After Obi-Wan Kenobi defeated Anakin at the Battle of Mustafar, Sidious could have pursued another option. If Palpatine had cloned Anakin, he could have developed a stronger version of Darth Vader.
Why didn’t he do it? Among the reasons is that a cloned Anakin could have been a true threat.
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Why Did Sidious Never Clone Anakin After Mustafar?
Fans on this discussion provide a variety of reasons for why Palpatine never cloned Anakin. It could have been due to a lack of technology, difficulties with replicating Force sensitivity, the potential threat to Palpatine, and the desire to retain a “caged” apprentice.
To elaborate, the Empire may not have had the technology to transfer midichlorians quite yet. Although a clone army was forged, performing cloning in the way that Palpatine himself did is a different matter.
Force sensitivity was likewise “hard to replicate in clones,” as a post from above describes. And then there was the risk of “bringing in another powerful Force-sensitive” leader onboard, while the Emperor wanted to control Vader.
This video explores the possibility of Vader being cloned. After a year, Sidious had access to “100 vats of Anakin clones” but decided to drain “the life Force from 99 of the clones” and bring that power into himself. Palpatine then injected that Force into the lone surviving clone.
Sidious brought the clone Anakin to kill the real Vader. After a vicious lightsaber battle, clone Anakin defeated Vader, but he may have lived on afterward.
So, this theory shows the potential power of cloning Anakin, but that outcome is also filled with difficulties.
As with the fan responses above, the transfer process could have failed or clone Anakin could have decided to overthrow Sidious.
The threat of clone Anakin seems like the most compelling answer. Vader was never the compliant apprentice he pretended to be. As both Vader and Sidious were aware, the Rule of Two compelled Vader to want to overthrow his master.
Vader attempted to pursue this “destiny” in Empire Strikes Back, but Luke defied him. A clone Anakin would probably have followed this same path, but maybe have succeeded.
Clone Anakin may have had success where Vader failed because the former may have appealed to Luke more than the machine-father Vader.
As this article explains, a key reason why Vader failed to overthrow Sidious was his “lack of allies.” Vader did not work well with others, and even Force choked many of his allies, but clone Anakin could have established partnerships to destabilize the Emperor.
A friendlier face goes a long way, but it could also have been that a cloned Anakin may not have been filled with the same degree of rage and hatred.
In addition to these in-universe explanations, another post from the above Reddit board indicates how “it would have been a really weird subplot to Episodes 4, 5, & 6 if there was a Clone Darth Vader running around.” So, we could also look outside the galaxy for an explanation.
Why Did Palpatine Keep Anakin Alive as Darth Vader?
A related question to this topic is why Palpatine decided to save Anakin at all. Some fans argue that the Emperor cared for Anakin/Vader, to some extent.
That is, the Emperor “cared about Vader although chiefly as a bull dog he felt he commanded.” This idea feeds back into the logic of not cloning Anakin.
So too does the idea that Palpatine may have cared for Vader for the power he “could bring to the table” without overthrowing him.
We should remember other reasons why Vader didn’t overpower Sidious. As this video recaps, Vader also knew that “Sidious was all that he had left in the galaxy” and was the only one who “understood Vader.”
Palpatine was Vader’s only true ally, albeit one that used him for his own purposes.
On the flip side, Vader was also driven by the prospect of eventually overthrowing Sidious but needed to wait to gain his knowledge and power from Palpatine.
Vader had to wait for this to occur, as Sidious wanted to keep Vader under his control for as long as possible.
Sidious Didn’t Try to Clone Anakin
Ultimately, Sidious did not clone Anakin for several reasons, but the potential threat reigns supreme. Sidious needed to be able to control his apprentice, and a cloned Anakin may have gone beyond those measures of control.
Whereas Vader waited to overthrow Sidious, and only did to save Luke, clone Anakin could have moved in that direction much sooner.
Steve
Saturday 7th of December 2024
I think it was in the book Heir to the Empire when they found the cloning facility on a jungle planet that Jorus C'baoth (?) was using to clone either himself or Luke Skywalker (I can't remember which). Ysalamiri had to be used to project a force bubble around the force sensitive clone as this was the only way to achieve proper growth and potential or the clone would either die or go insane. I think there were other reasons for the Ysalamiri (time to mature?) but I don't remember as it is over thirty years since reading it.