Star Wars tie-ins have revealed the real reason Anakin Skywalker became a Jedi - and ironically it was the same reason he would ultimately fall to the dark side. Anakin Skywalker never quite forgot that the Jedi Council hadn't wanted to train him. Even as he rose through the ranks of the Jedi, becoming first a Padawan and later a Master, he always burned with a desire to prove himself.
Surprisingly, Charles Soule and Marco Checchetto's Obi-Wan & Anakin miniseries reveals Anakin almost didn't become a Jedi at all. The story is set a few years after the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, at a time when Anakin had been training as Obi-Wan's Padawan for some time. A troubling conversation with Chancellor Palpatine left him wondering whether he really belonged to the Jedi, and he went so far as to hand his lightsaber over to Obi-Wan. He was ultimately persuaded to change his mind - but, ironically, Obi-Wan achieved this by appealing to the very sense of attachment that would ultimately undermine Anakin as a Jedi.
Anakin accompanied Obi-Wan on what he believed would be one final mission, and it culminated in a moment where Obi-Wan summoned the full force of the Republic to deal with the crisis. As Obi-Wan explained, "being a Jedi is not just about power, or lightsabers, or even skill with the Force. It is about connection, being part of something bigger." Though Obi-Wan did not know it, he was inviting Anakin to pursue fulfilment and meaning through his attachment to the Jedi Order.
Anakin followed Obi-Wan's guidance, seeking definition and identity in the Jedi. But he did not find the Jedi fulfilling; when he met Padmé again in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, he pivoted to seeking those things in his relationship with her. This left Anakin torn between two attachments, unable to choose between them, and instead he resolved to live as a hypocrite. He was elevated to the role of Jedi Knight even though he had broken his vows, and he even sought a position on the Council. His apprentice Ahsoka conquered her attachment to the Jedi, leaving the Order when she realized she had lost trust in the Council, but Anakin lacked the strength to do the same. His conflicting attachments were too strong, and they ultimately tore him apart.
Obi-Wan Kenobi would come to blame himself for Anakin Skywalker's fate. In truth, he was too hard on himself; nobody can take full responsibility for another person's destiny. But certainly Obi-Wan's teaching was flawed, in large part because he didn't understand his apprentice's character and didn't grasp the true danger of his attachments. Had he done so, the Star Wars saga would have been very different.
