STAR WARS: SHADOW OF THE SITH Spoilers Explain Anakin Skywalker's Force Ghost Absence In The Sequels

STAR WARS: SHADOW OF THE SITH Spoilers Explain Anakin Skywalker's Force Ghost Absence In The Sequels

Many Star Wars fans were disappointed by Anakin Skywalker's lack of presence in the sequel trilogy, but a newly revealed novel could shed some light on why Darth Vader didn't show up as a Force Ghost...

By JoshWilding - Jul 01, 2022 10:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: SFFGazette.com

Star Wars: The Force Awakens concept art confirmed that there were once tentative plans for Hayden Christensen to reprise the role of Anakin Skywalker in the sequels. He would have appeared as a Force Ghost, with both Anakin and Darth Vader's faces shown as a way of making it clear that, even in death, he remained conflicted between the Light and Dark sides of the Force.

Unfortunately, that idea was one of many that failed to make it into these movies, and while we did hear Anakin's voice at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, that was it for him (remember, Emperor Palpatine revealed that he had been communicating with Kylo Ren by posing as Vader). 

Adam Christopher's new Star Wars novel, Shadow of the Sith, reveals that Anakin - minus any sign of his darker half - has been guiding his son, Luke Skywalker, during his adventures. 

With Luke seeking out Exegol, he heads to Tython, the planet Grogu reached out to him on in The Book of Boba Fett. As Luke attempts to use the seeing stone to find Emperor Palpatine's home (not that he knows the villain is alive at this point), he's attacked by Sith Eternal wraiths, prompting Anakin to appear and leap into action in order to fight them off. 

However, the effort of that exhausts Anakin's spirit and he fades away after warning Luke that there's a shadow darkening the Force. It's strongly hinted that outside forces are affecting him, and this could tie into previous stories that have suggested there are ways to capture and imprison Force Ghosts. 

Could Anakin have remained trapped on Exegol until Palpatine's defeat? If so, there's a chance he could appear in stories set after the sequel trilogy, though we already know Christensen will be back as Anakin - potentially as a Force Ghost - in Disney+'s Ahsoka next year. 

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SpaceParanoids
SpaceParanoids - 7/1/2022, 10:05 PM
This is what’s wrong with Lucasfilm Star Wars.
They don’t take their time crafting a solid story or trilogy or show them rely on their other mediums (books, comic books) to flesh out the story.

It’s not so hard to write especially if you are professionals.
But for some reason they can’t get it right.

I say laziness and apathy toward the fans and the product.
Origame
Origame - 7/1/2022, 10:42 PM
@SpaceParanoids - I'm waiting for the comic that explains what reva was hoping to accomplish with Luke by the end.
SpaceParanoids
SpaceParanoids - 7/1/2022, 10:44 PM
@Origame - Oh you know it’s coming.
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 7/1/2022, 10:12 PM
Fogs
Fogs - 7/2/2022, 4:25 AM
@AnthonyVonGeek - yeah, sounds convoluted as shit.

It only gets worse hahahhaha.
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 7/1/2022, 10:14 PM
SW has been dead for decades, but Disney just keeps propping up the corpse Weekend at Bernies style.

Off topic: Why no article on this?https://thedirect.com/article/mcu-wolverine-taron-egerton-marvel-talks
ThorArms
ThorArms - 7/1/2022, 10:48 PM
@Feralwookiee - eh it's making more money than it ever has in decades, so not true, regardless if you like the new direction
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 7/1/2022, 11:01 PM
@ThorArms - Making money in no way equals quality. The "storytelling" and lack of coherent tone and direction have been terrible under Disney imo.
kylo0607
kylo0607 - 7/2/2022, 4:16 AM
@Feralwookiee - It's not "dead" when it's making them a ton of money lol.

And the dip in quality doesn't mean it's dead.
Fogs
Fogs - 7/2/2022, 4:26 AM
@ThorArms - my guess is he meant it's creatively dead.

People will pay for all sorts of bad quality stuff if properly sold.
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 7/2/2022, 8:43 AM
@kylo0607 - It's dead to me creatively and to millions of other original fans. They're literally beating a dead horse at this point imo and have nothing new or interesting to say.

I'm not really concerned with how much money a multi billion dollar corporation like Disney takes in personally.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 7/2/2022, 8:52 AM
@Feralwookiee - If you're going to make comments about the franchise being dead, then you SHOULD care about how much money they pull in. Because it's factually wrong to say it's dead. You and these "millions of other original fans" may not like it now, but it's still making tons of money. Episode 9 made over a billion and that was considered the worst Star Wars movie by quite a lot of people. And that was after Episode 8, which pissed people off even more than Episode 9 lol.

Also, there's no way it's making over a billion if there are millions of fans considering it dead and not spending money on it. Which means that even these millions of fans you claim hate the franchise now are still spending money and watching it.

Doesn't sound dead to me. Not even to these millions of original fans you claim exist. Because they are at least invested enough to still watch it and spend money on it. If something can be considered dead after making that kind of money, then exactly what is considered a success lol?
PapaSpank54
PapaSpank54 - 7/1/2022, 10:17 PM
Disney buys Lucasfilm
>EU goes out the window, too complicated/goofy
10 years later
>Please pay attention to our EU, it makes the content better!

[frick]in bantha poodoo
Fogs
Fogs - 7/2/2022, 4:27 AM
@PapaSpank54 - THIS.
Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 7/1/2022, 10:19 PM
"making it clear that, even in death, he remained conflicted between the Light and Dark sides of the Force."

Insanely dumb that it even made it to concept stage. Did they just not watch Star Wars??
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 7/2/2022, 5:07 AM
@Nightwing1015 - I think that could've been interesting. Maybe not as a light side/dark side conflict, but just hos Vader personality trying to take over.

