Anakin's Psychoanalysis down to the Dark Side

jonothono02
Jun 19, 2022
8 min read

Focusing on four specific scenes from Star Wars; The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, I will be analysing how Anakin Skywalker’s Id, Ego and Superego affect his life and decisions. I will explain how he went to the Darkside because of the differences between his Id, Ego and Superego. The Id, which is the immediate impulsive response which seeks immediate needs for their wants; his Ego, impulses that have been modified by our real-world experiences; and his Superego, which incorporates society’s values and morals to control the Id’s impulses. Next, I will discuss how these decisions furthered his character's development leading to his descent to become Darth Vader.

Scene 1

During Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Anakin’s Id and Superego go through a range of conflicting desires. This starts with learning he is free from slavery having wanted to be free all his life. Soon after he is also given the option to go and become a Jedi which he has always wanted to do. The realisation comes that he will have to leave his mum. His Id wants to become a Jedi but his Superego wants to protect his mum and care for her as he feels guilty leaving her behind. The Ego here is trying to mediate between the two. This is when his mum encourages his Id to take the opportunity and follow his desire for freedom, thus overruling his Superego’s concern about leaving his mum.

On his way out, a few metres away from his house, he turns back as his Superego starts to gain control wanting to give up and just stay with his mum. “People do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility and most people are frightened of responsibility.” His mum again encourages him with hope, reinforcing his conflicted Id, which then takes over his Superego and he is finally able to leave. But this is only after promising to free her from slavery, a promise he would not be able to keep which furthers his downfall to the Darkside.

Seeing Anakin’s conflicting Id and Superego humanises him and makes him seem more genuine and relatable in these big decisions. These conflicting internal struggles of his responsibilities, compared to the care he has for people, often shape his decisions. These internalised struggles shown through the Id, Ego and Superego show that he had conflict even from a young age; these films need to show his initial innocence to display his emotional downfall. Having these struggles, even if not appreciated by the audience as to how big they are, does start this process. The film then starts playing with the idea of guilt and fear, both parts which stem from the Superego.

Scene 2

Anakin talks about responsibilities while complaining about Obiwan’s teaching.

His Id is wanting to be free of his responsibilities and be able to fulfill his potential with his powers. He wants more power. His Superego and Ego are conflicted here as he knows he shouldn’t want more power as a Jedi.

In Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Anakin has aged ten years while training with Obi-Wan as his master. Near the start of his mission to accompany Padme back home to safety, he starts talking about his dislike of his master. Anakin calms down Padme, from her annoyance at the senate's decision to send her home, which shows his progression of character from a child to an adult. During this, his Ego and Superego are coming from a reasonable place talking about Padme’s responsibility.

“It is easy to see that the ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world.” However, after a compliment about having grown up he starts to show his Ego. Anakin's resentment is towards his master holding him back and controlling him. I think his dislike of having been a slave previously to a master now comes back to him in his role with his new master, Obi-Wan. His Superego could be confusing what's bad with good as Jedi are known to be good but then in his mind, he is controlled as a Jedi. “He’s overly critical. He never listens. He doesn’t understand.” He doesn’t think Obi-Wan understands, like many teenagers don’t when they doubt their parents understand. This shows his insecurities and anxieties which stem from his Superego. When Obi-Wan is being overly critical he feels like he is constantly being tested to be better. Which is accurate but probably exaggerated in his mind. Confiding in Padme builds up a relationship of trust where his Ego and Id can show their true colours, which also leads to progression into anger later on.

Following this Anakin says, “It’s not fair!” This is the first time that Anakin’s Superego isn’t in control of his suppressed anger. The Id wants freedom and is being squashed under restrictions. I think because Anakin knows he is more powerful than most Jedi, he thinks he should be allowed to do more things. Because of his power he has become arrogant, which Obi-Wan calls him out for later in the film. This idea of being powerful for Anakin isn’t necessarily to do with having power over people but the power to have freedom. So his Ego is wondering how to get out of this, while his Superego is saying you shouldn’t want to get out of this; this conflicts with his power struggles on wanting more but being limited by others. This leads him to not want to lose what he has gained. I think using Anakin’s Id, revealed through strong emotion, gives the viewer the perspective that Anakin is struggling for control. It shows his anger being controlled similarly when he was a slave as a child, then grounds it in his current age. This sets up Anakin’s character development shown through anger and fear while also showing the close relationship he is starting out of trust with Padme.

Scene 3

In Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Padme falls out of a ship during a battle, Obi-Wan fights against Anakin about going back for her. Anakin's Id is strongly wanting to help Padme but Obi-wan manages to reason with his Superego.

