Anakin Skywalker was a Force-sensitive human male who served the Galactic Republic as a Jedi Knight and later the Galactic Empire as the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Believed to have been conceived by the Force, he was born to Shmi Skywalker and came to reside on the Outer Rim planet of Tatooine as a small child, where he and his mother were slaves of the prominent crime lord Gardulla the Hutt before falling into the ownership of a local Toydarian junk dealer named Watto. An engineering prodigy, Skywalker rebuilt the protocol droid C-3PO using scavenged parts to help his mother. Soon thereafter, during the Naboo Crisis, he was discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who freed Anakin from slavery after a successful wager on the youth's podracing skills. Bringing him into the Jedi Order, Jinn hailed Skywalker as the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy, destined to defeat the Sith and bring balance to the Force.