When people say Star Wars, they think of nothing but science fiction fantasy, a kid’s movie. Yes in some way it is, but Star Wars is both a black and white melodrama about good and evil and also one that shows a deeper layer beneath the battle of good and evil. A straightforward kid’s movie would never change motion pictures the way Star Wars did. To me, Star Wars triumphed not only technically but also in terms of storytelling. The 6 film epic portrays the journey of two heroes trying to achieve their destinies during a time of a seemingly unending war. The story of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, obviously an allusion of Joseph Campbell’s Heroes Journey. And both Episode III and VI, being the last chapter of each trilogy portrayed crucial points of the hero’s journey and I could easily see nearly identical parallels and stark contrasts between the events faced by Luke and Anakin, but also a repeat of events in Anakin/Darth Vader’s life in Episode VI – Return of the Jedi and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Also staying true to Campbell, the events of both movies bear uncanny resemblances to other characters of modern and ancient folklore.

Background

The words Jedi and Sith pretty sums up the entire film series and effectively the entire Star Wars mythos. In the first movie of both trilogies, both of our heroes leave their home planet of Tatooine after initial reluctance. There, the differences between Anakin and Luke’s journey starts to show. While Anakin left behind his mother when he was too young to deal with that separation, Luke already almost a man had nothing left at home. And that sense of insecurity and lack of wisdom to deal with it would be the catalyst for Anakin’s fall from grace.  The second chapter dealt with both heroes’ inner struggles with the dark side and their road to maturity. And while Luke’s overcame the challenge of learning that his father was Darth Vader, Anakin failed his challenge. Unable to accept his mother’s death, he slaughtered an entire tribe of sand people. And the choices both characters have made would lead them to the events in Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith.

Battle in the Land of the Dead

Both lightsaber duels took place in locations serving as metaphor for the afterlife. The volcanic Mustafar was obviously served as a backdrop for hell and the Death Star throne room had an ominous similarity to the underworld realm from Greek mythology (Note DEATH Star). The Death Star was huge, lifeless, hollow and colorless. Mustafar has volcanoes, fire and brimstone. Get the picture?

In short, both backdrops mirrored the current state of Anakin Skywalker. The planet Mustafar also served as a metaphor for Anakin Skywalker’s corruption. He had unwillingly and was unaware that he had created a personal hell for himself and for those around him. He had burned and sometimes killed the people he loved (Obi Wan, the Jedi and Padme) And the Death Star was a mirror of his artificial, hollow and lifeless state after decades of living as a broken shadow, a ghost, a figure of death (a reference to Hamlet’s father). Interestingly enough, his helmet contained two images synonymous with death. (A skull and a nazi helmet)

But in both realms, someone crossed into the land of the dead to try to save Anakin from the hellish demon of Darth Vader. These two were Obi Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala and Luke Skywalker. These three mirrored the Greek hero Orpheus who journeyed into the realm of the non-living to rescue his lover Eurydice (we see this especially in Padme). Her lover had fallen into his personal hell and like Orpheus despite being heartbroken that they would never see each other again, loved their respective soul mates till their dying breath. Padme, Obi Wan and Luke, knowing that a physical battle would have no or little effect on Anakin, used words to try to revive his former self but both failed. In fact, Vader answered them similarly

“You underestimate my power” – Revenge of the Sith

“You underestimate the power of the dark side” – Return of the Jedi

However, while Obi Wan’s act of giving up and abandoning his former apprentice sealed Anakin’s fate, it was Luke’s refusal to kill his father that redeemed him, and in the earlier scenes Luke and Obi Wan’s ghost argued about whether or not Anakin could be redeemed, highlighting the contrast between the two Jedi’s attitudes towards Darth Vader. In short, Luke Skywalker could’ve learned and would not make the same mistakes his master had made. Maybe if Obi Wan didn’t leave Anakin on the lava, Anakin wouldn’t need to wait another 20 years to be redeemed.

Father vs Son

The struggle between father and son was another theme shared in both modern and ancient mythology. This again brings us back to Campbell’s idea that all stories share uncanny resemblance and this is particularly visible in tales of good and evil.

The struggle between Luke and his father had some resemblance of the struggle between Cronus and his son Zeus. An interesting factor in the movies was that Palpatine wanted Luke to “fulfill your destiny and take your father’s place” and interestingly enough Zeus had fought and replaced his father Cronus at the throne and Cronus had previously took the throne after fighting with his own father Uranus.

The phrase “Like father like son” is a very relevant theme in Star Wars. As mentioned in the introduction, both characters underwent similar or even entirely same trials in accordance to the Heroes Journey and as they story progressed and both Anakin and Luke mature, the stakes got higher and higher. The similar trials faced by Anakin and Luke could also point out to the “sins of the father” ideology. And while Anakin failed, Luke had to succeed. What Anakin destroyed, Luke had to fix.

