Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008): Anakin Skywalker (ESFP)

Because Star Wars is often inconsistent from a character standpoint, we decided to treat The Clone Wars as an independent series, and assess the characters completely separately from the live action movies.  This version of Anakin Skywalker was really interesting. We seriously considered ESTP, at least in the beginning. (For the record, we believe live action Anakin Skywalker to be an ESFP, although we haven’t written a case for that yet.) However, by the end, we determined that ESFP was a solid fit for the character, ultimately making him consistent with the live action character.

Se:

“This is old-fashioned flying. You gotta feel through to stay on course.”

“Hey, I’m worried about him too, but you have to keep your mind in the here and now, otherwise we’ll never be able to help Obi-Wan.”

“The archive texts can only teach you part of the picture, my young Padawan. You’ll learn alot more through hands-on experience.”

Anakin lives in the moment. He reacts to situations immediately, for better or for worse, preferring to remain in action whenever possible. Others in the Jedi Order often find him frustrating in this way. Anakin craves adventure and excitement, and enjoys flying by the seat of his pants. As a result, his padawan, Ahsoka Tano, naturally picks up these tendencies, and the two become known for being an impulsive pair.

Anakin encourages Ahsoka to focus on the here and now, and avoid worrying about things outside their current scope. He believes in learning through hands-on experience, and leads by example, especially in regard to this. This makes him incredibly resourceful, which even Obi-Wan claims to find amazing. Anakin excels at navigating intense situations, with little to no prior planning. Of course, luck is occasionally on his side as well.

Anakin tends to explain things in a concise and straightforward manner. He simplifies explanations, sometimes overly so, which is also due to the presence of Ni in his stack. His attempt to explain both sides of the war to Ahsoka demonstrates this. In addition, Obi-wan refers to him as lacking subtly, which is often due to the way Anakin prefers to approach situations in a direct, head-on way.

Fi:

Anakin: “Yeah, you’re right. I probably do deserve most of the credit.”
Ahsoka: “Good thing I know you don’t mean everything you say.”

Compared to other depictions of Anakin, this version’s Fi seems to be better and more mature. Gone is the whiny child, replaced with a self-confident (if not a little egotistical) adult. He is not afraid to speak his mind and push his own beliefs and opinions. He has learned where he can push and where he cannot, though. In one episode, he explains to Ashoka that while he agreed with her that they needed to look for survivors, they could still do so without blatantly disregarding orders. (Although, he often resorts to that eventually.)

You can also see Anakin clash with the ideals of others, such as Padme, as he tries to convince her to leave off from her political responsibilities. He insists their love is more important, only to later be dragged away by his own responsibilities. He tends to take an oppositional stance with those who don’t share his particular beliefs, rather than try to gloss over those differences or disagreements.

Anakin has always struggled with being overly attached, and that theme rings true in the Clone Wars series. Anytime Padme, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, or R2D2 are in any kind of trouble, you see how much he cares about them and how making sure they are okay is more important to him than anything else. This prioritizing of his own personal connections at the expense of others or the mission suggests high Fi in his stack.

Te:

“Subtlety has never been one of your strong points, Anakin.” – Obi-Wan

“War’s complicated, Ahsoka, but let me simplify it. The separatists believe the Republic is corrupt, but they’re wrong, and we have to restore order.”

“Not good enough, Rex. Check again!”

Anakin’s overly direct nature, as described in the Se section, is actually reinforced by his Te. The combination of Se-Te often results in a bull-headed nature (when the individual is self-confident). Anakin focuses on condensing situations down to actionable directives. As a result, he sees things in a more black-and-white way, and leaves little to no gray area. His interpretation of the war demonstrates this.

Under stress, Anakin gets much more intense and demanding. When Ahsoka gets kidnapped, he deals with the clones in a harsher way when they don’t produce the results that he wants. You especially see this tendency come through with people he views as the enemy. Frequently when angry, upset, or in need of information quickly, he makes use of force choke to intimidate or otherwise force the information he needs out of the person.

In other situations, when Anakin yields control to Ahsoka, he actually struggles to remain on the sidelines and fully give up control. When Ahsoka is giving a briefing, Anakin keeps cutting in to make sure she does it right.

Ni:

“I don’t have a backup…yet, but I do have a plan for getting on that ship.”

Anakin typically does not think far ahead or create back up plans. He would much rather work in the moment and leave the future to sort itself. He takes a deal with it when we get their kind of approach, which demonstrates his lack of Ni. Furthermore, he would much rather lean into his Se to improvise in real time, which plays into his dominant’s strength, than try to plan ahead, which would exercise his weak inferior function.

This also explains much of his reckless and impulsive nature, always taking risks with ease, because he never takes the time to project out the consequences of his actions if he were to fail. One area, however, that he does use his Ni is when dealing with his padawan, Ahsoka. He will instruct her to prepare and think before acting, but these lessons seem a little hollow when he struggles with doing them himself. She even points this out to him within the show, throwing his past risks in his face to defend her own reckless actions.