What does Yoda mean when he says "rejoice for those around you that transform into the force"? why does he want Anakin to be happy after losing someone and not mourn or miss them
Here's the thing about Scene 77.
Yoda's in a situation where Anakin is giving almost no information, to the point where Yoda literally needs to complete his sentences for him. As seen in the Revenge of the Sith script:
If Anakin's only gonna give him vague information, Yoda can only give generalities. And Yoda speaks in riddles.
So, with regards to the part about "rejoicing for those around you who transform into the force", that's simply Yoda’s way of saying "when you're sad, try to remember the good times you had together".
This is also fair advice.
He’s not telling Anakin “how dare you mourn or be sad instead of laughing! Bad Anakin! Start dancing and celebrating! Now!”
He’s telling Anakin to cherish the moments he had with that person that’s about to die, which will, in turn help him accept that inevitability, come to the conclusion that they had a good run. Instead of pulling back from these fears and this pain, he should face them head on and accept that it's happening.
It’s very general advice, granted. But it’s good advice.
And if Anakin were asking casually, on a normal day? I think he wouldn’t sneer at it, and would actually reflect on it.
Like, he went to see Yoda for a reason, right?
Yoda usually gives him good advice.
Hell, one time, Yoda counseled Anakin about his concern for Padmé, during the Clovis arc:
But Anakin isn't at his best during Scene 77.
He hasn't had an ounce of sleep and he's scared out of his mind. He's not thinking straight. He's hoping for a concrete, tangible response but isn't giving a concrete scenario.
So when he gets this answer:
He dismisses it as fortune cookie nonsense and Yoda essentially telling him to "give up on Padmé" which he just won't do.
But that's the crux. Yoda doesn’t tell Anakin to “give up” on everything he fears to lose. He says *let go.
Which isn’t the same thing.
Lucas explains the nuance many times. My personal fav is this one:
“ There’s a line between loving somebody compassionately and caring about them and helping them. But the other line is not to be greedy or once you are greedy then you get fearful. You don’t want to lose what it is you have that you are getting. So you have to learn to give up everything. And ultimately for a Jedi Knight, it’s very easy to give up.
One of the things they give up is marriage. They can still love people. But they can’t possess them. They can’t own them. They can’t demand that they do things. They have to be able to accept […] their mortality, that they are going to die. And not worry about it. That the loved ones they have, everything they love is going to die and they can’t do anything about it.
I mean they can protect them as you would ordinarily protect, you know, ‘Get out of the way of that car.’ Somebody charges you with a gun, you knock the gun out, but there is an inevitability to life which is death and you have to accept that. ”
- George Lucas, Star Wars Celebration V, 2010
Anakin doesn’t see that difference. Like, in his mind, accepting that there are things beyond your control is synonymous with giving up. Which isn’t the case, it’s a sign of maturity, not weakness or carelessness.
This is also perfectly illustrated in the TCW episode where Ahsoka and Barris are trapped under rubble, slowly dying from the lack of oxygen. Luminara readies herself to "let go", Anakin is hearing "giving up". It's two separate things (I talk more about that scene here).
Gonna conclude with a headcanon:
Had Anakin just put all cards on the table in Scene 77, just full-on revealed he's married to Padmé, they have a baby but now he's having nightmares like the ones he had when his mother died... everything would've turned out okay.
Like, first off, Yoda would've probably given more concrete advice, probably would've sent some Jedi healers over to her suite, etc.
Secondly, it's not like Yoda didn't know something was going on with Padmé. Anakin is really bad at keeping that secret.
Them being actually married and having a child would be a surprise to be sure, but Yoda and Anakin have this grandpa/grandchild bond, which we've seen many times during TCW.
And Yoda has also been confronted with a situation like this one before, as seen in Dooku: Jedi Lost.
I like to think Yoda did learn from that incident with Braylon and would help Anakin.
Finally, I don't think Anakin would've been expelled. Or if he had, it'd be waaaay later. Right now, the Jedi Council is:
close to finding the second Sith Lord,
just as the Chancellor legally took ownership of their Order,
just as they're hunting Grievous,
while there's a whole war raging on.
They got more important shit to handle, and they've already made plenty of exceptions for Anakin, so they'd at least table the discussion, and at best just make another exception for the Chosen One and come up with a plan on how to move forward this situation.
And again, on a normal day, Anakin probably knows this.
We see, at the start of Revenge of the Sith, that he's starting to get fed up with the secrecy, and we know he knows Obi-Wan knows about him and Padmé.
Deep down, he probably knows that it'll all be fine if he just tells it all.
But Anakin isn't thinking rationally, he's thinking emotionally. So he keeps his cards close to his chest and says as little as possible.
And it doesn't help that Palpatine's been manipulating Anakin for 13 years into thinking he can't talk to the Jedi.
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