This is my favorite theological connection in science fiction. Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) was born of a virgin!! I’m pretty sure I saw Star Wars in the womb. I’m pretty sure the first time I heard the trumpet blast from the score to A New Hope, I was encased in amniotic fluid. I’ve loved Star Wars almost as long as I’ve known God. It’s such a sweet satisfaction to know that Star Wars also knew God from the very beginning.
The Jedi speak of the ancient prophecy being fulfilled by the birth and life of Anakin Skywalker. Clearly, this guy represents a Messiah figure. This is made blatantly obvious when we discover that he is the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), that he was conceived by the Force, that Shmi gave birth to as a virgin. Hello McFly! This is one of the most obvious connections in all of the Sci-Fi galaxies. Why aren’t all Star Wars fans Christians bleeding like martyrs? Why do we love the movie so much? Because we love God.
Although there is more. I’m not sure when George Lucas developed the idea of a virgin birth, let alone when he developed the Pelagian backstory of it. Did you catch that conversation between Palpatine and Anakin in Revenge of the Sith? Palpatine was telling Anakin about his own Sith master, Darth Plagueis. Palpatine was telling Anakin about the origin of the prophecy, about HIS OWN BIRTH!!
This Darth Plagueis twist is fantastic storytelling. I love this. Listen. Darth Plagueis, Emperor Palpatine’s Sith master, whom he killed, never died…it is said. Instead, he embodied himself in the Force. She plunged into him, by his own hand, by his own power over life and death. Darth Plagueis had learned not only to keep people from dying, but also to keep from dying himself. Doesn’t this all sound like a dark and twisted version of the Bread of Life and Resurrection?
There is more! Darth Plagueis raised himself into the Force, so he could be born again, conceived by the Force, himself, and was born of the Virgin Shmi. Anakin was born purely from the midi-chlorians, the living source of the Force. In case you missed it: Anakin was conceived by the Power of the Force in the Virgin Shmi; Jesus was conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary. wow
Isn’t it ironic, and proof of Palpatine’s terrible and cunning rhetoric, that Anakin was ultimately drawn to the Dark Side because of his belief that Palpatine could teach Anakin how to save Padmé’s life? Stupid Anakin, you are the one who taught Palpatine in your previous Incarnation as Plagueis!
I doubt Star Wars prophecy goes as far as supporting the Immaculate Conception doctrine, which is a shame, but you have to wonder: why and how did Darth Plagueis pick and groom Shmi, in a gritty, desolate place? , nowhere? Tatooine (read “Nazareth”), to be her mother? One last thing… there is an ancient Christian heresy that was started by Pelagius (doesn’t that name sound familiar to you?). Isn’t the resemblance funny? She looks like she is wearing Sith robes.
The Pelagian heresy, opposed by Saint Augustine, held that man, by his own power, could perfect himself. Man, without the grace of God, defended by heresy, could become sinless. Taking the power of life and death, of sin and death, into one’s hands sounds a lot like what Darth Plagueis taught…so I brought it up.