According to the events that span Episodes I through VI of the Star Wars saga (under the direction of George Lucas), Anakin Skywalker’s arc is one of being “The Chosen One”, a foretold someone who would “destroy the Sith and bring balance to The Force”. As for destroying the Sith, Anakin undeniably fulfilled this part of the prophecy when he sacrificed himself by heaving Darth Sidious down the reactor shaft and allowing the life support systems in his suit to be irreparably damaged by Sidious’ Sith lightening. Presuming the Rule of Two was truly in effect (i.e. there were no other meaningful Sith practitioners in the galaxy), Anakin’s final act eradicated the Sith, destroying the master, Sidious, and himself, the apprentice. As for bringing balance to The Force, this “balance” isn’t explicitly defined in the Star Wars saga, and is somewhat subject to the audience’s interpretation. In my view, a balance in The Force is a galaxy free from any individual or group of Force wielders’ overarching influence in which neither the Sith nor an overly bureaucratic Jedi Order dictate galactic affairs for better or worse. With this definition of The Force brought into balance, Anakin did indeed bring about such a galactic landscape as he played a critical role in the annihilation of the old Jedi Order and, as described above, to the Sith as well. The path is now open for Luke, the last of the Jedi, to “pass on what [he has] learned”, and for the Rebellion to bring justice and freedom back to galactic politics. By the end of Return of the Jedi Anakin’s journey culminates in his manifestation post-death as a Force ghost, a skill achieved through compassion and selflessness. Presumably in some spiritual realm, Anakin atoned for his reprehensible actions and channeled his sacrificial final moments into the Force manifestation of his better nature. So, despite the messianic connotation of the title “The Chosen One”, Anakin’s arc in Episodes I-VI is less about salvation or his total moral redemption than it is about the power of his choices to affect positive or negative change in the galaxy and The Force and how ultimately that effect was positive.
Now, let’s bring the revelations of The Force Awakens into the picture, specifically the proximity of The First Order’s rise to fill the vacuum of evil left by the Empire and the influence of Anakin’s legacy on his grandson Ben Solo. With only thirty odd years separating the events between the films, the impact of the Rebellion’s victory and Anakin’s final action is hugely diminished by The Force Awakens, and the scale weighing the positive and negative effects of Anakin’s choices shifts dramatically towards the negative scale, undoing his quasi-redemption aboard the Death Star II. The Force has not been brought back into balance as the prophecy foretold as Luke’s attempt at establishing a new Jedi Order was thwarted by Ben Solo’s embracing of the Dark Side, fueled by some warped sense of duty to the legacy of his grandfather. This extends the destructive scope and scale of Anakin’s impact on the galaxy and significantly belittles the effect of his positive choices relative to his negative choices. Furthermore, in the galaxy’s political realm, the Empire, rather than being a one-off tyrannical regime defeated by the Rebellion with the help of Anakin Skywalker, has now mutated into an equivalently evil, planet-killing, destruction-bent organization to which Kylo Ren lends his determination to “finish what [Anakin] started”. It is this belief that Anakin possessed some specific directive begs the question though of what exactly does Kylo Ren think Anakin started and could not finish? Perhaps this alludes to how Snoke was able to lure Ben Solo to the Dark Side; by feeding Ben a curated narrative about Darth Vader’s actions, omitting his redemptive actions against The Emperor and his heroic legacy as a Jedi Knight during The Clone Wars. And so therein lies a possible avenue for the positive choices of Anakin Skywalker to extend their impact into the Sequel Trilogy. If Kylo Ren is truly so strongly motivated by some sense of duty to his grandfather’s will and is then confronted by the truth about Anakin Skywalker, the truth being that he ultimately embraced the Light Side of The Force in a selfless act, it could ensue that Ben Solo similarly will be faced with such a choice: to acquiesce in the persistence of evil or to act selflessly and allow the prophecy to be fulfilled, and in that moment perhaps Ben will truly finish what Anakin started.