Theory - What if Anakin lost the podrace?

 In the Star Wars canon, Anakin Skywalker participates in a podrace called the Boonta Eve Classic in 32 BBY in order to win Qui-Gon Jinn the money needed to buy a replacement hyperdrive for Queen Amidala’s J-Type 327 Nubian starship, as well as freeing him upon Qui-Gon Jinn’s bet with Watto, which lead to Anakin training in the Jedi Order and essentially kicking off the overarching story of the first six Star Wars movies. But, what if Anakin lost that podrace? What would be the ever-lasting effects of such a change? Well, here’s my theory.

Leading up to the podrace, everything is just the same. Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Queen Amidala are all fleeing Naboo after the separatist droid army has invaded. Their hyperdrive is damaged, so they land on Tatooine to buy the parts needed to repair. They stumble upon Watto, who is selling the parts, and Anakin Skywalker, a young slave who is working for Watto, and apparently filled with the Force, as stated by Qui-Gon. When Watto doesn’t take Qui-Gon’s republic credits as payment, Anakin offers to win the money in a local podrace. Qui-Gon furthers the bet with Watto and says if Anakin wins the race, he also will be freed and taken to be trained as a Jedi.

The race starts as normal, with a feud between Sebulba starting early on after he sabotaged a part on Anakin’s pod. This part ends up being the crucial piece which throws everything off. During the middle of the race, the piece breaks off and flies into the engines of the pod, severely slowing it down. As much as Anakin tries and tries to push and win the race anyway, he only manages to place fourth. He calls out Sebulba for sabotage, but the fan favorite Dug is quickly defended, with race officials claiming that Anakin, “just didn’t know how to build a pod.”

Now I’ll separate the rest of the theory by character to talk about what happens to them individually.

Qui-Gon Jinn

 Qui-Gon feels devastated after Anakin loses the race, feeling that he either distrusted the Force or saw something that mis-led him, sparking a dark path for him. He attempts to find other parts from other sellers, possibly some that would take credits as payment, but he comes up empty. Qui-Gon starts feeling bitter and angry at himself, feeling like a general failure in the situation, quickly running out of options. He ends up giving up on the Jedi and the force, living a life as a hermit, similar to old Ben Kenobi later on in life.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

 Obi-Wan ends up furious at his master for giving up so easily. He tries to persuade him to use the force for another way out, with no avail. Obi-Wan, feeling a wash of dark emotions sparked by his master’s pessimism, risks everything to hitch a ride on a freighter going to Coruscant to finally bring the Queen to the planet. When Obi-Wan arrives, he confronts the Jedi order, who see that it is time for Obi-Wan to endure the Jedi trials to become a knight/master to see if he could replace Qui-Gon on the council. Obi-Wan attempts the trials, but ends up failing, angering him even more. But before he can train and make a second attempt, he’s called to assist the Queen to return to Naboo to attempt to take it from the Separatists. Things go on as usual, with the Queen and the Gungans facing the robot army while Obi-Wan faces against Darth Maul. Fueled by the rage of his lost master and his failure, Obi-Wan manages to hold his own against Maul for a short time, with small slips here and there. Maul, however, senses the instability in him, and begins to attempt a seduction to the Dark Side of the force. Obi-Wan resists at first, but Maul persists, talking of, “Never giving up on Obi-Wan no matter the circumstance,” and, “helping him become the warrior the Jedi don’t believe he could be.” These words become the final words that break Obi-Wan, leading him to kneel at Maul’s feet. Obi-Wan eventually goes off to become Darth Krillinus, causing the events of the rest of the Saga to happen sooner than in Canon, with Obi-Wan/Krillinus becoming the replacement for Anakin/Vader.

Anakin Skywalker

 Anakin suffers a huge blow to his dignity after losing the race and betting so much onto it, and especially after seeing Qui-Gon give up. He starts treating Qui-Gon with negativity, thinking that he was a liar for making him believe he could have been a Jedi. Anakin continues his life as a slave under Watto, but eventually is sold to Cliegg Lars along with his mother, such as in the canon universe. Anakin rather enjoys his life with the Lars family, befriending Owen and Beru quickly, and finding a father-like figure in Cliegg, even though the latter was quite harsh when it came to working on the farm. When sand people came to kidnap Shmi from the farm, Anakin, with the help of Owen, manages to fend the sand people off and keep his mother safe. Anakin eventually grows into a respectable freighter pilot for the farm, eventually finding a wife along the way, and creating a strong family. They eventually muster up enough money to leave Tatooine and move to a more lush place such as Alderaan or Naboo, where he lives until he dies of old age.

Alternatively, Anakin does not seek a family and runs into Qui-Gon in Mos Eisley one day, around 19 BBY (the time of Revenge of the Sith’s taking place in the canon). By this time, the Galactic Empire had already risen, with Order 66 being issued around the ending of Attack of the Clones’ time in the canon. Anakin asks Qui-Gon how he feels about the Empire and the death of all the Jedi. It’s very clear that he’s hurt by it all, but he just replies that it’s none of his business. Anakin leaps out into a rant about how someone needs to do something about this, and restore peace to the galaxy. The words end up appealing to Qui-Gon’s inner Jedi, who snaps out of it and offers to train Anakin no matter what. Qui-Gon trains Anakin to become a brave and powerful Jedi, who goes off to fight Obi-Wan  and become a crucial piece in bringing down the Empire.

The following only takes place if Anakin goes forward with my first possible timeline.

The Empire rules the galaxy for thousands of years, with the Rebellion poking at its side constantly, with no victory unlike the canon timeline. Many Death Stars are built throughout the galaxy, starting with the original, with over twenty of many different sizes and abilities sparking up in other systems. The original leaders of the Empire have long died out, but Obi-Wan, Palpatine, and Maul left behind a legacy of Sith, who act like general sheriffs of the Empire (they basically fly out to planets to make sure no Rebellion propaganda is spreading). The Empire isn’t defeated until a small branch of the Rebellion manages to spread into many different armies, taking over the Death Stars and gaining the aide of rogue Force users throughout the galaxy.

Anyway, this is all just a crazy theory I had today. I don’t know if it was worth it or not, but it’s something to think about.