There are often a lot of psychological insights that can be gleaned from books and films. In Star Wars, we see Anakin Skywalker transition into Darth Vader, providing us with insights into the psychology of those entangled with a ‘dark personality.’ What’s a ‘dark personality’? One common framework is the Dark Triad, consisting of three primary personality disorder traits:
Narcissism: Excessive self-love, a grandiose sense of importance, cruelty, and a lack of empathy for others.
Machiavellianism: Highly manipulative behaviour, cunning, and a focus on achieving personal goals, often at the expense of others.
Psychopathy: A lack of empathy, remorse, or guilt coupled with impulsive and antisocial behaviour. Plus: Sadistism – it feels good when others suffer.
Some psychiatrists believe Anakin’s shift during his teen years aligns with symptoms reminiscent of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), laying the foundation for attachment problems. As Darth Vader, he is firmly identified as a villain. Darth Sidious, representing the embodiment of evil and the dark side of the Force, orchestrates Anakin’s fall, with manipulative behaviours … as with alienating parents. Similarly, Sidious utilises psychological tactics to control, mould and weaponise the child/teenager into Darth Vader.
Here are some other comparisons: Alienating parents often isolate children from the targeted parent – and the truth. Sidious does the same, also fostering dependency by exploiting his vulnerabilities and influencing his choices. Alienating parents exploit their children’s fears and fuel resentment. Anakin’s fear of loss and desire for power push him toward the dark side. In both cases, fear is used to control. It’s not just alienating parents; we can turn our attention to all enablers of these behaviours, and that includes, unfortunately, family courts who fail to recognise ‘dark’ behaviour. They fail to see a shared persecutory delusion in the child that then destroys the child’s attachment bond to the other parent. This is child psychological abuse, which is a DSM-5 diagnosis (V995.51). Weaponising the child is also spousal or partner abuse, and the child’s witnessing of this (DSM-5 V995.82). The pathogenic parent (often with a narcissistic/dark personality/borderline) inflicts a false (factitious) attachment pathology on the child.
The parallels between the manipulative tactics of Darth Sidious and alienating behaviours throw some light on our understanding of dark personalities and the interplay of mental health, trauma, and identity.
The key thing is: don’t fight the darkness. Don’t engage with it energetically. As often as possible, focus on what you can love, for love is the only true power in the universe. When you empower love, the darkness cannot exist in those spaces. Love is not in a galaxy far, far away. It’s in you.
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