George Lucas has called the first six Star Wars films "the Tragedy of Darth Vader," for Anakin Skywalker's life as a heroic Jedi, his dark descent into an evil Sith Lord, and eventual redemptive sacrifice is the most overarching story thread of both the original and prequel trilogies.

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With Anakin's journey being one of the most important to the Star Wars saga, it's worth examining the supporting players in Anakin's life who pushed him along the dark path he ultimately went down.

10 Watto

watto in star wars

When Anakin is first chronologically introduced in The Phantom Menace, he is a 9-year-old boy living as a slave on Tatooine, he and his mother owned by Toydarian junk shop owner Watto. The inherent trauma of being someone's chattel instilled great anger in Anakin from a young age, giving him simultaneous resentment for authority and totalitarian beliefs about how lawless worlds like Tatooine should be governed. These beliefs primed Anakin for resentment of the Jedi council, Palpatine's manipulations, and his eventual role as the Empire's main enforcer.

9 Qui-Gon Jinn

Qui Gon Jinn The Phantom Menace

Qui-Gon Jinn was the Jedi Master who first met Anakin and discovered his potential in The Force, then took him from his life on Tatooine to be trained as a Jedi. Had he lived to teach Anakin, it's likely Qui-Gon would've been a more positive influence in the boy's life, his more unorthodox views in particular would've helped him to better manage Anakin's angst than Jedi dogma could.

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However, as it stands, Qui-Gon still took a nine-year-old boy away from his mother, believing it not worth the trouble to free his mother, then left him alone in an unfamiliar world, all in the possibly vain hopes of fulfilling an ancient prophecy.

8 Darth Maul

Star-Wars-Darth-Maul-Phantom-Menace

It has yet to be explicitly confirmed if the first and final apprentices of Darth Sidious ever met face-to-face, but Maul had an indirect yet cataclysmic effect on the direction that Anakin's life took. It was Maul who killed Qui-Gon on Naboo before the Jedi Master could begin instructing Anakin, forcing Obi-Wan to take his own master's place as Anakin's teacher. Given that Obi-Wan's often aloof attitude is shown to factored into Anakin's fall, if Maul hadn't killed Qui-Gon, it's possible that Sidious would've been forced to choose someone else to be Maul's ultimate successor.

7 Barriss Offee

Barriss Offee fights Anakin Skywalker

Anakin and Barriss didn't have much of a relationship to speak of, but the Mirialan Padawan was a good friend of Anakin's own apprentice, Ahsoka Tano. However, during the Clone Wars, Barriss became disillusioned with the Jedi's militant turn and worked with a terrorist cell to bomb the Jedi Temple, then took advantage of her friendship with Ahsoka by framing her for the crime. As Ahsoka was exiled from the Jedi then tried, Anakin worked to prove his Padawan's innocence and discovered Barriss' involvement; while he brought her to justice, the damage done to Ahsoka's trust in the Jedi was too great and she declined reinstatement in the Order, depriving Anakin of a close friend shortly before he would need her the most.

6 Padmé

Padme talking to Anakin on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith

As is so often the case with star-crossed lovers, Anakin and Padmé's relationship ultimately brought only ruination upon each other and the world around them. With Jedi forbidden to marry or even form emotional attachments, the two were forced to marry and see each other in secret.

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Keeping this secret from his Jedi peers only further alienated Anakin from them and the Order's teachings, and so Anakin wasn't even willing to turn to them when he had premonitions of Padmé's demise. This increasing sense of desperation, more than anything else, pushed him into the waiting arms of the Sith.

5 Obi-Wan Kenobi

Anakin-VS-Obi-Wan

Obi-Wan loved Anakin like a brother, but his own failings as a teacher played a pivotal role in his apprentice becoming Darth Vader, something he would regret for the rest of both his and Anakin's mortal lives. Forced to teach Anakin out of respect for his own master's last wish, Obi-Wan, a fairly green Jedi himself, adheres more strictly to the Jedi code than Qui-Gon ever did. This inexperience compensated for by dogma leads to a tumultuous master-student relationship. Even after Anakin ascends the Jedi ranks, Obi-Wan remains split between his loyalty to his friend and his duty to the Jedi council; these conflicting interests mean that ultimately, he isn't able to save either of them.

4 Mace Windu

Star Wars Mace Windu feature

Anakin's friction with the Jedi Council is personified by Mace Windu, who is both the embodiment everything Anakin resents about the Order and is the Jedi who most consistently showed mistrust of Anakin. Their relationship began when Windu refused to allow Anakin to be trained as a Jedi, and it never truly improved, with the persistent mistrust having fatal consequences for Windu. Arrogant, self-righteous, and emotionally-detached, Mace illuminates the flaws of the Jedi doctrine that pushed Anakin down the path of darkness.

3 Count Dooku

Count Dooku about to die with two lightsabers poised at his neck

Anakin's immediate predecessor as Darth Sidious' apprentice, Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus never had a positive relationship with Skywalker, unlike the others on this list, but Anakin's hatred for the Count of Serenno played a clear role in pushing him towards the Dark Side. First meeting on Geonosis at the commencement of the Clone Wars, Dooku literally disarmed Anakin and humiliated his dueling abilities to boot.

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From there, the two dueled several more times throughout the Clone Wars, Dooku prevailing or escaping in every instance but Anakin's rage growing more palpable with every swing of his saber. Their rivalry culminated in the last days of the war; when Dooku taunted Skywalker to embrace his anger, Anakin obliged and repaid Dooku for disarming him, before relieving the Count of his head in cold blood.

2 Palpatine

Vader-Sidious-Revenge-of-the-Sith

Palpatine's presence here goes without saying, for he had by far the most active role in Anakin's fall. As the newly-elected Chancellor promised shortly after meeting him, Palpatine watched Anakin's growth with great interest, desiring to make the young Jedi his apprentice almost as much as he craved absolute power over the galaxy. After spending thirteen years grooming Anakin, building up Anakin's trust in him all the while coaxing him to embrace darkness and alienating him from his friends and allies, Palpatine's success was a foregone conclusion.

1 Anakin Himself

Anakin in the Mortis Arc

While those around Anakin may not have helped him to the extent he needed, and in some cases, they did much worse, it would be a mistake to deny Anakin's agency in all this. He chose to become Darth Vader of his own free will, for he let his passions cloud his judgment to a degree that, given the circumstances, almost no other outcome was possible. Moreover, he denied the chance to change or redeem himself for over 20 years; it took his son being in mortal danger for the goodness in him to re-emerge.

NEXT: 5 Reasons Emperor Palpatine Is THE Villain Of Star Wars (And 5 That It’s Darth Vader)