Itachi Uchiha and Anakin Skywalker: Mass Murderers, An apologist Fandom, and Victim-Blaming…
Or, how Anakin is living proof that Itachi’s fans would still find a way to defend him if Kishimoto hadn’t portrayed Konoha as the “good side” and if he had presented more openly the Uchiha as the victims.
1.Their respective contexts:
Itachi and Anakin both come from marginalized backgrounds, and they both ended up joining the very system that creates those kind of backgrounds (clan discriminated against and slavery).
Naruto fans continue to deny this, because it doesn’t paint their favorite characters in a very good light, but Konoha has all the characteristics of a fascist regime, and the Uchiha clan has all the characteristics of a discriminated-against community. The Senju and the Uchiha joined forces to found the village and chose democracy as the system for electing their leader. Hashirama, a Senju, was elected by both the Senju and the Uchiha. Then Tobirama told Hashirama about rumors that the Uchiha were too emotional and that their powers were too unstable to trust them with political power. Madara overheard this conversation. Madara warned his clan that Tobirama might try something, but they refused to listen to him now that they were finally at peace with the Senju. Unfortunately for the clan, Madara turned out to be right, as Tobirama assigned the Uchiha to police duties to keep them away from decision-making power, demonize them in the eyes of the public, and keep them under surveillance. Then Tobirama abolishes democracy by appointing Hiruzen, and five of his six students are, as if by “chance,” implicated in the massacre. Hiruzen is the Hokage during the massacre. Danzo is Hiruzen’s right-hand man behind the scenes and the leader of a faction of the ANBU (the unit tasked with monitoring the Uchiha clan, of which Itachi is a member). Koharu and Homura are the Hokage’s advisors. Kagami Uchiha is also implicated in the massacre:
Tobirama, after claiming that the “Curse of Hatred” is a genetic condition that affects only the Uchiha and makes them too emotional to be trusted, ends up claiming that an Uchiha can break free from this biological constraint—provided, of course, that the Uchiha accepts his ideology of putting the village before the clan. Do you realize how ridiculous this argument is, or not? As if by “coincidence,” Shisui, Kagami’s descendant, ends up working with Danzo and the Hokage to spy on the clan. And Itachi was Shisui’s best friend, and like him, he worked with Danzo and Hiruzen. Some Uchiha, after realizing that Madara was right (they had been moved away from the center of the village under the pretext of making their work easier, even though population displacement very often precedes genocide), then decided to plan a revolt. After the Kyubi’s attack on the village—while Kushina was pregnant and Konoha’s leadership knew that a jinchuriki could lose control in such situations—they suspected the Uchiha and relocated them once again far from the village center. But Danzo may not have shared this suspicion, since he seems to know Obito… The Uchiha decide to stage a coup.
In Star Wars, children who are sensitive to the Force may join the group with their parents' consent, provided they are very young. And all members may choose to leave at any time if they no longer wish to follow the Jedi way of life. The Jedi are a community that acts as guardians of the peace; they are not soldiers. They are loyal to democracy and the Republic, but that does not mean they are willing to blindly obey the system or the person at its head—that is, Palpatine. So, when suspicions arise that a dangerous individual may be secretly controlling the Senate, the Jedi decide to investigate. And which senator is amassing more and more power thanks to the war? Palpatine. Three Jedi decide to investigate: Mace Windu, Yoda, and Obi-Wan. At this point, Obi-Wan is Anakin’s Jedi Master, and Palpatine is already taking an interest in Anakin.
2. The facts regarding their respective betrayals of their communities
Although Itachi was supposed to spy on Konoha for his family, his clan, and his father (the leader of the coup), he decided to become a double agent. After hearing Danzo say that innocent children would also be punished (that is, killed) and after Shisui told him that Danzo had prevented him from stopping the coup with his genjutsu, Itachi decided to go see him and betray his clan, supposedly to protect Sasuke. Itachi agrees to kill the clan himself, supposedly so that Sasuke wouldn’t hate the village. But in reality, this helps Konoha absolve itself of all responsibility and allows them to recruit Sasuke—the victim of the genocide they ordered—into the ranks of their army. Itachi then meets "Madara"/Obito, a unknown and highly suspicious Uchiha. Instead of exposing Obito to prove his clan’s innocence of the Kyubi attack and ease tensions, he asks him for help in killing the clan. Together, they slaughter men (Fugaku), women (Mikoto), the elderly (Uruchi and Teyaki), and children…
Palpatine continues to gain even more executive power through the war and asks Anakin—a Jedi who is not under his authority—to spy on the Jedi Council for him. He literally asks him: “Be the eyes, ears, and voice of the Republic / Be my personal representative on the Jedi Council.” This is a massive abuse of authority and a power play on Palpatine’s part because the Senate has no business meddling in Jedi affairs; the Jedi elect their own members—and certainly not members as close to the man they suspect. And after that, fans try to portray Anakin as a young man disillusioned by the Jedi Council, as if he weren’t the biggest case of corruption in the Order. And Obi-Wan literally warned Anakin two seconds before that Palpatine was suspicious, but of course, let’s let the fans pretend that Obi-Wan isn’t a good teacher when it’s Anakin who never listens…
And because the Jedi—unlike Anakin—don’t pretend not to understand just how much this act makes Palpatine even more suspicious, they decide to task Anakin with reporting back to them on any suspicious behavior on Palpatine’s part.
