New Details on How Anakin Became a Force Ghost

Star Wars fans have been wondering why and how Anakin Skywalker was able to become a Force ghost in Return of the Jedi if he never went through the required training like Qui-Gon, Yoda, or Obi-Wan. Mike Chen's story, Brotherhood, in From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi has given us some new information.

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[TemplinInstitute]

I feel so privileged to live in an age where we continue to learn new and exciting things about Force Ghosts.

[ephesians.]

Anakin's wellspring of life was being Vader, and as the Chosen One, I would feel he had a direct entry to Force Ghost territory. Like a VIP pass.

[CraitMerc]

I LOVE that he wants to make up for his past so he is clinging to life. Amazing.

[nerd_patriot_disciple]

I always figured that was the case. That he, like Yoda, did face the dark side version of himself and defeated it with the help from Luke and thus qualified. And I also think being literally being conceived through the force gives him a leg up too

[Iceskyguy]

I've always assumed Obi-Wan or Yoda helped Anakin retain his consciousness after he died. On Wookieepedia, Yoda is listed as Anakin's "force spirit teacher, " (I assume from reference material in the past) which made me think for a long time that Yoda himself walked Anakin through the process of becoming one with the Force by providing that anchor for him. I still think that's true but I like the idea that both Obi-Wan and Yoda helped a redeemed Anakin become one with the Force as they had and achieve life after death, which Anakin then uses to attone for his time as Vader when he can. His spirit returns to Mustafar to help some Rebels who ended up trapped in Vader's Castle by his former attentant Vanee and he guides them to safety, even if they don't fully know what's happening and dismiss the idea of ghosts existing but I really like that Anakin uses these new abilities he has gained to do good and make up for what he did as Vader and that's possibly what we may see in Ahsoka. It's great that he helps strangers but aiding Ahsoka would be a chance to right the wrongs he did to someone he knew and was close to in life, something I think would really add to his redemption and becoming Anakin Skywalker once again.

[fazbrogaming]

I’m hoping that the Well Spring of Life plays a significant role in the Dawn Of the Jedi movie. Maybe this is where the prime Jedi went to when learning about the Force.

[SpaceAcex]

Listening to the audiobook version of this story is beautiful…I was looking forward to this one and Mike Chen came through again with an awesome story

[IronChuck]

I love all this clever retconning that goes on trying to fill all the holes created over the decades. Some of them can be quite... involved.

[myriadmediamusings]

Oh boy cant watch this till Im done with FACPOV ROTJ. Just finished the Salacious Crumb story and so far Im really liking the selection.

[THEANIMEFANZ_]

My thoughts has always been the weeks, days and hours before Vader took a deep look into the force and saw the others who died spirite and ask for their forgiveness, them when they his plead for forgiveness they gave it to him after they saw the old Anakin was there, thus allowing him to become a force ghost.

[Revilod]

I don't think your training needs to be done before you die. We already know from The Rise of Skywalker that you can connect with long dead Jedi who never underwent the training and Force ghosts can already cross between the cosmic force and physical realm. I believe that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were able to teach Anakin as part of the cosmic force. This also gets around the idea that he had to balance this training and a conversation with Luke at some time within a few minutes.

[reflex]

Im so excited for this Tuesday man hasn't been like this for me since Mandolorian first came out

[evozero]

It bothered me that as a ghost he de-aged like 30yrs suddenly after years of being an old man in my copies of ROTJ.

[joshmansfield]

Anakin was conceived by the Force itself, so he didn't really need special training, it was more natural to him.

[Andrew_Thannen]

I think George Lucas's reasoning for Anakin returning as "Episode III" Anakin was something along the lines of only Jedi being able to do it, and his Force Ghost appearance was that of "the last time he was good." Even though technically the last time he was good was when he saved Luke and sacrificed himself about 25 years after the events of Episode III. Granted, I have somewhat limited knowledge of the canon outside of the movies, but my headcanon was that he returned as Hayden-Anakin by his choice.

[s.beltran]

love this, thank you for your content :)

[Jedi_Spartan]

0:58 And yet he didn't tell Luke about his Wayfinder on Mustafar while he was looking for Exegol and none of the Force Ghosts appeared to Luke until TLJ. Has Canon explained either of those yet (asking out of genuine curiosity)?

At least in Legends it was mentioned that they didn't help guide Luke in rebuilding the Jedi because (at least for Obi Wan) it was either becoming more inconsistent for them to appear or time for them to finally move beyond the physical realm completely.

[PickledPyper]

I'm always a sucker for Anakin anyway but it is kinda emotional and actually shows growth- despite what others think. The fact that he decided to stay as a force ghost to help others at all shows that. With the "all living things" having a connection, he could have went straight to trying to find Padme but he didn't, etc. (As far as we know anyway.)

[theigadwolf]

Jub Jub is the greatest song in Star Wars canon.

Change my mind.

[juriswilliams]

Know what? If I was Obi Wan and I felt responsible for Anakin and Darth Vader and he struck me down and I became a force ghost? I’d HAUNT his ass into the light side of the force. 20 years of “HELLO THERE” in my ear 24/7 and I’d be giving up dark side powers too! :D