Anakin’s “father” was Darth Plaguis the Wise, who used the Force to create life before his apprentice, Darth Sideous (aka Palpatine) murdered him in his sleep.
I heard talk that Plaguis created Anakin with the force but may not have known where he did so, sorta sent his psychic sperm out in the ocean as it were.
Of course, Palpatine may have already stolen the secret before he killed Plagueis. He may well have created Anakin. And after all, who’s to say that his agents weren’t watching over Shmi? It would be no more difficult to have a few neighborhood spies there than on Coruscant or any other planet. (I’ll get back to this in a moment.)
Now lt’s also note that Palpatine was extremely powerful in the force. More powerful than Yoda, and almost as good in a fight as Mace Windu (in fact, the novelization strongly suggests that Palpatine might have diced Windu up, except that Windu had developed a battle technique which rendered the Dark Side semi-harmless). He could see into the future, probably better than. He was able to actually create specific military ambushes based on his visions, whereas the Jedi could only see flashes of possibility. And note how unfazed he seemed by meeting Anakin in TPM. In fact, he seemed rather amused, even gleeful about it.
Palpatine might already have easily foreseen Anakin’s importance (whereas, of course, the Jedi could barely restrain themselves from throwing him away). He may have created Anakin himself. Note this, too: the Tusken Raiders kidnapped Shmi Skywalker. They didn’t kill her. They just tortured her for no reason. Her death was so well timed that she kicked it very nearly the minute Anakin walked in. Now think about the timing in that! Who could ahve managed to arange such an unlikely sequence of events? Maybe an evil precognitive, eh? And who might have set up such a thing - perhaps some amoral agents in the pay of a certain Sith Lord?
The thing is, it strikes me as a dramatic misstep to have Anakin’s mom be nobody when it turns out that Luke and Leia have their Force powers because they are Anakin’s kids by Padme. If everyone in the Starwalker line is Somebody, what about Anakin’s mother – why isn’t she Somebody?
Since Schmi is a slave, it would have been simple enough to have her be a former noblewoman reduced to slavery through some mischance – very dramatic, too.
It seems like a dramatic misstep to have her a virtual nobody in the film, whose sole role is to give up her only son to the Jedi without protest (granted, it was probably the best thing she could do for him at the time in terms of his future) at the appropriate time and then get tortured to death at the appropriate time. (Smiling Bandit’s speculations along these lines seem to be right on target to me.)
It very likely was a mistake on Lucas’ part except that, while he has his flaws as a writer, he’s actually very strong on drama and on the mythological aspects of his story. It sort of makes me think he was aiming at Schmi as an analog to the Virgin Mary, who also didn’t have much of a personality in Christian mythology other than being Jesus’ mom.
In fact, didn’t the scene where Anakin picks up his tortured mother’s body in his arms look kinda like a pieta with the roles reversed?
Technically, Padme is a “nobody” too. She has no Force powers, she was just a Senator who had ties to the beginnings of the Rebel Alliance.
And put me down for a vote of Palpy did it. I’ve heard Shmi was quite the fox back in her day.
I think you only need one parent to be powerful in the Force, etc. Padme, as Justin says, was really no one and had no Force powers. Anakin did. Schmi had no Force Powers. Palpy did.
Also, I tend to agree more with the virgin birth aspect. The destiny was already written. It was going to happen. If there was no father available, the Force itself would have impregnated Schmi. Palpy thinks he was behind it but if we are going on the assumption that all was meant to happen then I guess it was going to happen no matter what.
I still wonder where the sperm came from, though. I mean, Anakin & Padme needed hsi sperm & her egg to make a baby…why not Padme? Midichlorians are enough to be sperm?
And it was an anonymous nobody like Schmi because Darth Plaguis wisely felt his apprentice was not to be trusted. He’d replace Palpatine as soon as Anakin was grown. Palpatine knew what Anakin was when he met him, but hadn’t known where to find him.
Midichorians could perhaps have been handled well, if only Lucas’ fists weren’t suitable for eating with swiss on rye.
I like that idea. I think I’ll steal it.
I think this question could be resolved once and for all if George Lucas made one last prequel, the Star Wars 0 movie that all the fans are waiting for.
That, and having the kid grow up on a backwater outside of the Republic means that the Jedis won’t find him and indoctrinate him while he’s still a toddler. He probably never counted on a Jedi stumbling over him after only eight years, but it appears to still have been enough to make him susceptible to the Sith philosophy.
Another option: Plagueis or Sidious had a strong mystic streak to them, and figured that, wherever Anakin was born, no one so strong in the force as he would be could possibly remain obscure for very long. No matter what his circumstances at birth were, destiny would inevitably push him to the forefront of galactic affairs, where he would be easily recognize by the Sith master.
The Wookieepedia seems to agree with this conclusion. They do not go as far as to say it outright, but it’s definitely plausible.
Do any of the “virgin birth” advocates find it interesting that Pernilla August played the title role in “Mary, Mother of Jesus” the same year she played Shmi Skywalker in SW:TPM?
OK, I like the following scenario: Darth Plagious use the force to knock up Schmi with Anakin, because she was a nobody stuck on an out of the way planet where the Jedi were unlikely to come across Anakin too soon. When the Jedi find Anakin unexpectedly early, Plagious’ successor Sidious decides to use Anakin to his own ends. He sets up Schmi to be kidnapped and tortured by the Tusken raiders at the proper time, knowing that the kind of anger and guilt this will create in Anakin will open the floodgates of his mind to the Dark Side.
Fairly consistent and doesn’t describe a lot of handwaving except for the virgin birth thing, which is canon from what you guys are saying, so whatcha gonna do?