Before becoming the Lord of all things dark, Darth Vader began his career as Anakin Skywalker. Anakin was a strong-willed, powerful, intuitive Jedi who joined the Order as a Padawan.
Even though he technically became a Padawan at a later age than most (age nine), Anakin’s impressively high midi-chlorian count of 20,000 per cell, coupled with his natural talent for swordsmanship, earned him the moniker of the “Chosen One.”
Of course, with such an imposing handle attributed to his name, a lot of people wanted a piece of Anakin. Despite this, he could hold his own against his opponents and would usually come out on top.
Still, the Jedi were not infallible and did not always leave these battles unscathed. He lost numerous limbs, had damaged lungs, as well as a plethora of other injuries that could have all had a fatal end.
Today we will be taking a look at how Anakin lost his arms, so keep reading as we dive into this topic.
Table of Contents
How Did Anakin Lose His Arm?
The first time Anakin lost his arm was while he was still in the Jedi Order. This occurred on Geonosis when he and his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, faced off against the Sith Count Dooku.
During this battle, it seemed as though Dooku was in his element, as he was able to hold his own against the two Jedi. So much so, that Dooku used his lightsaber to sever Anakin’s right arm, above the elbow.
Although both Anakin and Obi-Wan were clearly in a vulnerable position, Count Dooku opted out of killing the pair, allowing them to return to Coruscant to recuperate. There, Anakin oversaw the construction of a prosthetic limb to replace his missing arm.
Droid-like in appearance, the new cybernetic arm, dubbed the mechno-arm, graced Anakin with strength that surpassed that of a regular human.
Despite playing a role in the creation of the prosthetic, this did not sit well with the Jedi Council, as they thought the mechanical limb took away some of Anakin’s humanity.
When Did Anakin Lose His Left Arm?
Even though both are terrible, the way Anakin lost his left arm was arguably far more intense and gruesome than the loss of his right.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, unwilling to believe that his friend and former student Anakin was completely under Emperor Palpatine’s control, met the new Sith on Mustafar for a civilized confrontation.
Unfortunately, the now initiated Darth Vader no longer cared about his former friend and saw Obi-Wan as the enemy.
What ensued was an intense battle sequence on the dry, hot, lava-filled planet of Mustafar.
Anakin put up a good fight against his old comrade, but that led to him becoming cocky. Certainly, Obi-Wan still cared about his friend, and he did not want to hurt him, so he tried to do everything in his power to avoid this.
Eventually, Obi-Wan and Anakin were trapped on a structural collection arm surrounded by lava. Obi-Wan managed to jump away from the collection arm and landed safely on a ledge.
This is where Anakin’s cockiness became his downfall, as he believed he could easily make the same jump as Obi-Wan. Ultimately, Anakin was so focused on making the jump that he was unable to stop the lightsaber attack from his past mentor.
This led to both his legs and his final, non-mechanical arm being amputated. Even worse than that, Anakin was consumed by the searing heat surrounding the pit of lava.
However, this didn’t kill the former Jedi, but it badly wounded him. He was left with lungs so horribly scorched that he had to live out the rest of his days with a respirator and a specialized suit.
How Many Times Have Anakin’s Arms Been Cut Off?
As we have established, Anakin lost each arm on two different occasions.
The first time occurred when he lost his right arm during his battle with Count Dooku.
Oddly enough, during this battle, he fought alongside the same person who would eventually sever his left arm, both legs, and cause him to be dependent on life support.
That person is none other than his former mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Of course, Obi-Wan did not want to nor did he intend to hurt his old friend.
Even so, he had to do whatever it took to protect himself, this sadly meant badly injuring Anakin.
To rectify the loss of his limbs, Anakin received a mechanical right arm from the Jedi Council.
As for the left arm, Anakin received this prosthetic from the Galactic Empire. In fact, the empire built an entire suit, a hyperbaric chamber, and a pressurized helmet for the Sith Lord.
FAQs
Anakin Skywalker (turned Darth Vader) proved his strength by maneuvering through life being the boss that he was despite all these injuries.
With a topic as interesting as the Dark Lord’s injuries, it’s a given that the Star Wars communities would have questions.
So without further ado, here’s the answer to one of those recurring questions.
How Did Luke Skywalker Lose His Right Arm?
Whether you’re a Star Wars fan or relatively new to the franchise, chances are you know that Darth Vader is the father of Luke Skywalker. But the thing is, Anakin wasn’t aware of this himself.
Regardless, genetics wasn’t the only thing the two had in common, as they both had their right arm/hand removed. We know Anakin’s arm was removed by Count Dooku, but disheartening enough, Luke’s arm was amputated by his father, Anakin.
In the Empire Strikes Back, Luke faced off against Darth Vader. It seemed as though the young Skywalker was no match for his dad, which resulted in the Dark Father cutting off the right arm of his child.
As a little anecdote, there seems to be a lot of secrets surrounding Luke’s severed arm.
In particular, it is known that Luke’s arm was taken to Emperor Palpatine’s foot (after Palpatine died, his foot was all that was left), which attempted to turn the arm to the dark side.
When Luke’s arm refuses to turn, the Emperor’s foot attacks it with the Force, thus removing its thumb.
Even though this is solely a parody and not actually a part of Star Wars canon, the premise is still an intriguing one.
Conclusion
Anakin became a bit smug and had all his praise go to his head, which ended with him feeling entitled to certain things. Ultimately, this was his downfall.
Not only did it breed mistrust between him and Mace Windu, but it was also the reason he did not notice that Obi-Wan had launched an attack against him during the battle on Mustafar.
It was there that he ended up losing his left arm, both legs, and obliterated his lungs. Still, this wasn’t the first time he’d lost an arm.
The first time was when he and Obi-Wan fought against Count Dooku, which resulted in the severing of his right arm.
Nevertheless, Darth Vader’s numerous injuries did not stop him from persevering and becoming one of the strongest Force users in the galaxy.