Anakin Skywalker Learned His Darth Vader Future Long Before Revenge Of The Sith… But It Didn’t Change Anything

One Star Wars: The Clone Wars plotline revealed Anakin Skywalker’s future as Sith Lord Darth Vader to him years before his fall in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, but even that couldn’t change his fate. The Clone Wars is one of Star Wars’ best TV shows, in part because it supplied so much essential context to other Star Wars movies, Revenge of the Sith in particular. In fact, among Star Wars movies and TV shows, The Clone Wars includes some of the most crucial plot lines.

One storyline in The Clone Wars in particular almost changed Anakin Skywalker’s imminent downfall, thereby shifting the Star Wars timeline forever. Tragically, one key moment prevented that from happening. Although Anakin bore witness to his future as Darth Vader in The Clone Wars, his fate in Star Wars remained unchanged.

The Mortis Gods Revealed Anakin’s Future To Him

Anakin Skywalker saw his future as Darth Vader in The Clone Wars story arc that introduced the Mortis Gods, the Father, Son, and Daughter who represented balance in the Force. In season 3, episode 17 of The Clone Wars, “Ghosts of Mortis,” the Son, who comprised the dark side of the Force, intentionally showed Anakin his future as a means to win him over to the dark side. In a way very similar to how Palpatine ultimately manipulated Anakin, the Son revealed Anakin’s fate, telling him that he could prevent such a future by joining him and destroying the Emperor.

Beyond just a grab for power by the Son, though, this moment had monumental implications for Star Wars. While Anakin was sadly already well on his way to becoming Darth Vader, with not only his massacre of the Tusken Raiders but also his countless moments of jealousy and anger in The Clone Wars already pointing in that direction, he didn’t anticipate that he was headed down a dark path. He was aware, particularly with the Tuskens, that he’d done terrible things, but he didn’t think he was delving further into the dark side. Had he known, everything might have changed.

Anakin Would Have Wanted To Prevent That Future From Happening

Although Anakin eventually fell and was perhaps always skeptical of the Jedi and their motivations, he nevertheless did have plenty to live for. Moreover, he believed strongly in the Republic, enough so that he fought valiantly for the Republic’s victory in the Clone Wars, even bringing his Padawan Ahsoka Tano onto the battlefield with him despite knowing how dangerous and brutal it was. Anakin’s fall to the dark side didn’t happen all at once, it’s true, but to see himself fall to the dark side and betray the people he loved was an obvious shock.

At the time, he also didn’t have the same temptations. He had already lost his mother, but Padmé wasn’t yet pregnant, and Anakin didn’t yet fear her death. While it was a much less serious aspect of his fall, Anakin hadn’t yet been rejected from the rank of Jedi Master, either, although he knew the Jedi Council always held him at arm’s length. This likely only added to his confusion and pain at witnessing what his future held; Anakin was hiding a marriage and was disgruntled with the Jedi, but to tear down the life he’d built seemed unfathomable.

Ultimately, this very sentiment is what Obi-Wan Kenobi communicated to Anakin on Mustafar. In the end, Anakin bewilderingly became the very thing he sought to destroy. In the process, he also torched his relationships with Obi-Wan, Padmé, Ahsoka, and even R2-D2 and, worse, killed his wife. Rather than viewing this vision as a promise of future power as a true Sith Lord might, Anakin was effectively tortured by the thought—even more painful, this proves that these were not Anakin’s true intentions or aspirations. He really was a victim of his circumstances and Palpatine’s manipulations.

The Mortis Gods Even Revealed The Force Can Resurrect The Dead

This plot on Mortis also had other massive implications for Anakin and his eventual fall to the dark side of the Force. While trapped on Mortis, Ahsoka was killed by the Son. However, using the last of her life force, the Daughter amazingly transferred the limited life she still had within her into Ahsoka, using Anakin as a conduit. In so doing, Anakin and the Daughter together brought Ahsoka back from the dead.

This alone could have changed Anakin’s fate, even if he had never seen his future as Darth Vader. At that moment, the Daughter showed Anakin that not only could the Force bring people back from the dead, but also that such a power need not come from the dark side. Instead, the light side of the Force has the potential to resurrect the dead. While other Star Wars movies and shows, such as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian, have since shown that Force healing offers this power, Anakin was unaware.

Given how significantly Anakin’s desperation to save Padmé’s life influenced his downfall, this could have changed everything for him. Palpatine successfully manipulated Anakin into believing that the dark side was the only way to prevent Padmé from dying. When Anakin asked if it was possible to learn such a power, Palpatine explicitly said, “Not from a Jedi.” Because he was willing to jeopardize everything to keep Padmé alive, this one bit of information could have altered the horrors that followed Anakin’s fall to the dark side.

Anakin Lost All Memory Of The Mortis Gods, Ruining This Chance To Change

Devastatingly, this was all for naught. In the end, the Father decided to wipe the memories of Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Anakin so that they would forget what they’d seen and experienced on Mortis. Ironically, he made this decision because he feared that Anakin’s awareness of the future may drive him mad or push him toward the dark. While his logic made sense, the reality was quite different. Yes, remembering the vision of his future of Darth Vader may have haunted Anakin and created new fears in him, but the lessons he learned on Mortis were invaluable.

For one, Anakin learned that resurrection was possible through the light side of the Force, which would have undoubtedly changed his approach to his nightmares about Padmé dying. Rather than those terrifying visions leading him right into Palpatine’s trap, they may have led him to train further in the light side of the Force to achieve the Daughter’s power. Even more critically though, the visions of his future as a Sith Lord served as the warning that Anakin ultimately never got.

Throughout the prequels, Anakin acted with impunity. Had he seen the potential consequences of his actions, perhaps he would have been more cautious and made wiser choices. Sadly, however, because his memory was wiped, he failed to learn any lesson. In the end, despite the Mortis Gods arc in Star Wars: The Clone Wars showing Anakin his horrible future, the decision by the Father to wipe Anakin’s memory meant that nothing in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith changed.

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