When did Anakin turn to the dark side?

An ambiguous question I know, but when exactly did Anakin turn to the Dark Side? There were many points where Anakin showed his darker nature, but which one was truly the mark of turning to the Dark Side? Here are some moments you may consider to be the apex of his fall:

Anakin's conception by the force

Anakin's scuffle with Greedo (Is that even canon?)

Anakin crying to his mother as he sets off with Qui-Gon

Anakin losing Qui-Gon as a mentor

Anakin's defiance to Obi-Wan at the opening of AOTC "You will learn your place, young one."

Anakin boasts: "In some ways... In a lot of ways... I'm ahead of him."

Anakin's confession to Obi Wan "Just being around her is... Intoxicating"

Anakin's first kiss with Padme on Naboo

Anakin defiantly searches for his mother

Anakin's love of his mother at the Tusken camp

Anakin's slaughter of the Tusken raiders on Tatooine

Anakin's post Tusken camp speech

Anakin's love pledge at the Arena

Anakin demands that the LAAT be put down to rescue Padme

Anakin severs Dooku in the opening to ROTS

"Goodbye, old friend"

Anakin learns about Darth Plageius

Anakin does not strike down Palpatine when he reveals his identity

Anakin strikes Mace

Anakin is dubbed Lord Vader by Palpatine in his office

Anakin slaughters everyone in the Jedi Temple

Anakin slaughters the seperatists on Mustafar

Anakin chokes Padme on Mustafar

Anakin attacks Obi-Wan on Mustafar

Anakin burns "I... HATE... YOU!!!"

"It seems that in your anger... You killed her."

These are some of many, many moments that could be considered the main turning point of Anakin's fall to the Dark Side. Which one do you think is the "Apex" or most important event? (You don't have to pick off my list of course)


Personally I think that Anakin running back to say goodbye to Shmi was the turning point. If he had not done that... His whole attitude may have been reversed. The galaxy might have been very different.

 

I think it was a long fall, but that the primary turning point was when he struck Mace, as he literally chose the Sith over the Jedi.

 

He turned when he was a child. even before the fight with greedo.(yeah it's canon)


But actually, if you watch the podrace closely, he seemed very pissed off at some of the racers. I think he wanted to kill Sebulba. And he would have if it wasnt for all the public around.

 

I believe it to be when he makes the raid on the Temple. He made a brash mistake by helping Sidious throw Mace through the Windu, but he was fully aware of what he was doing when he led the 501st into the Jedi Temple with orders of Jedi genocide.

 

He turned to the dark side the moment he "pledged" himself to Palpatine's teachings.

 

Bingo.
Too bad he didn't know the depth of that commitment.

 

I think the true "Point of no return" was this scene:

Younglin: Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What are we going to do?
Anakin, while looking at the defenseless five-year-old ignites his saber. The kid stumbles back. Scene fades out.

He was gone at that point.

 

I think his point of no return was taking off Windu's hand, but he made his decision in the Jedi Councel Chambers in the scene right before that.

 

This is it. When he decides that Padme is more important than his commitment to the Jedi way.

 

Yeah, I have to agree.

 

I agree..

 

In your list of early DS-ish Anakin moments you left out:

- the Council refusing to train him. Look at his face!!!

Also, I love the sound effect when he decapitates Dooku. It's the dark side, as it were, right outside the window, scratching its nails on the glass. This, of course, is not the moment where he knowingly gives himself over to the DS; however, it is the moment where he begins to dispense with conventional morality ( the path to the pinnacle of the DS ).

 

Indeed, that sound is chilling, i've always loved it

I do think the moment he starts sliding seriously towards the darkside was the Tusken Raider's massacre... it was the first moment where he did something really bad, and he knew he had done something wrong. I think this moment is important enough, because Palpatine reminds him of it after he kills Dooku.

I always say the first time u make a conscious decision to do something wrong is the most difficult one...after that, those dark thoughts come on easier, and if ur not careful they could overwhelm u.

