Shmi Skywalker’s Last Words To Anakin In The Phantom Menace Could Have Saved Him

Shmi Skywalker’s final words to her son in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace could have prevented Anakin Skywalker from turning to the dark side of the Force and becoming Darth Vader, saving Anakin and the larger Star Wars galaxy. Darth Vader was one of Star Wars’ most powerful Sith, but he was at first just a young, innocent boy living as a slave on Tatooine with his mother. At the outset, there was no indication—other than the events of the original trilogy—that suggested that Anakin was destined to become one of Star Wars’ most influential villains.

Unfortunately, the events of The Phantom Menace kicked off Anakin’s descent to the dark side. Although it seemed like Qui-Gon taking Anakin off Tatooine, freeing him from slavery, and bringing him to the Coruscant Jedi Temple to train as a Jedi was a positive change in Anakin’s life, in actuality, this separation from his mother was already the beginning of the end. Sadly, had Anakin just heeded his mother’s parting words, his story may not have ended with so much tragedy.

Shmi Tells Anakin Not To Look Back

Shmi’s final words to Anakin in The Phantom Menace were “Don’t look back.” This moment was profound for several reasons, the most obvious being that it signaled Anakin leaving the only family and home he’d ever known to become a Jedi, but Shmi’s words have even more weight when considered in the larger context of Anakin’s story. While Shmi was literally telling Anakin to walk away and not turn back because he had said he couldn’t leave her, these words are precisely what Anakin needed to hear and understand to avoid his fate.

Anakin’s fall to the dark side was multi-layered, but at the core of his many flaws was one truth: Anakin could not let go of the past. Anakin had issues with anger, ego, and control, but the very nature of revenge, something at the heart of the dark side, is an obsession with the past. In the case of Anakin’s relationship with his mother, this was true both in the sense that he couldn’t forget that he’d left his mother behind and, once she’d died, he couldn’t separate that from the present, specifically his fears about Padmé dying.

This Advice Could Have Prevented Anakin’s Turn To The Dark Side

Shmi’s parting words to Anakin also reflected the same message that the Jedi had for Anakin, but Shmi delivered it so much better. The prequel trilogy’s Jedi Order insisted upon the inherent issues with attachments because they risked a fear of loss and feelings of possession, but this hard and fast rule never worked for Anakin. Shmi’s concern about Anakin looking back was also about attachment, though, just stated in a more humanizing, compassionate way.

Shmi didn’t want Anakin to be haunted by or tied to his past. Even though it meant her being entirely alone, she wanted Anakin to leave her and Tatooine behind, which meant not letting his thoughts linger on his mother, as Yoda had said. Had Anakin listened to his mother’s kinder delivery of this concept and not continually ‘looked back,’ he may never have witnessed Shmi’s death and become consumed with grief and fear. Ultimately, Shmi’s simple words in The Phantom Menace could have changed Star Wars.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is available to stream on Disney+