Anna Daniels
Martin may have cleared up some ongoing confusion around how a Star Wars comic storyline might have mistakenly misrepresented the birth of Anakin in the current canon for a group of hawk-eyed fans, but the theory actually goes much farther back than those 2018 panels – and its older source could keep the flame of the argument alive.
Fans’ early speculations about whether Palpatine could have “fathered” Anakin stem from the Star Wars prequel series – more specifically Revenge of the Sith, a film written by franchise creator George Lucas himself. Hardcore fans probably remember a small but significant detail from Jonathan W. Rinzler’s book The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith that revealed a storyline and critical dialogue from a rough draft of Lucas’s Revenge of the Sith script.
In the scene, which was ultimately cut from the film, Palpatine tells Anakin, “I have waited all these years for you to fulfill your destiny… I arranged for your conception. I used the power of the Force to will the Midi-chlorians to start the cell divisions that created you.” The Emperor then says that Anakin can essentially think of him as his father.
The detail is only in supplementary material and, as previously stated, isn’t included in the theatrical version of Revenge of the Sith. In the long and ongoing debates about what qualifies as story “canon,” that might not be enough for many fans. For one in particular, however, it’s all he needs. On the heels of Martin’s tweets, Star Wars voice actor Sam Witwer came to the defense of the theory on Twitter, vaguely citing the deleted scene as evidence that Anakin could have been a product of the Sith lord’s powers.
A real Star Wars fanatic himself, the former Smallville and Being Human actor voiced Emperor Palpatine on season 2 of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, Darth Maul on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, both characters in the Star Wars game Battlefront II, and a slew of side or one-off characters in The Force Awakens, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Rogue One. On Christmas Day 2019, Witwer tweeted in response to the fan theory, “Palpatine quite possibly was responsible for Anakin’s birth. Come at me story group. And Merry Christmas!”
He then followed up with a fan who pointed out Martin’s declaration just a few days earlier. “And I disagree with him. George put it in his movie,” Witwer wrote. “I know a thing or two about the dark side, and I say it’s possible. But why? Why do [I] insist it’s possible? Because George Lucas made an independent movie and suggested it was possible. As makers of Star Wars, we’re here to lay possibilities on the table, not take them away.”
It’s important to note that Martin and Witwer are talking about Anakin and Palpatine’s storylines in different separate mediums: comics and film. And while the entire Star Wars universe should logically be strung together with zero plot holes across mediums, with so much canon out there — including that which Disney has retconned since taking over Lucasfilm — it looks like fans will have to settle on an answer to this question using their own discretion.
Written by: Looper