Anakin's emotions are high, and right now all he is focusing on is helping Padme, who fell, and making sure she is ok. This is despite Anakin and Obi-Wan chasing a deadly Sith who is able to defeat Obi-Wan by himself. Obi-Wan tries to reason with Anakin's Id and get through to his Superego. He starts by using a logical approach to try to make Anakin see things from a logical point of view rather than one governed by emotion. However, Anakin’s Id is so strongly focused this does nothing. Then Obi-Wan tries reasoning with Anakin's Superego on what a Jedi should do saying “If we catch him, we can end this war right now! We have a job to do!” This plays with his Superego on what morals a Jedi should have and how to rate their priorities. After this fails he then tries using fear, “You will be expelled from the Jedi Order”. This also lands on deaf ears as Anakin's Ego is hiding behind his Id. "One might compare the relations of the ego to the id with that between a rider and his horse."

Obi-Wan then tries to get Anakin's Ego to look at the situation from a different perspective. “What would Padme do were she in your position.” This finally gets through to Anakin and his Id’s strength decreases as his Ego goes into check; Anakin had fallen off the “horse” while Obi-Wan swung him back onto it. Using Padme as the example was also the tipping point for him. Anakin probably at that moment didn’t care about anyone else, so using her grounded him in his situation. I think doing this shows how Anakin cares so much more about Padme than most things in his life. While showing the connection it also shows a major problem that his Id is causing in his path to becoming a Jedi. While his Id is strong for what he wants, his Superego is fighting back as it knows it's wrong for a Jedi to have romantic feelings for another person. But in these moments you see how much stronger his Id is compared to his Superego and Ego, thus leading to the final scene of Anakin's betrayal.

Scene 4

Padme arrives on Mustafar. Anakin feels he is betrayed as Obi-Wan also came on the ship. He thinks he has lost her to Obi-Wan; he then lashes out in anger. The Id is making him want to kill Padme for betraying him, the Ego is fighting that impulse but losing with what he is actually doing. His Superego knows what he is doing is wrong but he doesn’t want to listen to reason; the pain being expressed through his Id is overwhelming.

During Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Anakin talks to Padme wondering why she is here. It turns out Obi-Wan had been talking to her and convinced her that Anakin had turned evil. At this point in the film, Anakin has been going against all his misgivings to save Padme, while blaming Obi-Wan for not understanding so it becomes Obi-Wan’s fault. When they eventually do talk Padme finds out that Anakin has truly changed and rejects him. “At what cost? You’re a good person. Don’t do this.”. During this time Anakin's Id has been the driving force behind everything and is threatening to decline in strength to let the Ego take over. However, when Obi-Wan appears in the ship’s doorway the Id roars back in strength but this time after his rejection he lets loose. “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”. Anakin’s force chokes Padme until Obi-Wan convinces his Id to “Let her go.” Once released she falls to the ground. As this sinks in Anakin’s Ego gains strength, blaming the Jedi for his undoing. “I see through the lies of the Jedi”. “You turned her against me!” This quote clearly shows how far away Anakin is from accepting his Id’s actions and dealing with them. Instead, his Ego is trying to make sense of the wrongs he’s committed where his Superego isn’t going to leave him full of guilt. His Superego tries to convince him through the good that could come of all the evil he has committed. “I have brought peace, freedom, justice… and security to my new empire.” After it is clear that Anakin’s Id is far stronger than his Ego the two end up duelling.

In the end, Anakin loses the duel and they talk before Obi-Wan leaves him to die from severe burns. "Just as no one can be forced into belief, so no one can be forced into unbelief." Anakin’s Id has completely won over his Ego leaving his final words to Obi-Wan to be “I hate you!”This is in contrast to Obi-Wan, whose Id and Ego would have been fighting during the duel, saying “You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you.”

I think the reason you are shown such clarity of Anakin's Id is to see the complete control it holds over him. In the end, after suffering so much pure hatred through his Id he has become a slave to it. So he is still stuck in a prison of his own making compared to being a slave as a child. This forms the loop where he starts, as a slave, with no control of his life, to where his power takes over and controls him through his fear of loss, which is reflected in his role as Darth Vader in A New Hope.

Throughout the first three films, Anakin's Id, Ego and Superego needed to show his progression towards this state where in the end his Id has complete control over his actions, which is typical of Sith psyche. This is done through pure emotion of his Id, rather than his Ego and Superego controlling his choices. The four specific scenes described above reveal this well; from his childhood when he overcomes his Superego as a youngster leaving his mum; complaining and wrestling with his Ego about being held back by his master; nearly losing control to his Id until grounded with Padme; and finally giving in to his Id which overwhelms his Superego and Ego. This shows the individual growth of his Id to where it is revealed as Darth Vader's strength in A New Hope.