Anakin Lars

Anakin Cortes Lars is a secondary character in the Spirit Trilogy series(An Ancient Evil, The Jedi Restored, and Venture from Darkness), by Matthias Malone. He is related to Luke Skywalker by way of Luke's adopted family; he is his second cousin. In the trilogy, he is changed from an independent young Jedi into the newest Sith apprentice to Emperor Palpatine, then is brought back by the collective efforts of Luke, Leia Organa Solo, and Han Solo.

Description
At the time of An Ancient Evil, Anakin is 22 years old. He is five foot nine, with long blonde hair down to his shoulders. He sports a scar on his chin from a Tusken Raider attack (see History), and had a mechanical replacement for his left arm from his battle with Luke Skywalker in The Jedi Restored. Characteristically, Anakin is good-natured and humorous. Though he was once a Sith, Anakin has redevoted himself to doing good, and is very charitable. Perhaps the greatest object of his affection is Lena Fa'lae, his girlfriend and later his wife.

History
Although Anakin's exact year of birth is unknown, records show that he was born sometime after the Clone Wars to mechanic Cortes Lars and waitress Clarissa Sandboro Lars on Tatooine. Named for Anakin Skywalker, the local Podracing hero(and his second uncle, though he doesn't know it until later), Anakin also took an intrest in machinery, often going to the then still-legal races in Mos Espa. However, an offworld disease claimed his mother's life when Anakin was at the tender age of eight, comdemning him to pitch in to help his renegade mechanic father. Eventually, due to opposition from the Hutt crimelords, he is also killed by the bounty hunter Bossk. From that point on, he is cared for by the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, still known as Ben Kenobi. With Anakin being quite adept at using the Force, Ben taught him the ways of the old Jedi Order, as well as telling him stories of the Old Republic. However, fate intervened about three years into Anakin's training. On a basic survival mission, Anakin stumbled upon a Tusken Raider sacrificial ceremony. Their victim, a young Twi'lek by the name of Lena Fa'lae, was seconds from death when Anakin saved her, slaying three Tuskens and scaring the others off. The two instantly fell in love. Though Ben did not approve, Anakin still had a relationship with Lena, often sneaking away to her Mos Eisley apartment to serenade her by moonlight. No one could stop their love, not even Obi-Wan.

Part in Spirit Trilogy Storyline
An Ancient Evil Anakin Lars's debut appearance in the Spirit Trilogy occurs when he and Luke Skywalker first meet in the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine. He attempts to stop an escaping Imperial officer, Arismendi Hydoc, but is rendered unconcious during the struggle. He introduces himself to Luke and takes him to his mansion estate. There he tells Luke of his heritage and life, including his career as an inventor. As Luke departs the mansion, he discovers Anakin's relationship with Lena as she stops by to call it quits due to Anakin's frequent absences, trips to promote his new inventions. Later, Anakin and Luke discover the existence of the Jedi Oracle on Dagoba, a place used to revive the spirits of dead Jedi, and Anakin helps in the following battle with Imperial forces. Lena also shows up during the struggle, and the two are reunited. However, the Oracle had been used only days before to revive Emperor Palpatine, who now leads the Empire once more. Palpatine declares war on the New Republic and the army of long-dead Jedi that Luke revived during and after the battle. Anakin becomes a General 2nd Class.

The Jedi Restored In the opening of The Jedi Restored, seven months after An Ancient Evil, Anakin is visited by Luke, who tells him that the Jedi Council considers his(Anakin's) tactics too extreme, therefore demoting him. Just minutes after Luke leaves, Anakin is kidnapped by imperial agents, who take him to Palpatine. The moment that Anakin is kidnapped, Lena falls unto an irreversible coma induced by Anakin's absence. Under interrogation, and promised with the knowledge to save Lena from her sleep, Anakin submits to the Dark Side, becoming Palpatine's latest apprentice, Darth Pyron. his first task is to either capture or kill Luke Skywalker. The two meet in Anakin's mansion, having A climactic battle in which the mansion is destroyed and Anakin loses his left arm to Luke's blade. Luke, realizing that Anakin is gone with Pyron in his place, leaves him to die in the flames that ingulf the mansion. However, Pyron survives, and is treated and trained by Palpatine in the Dark Side. He then attempts to capture Luke throughout the war, his first effort being to kidnapp and interrogate Jedi Cortena Yemnoss, who is in love with Luke, though the feeling isn't mutual. Though Luke saves Cortena, Pryon doesn't give up, swearing that he will do all in his power to kill Luke and save Lena from the Rebels.

Venture from Darkness More than three years later, Pyron's plans come to fruition when Luke is finally captured on Coruscant and taken to Palpatine and Pyron's flagship, the ISS Equinox, where the Jedi is subjected to extreme interrogation to reveal the Republic's secrets, as well as Lena's location, though she has remained at Han and Leia Solo's house for the past four years. Luke is eventually rescued by Han, Leia, and the revived Anakin Skywalker, whose collective efforts destroy the Equinox and take Pyron back to Mos Eisley. In intensive care, Pyron finally awakens to find himself in the same room as Lena(still in her coma, unable to communicate with him), with Luke in front of him, ready to reconcile the Anakin Lars underneath with the Light Side of the Force. Realizing that Pyron was evil, Anakin gives him up, doing anything to help bring down Palpatine. After a month of re-training from Luke, he is finally ready to fight his former Master. Along with Luke and his father Anakin Skywalker, Anakin(Lars) travels to Coruscant, where Palpatine has hidden himself from the Equinox's destrustion. Finding the Sith Lord, Anakin trys to cut him down immediatly, but is severly wounded. Palpatine then reveals that he has revived Darth Maul and Count Dooku to help him fight; Anakin Skywalker then battles Palpatine while Dooku fights Luke. When the latter Jedi is about to be killed, Anakin Lars springs up and wounds Dooku, then fights Maul as well. However, the two Sith soon find out that Palpatine was only using them, and, together with Anakin Skywalker, destroy him once and for all in a huge explosion. Briefly in a dream-like world in the subconscious caused by the blast, Anakin meets once again his parents. (Anakin has not divulged anything else about this incident since.) Two days after the battle, Anakin meets Lena, fully healed, and asks her to marry him, claiming that he can now properly take care of her. A year later, the two are married in Anakin's rebuilt mansion.

Recent Activities
Though humans and Twi'leks are chromatically compatable, Anakin and Lena have no children, instead devoting their time to multiple charities. With his affinity for machinery restored, Anakin's latest project is the reintroduction of water into Tatooine's ecosystem, a difficult challenge that he is slowly solving, intent on helping those less fortunate.