Both characters were driven into situations where they could’ve easily killed their loved ones under the influence of anger. And Anakin, having already a tendency to fail his trials failed one more time. He coldly choked his wife and gave her a slow and painful death. A tragic irony for his motivation towards the dark side was to save her. By choking his wife, he destroyed his legacy, his family. Luke also faced a similar trial. Taunted and tortured by his father’s words, Luke succumbed to his anger and viciously attacked his father (a sharp resemblance of Zeus vs Cronus) and came really close to killing him. By doing so, protected what was left of his father’s legacy or rather rebuilding it.

Luke and Anakin were both taunted and tortured by Sith Lords using similar words.

“Learn to know the dark side of the force and you will be able to save your wife from certain death”

–        Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith

“Give yourself to the dark side, it is the only way you can save your friends”

–        Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi

But having Anakin/Vader succumb to the dark side and to have Luke overcome it all further gives clarity to our two heroes. Luke was the traditional “knight in shining armor” genre of hero while Anakin was an anti hero, if not a villain. Anakin was similar to Achilles of the Illiad and. Why is Achilles the tragic hero? Well the first book of the Illiad is titled The Rage of Achilles. And Achilles’ flaws are mentioned sporadically throughout the entire poem. Like Anakin, Achilles was also born from a prophecy. Both were seemingly unbeatable, destined for conquest in war but all that ego gave them anger, arrogance, jealousy. And those flaws gave them away and caused their deaths. While Luke was not advocated as flawless, he would sit next to King Arthur’s type of “Hero Heroes”

The Mirror of Good and Evil – Anakin vs Vader

In the intense Duel on the Death Star Throne room, many key sequences actually mirrored the ones in Episode III, all of them life changing events in the life of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

The outcomes of both battles would see Anakin/Vader experience dismemberment and then immolation that would be pivotal in changing his fate. In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin lost both his legs and his remaining human arm, and got himself horribly burned. After it was over, he was de-humanized, no longer human. In fact, his deformities had made him look like other villains of literature like Gollum and Voldemort. All of them were scarred and lost their humanity (both physically and emotionally) due to their lust for power taking a toll on them. Vader came out of the fight being no longer human, his natural living force gone and now mechanized not only physically but emotionally; he is now controlled and motivated by only 2 things. The dark side and servitude to his master. By this, the last remaining pieces of Anakin Skywalker had burned away, forever sealing his fate as Darth Vader, or so we thought.

In saving his son, the machines keeping him alive were destroyed by his master’s assault while previously; his previous master destroyed his flesh. But it was this destruction of machinery that brought him back to the light side. He was re-humanized. The previous fire destroyed Anakin Skywalker and completed his metamorphosis into Darth Vader, this fire burned away all the armor and prosthetics of Darth Vader and redeeming what was left of Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin Skywalker “died” twice in the series, and these 2 deaths take place in Sith and Jedi. His death in Episode III was the destruction of “the good man who was your father” as mentioned by Obi Wan. The “death” on the volcanic river was a very Karmaic idea of death derived from Buddhism. And that is, what goes around comes around. In a short period, Vader has committed numerous murders (the massacre of the Jedi temple, the massacre of the Separatists and his wife) and paid his dues with all the scars he received in his fight with Obi-Wan.

His death in Episode VI holds death in a very biblical perspective. By one act of redemption, all his sins were forgiven and he himself has been redeemed. In the scene of the fight, Palpatine was an epitome of sin or the devil. Anakin’s act of tossing him down the bottomless pit was probably another biblical idea where Jesus would cast Satan and the false prophet into a “bottomless pit of fire and brimstone” from the book of revelations. By comparing Anakin to Christ, it further highlights his change from being from a villain to achieving a messianic prophetic destiny. As for all, both Anakin and Christ were referred to as “Chosen One(s)”

CONCLUSION

I think the immense success of Star Wars owed itself not only to it’s special effects but it’s ability to connect and touch audiences around the world. How? By using everyday themes and parallels to religion, mythology, literature that were there for a reason. These common themes are the ones we relate to the most, why do you think they’re found in all religions?   But George Lucas didn’t totally rip off the bible, the rise of Zeus, Orpheus’ Journey to Hades or Hamlet. He wrote his story with all the themes that many authors and religion used. And by mixing it with revolutionary special effects by Lucas’ own Industrial Light and Magic, great actors who played many of the most beloved characters of all time and the musical genius of John Williams, George Lucas had put an unworldly spin on traditional storytelling and by doing so created a whole new world of galaxy far far away that is and will always be close to our hearts.