think. He went in there to hide, not to run.” Though it seems Obi-Wan is simply instructing Anakin in the simplistic ways of criminals, he's actually teaching a greater lesson about awareness of the Force – that it's a grand design that can be understood rationally. The Jedi would refer to it as the unifying Force that “binds” the galaxy together, creating an ultimate destiny.8 Mastering awareness involves understanding the unifying Force along with its complement in the living Force, which “flows” through each passing moment.9 Qui-Gon identifies the difference to Obi-Wan before their “negotiations” with the Trade Federation, instructing his padawan to “keep [his] concentration here and now, where it belongs,” rather than become overly anxious about his “bad feeling.” For Anakin, making proper use of his awareness would require steady practice of what Epictetus calls “indifference.”
Since Jedi must focus on the present to determine the will of the Force, they must remain detached from whatever might distract their concentration, especially relationships with other people. Epictetus calls these potential distractions indifferent.10 Matters of indifference have no intrinsic value, but one can make use of them in service of living virtuously or in accord with the will of the Force. Typically preferred are things like health, wealth, and companionship, while “dispreferred” are things like sickness, poverty, and social exclusion. Obi-Wan prefers not to fly, which he thinks “is for droids,” but when flying a starfighter into battle is required to protect the galaxy – a fact beyond Obi-Wan's control – he's indifferent toward it. He judges the value of flying within the greater context of the living Force and so does his duty as a peace keeper.
Thus, the Stoic principles of the Jedi Order are revealed:
A Jedi's strength of mind has greater value than the ability to execute a Force push. Epictetus was able to discern and practice Stoicism in our galaxy as well as any Jedi Master. But the latently powerful Anakin fails to understand the true path of Stoic philosophy for the “hard life” of a Jedi. Even if we knew nothing about Anakin's future as a Force-choke master, it would be evident over the course of the prequel trilogy that he's not destined to be a successful Jedi.
It's hard to see Anakin in The Phantom Menace as anything other than an adventurous kid, a typical boy, with some keen abilities and a disregard for authority. What then causes Obi-Wan to warn his master, “The boy is dangerous”? Precisely the fact that Anakin is a typical boy, complete with a forward-looking vision and lack of patience. Young Anakin is very interested in status and power. He defensively corrects Padmé when she calls him a “slave”: “I'm a person and my name is Anakin.” He eagerly tells Qui-Gon he's the only human who can race pods and that he's built the fastest one ever. And he ambitiously wants to be the first person to see all the planets in the galaxy.
More importantly, young Anakin has misconceptions about power. He doesn't think of power in terms of good judgment but instead as the ability to do amazing things: “No one can kill a Jedi”; “I had a dream I was a Jedi. I came back here and freed all the slaves.” Certainly, this is typical thinking for a young boy, and Qui-Gon seems convinced it's only a matter of “time and training” before Anakin realizes the true complexity of the Force and the passive approach to power through wisdom espoused by the Jedi.11 True to Stoic form, the basics of Jedi teaching involve searching our feelings and using our instincts in wading through a complicated situation. But Anakin doesn't recognize the complexity of his circumstances, nor does he practice the Jedi way of making proper judgments. This troubles Obi-Wan, but he still agrees to train Anakin.
Anakin's fascination with power grows as he learns Jedi skills, and it manifests as arrogance when he brags that he's “really ahead of” Obi-Wan, claiming that he's ready to take the trials to become a Jedi Knight. Worse, his dreams of freeing all the slaves and visiting every planet get replaced by premonitions of his suffering mother and “intoxicating” thoughts about Padmé. With a growing lust for power and zero concentration on the will of the Force, Anakin becomes overly confident in his ability to prevent tragedies in his life. After Anakin's mother's death, Padmé consoles Anakin by reminding him that he isn't all-powerful and so shouldn't feel guilty for failing to save her. Anakin loses his cool, promising to someday learn to stop people from dying. This emotional scene shows how utterly devoid of peace Anakin is and how likely he is to turn to the dark side.
When Anakin suffers a nightmarish premonition of Padmé's death, he promises her that he won't let this dream become real – yet another misconception about power. Anakin's problem is a lack of self-reflection about whether his premonition about Padmé's death is real or what his role in it is. When it comes to Padmé, Anakin seems fully confident that he can stop her death, yet he admits he's completely powerless over his feelings of love for her. He's unable to “wish [his] feelings away” precisely because he doesn't understand the kind of power that's in his capacity. “Wishing his feelings away” is just what is in his power according to Epictetus; controlling the fates of others is not. Failure to see the difference leads Anakin straight to Palpatine, who convinces him that secret powers over life and death are within the arsenal of the dark side. Anakin takes on the mantle of Darth Vader to save his wife, but in the end, it doesn't matter. Padmé dies from losing the will to live – an arguably preventable disease by Stoic standards – and Anakin suffers another blow to his conception of power. Even after Padmé's death, Anakin refuses to face the truth of his own powerlessness. Rather, he forsakes reason and remains sworn to the dark side.
