Star Wars Confirms Whether Anakin Skywalker Was More Powerful Than Darth Vader After 20 Years of Debate

November 11, 2025, 12:30pm

After 20 years, Star Wars has finally settled the question of who would win in a fight: Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker. Conceived by the will of the Force as the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker had the potential to be a more powerful Jedi than even Master Yoda. But was that potential wasted when he became Darth Vader? Certainly George Lucas himself thought so, as he told Vanity Fair in an interview back in 2005.

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“Anakin, as Skywalker…, was going to be extremely powerful,” Lucas explained. “But he ended up losing his arms and a leg and became partly a robot. So a lot of his ability to use the Force, a lot of his powers, are curbed [as Darth Vader].” Despite this, of course, Darth Vader adapted to his weakness; he became a dark side juggernaut, proving himself in battle against so many Jedi. This has prompted so many fans to wonder who would win if Vader ever battled Anakin Skywalker.

Star Wars Has Finally Given Us The Impossible Battle

Adam Christopher’s new Star Wars novel, “Master of Evil,” finally answers this question in an unexpected duel between Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader enters a powerful dark side vergence found in the depths of hyperspace, where he experiences a vision in which he must deal with his past self once and for all. The account is absolutely thrilling, and it shows that Darth Vader was not quite so diminished as many have believed.

“The battle rages without end. Vader is an expert swordsman, a supreme duelist, but his every move is matched and countered by his impossible opponent, the young man’s black Jedi robes flaring and swirling as he ducks and dives, parries and ripostes, driving his attack again and again, defending agaisnt the same, on and on and on.

The duel is an even match. There will be no winner, no loser.

There cannot be.”

“Master of Evil” positions Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker as yin and yang, equally matched, simply because they are one and the same being. This impossible battle is not one that will be won by power in the Force, for Anakin never fulfilled his potential while Darth Vader learned to navigate his weakness. Nor is it one that will be won through skill, for both were supremely well-trained, and they learned the same techniques and lightsaber forms. There can be no winner in a duel between Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker. There cannot be.

Is This A Secret Aspect Of Balance?

It’s possible this relates to the idea of the “balance of the Force,” an idea introduced in The Phantom Menace that has nonetheless evolved quite a lot since the prequel trilogy. George Lucas originally considered the dark side to be like a cancer within the Force, an imbalance by nature that would destroy all life if left unchecked; by this interpretation, Anakin’s destiny was to destroy the darkness of the Sith. But Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘ Mortis Gods hinted at a different interpretation, suggesting both light and darkness are somehow necessary to the balance of the Force.

Ahsoka season 1’s Anakin Skywalker cameo hinted at the same approach. This saw Ahsoka encounter Anakin’s Force Ghost in the World Between Worlds, another cosmic vergence in the Force. This version of Anakin was unlike other Force Ghosts, though, is that he was clearly both light and darkness; there was even a single stunning moment in which Anakin’s form flickered and was replaced by that of Darth Vader. In Ahsoka season 1, Anakin appeared as the light in the darkness, and also the darkness in the light.

It’s possible Anakin himself is an embodiment of balance – the kind of “yin and yang” philosophy teased by the Mortis Gods. “Master of Evil” supports this theory, because it positions Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader as perfectly matched, neither able to defeat the other, darkness held in check by light and light restrained by darkness. It’s a very different perspective to the one the Jedi would have championed, but it seems so very appropriate indeed. When Anakin Skywalker comes face to face with Darth Vader, there can be no true winner.

“Master of Evil” is on sale now, and can be bought on Amazon.

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