In those two decades, he did some cruel stuff as Vader, and I bet that could still haunt Anakin.
DalekCraigWasson
DalekCraigWasson - 7/2/2022, 7:18 AM
@bkmeijer1 @Nightwing1015 - I [frick]ing hate the end of Return of the Jedi and wish Anakin burned in Jedi Hell.

It's like how gangsters view the afterlife. Be a terrible person, live your life with cruelty and hatred in your heart, do one good thing at the end of your life, get "redeemed."

Sorry, I just have such a bone to pick with how Star Wars fans talk about Darth Vader where they can have their cake and eat it too. "OMG Darth Vader just murdered 20 people in 2 minutes, what a bad ass scene... awww, Darth Vader saved his biological offspring and killed Even Worse Guy! He DID bring balance!"

It's not even just that he's a child murderer (though he is), a dictator (though he is) and that he's an accessory to genocide (though he is), but that Vader lived his life, not just working for the bad guys, but clearly gets twisted joy from murdering his subordinates for their failure (at what point does it become your fault, eh Ani?). Why do people WANT this piece of shit redeemed?

Imagine a Jeffrey Dahmer or Pol Pot biopic that ended with them accepted into Heaven LMFAO.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 7/2/2022, 7:40 AM
@DalekCraigWasson - I don't think the Holy Bible says that you have to do one good thing. You have to have faith in God and Jesus Christ, look to the Holy Bible, have faith in and get saved by God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, by accepting Jesus Christ not only as the Son of God, but also He and the Holy Spirit into your heart, confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and was raised from the dead by God, repent of your sins, and have faith in God's forgiveness and blessing of grace, for your sins, and devote yourself to God.

But, no matter what anyone does, no normal human has the right to pass judgement on anyone's soul.

That is always, rightfully, up to God.

DalekCraigWasson
DalekCraigWasson - 7/2/2022, 8:24 AM
@dagenspear - Ehhh?!?! Except a brief comparison for how literal gangsters view Christianity, this was about Star Wars, lmao.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 7/2/2022, 10:46 AM
@DalekCraigWasson - dude threw pretty much Satan down a shaft though.

That said, I think, especially Obi-Wan Kenobi (the show), it has been made somewhat clear that Vader is just a different entity altogether from Anakin.

Could compare it to Upgrade (the movie), where by the end the AI just fully takes over the body of Logan Marshal Green's character. So who do you condemn, who's body it is, or who's controlling the body?
Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 7/2/2022, 12:01 PM
@DalekCraigWasson - If Star Wars were a realistic story I'd agree. But in the Star Wars universe the Dark Side is kind of like a parasite. In other words, once Anakin fell, you can't consider him fully responsible for all his actions until he broke free of that influence.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 7/1/2022, 10:28 PM
This all sounds lame
SirDuckAlot
SirDuckAlot - 7/1/2022, 10:35 PM
I rather you ignore the sequels then make up half assed attempts to fix the terrible writing and directing.
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 7/1/2022, 10:52 PM
Good God.😐....





What has happened to our precious star wars🥲?....





Fogs
Fogs - 7/2/2022, 4:28 AM
@AmazingFILMporg - Superman said it better in BvS. I don't think I even need to quote it here hahaha
Reaper87
Reaper87 - 7/2/2022, 6:26 AM
@Fogs - Say it!!!!
SpaceParanoids
SpaceParanoids - 7/1/2022, 11:27 PM
Off topic: I saw a Twitter user who reviews movies and got a chance to review Thor Love and Thunder.

He wasn’t allowed to say much but he simply compared it to possibly entering “Batman and Robin” territory.

He calls it a “tonal disaster”

I’ll take that with a grain of salt, but those trailers look pretty damn rough.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 7/2/2022, 2:08 AM
@SpaceParanoids - Batman & Robin can be consistent.
Fogs
Fogs - 7/2/2022, 4:31 AM
@SpaceParanoids - Well tbh to this day people say that about Ragnarok or even GoTG.

You can agree with it or not.

I'll watch it and decide.
SpaceParanoids
SpaceParanoids - 7/2/2022, 7:06 AM
@Fogs - I thought GOTG was great. Very refreshing and fun.
Ragnarok was Ronald fitting for the garbage planet but not so much for the few minutes of the Norse Apocalypse, but I still enjoyed it for the most part.

But when you have Gorr the God Butcher I was saying from the first trailer that the tone was all wrong.
I probably won’t see this in the theaters (I didn’t see Ragnarok there either) but I will watch it when it hits streaming and then I will make my judgement,
SpaceParanoids
SpaceParanoids - 7/2/2022, 7:07 AM
@dagenspear - Consistently bad yes.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 7/2/2022, 7:34 AM
@SpaceParanoids - I think no more worse than any of the other Batman movies arounf that time: 89, Returns, and Forever.
Fogs
Fogs - 7/2/2022, 8:14 AM
@SpaceParanoids - to each their own. To me Ragnarok is one of the most rewatchable movies in the MCU.
SpaceParanoids
SpaceParanoids - 7/2/2022, 9:09 AM
@Fogs - Oh I enjoy watching it, I just wish they would have taken a different tone with the actual apocalypse of Asgard.
Knightrider
Knightrider - 7/1/2022, 11:35 PM
The sequels are like a Marvel ‘What if…’ like ‘What if Star Wars was made today?’ rather than actual sequels to the OT.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 7/1/2022, 11:52 PM
@Knightrider - it's just pai fully obvious fan fiction. There's George Canon and then there's the Disney stuff you pick and choose to allow in. Clone Wars and Rebels George had heavy involvement with Moreno the former than the latter but Filoni is on point.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 7/1/2022, 11:50 PM
This sounds about as awful as it gets folks.
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