History Characters / StarWarsAnakinSkywalker

** As a Padawan, Anakin has consistently lost against Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel, owing to their fighting style and Obi-Wan's level of experience. Similar to the above, as Darth Vader, Anakin never truly bested Obi-Wan either, [[SanityHasItsAdvantages having been weakened by anger and guilt]].

** Asajj Ventress is this to him. Though he always puts up a more impressive fight against Dooku than Ventress ever could, Anakin himself never manages to score a clean win against Ventress even with Obi-Wan or Ahsoka's help (though admittedly, he does come very close to winning a few times).
** He also tends to feel like he's AlwaysSecondBest to Obi-Wan despite Obi-Wan [[SurpassedTheTeacher believing otherwise]] because Obi-Wan is far more respected than him by the Jedi and other people and how he can't defeat Obi-Wan despite being able to defeat duelists who are better than him like Dooku (to his credit though, he does come very close to winning like with Ventress before Obi-Wan outsmarts him).

** He also tends to feel like he's AlwaysSecondBest to Obi-Wan despite Obi-Wan [[SurpassedTheTeacher believing otherwise]] because Obi-Wan is far more respected than him by the Jedi and other people and how he can't defeat Obi-Wan despite being able to defeat duelists who are better than him like Dooku (though admittedly, he does come very close to winning like with Ventress before Obi-Wan outsmarts him).

* HeCleansUpNicely: He spends most of ''The Phantom Menace'' wearing tattered clothing and sporting a slightly unkempt bowl cut. Once he's inducted to the Jedi Order by the end of the film, he's seen wearing cleaner robes and has gotten a nice haircut too.

** He also tends to feel like he's AlwaysSecondBest to Obi-Wan despite Obi-Wan [[SurpassedTheTeacher believing otherwise]] because Obi-Wan is far more respected than him by the Jedi and other people and how he can't defeat Obi-Wan despite being able to defeat duelists who are better than him like Dooku.

** Ahsoka occasionally calls Anakin "Skyguy", but he doesn't appreciate this nickname that much and she rarely calls him it for the rest of the time that she's his Padawan.

** During the Clone Wars, Anakin definitely perceives Count Dooku as this since he was responsible for putting Padmé in danger, killing hundreds of Jedi, the loss of his arm, and several other atrocities. They dueled multiple times, only furthering Anakin's resentment at him. Ultimately, Palpatine would manipulate Anakin into executing Dooku after their final duel, despite the latter being defeated and helpless. This act of personal revenge is a significant factor for Anakin's turn to the dark side.
** After turning to the Dark Side, he perceives Obi-Wan as this, seemingly suspecting that his former master is in a LoveTriangle with him and Padmé.

* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Despite turning to the DarkSide in ''Revenge of the Sith'', at least part of him appears to genuinely believe that the Jedi have betrayed the Republic and that he is doing the right thing, even when Obi-Wan calls them out as BlatantLies.

* BreakTheCutie: The incredibly sweet little boy of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' and the naïve, idealistic, and romantic teenager of ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' are crushed by the events that occur in the latter due to the death of his mother. This is followed by a myriad of events that happen to Anakin in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', most prominently his mentor Obi-Wan faking his death and leaving Anakin LockedOutOfTheLoop and his Padawan learner Ahsoka being falsely accused of treason and leaving the Jedi Order as a result. Finally, Anakin's fear of losing Padmé the same way he lost his mother and the choices he makes in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' to avoid that outcome finish smashing Anakin into tiny bits, which are then stomped on and finally set on fire. When Anakin kneels in front of Darth Sidious and receives his Sith title, you can see in his rag doll posture how completely and utterly broken he is. As Yoda tells Obi-Wan, "The boy you trained, gone he is".

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', he helps a group of complete strangers at great personal risk and asks for nothing in return. While he keeps an otherwise heroic attitude in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', [[DudeWheresMyRespect he eventually starts to feel hurt by the Jedi's lack of gratitude]].

