What The Skywalker Family Would Have Looked Like Without Anakin's Fall To The Dark Side

Anakin Skywalker's fall to the Dark Side was the backbone of the George Lucas installments of the Star Wars saga - beginning his story as a young boy, and culminating in the climax of his redemption. It's the central heart of the Star Wars story - Anakin's path is the string that holds the Skywalker saga together in one piece. Fans watched him become the annoying teenager, then the tortured man vying to save the love of his life, and then as the young Jedi selling his soul to Palpatine. It's the most tragic of galactic stories. Anakin's turn to the Dark Side is a story that haunts the overall story - with characters from Obi-Wan to Luke wondering how and why their friend and father could fall so far.

And now, with the Skywalker saga over with The Rise of Skywalker, fans can fantasize about what could have been in an alternate timeline. Reddit user u/Onehealthgaming shared a doctored image of the Skywalker family together for the first time. Fans can see a glimpse of the life Anakin Skywalker desired, and what he deserved. A world in which Padme lived, and Anakin could have looked upon his children with his own eyes:

It is a heartwarming image, seeing the entire Skywalker clan together. Fans can now speculate what the Star Wars universe would have been like had Anakin saved Padme and the Jedi Council defeated Palpatine. The stakes, one can imagine, would be quite different. With Anakin unmaimed and the Empire nonexistent, Luke and Leia's roles in the galaxy would be interesting to see. Would Anakin be expelled from the Jedi Order? Would he leave gracefully, knowing he can live his life with Padme? It stands to reason that Luke and Leia would still become Jedi. Maybe even Uncle Obi-Wan would come to visit, without the awkwardness of knowing he chopped their dad's limbs off and left him to die on the shore of a lava river.

Speculating on the different paths Anakin's story could have taken is nothing new. The Revenge of the Sith video game from 2005 featured an alternate ending in which Anakin defeats Obi-Wan in their climatic duel and kills Palpatine in order to claim the galaxy for himself. But that was a depressing idea! That leaves Anakin with no hope for redemption.

u/Onehealthgaming's fan art, however unobtainable, is something that fans want to speculate about. With the current future line-up of Disney+ shows in the works, it would be interesting to see a speculative series similar to the many different stories from the now non-canon Legends. Maybe one day we could see a live-action version of a "what if" story featuring an Anakin that did not fall to the temptation of the Dark Side. Or perhaps Marvel Comics could tackle that subject in a line of future stories.

The ideas pertaining to this speculative story are endless. It would be interesting to see what sort of narratives could arise from this, to see the ramifications of this timeline. No Empire, no Kylo Ren, Luke and Leia training together in the Jedi Academy. We could see Anakin's full potential as a Jedi without the limitations he had as Darth Vader. What would the Sith look like without Palpatine's successful masterplan? What would be the latest threat to the Republic?

The threads stemming from this fan art is a lengthy one. A story like this would certainly change the Star Wars story radically, but it would be heartwarming to see Anakin receive the life he was destined to never live in the original story. Seeing this image and knowing that Anakin just wanted to be recognized by the Jedi Council, live happily with Padme, and see his children grow up, makes it all the more painful to rewatch the films and see Anakin's torturous fall.

Written By Colin Brightwell

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