Anakin Skywalker was one of the most powerful Jedi who ever lived in the Star Wars universe. Unfortunately, he's also one of the most tragic, betraying the Jedi Order out of fear of losing the woman he loved, turning him to the dark side, and becoming Darth Vader at the birth of the Galactic Empire.
But what if he had never completed his training, leaving the Order when he was still a Padawan student? When Anakin began to have doubts about becoming a Jedi during his early years of training under Obi-Wan Kenobi, he did indeed almost leave--an unexpected twist chronicled in Marvel Comics' Obi-Wan & Anakin mini-series. Read on to learn what changed his mind, and what Obi-Wan's response would have been if Anakin had left.
During the 5-issue run of Obi-Wan and Anakin from writer Charles Soule with art by Marco Checchetto, the master and apprentice are on a mission to answer a distress call that was sent to the Jedi. Over time it's revealed that once the mission is completed, Anakin will be leaving the Order. After his struggles to get a handle over his emotions and impatience with his learning, Anakin has been starting to question his place in the Order and the galaxy at large, and if being a Jedi is what he's meant to be. It doesn't help that Chancellor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) recently decided to take a more fatherly role to Anakin Skywalker, taking him to the lower levels of Coruscant, and sharing with him the limitations of the Galactic Senate, but also the Jedi Order as well. This leads Anakin to become disillusioned with his Jedi training, believing he could do more outside the walls of the Jedi.
Obi-Wan reluctantly agrees to let Anakin go, leaving him with their final mission to convince Anakin otherwise. After discovering two primitive warring factions known as the Open and Closed, it seems like nothing will be able to stop them from fighting with one another, and Anakin and Obi-Wan are seemingly on their own, as the Republic sees no value in the planet. However, once they are finally able to send a message out, Obi-Wan decides to change the system and limitations for the greater good. The Republic and Jedi arrive in full force, thanks to Obi-Wan sharing that the planet's atmosphere contains high concentrations of valuable tibanna gas, despite not knowing if that was actually true or not. In any case, by being a part something bigger, Obi-Wan was able to provide support and peace to the planet as a Jedi. Inspired, Anankin decides to continue his training as a Jedi.
What's really surprising is a conversation that Obi-Wan had with Jedi Master Yoda prior to their mission. Talking about Anakin's decision to leave, Obi-Wan tells Yoda that no matter what, he would honor the promise he made his own late master, Qui-Gon Jinn, that he would train the boy, even if that meant leaving the Order with him. Imagine if both Obi-Wan and Anakin had left the Order. Would Anakin have become Darth Vader? Would the Empire even come to be? It's crazy to think about, but it looks like destiny and fate still ran its course, and the Skywalker Saga of Star Wars continued on as fans know it to be.