The Jungian Shadow Archetype In Star Wars
Carl Jung is known for his analytical psychology. He believed all people were connected by their collective unconsciousness, which is populated by archetypes. Archetypes are hidden forms and patterns which every human being experiences. Since they are hidden, it is best to look at mythology and religion do deduce the archetypes. In fact, mythology is full of them. Archetypes such as the patriarch, the young man and the trickster can be found in the Greek gods Zeus, Apollo and Hermes. But, can these archetypes also be deduced from moderns stories, such as Star Wars? In this essay I will explore the impact of the archetype the Shadow on the story of Star Wars.
One of the most important archetypes in the Jungian theory is the Shadow archetype; the evil inside. The Shadow is part of one’s individual unconsciousness, it represents the negative aspects of one’s personality. The Shadow is in fact a manifestation of a person’s flaw. This archetype, or personality side, begins to form during childhood, once a child discovers morality and societal rules, the child will try to separate its flaws from itself, creating the Shadow. Since most people try to become their best selves, they will try to suppress their Shadow, they don’t want the Shadow to be part of their personality. According to Carl Jung, there are three ways people initially deal with their Shadow; they try to repress it, to deny it or to project onto someone else. But in this way people will never learn to live with their flaws. By keeping their Shadow unconscious, people will start having feelings of shame and inferiority.
Only when they acknowledge their shadow will they be able to make moral decisions instead of merely following societal morality. In fact, taking responsibility from the Shadow is so important that without a conscious Shadow, one can’t recognize any other archetypes. Because of its importance it’s no wonder that Star Wars had made great use of the shadow archetype. The two main heroes, Anakin and Luke Skywalker, both have to face their shadows. In the universe of Star Wars the Dark Side of the Force represents evil, and the Light Side represents good. The Force is an all powerful energy that can be found everywhere and can be harnessed to do great things. But the Force in itself is neutral, it’s all about the way the force is used. While the Jedi, who use the Light Side, strip away their emotions and use the force for justice and morality, the Sith Lords, the Dark Side users, harness the force through their emotions and anger.
Anakin Skywalker’s journey starts in the movie ‘The Phantom Menace’. Anakin is a young and gifted boy, who is also slightly overconfident. However, he is also very afraid of losing people and losing control. This is why the Jedi Order first hesitated to let him train to become a Jedi: Jedi must live an unattached live and must not be led by their emotions. But when Master Gui-Gon died, the Jedi master who introduced Anakin to the order, the Jedi order decided on training Anakin anyway. During his training years, Anakin had to suppress his fear of loss and his fear of losing control; he denied his Shadow, his biggest flaw. While the Order encourages Jedi to remain unattached, Anakin does the exact opposite.
Ten years later, in the movie ‘Attack of the Clones’, Anakin starts a forbidden relationship with Queen Padmé Amidala. He becomes more arrogant, aggressive and impulsive, which are emotions suited to the Dark Side of the Force. The young Jedi starts to project his shadow onto others, namely Master Obi-Wan, who decided on training Anakin after Gui-Gon died. Anakin tells his lover Padmé that Obi-wan refuses to listen to him and never gives him any tasks. In this way, Anakin blames his unpredictability on the critical mindset of Obi-Wan and does not face his own shadow. After a while, Anakin’s shadow even starts to take over his consciousness. According to the theory of Jung, when one’s shadow is repressed long enough it will take over the ego-conciousness. This happens to Anakin when he goes back home to save his mother from the Tusken Raiders, thereby disobeying the Order. When he discovers that his mother has been killed by the Tuskens, he becomes enraged and kills all of the members of the tribe, even the children. After that he flies back to the planet of the republic and the Jedi Order, Coruscant, and speaks with Padmé.
During his conversation Anakin once again projects his own shadow onto Obi-Wan; he believes he is an all-powerful Jedi and Obi-Wan is just jealous of him and is trying to hold him back. But after raging at Obi-Wan, Anakin confesses to Padmé that he killed all of the Tuskens and tells her he should be better than this.
Even though Anakin has now recognized his shadow instead of denying it, he is far from taking responsibility for his flaw; Anakin still won’t admit he is in need of help. His desire to be in control of everything and to ‘fix’ everything prevents him from learning from his mistakes. According to Carl Jung ‘one has to admit that there are problems which one simply cannot solve on one’s own resources’. Therefore Anakin has to accept that he cannot always be in control of everything. Some things cannot be fixed.
