One of the ongoing themes throughout the Star Wars prequel trilogy is the notion that Mace Windu isn’t the biggest fan of Anakin Skywalker. Right from their first interaction when Anakin first moved from Tatooine to Coruscant to their last when Anakin sealed Windu’s fate in his confrontation with Darth Sidious, something was always off between the pair.
If you have been wondering whether there are any reasons in particular why Mace Windu hated Anakin then it’s important to know that there aren’t any explicit reasons given in any canonical Star Wars media that outline these reasons. However, we are able to read between the lines and establish the following:
- He didn’t think Anakin should ever have been trained to be a Jedi
- He feared what Anakin could do or become
- He didn’t trust Anakin
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Why did Mace Windu hate Anakin?
Here are 3 reasons why Mace Windu ‘hated’ Anakin:
#1 Mace Windu didn’t think Anakin should have become a Jedi
When Anakin Skywalker was first discovered on Tatooine by Qui-Gon Jinn, he was a nine-year-old slave who had endured a childhood of misery and abuse. He had experienced things no child should and had grown a deep attachment to his Mother.
Jedi typically trained padawans from an incredibly young age, before they had experienced any misery or suffering in their life and certainly before they had the time to form attachments.
The reason for this was that Jedi were meant to be almost robotic with their emotions to prevent them from acting irrationally based on their own personal feelings rather than what was best for the greater good. Their duty was to protect others and to keep the peace, not to act based on love/hate.
Anakin Skywalker was already far too down the line in relation to these emotions when he was introduced to the Jedi Council in The Phantom Menace and Mace Windu knew it. He relayed to Qui-Gon Jinn that Anakin was too old to be trained and that he wouldn’t become a Jedi Knight.
Of course, history tells us that the Council overruled him on this in the end with many of them believing that Anakin was the Chosen One. However, Mace Windu was adamant that Anakin should never have been trained and he held this against him throughout Anakin’s time with the Jedi.
#2 Mace Windu feared Anakin’s strengths and potential
Another reason why Mace Windu hated Anakin Skywalker was that Mace feared the strength of Anakin. Throughout the Clone Wars, Anakin had proven to be one of the most powerful Jedi Knights on the planet, displaying incredible battle skills and force abilities.
While Mace wasn’t envious of Anakin’s powers, he was wary of what he had the potential to do.
Due to the fact he didn’t trust Anakin (more on that shortly), he had lingering doubts about whether Anakin could truly keep a lid on his emotions. While Anakin was known for being a great warrior and Jedi Knight, he was also known for having a short temper and acting on his personal feelings for others too much.
In the Revenge of the Sith novelisation, Windu is quoted as saying “Skywalker is arguably the most powerful Jedi alive, and he is still getting stronger. But he is not stable. You know it. We all do. It is why he cannot be given Mastership” in relation to Anakin potentially becoming a Jedi Master.
This just goes to show how fearful he was of Anakin’s powers and why he was hesitant to grant him the rank of Master.
Mace Windu didn’t trust Anakin
Finally, Mace Windu is pretty clear in the fact that he doesn’t trust Anakin. This lack of trust is easy to come across as hatred or dislike due to the fact it made Mace act very coldly around the chosen one.
In Revenge of the Sith, Mace explicitly states that he doesn’t know if Anakin could handle the task of spying on Chancellor Palpatine. With the net closing in on Palpatine in relation to his corruption, Mace didn’t trust Anakin to successfully and truthfully report on someone with whom he had grown close to.
Mace also openly questioned whether the prophecy that stated Anakin would bring balance to the Force was misread in a conversation with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
When it came to Anakin discovering Palpatine’s true identity, he did perform his Jedi duty and reported the findings to Mace Windu, ironically enough, instantly. Mace commented that if Anakin is telling the truth then he will finally have earned his trust. Sadly, Mace didn’t trust Anakin enough to take him with him to arrest Palpatine which ultimately cost him his life!
You can find out why Mace Windu when to confront Palpatine first, without waiting for Yoda here.
In defence of Mace Windu – he didn’t hate him, he just believed he needed a firm hand
One final point worth making in regards to the relationship between Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker is the possibility that Mace Windu didn’t actually hate Anakin. Perhaps, Mace thought that by being firm and disciplined with Anakin he could make him mature faster.
Anakin had been trained from a young boy by Obi-Wan Kenobi who enabled Anakin’s immaturity at times with the two of them having more of a brotherly relationship, when Anakin perhaps needed a firmer approach.
It’s now canon that Obi-Wan also knew about Anakin’s relationship with Padme with the Jedi Master turning a blind eye to the marriage because he knew it made Anakin happy. If the other Jedi had known about the attachment that Anakin had grown towards Padme then he would have been banished from the Jedi Order immediately.
You can find out more about Anakin and Padme’s secret marriage here.
Who knows, if Mace Windu were Anakin’s Jedi Master instead of Obi-Wan, Anakin would never have fallen to the dark side!
Final thoughts
To summarise, Mace Windu may not have “hated” Anakin at all. However, it’s certainly easy to see why many people think that he did. He was very cold towards Anakin, he didn’t trust him, and he was scared of what he could become.
In the end, it turns out that Mace had every right to be scared!
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