And Anakin, who has a nasty habit of turning a blind eye to things he doesn’t like, acts as if the Jedi are in the wrong for asking him to spy on Palpatine. You know, literally right after Palpatine asked him to be HIS spy. It’s Palpatine who makes the first move; the Jedi act accordingly and, unlike Palpatine, clearly tell Anakin what they want him to do. But because Palpatine flatters him while the Jedi tell him the truth as it is, he sulks like a child (just a reminder that he’s 22) and throws tantrums when he isn’t given the rank of Master that he hasn’t earned.
The difference between Palpatine and the Jedi? Palpatine gives Anakin gifts, while the Jedi treat him like any other member of their order, without any special treatment. “They asked you to spy on me, didn’t they?” asks the man who was the first to ask Anakin to spy. Because if there’s one person who plays the victim even more than Anakin, it’s Palpatine.
Anakin finally realizes that Palpatine is a Sith and reports this information to Mace Windu, the only one of the three Jedi who suspects Palpatine to be present. Windu tells Anakin that he trusts him, that he should stay out of this because his judgment is clouded, and that they’re going to arrest Palpatine.
Windu tries to stop Palpatine, but his men are killed. He is fighting Palpatine when Anakin arrives. Windu believes the best course of action is to kill Palpatine, since he might escape thanks to his control over the Senate and the army. Anakin sees Palpatine using lightning on Windu but decides to side with him anyway; it’s clear he only did so because Palpatine mentioned Padme. It is supposedly to “protect Padme” that Anakin kills Windu.
After that, under the pretext of preventing the Jedi—one of the most pacifist groups in the galaxy—from killing them and sparking a civil war, Palpatine issues an extermination order (Order 66) against all Jedi. This extermination order targets the Jedi (Yoda, Obi-Wan, etc.) who were then fighting for the Republic in its war against the Separatists, but also the children in the Jedi Temple who were not yet Jedi. The clone army is tasked with killing the Jedi, and Anakin is tasked with killing the children. Anakin has no problem about the possibility of Obi-Wan’s death—the man who had cared for him for at least 10 years.
3. The Excuse Used by Fans and Authors
“Itachi was a child, and he did it to prevent a civil war—for the village and for Sasuke.” Itachi was a child when he committed his first crime. But what about after that? He wasn’t a child anymore after that. He was thirteen when he killed his clan. He was eighteen when he saw Sasuke again and tortured him with an S-rank genjutsu that put him in a life-threatening coma from which only Tsunade was able to revive him. He was still eighteen when he reminded Sasuke that he could gain more power if he killed his best friend. And Itachi had only ever seen Sasuke get close to Naruto, whom he knew to be the Kyubi’s jinchuriki. Sasuke, following his advice, tried to kill Naruto and failed only because Naruto deflected the blow. So if Sasuke had killed Naruto, not only would he have had an even bigger target on his back, but Konoha would also have lost its most powerful weapon. And what civil war? Danzo made it clear that with his ANBU team and Hiruzen’s, the clan would be quickly wiped out. Protect Konoha from what—its own discriminated-against citizens? At this point in the story, Konoha has treaties with just about every village, and the Village of the Sand is too busy fighting its own Jinchuriki, so there’s no risk of an external attack. And given how Itachi treated Sasuke—psychologically and physically torturing him (to the point of inflicting fatal wounds after their final battle)—to say that Itachi did this for Sasuke’s own good is, at best, a joke and, at worst, an excuse for abuse. Even at age 21, Itachi had kept the clan massacre a secret and planned to use Shisui’s genjutsu to brainwash Sasuke and force him to serve Konoha at all costs. And what if Konoha wanted to kill Sasuke, and the only way to defend himself was to attack Konoha? Sasuke wouldn’t be able to do anything because of the brainwashing.
I’ve already written a post on this topic (here); Kishimoto used various methods to soften Itachi’s actions. Notably, he created a cult of personality around Itachi by having all the characters fawn over him despite his crimes. Also, the fact that Fugaku and Mikoto are the only Uchiha shown being killed—and in a manner that’s unnaturally calm given the situation (I also haven’t forgotten that Itachi is the biggest liar in the manga, and that he’s the one who casts a genjutsu to show the events to Sasuke, so he could be lying, but the commonly accepted version is that he’s telling the truth) . And I couldn’t care less that he cried—why should I feel bad for the perpetrator who cries instead of the real victims? There’s no difference between a mass murderer who cries and one who doesn’t. And I’m not even talking about the light novels—which aren’t canon—that try to portray Itachi as a martyr even though he’s slaughtering innocent people.
