2023 looks promising for the Star Wars franchise, with both season 2 of The Bad Batch and season 3 of The Mandalorian set to premiere. While both shows have been fantastic, neither one has featured one of the franchise's most iconic characters: Anakin Skywalker, the man who would become Darth Vader.
Anakin's character arc throughout the franchise revolves around his constant fears, which lead him to the Dark Side and consume him, turning him into Darth Vader. While he's had many fears over time, some of these fears ended up being scarier than others.
10 Abandoning People
Throughout the franchise, especially in The Clone Wars series, Anakin proves himself to be a great leader and general for the Grand Army of the Republic. But this has led to a growing fear inside him: the fear of leaving people behind.
Anakin has shown unwillingness to leave his men behind, especially in dangerous situations. He cares for the lives of his soldiers, forming attachments with some of his best men, such as Rex, Fives, and Echo. But this dangerous attachment has led to Anakin making dangerous decisions and launching unsanctioned missions in order to make sure he gets as many men as he can home safely, sometimes risking more lives than he's trying to save.
9 Being Expelled From The Jedi Order
Throughout his time in the Jedi Order, Anakin has broken the Jedi Code multiple times, the biggest violation being getting married to Padme. As such, he becomes afraid that he will eventually be discovered and expelled from the Order.
While some may think that Anakin could just resign from the Order to be with Padme, Anakin refuses to leave. He believes that he can only help people, like Padme, if he remains in the Order. As the war goes on, and it becomes more obvious that Anakin has broken the Code several times, he becomes more and more fearful, even hiding everything about this relationship from Obi-Wan (though he can piece out what's going on regardless). Ultimately, this stress didn't help him solve his conflict between duty and love.
8 Dealing With His Own Failures
Anakin's fears paved the way to his biggest steps towards becoming Darth Vader, and one of his biggest fears, though hard to see, is having to deal with failure.
Anakin is not one to fail, and he tries desperately to prevent failing himself. When he does fail, he takes it very hard, believing that he could've done better and prevented it if he had just pushed a little further. This has led to the fear that his failures make the galaxy a worse place, something that he does not want to see. Unfortunately, by doing whatever he can to avoid it, he does end up making his fears real.
7 Failing Others
Beyond the many characters that contributed the most to Anakin's downfall, Anakin has made plenty of close relationships with others. But this has led to a fear that he might one day fail them.
Failing in his own endeavors is scary enough for Anakin. But failing the people that trust him to succeed is even worse for him. Failing others, especially those he cares about like Padme and Ahsoka, scares him greatly. He doesn't want to see those he protects get hurt, and he associates failing with people getting hurt. Thus, he pushes harder to ensure that he doesn't fair, often using dark methods that go against the Jedi Code to get the job done.
6 Himself
It may seem hard to believe, but Anakin does have a fear of himself and what he can do, especially after he becomes Darth Vader.
While serving as Sidious' apprentice, Anakin has constant visions and nightmares about his previous actions and all the blood on his hands. Surprisingly enough, he hates himself for what he's done, but because of his fears of how he is perceived, he remains by Sidious' side and continues to dig a deeper and darker hole for himself. While it shows some growth to see that Anakin fears what he has become, this fear mainly comes after his transformation into Darth Vader, and pales in comparison to the fears that drove him to the Dark Side.
5 Losing Obi-Wan
While there may be several Jedi Masters that were better for Anakin, there's no denying that the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin is strong. Unfortunately, this makes Anakin's fear of losing him strong as well.
Fans have seen just how much Anakin cares for Obi-Wan and his emotions when he's gone. In The Clone Wars, when Obi-Wan fakes his death to try to uncover a Separatist plot. This 4-episode arc alone shows just how much Anakin cares about Obi-Wan's safety and how much he fears his death. This fear, of course, led to anger and hate for his supposed killer, who tried to hunt down and kill, unaware that it was Obi-Wan himself in disguise. Anakin's fear of losing his best friend only hastened his fall to the Dark Side even further.
4 Losing Ahsoka
Despite leaving the Jedi Order, Ahsoka has many quotes that prove she's the best Jedi, and she has grown quite close to Anakin, her master. Once again, this attachment has led to a powerful fear within Anakin about losing her.
There are plenty of examples of this throughout The Clone Wars, most prominent both when she was kidnaped by Trandoshans and when she was framed and hunted for crimes against the Jedi. Every time her safety is threatened, Anakin goes ballistic, using unorthodox methods in ensuring her safety. When he does actually lose her when she decides to leave the Jedi Order, he struggles to deal with this loss for the remainder of the war, always worrying about if she is still alive now that she's on her own or not.
3 Losing His Mother
Growing up, Anakin's mother, Shmi, was the only family he had. It broke his heart when he had to leave her behind to join the Jedi Order - and broke him even more when he had visions about her death.
Because Anakin loved his mother so much, it formed a dangerous attachment to her, threatening his integrity as a Jedi. When he started having visions about her death, he quickly returned home to find her, only to arrive too late to save her. Losing her drove Anakin into a state of rage and hatred, which he took out on the Tuskan Raiders that were behind her death. This attachment and fear that came with it ultimately began Anakin's journey towards the Dark Side.
2 Losing Padmé
The danger the Jedi see in forming attachments is that fear comes from losing those attachments, something that Anakin proves instantly with his relationship with Padmé.
Not only does Anakin go on extremely dangerous missions to save Padmé when she is in danger, but when he once again begins having visions of her death, he goes to extreme lengths to make sure that she lives, even turning to the Dark Side for answers.
His fear for Padme's safety is ultimately the final nail in the coffin for his transition to the Dark Side, which ultimately didn't help save her life and, ironically, ended up leading to her death all along.
1 Death
With all his suicidal missions throughout the Clone War, it may seem hard to believe that Anakin would fear death. But, as it turns out, he did.
Death is something feared by all living beings, and Anakin is no exception. Throughout the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, there are many passages that show Anakin tormented by a "dragon" that represented death, a nightmare that he was only able to overcome when he became Darth Vader, as he believed that he now had the power to conquer death and had conquered all fear. However, there's no doubt that death is one of the scariest fears out there, and it's a fear nearly impossible for anyone to overcome, including for Anakin.