Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader’s fall to the dark side is one of the most important events in Star Wars, but when did it really begin? There were many defining moments in Anakin’s fall to the dark side, which can make it difficult to pin down precisely when this turn to the dark truly began. In fact, Anakin’s Star Wars timeline is arguably one of the most complicated throughout Star Wars’ movies and TV shows.

This is true not only because so much happens to him in such a short time, but also because plenty is still unknown about what Obi-Wan and Anakin did between Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Nevertheless, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and even Star Wars: The Clone Wars have provided plenty of insight into the biggest moments in Anakin’s life. One moment in particular was the true start of Anakin’s fall to the dark side.

Anakin’s Separation From His Mother Was The Start Of His Troubles

Anakin Wanted To Become A Jedi, But This Sudden Change Was Jarring

In The Phantom Menace, Anakin was introduced not as an angry teenager or even a powerful Jedi but as a young boy living in slavery with his mother on Tatooine. At first, it was difficult to imagine how this kind-hearted child who wanted to help Qui-Gon Jinn, Padmé, and Jar Jar Binks get to safety and built a droid to help his mother could turn into one of Star Wars’ most powerful Sith. The answer became clear quickly after Anakin left his mother and went to the Jedi Temple with Qui-Gon.

It was immediately clear that this separation was going to be difficult for Anakin. When he started to walk away from his mother and his home, he ended up running back to her, telling her he couldn’t do it. Even when Shmi convinced him to go and not look back, once on the ship, Anakin expressed that he was cold and missed his mother. Eventually, these sentiments would be repeated back to him by the Jedi Council.

Unfortunately, unlike Padmé, the Jedi were not all that compᴀssionate in response. Rather, they made Anakin feel as though he was doing something wrong, even as he was entirely unfamiliar with the ways of the Jedi and had never been away from his mother before (meaning, his feelings were entirely natural). This initial separation from his mother and feelings of rejection from the Jedi were not the true beginning of Anakin’s turn to the dark side, but they certainly laid the foundation.

Anakin’s Time With Padmé On Naboo Sealed His Fate

It Was On Naboo That Anakin And Padmé Were Able To Explore Their Feelings

10 years after leaving his mother (and Padmé), Anakin had another encounter with Padmé, under equally dire circumstances. In this case, someone was after Padmé, and Anakin and Obi-Wan were called upon to protect her. This led to the absolutely bewildering decision by the Jedi to send Padmé and Anakin off to Naboo together, essentially giving them a romantic retreat on a beautiful planet, even if that was inadvertent.

This, too, was not the singular event that kicked off Anakin’s turn to the dark side, although it made him so much more susceptible to all that was coming—Palpatine’s manipulations in particular. Despite Anakin and Padmé directly discussing that a secret relationship would be their downfall, the two became increasingly affectionate and romantic with one another on Naboo. Ultimately, this led to their return to the planet and their marriage. It was this exact relationship that would eventually be the tipping point for Anakin, although something much more sinister was the true beginning of his fall.

The Tusken Raider Incident Was The True Beginning Of Anakin’s Dark Side Path

This Was The Defining Moment In Anakin’s Fall To The Dark Side

The true beginning of Anakin’s path to the dark side was his mᴀssacre of the Tusken Raiders. Prior to this brutal slaughter, there had been a number of warning signs, and it’s clear that Anakin wasn’t a perfect Jedi. He was egotistical, he struggled to keep his anger in check, and, obviously, he had an attachment to Padmé (and still to his mother as well). While these were flaws that needed to be worked out, though, Anakin had yet to truly do something evil—that only began with his attack on and murder of the Tusken Raider men, women, and children.

Often, a fall to the dark side is not a singular moment but rather a slow burn. This was certainly true for Anakin. This mᴀssacre was the beginning, but it wasn’t until Revenge of the Sith that Anakin fully and truly embraced the dark side. However, this event is essentially a straight line to the events of that movie. Because Anakin had experienced nightmares about his mother’s death and ignored them, when he began having nightmares about Padmé dying, he was desperate to act in time.

The Tusken Raider incident tapped into a newfound capacity for violence in Anakin, but it did something else too. In all likelihood, Anakin believed that, had he arrived in time and carried out that mᴀssacre sooner, his mother would have lived. Anakin may have felt that what was wrong with the Tusken Raider slaughter wasn’t the violence but rather the timing. For that reason, he was willing to carry out a mᴀssacre again in Revenge of the Sith (in this case, Order 66) to save the person he loved because he hadn’t done so in time the first time.

The Fear Of Losing Padmé Was Too Great For Anakin To Overcome

After The Loss Of His Mother, Anakin’s Nightmares Were Too Much

All of these events perfectly laid the foundation for Anakin to be tempted to join the dark side. With the early separation from his mother and rejection from the Jedi, Anakin felt as though he was truly alone. Even Obi-Wan, he believed, didn’t really understand him. When he then lost his mother because of his lack of action (in his mind) and betrayed his own ideals and the way of the Jedi by killing the Tusken Raiders, he believed he was irredeemable—an idea that Palpatine directly preyed upon.

This left Anakin feeling as though he only had one person in his life who was really on his side and cared about him: Padmé. Given how much he had been through and how much he had caused, when Anakin said he couldn’t live without Padmé, he really meant it. It was only Padmé, he thought, who would stand by him. This was also something Padmé had proven given her muted reaction to Anakin’s confession about killing the Tusken Raiders. He was therefore willing to do anything to keep her alive.

No Single Event Really Caused Anakin’s Fall

In The End, This Was A Multi-Layered Issue

While the Tusken Raider incident was the beginning of Anakin’s dark side path, it’s also true that no one thing ’caused’ Anakin’s fall to the dark side. Anakin was in part a victim of his circumstances and in part influenced by those around him—Palpatine intentionally and the Jedi inadvertently. He was also, of course, responsible for his own actions, including his murder of the Tusken Raiders and his romantic relationship with Padmé. There’s also the question of whether this path was simply Anakin’s fate, and there was nothing he could have done about it.

The truth is, it was a mix of all these factors that led to Anakin’s turn to the dark side. Because of these influences, his experiences, and his personality, Anakin was just a flawed boy and then a young man who was angry, afraid, alone, and had no real outlet to work through these feelings. Yes, the Tusken Raider incident was the beginning of the end in terms of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader’s path to the dark side, but Star Wars has proven that it was so much more than any one moment.