“Anakin is young / it’s Obi-Wan’s fault / Qui-Gon should have taught him / it’s the Jedi’s fault for their rules on attachment, their mistreatment of the clones, and their lack of trust in Anakin / he wanted to save Padmé / he was being manipulated.”
Anakin, unlike Itachi, isn’t a child, but his fans clearly didn’t get the memo, judging by the way they talk about him. He’s a Manchild—that’s different. In Episodes 1 and 2, he’s supposed to be 19 and 22 years old, but he spends his time complaining about everything, disobeying orders, and criticizing others. His fans treat him the same way they treat news stories about a teenager who commits a crime in real life—they seek to blame the parents without trying to understand the situation further, because the simplest explanation is the most reassuring—except that Anakin isn’t a child, his victims are children, and the Jedi aren’t his parents. When, at any point in the movies, was Obi-Wan ever wrong in his treatment of Anakin? He is patient with him and constantly tolerates his disrespect. Anakin defies his authority in front of everyone, and Obi-Wan simply debates with him instead of punishing him for the disrespect. Just because Anakin tends to always blame Obi-Wan for his own mistakes doesn’t mean Obi-Wan is responsible. And fans should have understood that. Whenever Obi-Wan speaks to him or about him, it’s always truthful and kind; he reminds Anakin of his flaws, gives him advice on how to improve, and stands up for him. In contrast, the first thing Anakin does after massacring the Tuskens (including the children) who had killed his mother—and after burying her—is to blame Obi-Wan and accuse him of things that aren’t true at all:
And every time Anakin screws up, it’s only when Obi-Wan isn’t around. And Anakin knows he’s in the wrong because he hides most of his screw-ups from Obi-Wan (he never told him about the Tuskens). So how can he be held responsible? “But Anakin was sad about his mother”—so what? He killed all the children. According to Anakin’s own “logic,” the Tuskens should kill him and all the other Jedi because he killed a member of their community, and that would mean all Jedi are “animals.”
And what proof is there that Anakin could have had a better teacher than Obi-Wan? No one else wanted him because he hadn’t received a Jedi education earlier, and the Council considered it dangerous to try to integrate someone into their culture so late (and the ending proves they were right). If Obi-Wan hadn’t insisted despite Yoda and Mace Windu’s refusal, Anakin would have been back to square one.
Qui-Gon has a whole cult of personality surrounding him, as if the guy didn’t appear for just 50 minutes at most (only 30 of which were spent with Anakin), during which he found time to get killed by an enemy that his Padawan—who had years less experience than him—managed to defeat, and to leave Anakin’s mother in slavery (The Jedi don’t normally have jurisdiction where she is, but Obi-Wan proved in the next movie that the Jedi can use their hypnotic powers to convince people to stop selling drugs, so Qui-Gon could have arranged for the people there to stop selling… well… other people).
And if Anakin was really that unhappy because of the rules about attachment, well, he could have just left—no one would have stopped him, and he could have lived with Padme. An entire community doesn’t have to change its culture just because he can’t keep his pants on. But Anakin didn’t do that, because he’s greedy—he wants it all. He wants to be a Jedi, but he doesn’t want to live like a Jedi. And all the fanfiction and fan art showing Anakin remaining a Jedi while playing “family” with Leia and Luke doesn’t change the fact that he was the one who made the mistake by pursuing a relationship forbidden by his order while still remaining a member of that order. The Jedi aren’t prison guards; Anakin just had to make a choice. This isn’t Romeo and Juliet.
The Jedi’s mistreatment of the clones? You mean the clones whom the Jedi support in battle and who are under the Senate’s command, not the Jedi’s. The Jedi have no authority over the clones—that was supposed to be clear enough with Order 66. There’s nothing in Episode III—unlike in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars—that would suggest the soldiers are being controlled (the one about to kill Yoda even turns his head in a gesture that seems to say “finally” to his colleague).
And look, I absolutely hate this whole idea of microchips brainwashing the clones that appears in the spin-off. Star Wars isn’t subtle—the inspirations for the Empire have always been obvious. And in a movie about the rise of fascism and how a republic became a dictatorship, it makes sense that soldiers complicit in the system aren’t excused by the script. Just as in One Piece and Naruto, marines and shinobi choose whether or not to obey orders. This kind of plot would have been more acceptable if it involved a smaller number of clones, whereas applying it to the entire army is too reminiscent of the kind of excuse used by certain armies in our reality after committing mass crimes. Many soldiers from World War II, on all sides, claimed they were unable to disobey orders (some even claimed they were out of control because of drugs their superiors had given them). And they wanted us to feel sorry for them, for the harm they inflicted on civilian populations, under the pretext that “killing innocent people made them cry.” So in the end, according to Star Wars’ logic, no soldier should be held responsible for the genocides they committed? So who’s responsible in the end? If fans claim that Anakin is entirely manipulated by the “dark side” and is therefore innocent, and that the clones are controlled by chips, then I finally understand why some idiots blame the victims for their own genocide—supposedly, no one else is involved but them.