In the third movie, ‘Revenge of the Sith,’ Anakin is no longer just a student of Obi-Wan, but a Jedi Knight. Now that Anakin is older, his loyalty is even more divided. He is secretly married to Padmé and puts her above the order. He has also started to get nightmares about losing her, which are similar to the nightmares he had about his mother. Not only is Anakin strongly attached to Padmé, he is also the representative of Chancellor Palpatine. To make matters worse, the Chancellor and the Jedi Council are not on good terms, which is why the Council asks Anakin to spy on Chancellor Palpatine. This causes Anakin to become even more divided; Palpatine is one of the few who encourages Anakin to become stronger instead of criticizing him. Anakin feels as if the Chancellor is the only one who understands him. Little does Anakin know, the Chancellor is actually Darth Sidious, the most powerful Sith Lord. Anakin is therefore being controlled by his own shadow and Darth Sidious as the external force of the shadow. Sidious, still disguised as Palpatine, tells Anakin that he knows of a way to save Padmé, whom, according to Anakin’s dreams, will die during childbirth. This is when Anakin starts to shift to the dark side; all he wants is to be in control, which means saving Padmé.
When Palpatine reveals himself, Anakin does not leave his side and becomes a Sith Lord. He joins Palpatine on his mission to destroy the republic. However, in Anakin’s mind he is bringing ‘peace and justice to the galaxy’. He is now consumed by his shadow and is unable to see it, and therefore projects it on everyone else. When Padmé follows him to the planet Mustafar to get him to tell the truth, Anakin thinks she has turned against him and has brought Obi-Wan to kill him. He starts strangling her and only lets her go when Obi-Wan appears. Instantly Anakin projects his shadow onto Obi-Wan and starts to fight him. In the end, Obi-Wan wins as Anakin burns in a pool of lava. Having suffered severe physical and emotional damage, Padmé gives up and dies during childbirth, the one thing Anakin wanted to prevent. Ironically, while trying to escape fate, Anakin ends up being the agent of Padmé’s fate.
Even though Padmé has died and Anakin has been replaced by his shadow Darth Vader, their two children are still alive. After the fall of the republic, which happened because Palpatine executed almost the entire Jedi order, Obi Wan brought Anakin’s daughter Leia to planet Alderaan and left her to be raised by the queen and prince of the planet. The son, Luke, was raised on Tatooine, the home planet of Anakin Skywalker.
Unlike his father, Luke Skywalker does not have a lot of emotional attachments. For Luke, everything is much clearer; there is no republic which requires absolute loyalty and the Empire is clearly the Dark Side, which has to be opposed. In other words, Luke has far less external factors which can lead to the takeover of his Shadow, but that does not mean that he is free of struggle. Luke also begins to form attachments, especially to Leia, Han Solo and his mentor Obi-Wan. Much like his father, Luke is reckless and impulsive. In the fifth movie, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, Luke is being trained by Yoda, the former leader of the Jedi Order.
After Obi-Wan’s death, Luke is assigned to find Yoda in order to become a real Jedi, not just a light saber fighter. Unfortunately, the training does not go as expected. Yoda finds Luke much too impatient. After having spoken with Obi-Wan’s spirit, Yoda realizes that Luke needs to encounter his shadow to progress, in this case a physical manifestation of his Shadow. Luke was raised without any knowledge of his family. He does not know that his current enemy, Darth Vader, is his biological father and that his newfound friend, Leia, is his sister. Yoda therefore sends him to a cave filled with the force, in which he encounters a manifestation of his Shadow, a mimic of Darth Vader. But when Luke decapitates the mimic, the cracked helmet shows his own face, depicting his shadow from the inside. Yoda was hoping that this encounter would teach Luke to come to terms with his own shadow, but it did not. When Luke later faces the real Darth Vader, he is almost completely under the control of his Shadow, just like his father was when fighting Obi-Wan. He uses his emotions and anger to fight Darth Vader, but loses the battle. Vader cuts of his hand and reveals himself to be Luke’s father. Unlike Anakin, Luke now comes to terms with his shadow. He realizes that he cannot fight Vader and that there is nothing he can do about the fact that Vader is his father. Unlike Anakin, Luke does not get lured in by the Dark Side.
In the sixth movie, ‘Return of the Jedi,’ Luke has successfully faced his Shadow and has become a true Jedi Knight. Luke makes much more rational decisions, only using his light saber in absolute need. For instance, when his friend Han Solo is captured by Jabba the Hut, Luke first attempts to bargain with Jabba, only resorting to his light saber when Jabba does not want to release Han. At the end of the movie, Luke has to face Darth Vader again to end the reign of the Empire. This time, Luke wins the battle against Darth Vader, but chooses not to kill him, which would mean giving in to his Shadow. When Emperor Palpatine starts shocking Luke, Darth Vader is reminded of his own Shadow and the manifestiation of his Shadow; Darth Sidious. Vader rips Emperor Palpatine off the ground and throws him into a chasm, saving Luke. Because both faced their Shadows, they were able to defeat the Sith and free the galaxy from the Empire’s reign.
In conclusion, the Jungian theory is very present in Star Wars. It describes the struggle the main character goes through and also the path to victory. It can therefore be concluded that the archetypes play a significant role in modern stories, since they can be found in other modern stories as well, such as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. No wonder that Jung is the founder of analytical psychology.
