Anakin Skywalker = Genius?

Is Anakin Skywalker a genius-level intellect? He build his own podracer and fixed/modified C3PO when he was 9, after all. He continues to design and modify his own starfighters and other accessories throughout his life. Anakin's also described as a brilliant strategist and tactician despite having no formal training in military strategy.

So emotional issues aside, is Anakin some sort of prodigy? Or more like an idiot savant?

Similar question for his children: how smart are Luke and Leia? Luke seems to have inherited his father's 1137 mechanical aptitude, learns and develops arcane Force techniques at his leisure, and is depicted as being a tactical and strategic genius in his NJO+ incarnation. Leia, meanwhile, is already an accomplished politician by the age of 15.

If would make sense for Luke/Leia to be really smart if Anakin were a genius, given that Padme seems to be really intelligent as well (.ie successful elected official at 14).

Let's face it
There's nothing the skywalker family cannot do

You have to understand that since the technological progress of Star Wars is much more mainstream than now, building a podracer and a protocol droid may seem amazing to an Earthling, but in Star Wars, its the equivalent in putting together a computer or car. Anakin is probably mechanically minded, but I don't think he is a genius. If Leonardo da Vinci, saw a person turn on a DVD player, he would get on his knees and bow to the "God" in the room

Yes Anakin Skywalker is a genius. A mechanics genius as well as a tactical genius. Hence him defeating Military genius Admiral Trench in a game of battle tactics.

And no I don't think building a protocol droid that Owen Lars was willing to pay for decades later, or building the fastest race pod which was worth the price of a slave, is the equivalent of turning on a DVD player.

Uh Abonis, I really, REALLY doubt that building a podracer or building a protocol droid at the age of freaking 9 is anything like building a computer or car.

It's more impressive that Anakin not only did it when he was that young, but using just junk parts from Tatooine, which isn't exactly the greatest spot to get technological parts.

Among other things, yeah Anakin is a genius.

^ Well building a car would be damn impressive for a 9 year old. Especially if it was some super fast race car which could compete on a professional level.

Heck even building an advanced computer would be impressive for a 9 year old. Especially for a slave who only gets access to any random parts he can.

Whatever way you put it, Anakin was definitely genius level. As a kid and as an adult.

I would say so, I very much like how in the Vader comics he solves as many problems with his mind as with his lightsaber.

I don't think Anakin was a genius. He was manipulated so easily by Palpatine. I know his emotions ruled over his head, but I feel that if he used his brain, he would've figured out what Palpatine was about. Plus, Anakin made major tactical mistakes during the Clone Wars

Every piece of junk technology on Tatooine is 10x more advanced than anything on Earth; its Moore's law.

Yeah because Palpatine was just a regular politician. It's not like he wasn't the Dark Lord of the Sith who manipulated EVERYONE in the Republic and influenced Anakin's mind over the decades or so he knew him, it's not like Sidious didn't prey on Anakin's fears and emotional attachments. That shouldn't be a slight against Anakin.

Also, we don't know what the standard deviating IQ is in in a galaxy far far away. 100 may be considered dumb, and the average might be 120. If anyone in the Star Wars galaxy is a genius, its the evil scientist doctor Cylo and on a lesser scale Sabine, since she is a polyglot, which is indicative of high intelligence.

Again the fact that his protocol droid was something Owen Lars purchased decades later (why pay for something easily made and easily available), and the fact that Watto agreed to a bet of 1slave against this pod racer, on top of the fact that Anakin was 9, all suggests a massive intellect for his age at least.

Then when we add his tactical genius as an adult, and it's clear he's exceptionally clever.

You can be a genius and still be incredibly stupid at the same time.

He's within the 120-140 IQ range then. Just short of being a true genius.

Originally posted by Darth Abonis
He's within the 120-140 IQ range then. Just short of being a true genius.

TBH that's way too low to pull off the things he did unless if he's a savant. A 120 is like a modestly above average college graduate, and a 140 is probably Gideon. Neither were designing podracers when they were 9 and standing out among an entire galaxy as tacticians with zero actual experience/training.

Maybe 9 year old master mechanics, designers, inventors, and pilots aren't as rare in SW as they are in the real world. The trade off being that you grow up to be a piece of shit.

Well, IQ test are not a good measure of ability, and as I said earlier, the standard average IQ of people in the Star Wars universe is likely much higher, due to exposure to high technology and science.

Originally posted by Darth Abonis
The standard average IQ of people in the Star Wars universe is likely much higher, due to exposure to high technology and science.

Originally posted by Darth Abonis
Well, IQ test are not a good measure of ability,

They're the best measure for it we've ever devised, in terms of how stable it is and how well it correlates with life outcomes.

and as I said earlier, the standard average IQ of people in the Star Wars universe is likely much higher, due to exposure to high technology and science.

It's not been well established that exposure to science/technology actually raises your IQ. That being said, the galaxy far far away probably does have higher IQ's for humans given better medical science/potential genetic engineering.

Originally posted by FreshestSlice
You know IQ tests are done on an average? Small children with genius IQs probably know a lot less than the average person, but still have a higher IQ. Them being exposed to more would not matter judging one to an average.

Love the sig.