But let’s say we accept this whole “chip” story—in that case, Anakin also chooses to mistreat the clones, since he allows Palpatine to issue Order 66, which causes the clones to massacre the Jedi—their allies who are currently defending them against the Separatists—right before their eyes. Don’t Anakin’s fans see the cognitive dissonance in blaming Yoda and Obi-Wan for fighting for their lives against soldiers who are trying to slaughter them and their community without warning, while at the same time praising and defending Anakin on the pretext that he “wanted to change things”? “How dare Yoda and Obi-Wan fight in self-defense”—no, but at this point, it’s even worse than Sakura’s fans getting angry at Sasuke for defending himself after she tried several times first to kill him (with a lousy plan, but she tried anyway). Do you just want the victims to let themselves be killed to spare the soldiers (whether the soldiers are following orders like the clones or acting of their own free will like Sakura)?
“Poor Anakin, the Jedi didn’t trust him,” yeah, because they’re not fucking idiots. Doakes was right in the end to suspect Dexter, and what happened next proved the Jedi right. If the person you don’t trust is suspicious as hell, then it’s just common sense. What did Anakin do to earn their trust? Yoda and Windu sensed in Episode II that something horrible had happened to Anakin (you know, when he slaughtered the children he saw as animals), but they didn’t know what. Anakin is disrespectful, impulsive, arrogant, and young. On top of that, he has the support of Palpatine, the politician the Jedi suspect. The only Jedi who trusts Anakin is Obi-Wan, and that’s only because Anakin plays the good guy in front of him. And in the end, when Mace Windu finally trusts Anakin, Anakin kills him… so, um… he was right. Windu didn’t trust Anakin because a prophecy isn’t proof of trust.
Saving Padme ? I doubt it. In any case, it’s not love—it’s abuse justified under the guise of love. This whole relationship with Padme is a mess. If he loved her more than anything, as he claimed, he would have left the Order and married her openly. But neither of them was very keen on that because they both wanted to keep their privileges (he wants to remain a Jedi, and she wants the Queen to let her continue serving in the Senate). And Anakin treats her like everyone else—that is, as a potential enemy. Depending on the situation, he’s either verbally abusive or gentle. He hides the truth from her, manipulates her when she’s in distress, and accuses her of being a Separatist (against whom he’s at war) when she confides that she doesn’t like Palpatine amassing so much power… And all the horrible things he does—whether to others or to her—he justifies by saying it’s “to save her.” If you think this is a romantic and tragic relationship, go read a book on consent. And there’s a reason Padme isn’t worried about Anakin’s dreams of her death. It’s irrational to panic so much and seek immortality from the Siths instead of the obvious solution, which is to prepare a team of highly trained doctors. And if he really did all that for Padme, why did he become Darth Vader after her death? He doesn’t need to do anything for her anymore.
Palpatine didn’t manipulate Anakin; he just gave him what he wanted. There’s a big difference between manipulation and bootlicking.
Does Anakin want people to agree with him? Padme and Palpatine reassure him about the mass slaughter he committed against the Tusken Raiders.
Does Anakin want a seat on the Council? Palpatine gives it to him. Anakin doesn’t understand why he isn’t allowed to become a Jedi Master after he was clearly given preferential treatment to join the Council? Palpatine reassures him that he’s better than the Jedi. Anakin wants to go on a mission with Obi-Wan against Grievous even though he’s been tasked with spying on Palpatine? Palpatine tells him what he wants to hear. And so on. Does Anakin have nightmares about Padme dying in childbirth? Palpatine magically finds him a secret method of immortality.
And Anakin, contrary to what his fans refuse to see, is very manipulative toward those close to him (half of what he says to Padme, for example). Anakin wants the mission against Grievous, but it’s assigned to Obi-Wan—so what does he do? He goes to see Obi-Wan and plays the “I’m worried about you if you go alone, so I have to come too” card, and Obi-Wan believes him (with the happiest smile) and reassures him about their respective abilities. This is the last time they’ll see each other before Anakin lets Palpatine issue Order 66. The moment Obi-Wan turns away, Anakin’s smile fades and he starts complaining as usual. He was never worried about his friend; he just wants the mission and claims to Padme that he didn’t get it only because the Jedi Council doesn’t trust him. The real reason he didn’t get it was because he told the Jedi that Palpatine wanted him to do it and because he didn’t have enough experience. And for someone supposedly manipulated by Palpatine, he seemed pretty eager to kill him so he could rule the galaxy with Padme :
4.Ideological Debate: Who Was Right? Itachi and Anakin have a repulsive ideology: a mix of hypocrisy, lies, and fascism.
