I'm re-watching The Clone Wars for the first time in years. Ten episodes into season one and there are already two arcs where Anakin is ordered to leave an ally to die, he refuses, and his against-orders rescue results in him saving the day. In the Malevolence arc, they're ordered to redeploy and not launch a rescue mission, but instead, Anakin goes to rescue Plo Koon and learns valuable intel that allows them to eventually destroy the ship. In the Droids in Distress arc, Anakin ignoring orders and rescuing R2 leads to him finding the Separatist listening station and discovering the spy in their midst.
Each time, he gets scolded by the powers that be for his attachments, but, like, he's right. I should start keeping track of how many times that happens over the series.
My interpretation of this phenomenon is that Anakin's rebellious nature IS right. He *should* be following his feelings and not automatically obeying orders or submitting to authority. He also passes this on, to some degree, to Ahsoka (lessons that teach her how to go behind the backs of authority and which help her survive later on after Order 66). After all, this a trait that helped Anakin himself survive as a slave.... aka, the ability to go behind the back of authority. But as time wears on, both the Jedi Order *and* Palpatine's grooming begins to erode his more rebellious side, and he is torn more and more about 'following orders'. This is one of Anakin's many inner conflicts, and one that finally comes to its head in Revenge of the Sith, in the pivotal scene in Palpatine's office, when he has to choose between Mace and Palpatine. The fact that both Mace and Palpatine essentially have said the same words to him ('he is too dangerous to be left alive') makes them seem 'the same' in his mind... and so he chooses to submit to the 'authority' (aka The Sith) that has convinced him it will help him save Padme's life.
We're told over and over that Anakin's fatal flaw is 'attachment,' but we're shown that it's actually obedience. Attachment saves him in the end and it saves a whole lot of other people along the way.