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Anakin has this issue with the Jedi Order, best showcased when becoming a member of the Jedi Council. Somewhat crosses over with BothSidesHaveAPoint.
** While they certainly aren't the best parental figures, the Jedi Order's decision to not make him a Jedi Master is understandable, given his several reckless actions and need for emotional growth. Not helping matters is Anakin's unwillingness to let go of emotional attachments.
** On Anakin's side, the Jedi Order's attitude is undeniably harsh, especially since they have continued to task him with dangerous missions at a young age, despite treating him with apparent distrust. Likewise, their decision to use Anakin's attachments was quite short-sighted.
** Moreover, by neglecting to explain more clearly why they chose to deny him the rank of master, the Jedi Order missed an opportunity to teach Anakin a lesson in humility. Similarly, Anakin should have not been so quick to take their decision as a sign of emotional rejection, considering how he still became a member of the Jedi Council.

** That said, it's clear that Anakin ''didn't'' really believe his application would be accepted; outright stating so to Palpatine beforehand. Thus, it's likely that his outburst came moreso from feeling upset by the Council's cold attitude. After all, there's a good reason why rejection letters in the real world are written to sound as nice as possible towards applicants.

** ''Obi-Wan Kenobi'' adds a ''fourth'' flaw he has that still persists even after he's become Darth Vader which the titular character exploits multiple times: an obsessive need for victory. He craves victory so much that it makes him incredibly reckless and impatient in trying to achieve it. It results in multiple force-sensitives managing to escape his grasp and him ''painfully'' losing a brutal rematch with Obi-Wan all because he wanted to prove that he's surpassed his former mentor.

** While his outburst showed that he wasn't ready for the job, Anakin's frustration at the Jedi Council for nonchalantly denying him the rank of "Master" is understandable, especially since he defeated Count Dooku just a day beforehand and turned the tide of the war in the Republic's favor. If the council wanted Anakin to comply, they should have at least explained their reasons more clearly to him.

** Despite his rant about how much he hated the Tusken Raiders, it's more than apparent he feels deep guilt and shame over the massacre he committed. Even after admitting what he did to Padme, he admits that, as a Jedi, she should have been above that, and breaks down crying.
*** Keep in mind that he knew that, more than anything, his mother would ''never'' have wanted that.

* MyGreatestFailure: His belief that he failed to save his mother from dying also has a big impact on his character, with him outright stating at her grave that he will "never fail again". He's also devastated when Ahsoka chooses to leave the Jedi Order.

** {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in ''Revenge of the Sith'' after he turns to the DarkSide. He quickly becomes angry and accuses Padmé of turning against him when she turns down his offer to run the Empire together. Upon seeing Obi-Wan, he immediately assumes she's plotting with him and strangles her with the Force.
* NotHelpingYourCase: Anakin's frustration towards the Jedi Council is understandable, but he himself doesn't help matters at times by behaving in a very arrogant, childish and insolent manner, which just reinforces their opinion of him. His reaction to them denying him the rank of Master in ''Revenge of the Sith'' is a prime example (though mitigated with the implication it was try and use him to spy on Palpatine.)
* NWordPrivileges: He gets upset when Padmé referred to him a slave, but he talks about himself as a slave and continues to use the word at times as an adult.

** Unfortunately, said aggression causes Anakin to become careless against users of [[StoneWall Soresu]]; not helped by his emotional unstability. Partly from this, he has lost to Obi-Wan on three occasions, the latter well aware of Anakin's fighting style. However, by his forties, Anakin has largely dealt with said weakness, overwhelming Kanan Jarrus and Obi-Wan on different occasions.

** Although he doesn't admit it via insisting he hates them, Anakin is clearly genuinely shaken up by his slaughter of the Tusken Raiders.

* [[DestructiveRomance Destructive Bromance]]: With Obi-Wan, in similar ways as Padme, actually, in that the two are unusually insular and isolated much of the time, even within the Jedi Order. That combined with the multi-layered nature of their relationship wreaks havoc on Anakin's emotional issues. He loves and idolizes Obi-Wan, is desperate for his love and approval in turn, and is immensely emotionally reliant on him. At the same time, he often resents and envies him, occasionally distrusts his motives, and conceals major aspects of his life from him. Palpatine manages to twist Anakin's conflicted feelings towards Obi-Wan into violent, nearly-incoherent hatred. Fortunately, they manage to reconcile in the afterlife.