The Uchiha, Fugaku, the Jedi, Mace Windu and Yoda all had reason and right to act as they did. You want to know the real reason for their failure? Their humanity. If they were like the people they were fighting, that is, child killers, then they would have killed Anakin and Itachi at the second they showed the first signs of betrayal. And to make Itachi look like a pacifist and Anakin (the most corrupt Jedi) like a revolutionary against the Jedi Council is disingenuous.
If so-called peace requires the death of an innocent child under the pretext of maintaining it, then that peace is too fragile to be worth it. And all the worst regimes hide behind the justification of security; no child can threaten peace—that’s a lie. Konoha was never in any danger; the other villages didn’t attack it after Suna and then Pain destroyed part of the village. The only time Konoha was in danger of having to face the other villages was when Danzo tried to manipulate the Kages with his genjutsu and destroyed Konoha’s reputation. Itachi and Danzo are the same—they use the same methods and produce the same result. We’re told that both acted for Konoha’s sake, but their killing of children—whether the Uchiha or the Root children—has never been shown to have produced any positive results. And the audacity of Itachi’s fans to call him a pacifist is unprecedented. A pacifist is someone who seeks nonviolent solutions to a problem. A pacifist will prioritize dialogue over fighting. A pacifist will not ask a discriminated-against group to give up their resistance against the aggressor. A pacifist wouldn’t wipe out the smaller side in a conflict under the pretext of the “greater good.” Itachi’s genocide was the "easy way out"; no one forced him to act as judge, jury, and executioner. He chose to go see Danzo and Obito. And Danzo and Obito were most certainly allies, since they knew so much about each other. If they weren’t allies, that meant Danzo at least knew that the Uchiha weren’t responsible for the attack on the village. And if Danzo truly believed in that “curse of hatred” Tobirama spoke of, he wouldn’t have grafted so many Sharingan onto his arm.
Itachi is nothing more than a traitor to the clan and a liar. He lied to Sasuke about the reason for the existence of the Konoha police station. He lied about the Mangekyō. He lied about their family’s death for years. He lied about Madara and Izuna. Either he lied knowing the truth, or he was simply parroting the version given by Tobirama through Shisui and Kagami.
Who would dare say that the Uchiha were wrong to plan a coup when everything Madara had predicted turned out to be true? They have been removed from the center of the village, charged with a post made to demonize them, accused of being subjected to the "curse of hatred" and of being able to be cured only if they put the village before their family. And if one night was enough to massacre them all, then the so-called “threat of civil war” they represented was unfounded. The coup was their last chance to survive. And Fugaku and the Uchiha made only one mistake, which was to have given too much trust in Itachi, until he had more power than them. And their method was logical. The Uchiha have no real power within the village, their police have almost no authority. Having Itachi in the Anbu, the only unit that has real power, was essential. Especially since the Anbu was spying on the clan. Fugaku was not a cruel father who wanted to force his son to be perfect and pushed him to the limit as claimed by Itachi’s fans, he was a desperate man who tried to have an influence on the fate of his clan. And his plan backfired, because after making Itachi join the Anbu to help them, his son turned against his family, threatened them (by throwing weapons in the family emblem (if it’s not a death threat, what is it? ) and has become higher up than Fugaku is (so his father can't arrest him). Why on earth are these three Uchiha from the police force so hated in the fandom? Itachi had already betrayed them all by then, he was already spying for Danzo. They were right to be wary of him. And if Itachi didn’t want to look suspicious, he just had to stop insulting his clan at the slightest opportunity (which is apparently impossible for him since he will continue even after their death).
Anakin has never had a clear and fixed moral. It is easy to complain about those who are faithful to the rules they give themselves and to call them "rigid" when one has no morals and changes conduct according to the need of the situation. He killed Doku under the pretext that he is too dangerous but claim that Windu has no right to kill Palpatine for the same reasons. And unlike Doku, Palpatine still had the means to fight. The Jedi raised him, fed him, and cared for him for 13 years. How did he thank them? By betraying them, making them look like state criminals and killing their children. He speaks of "democracy" and "republic" for a second to justify his actions, then speaks of his empire. He doesn’t even believe what he says when he talks about the Republic; his only interest in politics is what he can gain from it. Just because he says he has the right role doesn’t mean he believes it. He claims to have killed the Jedi who wanted to overthrow the republic, but two minutes later there is talk of his Empire, and then again two minutes later he claims that the Jedi are bad. "That’s his point of view" say his fans, no, those are his lies. And to claim that his ideology is not there by reducing all this to a "passage into the dark side" is bad faith. Giving him a pardon for all his crimes on the pretext that it was the "dark side" is also bad faith. Excusing an adult man for political disasters he has caused for his own sake is disgusting. And if everything he says is so illogical and contradictory, it’s simply because Anakin, just like any other fascist who serves his own interests, is able to say one thing and its opposite just to get the good role while sometimes letting out his true intentions. Everything he accuses the Jedi of being and doing, he is and did, he’s a hypocrite. And everything his fans accuses the Jedi council of being (corrupt...), he is.