Jedi Masters present a calm, stoic face to adversity and danger. They aren't thrill-seekers: “adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things.” Few Jedi would readily plummet from a hover-speeder in the all-day rush hour of Coruscant. Rather, the Jedi replace fear by opening themselves to the will of the Force, akin to surrendering the will to reason. Epictetus claims that reason is “where nature itself has fixed [people's] end.”12 Our ultimate goal is to discern and live harmoniously with nature.13 The ultimate goal for Jedi is to decipher the will of the Force and conduct themselves accordingly. Jedi have nothing to fear by living within the Force's graces, even if it leads to death – for this is also the will of the Force – whereas the Sith fear death. Darth Plagueis the Wise experimented night and day to learn how to influence the Force to create life and overpower death;14 and his apprentice, Darth Sidious, used cloning technology to create new bodies to incorporate his malevolent spirit.15 For his part, Anakin's fear of death is rooted in the threat of loss.
Anakin's fear is palpable as he starts the journey with Qui-Gon on Tatooine. Anakin immediately turns back to his mother, expressing his fear of never seeing her again. Shmi Skywalker shows Jedi-like wisdom when she instructs Ani to consult his heart whether they'll see each other again. Shmi is essentially telling Anakin to search his feelings, to seek virtue through yet-unrevealed wisdom. The young Anakin wholly misses her point, shrugging it off as encouraging mom-talk. But the fear of losing his mother stays with him through his initial review by the Jedi Council when Yoda tells Anakin, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” To suffer is to believe and behave contrary to the will of the Force – or of nature, as the Stoics would say.
Anakin's fear later leads him to experience nightmares and premonitions of death. His Jedi skills give him a clairvoyant vision of the future, but he never seeks the virtue of understanding what his visions mean; nor does he heed Yoda's warning: “Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin. Fear of loss is a path to the dark side.” Instead of guiding his actions with reason, his fear leads him away from his duty to guard Padmé in order to save his mother from torment. Upon finding her, he suffers the pain that comes from not contemplating the will of the Force and is left only with the fear and remorse that his mother suffered terribly before dying in his arms. He slaughters the Tusken Raiders and broods in hatred over what they did to Shmi. The way in which Jedi face dread is important. In Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan hopes against hope that the security recordings at the decimated Jedi Temple will not show his friend attacking their fellow Jedi. Upon realizing the truth, however, Obi-Wan doesn't sink into despair and anger. Instead, he tries to figure out what he missed, consulting the Force for guidance in a matter beyond his own wisdom. Obi-Wan's trust in the Force shields him from the fear of loss of both his friend and the entire Jedi Order.
Perhaps our sympathy with Anakin's fear of losing the women in his life points to a valid criticism of the Jedi and their Stoic principles: what count as matters of indifference? On the refugee ship, Anakin makes the argument that Jedi are encouraged to love and that creating and maintaining bonds of “unconditional love” – which is how Anakin interprets the Jedi call to compassion – “is central to a Jedi's life.” More likely than not, he's being openly facetious here in order to flirt with Padmé, but perhaps Anakin really does believe Jedi should be allowed to have relationships. It seems cold and inhuman to say that strong love for other people as well as thoughts of the suffering and deaths of those individuals are mere matters of indifference. Yoda, though, highlights the error in Anakin's argument. He reminds Anakin that “death is a natural part of life” and is to be celebrated as people “transform into the Force.” Yoda is exhorting Anakin to be aware of the greater context of life itself – that even in death, beings are an extension of the living Force. It's not that love is forbidden, but love for the Force should be greater. There's no suffering when one lives according to the will of the Force; so Yoda invites Anakin not to mourn or miss those who are gone and not to fear the loss of others: “Learn to let go of everything you fear to lose.” Yoda's sentiment rings true in Epictetus's Handbook: “If you want your children, and your wife, and your friends to live for ever, you are stupid; since you are wanting things that are not up to you to be up to you. … Exercise yourself, then, in what is within your power.”16 Anakin has the power to control his fear, seek virtue, and even find solace through wisdom. But his misunderstanding of power only compounds his fear of loss, driving him to the dark side.
As we've seen, lust for power and fear of loss dominate in the downfall of Anakin Skywalker. But underneath all this, Anakin seems most guilty of un-mindfulness on a grand scale: he doesn't get it, and never has. Qui-Gon tries to explain midi-chlorians to him before embarking for Naboo. He tells Ani that midi-chlorians live inside all living cells and allow the Jedi to discern the will of the Force. Anakin can't understand Qui-Gon's lesson that tiny things can communicate in big ways. Even after ten years of training, he still fails to understand smaller events within the context of bigger pictures, a crucial mindset for the Jedi. While in pursuit of Count Dooku, Padmé falls out of the ship and Anakin gets into a shouting match with Obi-Wan about the greater good of the galaxy. The selfishness of the dark side peeks through their transaction as Anakin demands the ship turn around to rescue Padmé. Only by couching his argument in reference to Padmé's desires does Obi-Wan convince Anakin that the potential to end the Clone Wars before they really start is worth leaving Padmé behind. Obi-Wan understands power in Stoic terms. True power is awareness of the “divine governance” of all things – the will of the Force – even in the most trivial of human affairs, and to be “moved by it.”17 The wisest Jedi subordinate their lives to the life of the entire universe and recognize themselves as one piece of a greater whole. Anakin's ultimate downfall can be found in his placing his fears and desires for misunderstood power above the power of the greater order of all.