 

I do not believe that he was ever truly a Dark Lord.

Certainly at no point in ROTS anyhow.

Unless that "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" was for his lost children that could help him over throw Palps. Even then, if this was the root of his distress, Palps would have sensed this I am sure - and would have shown slightly more concern in the future with regard to the possibility of him being over thrown.

As for his Wife...

...What use could she have been to him, a supposed DARK LORD OF THE SITH? And would he have been such a big baby about it if he was a DARK LORD OF THE SITH?

Nah - he knew nothing of the Dark side.

Getting angry does not equate to tapping in to the Dark side.

I got mad at my alarm clock recently and punched the damn thing into oblivion. I guess I was tapping into the dark side

Apparently he saved his son only because he felt compassion for him.

REAL Dark Lords do not feel these emotions!

Couple that with his none too impressive performances in battle, and I really do not think much of the man as a villain.

He never gave himself to the Dark Side. Not truly.

 

The Dark Side is embraced by Anakin, and everyone else in the saga, at various levels. There is no such thing as a pure mortal entity and neither is there such a thing as a totally corrupted mortal entity. Although I am not necessarily advocating any of these, I have added some other points to your list for consideration. I have also deleted and re-ordered a few others.

 

I believe throughout the movies (1-3) that Anikan's darkness inside him builds up. Until, finally when he kills windu, and pledges himself to the dark side, does he become a sith.

 

He crossed the line when he attacked Mace. I can accept everything up until then as justifiable Human behavior, even his massacre of the Tuskens. They were asking for it.

 

Interesting. It seems as though most people seem to think that Anakin crossed the line when he struck Mace. I have always felt it to be something much earlier than that, however that moment is probably where the dark force within him manifested itself into something that we could see more clearly. Cryogenic added a lot of excellent points, some that I left out intentionally, and some that I completely overlooked.

 

The Mace thing is what we call the "point of no return".

 

I do think it was a slow fall and that Kreia's line sums Anakin's fall up perfectly

"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it."

It was a slow and quiet fall, so much so that no one noticed it, until it was too late and it caused Mace his life, the galaxy it's freedom, and the Jedi their Order.

I also think it's interesting that once Vader fully realizes he's fallen, he seems to be completely broken("It's too late for me, son." for example.)

 

Very well said. The moment he struck Mace was indeed the moment where he let the dark force inside him surface and go from mere thoughts to fully realised actions.

 

The actual fall occured when he embraced the dark side; when he became Sidious' apprentice in hopes of learning some Sith secret. The setup for his fall however began at age 9 when Palpatine took him under his wing and twisted his mind against the Jedi and their teachings.

 

Some of the points that I bolded are what marked Anakin's fall to the Dark Side.

Being seperated from his mom and losing Qui-Gon paved the road and killing the Tuskens after his mom died started the engine. Murdering Dooku put the car in motion, betraying Mace by helping Palpatine kill him put Anakin in the point of no return and pledging himself to the Sith is the dead end of his path to the Dark Side. Anakin is fully consumed by the Dark Side when he slaughtered both the Jedi and the Seperatists, nearly choking Padme, and attacking Obi-wan while being burned alive and being told that he killed Padme is what traps Anakin in the Darth Vader persona forever.

The other points that I didn't bold do not lead Anakin to the Dark Side because they mostly deal with his childhood and his love for Padme. Anakin has to experience loss and commit violent acts in order for him to fall to the Dark Side.

 

Exactly. The Mace thing just meant there was no going back to the Jedi. Anakin had let his thoughts transform into violent actions before.

 

I have said for the last two years that Vader was a psuedo Sith. The taint of the Jedi teachings combined with his injuries, kept him from ever completely immersing himself in the darkside. The Novel Dark Lord stated that Vader himself believed that his inability to heal completely was the result of failing to fully summon his hatred and rage.

If the PT had never been made, I would have argued with you to death.
After watching the PT, reading the novels and comics... I couldn't have said it any better if I had typed that myself.