The Jedi were right. They had the right not to change their whole way of life just because one of their members, who was not even accepted into the community in the usual way, wanted special treatment. Mace Windu decided to investigate the Senate and prepare, if necessary, a temporary takeover by the Jedi to organize the transition of power. The only senator who truly benefits from the war is Palpatine. The only one who seeks to become involved in Jedi affairs is Palpatine. Anakin, by acting as a manchild and being close to the senator is clearly someone you should not trust. Anakin received his position as an advisor thanks to a piston, but he still finds the audacity to complain that he was not made master too. And the funniest part is that he act like a baby about it in front of Obi Wan, who was made a Jedi master at 25 years old and only joined the council after 35. Anakin is 22. What do you think he look like when he throws a tantrum in front of the Jedi? If it’s not to a spoiled brat.
And there is a problem for Windu, Obi Wan tells him that Anakin is trustworthy and Anakin himself is a member of their community, he should be someone trustworthy. So he uses Anakin as a double agent, since it is already obvious to all the Jedi that he is already a reporter to Palpatine. But he also decides to prevent him from getting too involved, by charging Obi Wan instead of Anakin to stop Grivious and refusing his presence during the arrest of Palpatine. And when it becomes clear that arresting Palpatine is impossible because of his power over the Senate, he decides to kill him, which was the most logical choice.
Yoda was also right. The fandom likes to make the Jedi look like insensitive beings and Anakin like a poor lost boy, but the truth is that they mistake the emotional strength of the Jedi for a lack of emotion. In reality, Anakin is not just emotional; he has a bad attitude. And ironically, he’s the one who ends up acting heartlessly. Yoda advised Anakin to detach because his attachments were clearly worsening his attitude. Younglings' group is shown only three times; the first time in the second film, when Obi Wan "loses a planet". The second time in the third movie, when Anakin is about to kill them. The third when Obi Wan and Yoda find the bodies just after escaping the extermination order.
Yoda and Obi Wan loved the Younglings, the supposedly loveless Jedi suffered from the loss of their group’s children. Anakin, the so-called boy who loves, massacred them. And I’ve seen edits that portray the Younglings in a way that shows that "poor Anakin is traumatized for killing them," my ass. Yoda and Obi-Wan are the only known survivors, and they could only make it to the temple with the help of the senator who saw the clones kill a Jedi child. They have no other allies and their means are limited, and the republic is on the verge of collapse. And Yoda still puts his feelings aside to go face Palpatine. He tries to spare Obi Wan from finding out who killed the children, but the Jedi favor the truth, so he lets him look at the records. Sent Obi Wan to get rid of Palpatine’s new guard dog is necessary, Anakin must die. Of course, in the end Palpatine and Anakin survive and the Empire replaces democracy. But trying was the right thing to do and they stayed true to their principle until the end, unlike someone else.
5.The relationship between the fandom and the other characters
The victims loved by the fandom…
Fans of a character tend to like, or just tolerate, other characters when they defend or justify their favorite’s actions. That’s why fans love the antagonists/villains' romantic interests.
No one loves Padme more than Anakin's fans—and, by extension, the Padme x Anakin shippers. Why? Because she's an enabler.
Well, I say that they "loves" her, but not really. If they really loved Padme, I doubt that he would shipp her with the man who ruined her life supposedly "for her own good" (which is the favorite excuse of abusers).
She ignores all the red flags, just like Anakin’s fans do, and that’s why they love her. She literally heard Anakin call the children he killed "animals" and decides to comfort him. In the same way, Anakin’s fans defend him for this mass murder on the grounds that they killed his mother. As if killing children for their parent’s crimes was right. If Padme had told the Jedi this, Anakin would have been expelled from the order, they could have been openly together, and the fall of the Jedi would have been avoided. And the fans don’t like to think about that, which is why they claim that the other Jedi (because of the moment when Yoda feels that something happened but doesn’t know what) and Obi Wan known about it too and have forgiven Anakin, whereas the only one other than Padme who knows the truth is Palpatine (if we exclude Anakin’s stepfather). Also, a little reminder that at this point in the story when she hide the truth, Padme has only been in contact with Anakin for a few months since their meeting after 10 years without contact (after their short meeting during the first movie).
And then, after getting pregnant, when she's gonna have a child, she suddenly seems to care that Anakin is capable of killing children when she didn't before. After Obi Wan tells her that Anakin killed the Jedi children, which is very credible with the information she has since Anakin told her that all Jedi are declared enemies of the Republic except him and that she saw the flames from her window. She decides to go see Anakin herself, putting herself and the baby she is carrying at risk by going to the place of what Anakin told her was a dangerous mission. And the funny thing is that she goes without a weapon.