The real tragedy of Anakin's story is something never shown in the films. Somewhere between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Anakin develops a dangerously close relationship with Chancellor Palpatine. Why he elects to confide in Palpatine is left unsaid other than Anakin's statement that “he's watched over me ever since I arrived here.” Befriending Palpatine gets Anakin to start questioning the Jedi Order. Despite the twisted deceit of the Sith Lord, there are things about the Jedi way that seem to contradict the Stoic philosophy and are worth questioning.
For starters, the infamous Jedi mind trick threatens the idea that a person has control of their own thoughts.18 The Jedi may reply that the Force persuasion technique is simply that – persuasion, not mind control. Yet Qui-Gon tries to use the Force to persuade Watto to accept Republic credits in exchange for a new hyperdrive. If the trick had worked on the Toydarian, Qui-Gon would've effectively stolen a hyperdrive, since the credits were worthless on the desert planet. Watto is a greedy dealer, so maybe he deserves to be swindled, but a Stoic wouldn't agree. A true Stoic would be concerned about the potential immorality of Force persuasion.
On a wider scale, the Jedi's agreeing to participate in the Clone Wars doesn't come across as a Stoic decision: it amounts to trying to influence an outcome beyond one's power. Epictetus calls the realization that there are conflicting opinions the very beginning of philosophy.19 But entering the Clone Wars isn't a Jedi attempt to sway opinion in their favor. Rather, they're acting as “guardians of the Republic.” It's also difficult to judge clearly the worthiness of either side in the conflict as both are masterminded by Darth Sidious. Blindness to the Sith's dealings shows a flaw in the Jedi's reasoning ability, a flaw they're conscious of and try to keep hidden. Their investigation of the Chancellor operates in the same kind of moral gray area as Force persuasion. When Anakin is asked to spy on Palpatine, he's being asked to cooperate in a deception that serves the Council's interest but is perhaps betraying its own principles, as he points out to Obi-Wan: “You're asking me to do something against the Jedi Code, against the Republic, against a mentor and a friend.”
Finally, the attempted assassination of Palpatine more clearly accentuates what is suspect about the Jedi's belief in their inability to control others. Mace Windu and a cohort of Jedi approach the Chancellor initially to arrest him. But when the revealed Darth Sidious attacks and kills all but Mace Windu, the powerful Jedi Master is forced to fight back and corner the Sith. Anakin arrives in time to see Windu with his lightsaber at the Chancellor's throat. Sidious is clearly subdued and, with Anakin there, the plan could reasonably revert back to arrest. Mace, however, exclaims, “He's too dangerous to be left alive!” Despite Anakin's pleas to put Palpatine on trial, Mace raises his lightsaber for a deadly strike. Anakin protects Sidious for his own benefit, but in a way he's also playing the more Stoic role. While the Jedi are sworn to destroy the Sith, a full assault on the defenseless Sidious doesn't fit the defensive, passive position of action guided by reason. Master Windu isn't heeding Master Yoda's lesson, “A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.” The will of the Force always seems to come into play when a Jedi slays a living being, like when Mace Windu defends himself against Jango Fett on Geonosis. The bounty hunter attacks him, and he eliminates his attacker; likewise when Obi-Wan kills General Grievous. But even those killings stand out as odd for the Jedi, who usually seem more content with disarming (literally) their foes. The preference to neutralize threats seems more in line with seeking virtue through wisdom than elimination of one's foes, even if they're genuinely evil. Jedi are called to refrain from desiring what isn't theirs and to refrain from lamenting what isn't in their control.20 The existence of vice in the form of the Sith isn't in their control, and neither is Anakin's choice to hold a different point of view. Perhaps the Jedi's extreme attitude toward the Sith is what's actually causing the “imbalance” in the Force that Anakin is destined to correct.
There's no doubt that Anakin Skywalker was a powerful Jedi, and his power seems to run in the family, something we can look forward to perhaps when Episode VII hits theaters – at the time of this writing, the latest plot rumor involves Luke having sequestered himself from the rest of the galaxy for the past ten years because he fears his inability to control his own power in the Force.21 For all his power, Anakin assures his transition to the dark side by failing to learn the key principles of Stoic philosophy according to the Jedi Order. Virtue through wisdom, mindfulness, and the practice of indifference escaped the aspiring Jedi from day one. But maybe he has more self-knowledge than we give him credit for, since he plainly admits his failure when he awkwardly professes his love for Padmé: “You are asking me to be rational. That is something I know I cannot do.”