While the Star Wars prequels receive positive reception nowadays, there was a time when audiences were far harsher to the trilogy. And taking the brunt of the criticism was Anakin Skywalker, with people taking issue with both the character and actor. One such complaint was Anakin's turn to the dark side; to this day, some audiences still believe his switch from a friendly Jedi Knight to a child murderer is too drastic. And while they're not necessarily wrong, the sudden change makes complete sense from Anakin's point of view.

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones shows how problematic Anakin is; he disobeys the Jedi council, slaughters the Tusken women and children, and even goes as far as to marry in secret. However, he's still a somewhat charming and caring person, far from the Darth Vader he'll eventually become. And the same trend continues throughout Star Wars: The Clone Wars, where, despite having moments of darkness seeping through, Anakin has nothing but compassion for the friends and family around him.

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Anakin Order 66 Obi-Wan Kenobi

Even for the first half of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Anakin enjoys making quips and shows great care for Padmé and Obi-Wan. And so, with the one-week timeframe the movie takes place in, it can feel unnatural that Anakin turns to killing every Jedi without discrimination and even Force-choking his wife to near death. However, all this sudden anger is the result of decades of manipulation from Palpatine.

With Qui-Gon Jinn's death in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Anakin lost the father figure he needed in his life. So Palpatine was there to swiftly take over the position and became one of the few people Anakin spoke the truth to. He knew all about Anakin's misdeeds and disdain for the Jedi, all while he encouraged this behavior, subtly convincing Anakin that the Jedi were outright evil.

The next major step was to exploit Anakin's compassion. Once he had the visions of Padmé dying, he couldn't bear the thought of losing yet another loved one and saw it as his responsibility to keep her alive. Yoda tells Anakin, "Teach yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose," confirming his suspicions that the Jedi would never help him. And so, Palpatine conveniently steps in with the only solution -- use the powers of the dark side.

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Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) on Mustafar in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Anakin even continues his trend as a good person and reports Palpatine to the Jedi, yet once again, they toss his feelings aside and insist he stay behind as they arrest the Sith Lord. Then, as a final realization of what the Jedi really are, Anakin witnesses Mace Windu try to strike down a defenseless Palpatine. He slices Mace's arm and allows Palpatine to kill him in front of his eyes. And by this point, Anakin knows it's too late to go back, so he finally gives in to the dark side, believing it to be the key to saving Padmé.

The next time Anakin is seen is when he attacks the Jedi Temple and slaughters younglings, so the jump is rather jarring. But he had a fierce hatred for the Jedi and truly thought that doing this dark deed would give him the power to save his wife. And most importantly, the dark side had taken him over. The dark side isn't just a name for using unethical Force-powers; it's an energy that corrupts the user. As Yoda says in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, "If once you start down the dark path, forever will dominate your destiny, consume you it will."

There's still a fair argument to be made that Anakin's turn was too quick from a filmmaking perspective, as the story had to be told within a movie timeframe. But as for the character, the drastic and depressing turn makes complete sense and shows how tragic the life of Anakin Skywalker really was.