When she understands that Anakin killed the children of the Jedi temple, what does she do? Is she trying to run away? Does she yell at him? NO. She tells him to run away with her. She wants the child killer to help her raise their unborn child… Luke and Leia were really lucky that she didn’t raise them because with a mother like that, no one needs an enemy.
But the final joke must be when she dies telling Obi Wan that there’s still good in Anakin, you know, after he strangled her while she was pregnant and decided to let her breathe only after Obi Wan asked him.
Rest in peace, Padme, you really would have been the worst female character I’ve ever seen in a movie (it’s because of this kind of character that I find Sakura complex in comparison, maybe I’m too used to being satisfied with what is passable).
Uchiha Izumi does not exist. The existence of Itachi girlfriend is only mentioned in the canon by Obito, who tells us that Itachi killed her himself. Her only appearance is in a fillers and a non-canon light novel. But some Itachi fans like her a bit. Why? Because it serves them as "proof" that Itachi felt sad when killing the other Uchiha. Just like Fugaku and Mikoto (the only victims of the massacre whose death the author shows), she is not allowed to think about herself or her deceased relatives and her death is used by the author to create pity around Itachi. In the anime, her death is quick, she hopes that Itachi will come to save her and it is Obito who kills her. In the light novel, Itachi uses a genjutsu in which she experiences the illusion of a lifetime by his side before he kills her, and she thanks him. Cool, what a good idea to write the 13 years old victim of mass murder, killed only for belonging to a clan discriminated against, thanking her killer.
And the victims that fandom blames…
The Jedi? As bad as the Siths? "That why Anakin turned"? The Siths are literally fascists in the Star Wars universe. The "dark side"? Nothing more than an aesthetic term to designate their ideology. And the Jedi are the community massacred because of their ideology. I didn’t see the hundreds of Spin Off, but I heard rumors about what Disney did, if what I heard is true, it doesn’t surprise me from them. I don’t give a fuck if Disney took over the universe to make the Jedi seem accountable for their own fate or as "like the Siths." I don’t give a fuck that the entertainment company that regularly use propaganda in its films has decided that, as usual, it will demonize the victims and humanize those responsible.
My experience has shown me that shippers are generally unable to read a story without taking off their pink glasses. But this goes too far.
In what world do they live exactly to blame Obi Wan for following Padme to find Anakin and interrupting her ?
Anakin helped commit genocide. Genocide from which Obi Wan has just escaped. Genocide of which Obi Wan knows only two survivors, him and master Yoda. How do Anakin and Padme’s shippers even expect Obi Wan to act differently? As usual, people expect the victims of genocide to put their lives and own needs on hold for the welfare of their favorite mass killers.
Obi Wan didn’t want to face Anakin, but Yoda is right. There are only two Jedi alive for all they know, the emperor at the head of the armies is a Sith who manipulated both sides of the war to come to power and his new most powerful soldier has just killed the children of the Jedi temple. It’s not a personal matter of revenge, the universe is literally in danger and democracy has just fallen. If they don’t stop Palpatine and Anakin now, who will? Time is running out since they are the two most hunted men in the empire. And Obi Wan asks to face the emperor while Yoda takes care of Anakin. Yoda refuses because he knows that Palpatine is the stronger of the two enemies and that he is himself stronger than Obi Wan. Obi Wan tries to find Anakin by talking to Padme, she refuses. Padme has already proven that she cannot be trusted since she decides not to tell him and goes to see Anakin herself. So he decides to follow her because he has no other way to find Anakin. Killing Anakine is the very evidence of what must be done. Why should Obi Wan, the genocide survivor, make the effort in this story? Why should it be up to him to help Anakin when that bastard has killed and let kill members of his community? Obi-Wan is clearly too nice because he even tries to reason with Anakin while the other one has no problem with Obi-Wan being killed by order 66.
And the shippers say "it’s all Obi Wan’s fault, if he had let Padme talk to Anakin she would have convinced him", convinced of what, you bunch of idiots? To flee? To escape the consequences of his actions?
Because the 22-year-old adult man can betray and let die the community that raised and fed him for 13 years and run away without any problem to leave to raise his unborn child? Can the 22-year-old adult man kill terrified children who were hiding behind seats and came up to him thinking he was going to save them? In what world do you live, you bunch of idiots. The only thing Anakin deserves at this point is to die like shit. Anakin didn’t give the children a chance to survive, so why should Obi Wan, who saw the bodies of the children he knew? And Padme? What do you want Obi Wan to do? She refused to tell him where Anakin was, chose to go see him as a big girl and wanted to run away with him after full knowledge of his actions. She chose her side and she is a woman of at least 26 years old; you won’t see me feel bad for her because Obi Wan doesn’t have time to get in trouble with her. I don’t give a fuck that she’s in love, there are more important things at the moment.