* AngerIsNotEnough: At the climax of ''Revenge of the Sith'', Anakin believes that his anger-fueled use of the Dark Side now makes him more powerful than ''anyone'', including Emperor Palpatine and Anakin's former mentor Obi-Wan. However, it is not clear during his lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan that he actually possesses any new powers, as opposed to just fighting more aggressively than he had before. While Obi-Wan is largely on the defensive during the fight, Anakin loses the duel because Obi-Wan uses rational tactical planning to gain a solid defensive position on a slope, and when Anakin angrily tries to jump over him, he is able to sever three of Anakin's limbs.

* EntitledBastard: While Anakin is justified in wanting respect for his many contributions, he overreacted to the Jedi Council not promoting him to Master at the age of 22, ''especially'' since Obi-Wan was still a Padawan by age 25. To be fair, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer from Anakin's point of view]], his outburst likely came from feeling emotionally rejected; something Obi-Wan attempts to quell.
** Interestingly, prior to this, Anakin outright told Palpatine that the Jedi Council would not accept him as a Jedi Master and council member. Thus, it stands to reason that had the Jedi Council been more gentle with their rejection, Anakin might not become so upset. After all, there is a good reason why rejection letters in the real world are written to sound as nice as possible towards applicants.

* MagicallyIneptFighter: During the Clone Wars, Anakin somewhat struggled against Force attacks in battle; an irony given his natural talent as a Jedi. Notably, this weakness has allowed foes such as Dooku and Ventress to counter Anakin's raw strength during every lightsaber duel. When holding back, his resistance to telekinesis also weakens significantly, thus failing to outmuscle Bariss' Force push and when he and Obi-Wan hit each other with a Force Push at full power, Anakin can only barely stalemate his master. Subverted by the Original trilogy though, having refined his Force techniques under Palpatine's tutelage. In fact, when confronting Luke in Bespin, Anakin/Vader telekinetically hurled several large objects at his son without so much as a gesture.

** In ''The Clone Wars'', he commits several morally dubious actions against individuals who had it coming; he had Force choked Poggle the Lesser in an interrogation to get information on the brain worms, the latter had been war profiteering off the sale of droid armies and was complicit in the brain worm plot himself; igniting his lightsaber InTheBack of Tal Merrick, who sought to detonate the ''Coronet''; his NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of Rush Clovis, who had not only been collaborating with Dooku to gain control of the Banking Clan ([[WellIntentionedExtremist albeit for noble reasons]]), but had attempted to forcibly kiss Padmé against her will, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone though the last case leaves him horrified]]; and he threatened Admiral Trench before [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling him]] in defense, with Trench himself having taken advantage of Echo's tactical algorithm (which the Techno Union gained through [[AndIMustScream horrific]] [[WetwareCPU methods]]) and plotting to [[EarthShatteringKaboom detonate Anaxes]] to guarantee a Separatist victory.

** The reason for Anakin's repeated success against Dooku in combat compared to other duelists like Obi-Wan and Ventress is because his lightsaber form, Djem So, is strong and aggressive enough to batter Dooku's precise Makashi form because Makashi lacks physical force in its swings.
** Unfortunately, Djem So's aggressive nature is what makes it vulnerable to be countered by Obi-Wan's Soresu form, which Dooku's Makashi can easily dismantle. This is why Obi-Wan can consistently beat him despite easily losing to Dooku who Anakin manages to overpower time and again.

** In ''Attack of the Clones'', Anakin initially tries to obey Windu's commands stay put and guard Padme, even though he was obviously very worried about Obi-Wan. It actually took Padme's loophole abuse for Anakin to take action. Keep in mind that this was soon after Shmi's tragic death, with Anakin being at his most unruly state as a Jedi.