"She was stressed and pregnant", and Yoda and Obi Wan, after escaping death and discovering that their entire community had been destroyed, were not stressed? If she cared about her unborn child, she wouldn’t have gone after Anakin alone. And the cherry on the cake is that she takes the liberty of telling Obi Wan that Anakin still has something good in him before she dies. The audacity of this women. Her last words to the genocide victim are that the mass murderer responsible "still has good in him". You will excuse me or not, but there are limits to my empathy.
A lack of understanding by the fans: The case of Sasuke and Obi Wan
Just because Sasuke and Obi Wan love their brother and decide to forgive them, this does not erase the crimes committed. This does not erase the suffering that others have endured.
It is their fatal flaw that drives these two to continue loving their abuser, and it is unfortunately credible that they still love them. But fans must stop interpreting this fatal flaw as supposed proof of the redemption of Anakin and Itachi. Itachi and Anakin were so loved. By Fugaku, Mikoto, and Sasuke. By Obi Wan and Padme. And instead of taking care of their loved ones, they caused their loss (Sasuke may have survived but he lost all personality in the last chapter to serve Konoha).
Sasuke was 7 years old when his whole family was killed by his brother. This brother pushes him on the path of revenge, beating and psychologically torturing him. When Sasuke, after dedicating his life to kill Itachi, discovers that there is more behind the massacre and Itachi than he thought, he break. He has a panic attack. After Obito tells him part of the truth (while being careful to omit details against him), Sasuke decides to attack the clan’s real enemy, Konoha. After killing Danzo, he has an emotional breakdown and yells that he will stop if someone give him back his whole family, including his brother. Sasuke was well on his way to destroy Konoha, but that changes after he encounters the resurrected Itachi. And after having the confirmation that Itachi will always love him no matter what he decides to do, he decides to make an effort for his brother and try to understand the reason behind the existence of the village. Itachi has always been important to Sasuke, whether it’s love or hate. Sasuke is a lonely and traumatized child who feels guilty about what his big brother claims to have done for him, that’s why he forgives him and continues to love him.
Obi Wan is not a child, but that doesn’t mean he’s doing so much better than Sasuke. He does not sanction Anakin’s actions, unlike Padme, since he fights against him. But he feels responsible and seeks to take the blame for everything that happened. He is obviously not responsible since he was not there at the time of the events and barely survived. When a loved one commits a horrific act, it is common to try to remove their responsibility, sometimes we even ask ourselves if we could have done something about it. But Anakin fans interpret Obi Wan’s sense of guilt as proof of guilt to clear their favorite.
Villains like Itachi and Anakin are often popular, so we can understand why their authors, who want to make them even more popular to satisfy the fans (and thus make more money), are ready to create a cult of personality around them. And this happens through the victims of these characters. To give redemption to Anakin and Itachi, their victims must forgive them. In the end, almost all of Naruto’s characters end up speaking well about Itachi and we are even supposed to believe that Fugaku and Mikoto allowed themselves to be killed without being able to be sure that Sasuke would be safe, all while comforting Itachi. In the end, Leia is the only character who does not forgive Anakin (and thank god since he blew up a planet in front of her). All of Anakin’s other victims, they treat him as if he were an innocent, as if Darth Vader was the demon who possessed him.
It is unfair that the ending does not present the aggressors to the victims who refuse to forgive. It’s always in front of welcoming victims. The authors can show that Yoda’s disastrous lineage (including Ahsoka in the Spin-Offs) and Itachi’s direct family feel responsible and guilty to the point of forgiving the oppressor as much as they want. But the rest of the victims, whose authors are very careful to limit their screentimes, would not be able to forgive in a credible way.
Itachi (and Obito with Rin) can be forgiven by some of their victims in the ninja paradise, but the others will certainly not let them get away with it. And the ghosts of Yoda and Obi Wan may be cool with Anakin’s, but the Younglings and other Jedi are waiting for him at the turn. When Windu finishes scolding Qui Gon and making Obi Wan understand that he is not responsible, you can be sure that Anakin will not have a good time. And it would have been better if the authors had confronted them with this kind of victim.
And it’s even more unfair in the case of Itachi, because he clearly says before disappearing that "maybe a seven-year-old Sasuke could have changed the clan and I don’t regret anything."
The only characters who deserved better in this story are the members of the Uchiha clan, the Jedi, Fugaku, Mikoto, Sasuke, Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi Wan, Ahsoka, Luke and Leia.
You won’t be able to make me feel sorry for the state’s hired killers.
Stop your fanart in which Itachi receives post-mortum rewards for his "good services". Stop saying that Anakin deserved more people at his funeral (he would have had more if he hadn’t killed them). Stop saying that Anakin deserved to do worse because of the Jedi Council who refuses his whims and Ahsoka, if he really cared about her, he would not have helped create a system that causes even more suffering to young girls like her.
Itachi and Anakin lost everything, yes, but it’s their own fault.
