Ok, I know I haven't been very kind about Anakin in my posts lately but like...I'm rewatching TCW while I'm writing and it's literally insane how many times Anakin just...doesn't give a shit about his men and/or fellow Jedi.
Like he consistently makes decisions that get his men killed and you can't even defend it as "he tried his best, but that's war" because nine times out of ten he's either disobeying orders or ignoring the input of someone else saying "this is a bad idea/this is gonna get people killed/we need to do something else."
Like Anakin will literally go out of his way to disobey orders, for literally no reason, and get his men killed.
Not to mention that he shows absolutely no concern for them except for very select situations, and if Padme (or sometimes Ahsoka) is involved then you can bet your ass he doesn't give a shit about his men.
Oh, Rex is also stuck in that lab and dying of some incurable disease? YOU WOULDN'T HAVE KNOWN IT FROM ANAKIN'S COMMENTARY!!!
It's just...it's very frustrating rewatching TCW because now I'm actually seeing seeing his actions and I want to hit him with a metal pipe.
(Keep in mind for this entire post, I’ve seen every single Star Wars media except for the Sequels, season 3 of the Mandalorian, and shows like Droids and Ewoks—so I have definitely seen all of the animated shows + the OT + the Prequels)
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Ok but the thing is…it’s not a separate canon.
Yes, there’s something to be said about different writers having different perspectives/opinions/ideas on how things should go in canon but, when it comes down to it, Rebels, TCW, the Prequels, the OT…they’re all Anakin. Whether you like it or not, this is in fact Anakin doing these things.
And, personally, I think his utter disregard for the lives of other Jedi and/or his men is actually more in line with the characterization of Anakin in the Prequels than the show’s attempts at making him charming/cocky/a Casanova type/etc.
We see in the Prequels that Anakin has no problem with taking the lives of others, with both the Tuskens and with the Jedi.
He also has no issue with forcing others to take peoples’ lives and/or putting his men in danger (as seen when he’s storming the Temple with the 501st, which would have put his men’s lives in danger when the Jedi they’re genociding try to defend themselves, others, and their home).
He’s also shown to put his own personal interests over literally everyone and everything else, even those he claims to love and the causes he’s pledged to.
In AotC he puts Padmè in danger to go to Tatooine because he’s worried about his mother.
(He puts his personal relationship over his duty and Padmè’s life/safety)
Then he puts her in more danger by allowing her to go to Geonosis because he wants to rescue Obi-Wan.
(Again, he puts his personal relationship over his duty and Padmè’s life/safety)
He then wants to put Obi-Wan in danger by forcing him to face Dooku alone because he wants to save Padmè from the danger he put her in.
(Once again, putting his personal relationships over someone else’s life and his duty)
He then ignores the rules of the Order he’s pledged to to marry Padmè.
(AGAIN, PUTTING HIS OWN RELATIONSHIPS/INTERESTS OVER HIS DUTY)
Now onto RotS.
He puts himself and the Chancellor (and therefore the Republic) in danger because he wants to save Obi-Wan.
(I think you can take a guess…)
He then genocides an entire people and culture (by forcing another group of people to do so against their will btw) in order to “save” Padmè.
(…there is a pattern here…)
He then strangles Padmè because he thinks she’s “betrayed” him (aka she doesn’t want him to bring Peace, Freedom, Justice, and Security to His New Empire).
(Now he’s putting his own personal gain over other people’s lives)
And then he tries to murder Obi-Wan because Obi-Wan is also not ok with him bringing Peace, Freedom, Justice, and Security to His New Empire—and also upset because Anakin also just participated in the genocide of his people.
(Again, putting personal gain over other people’s lives)
So there’s a pattern with him, a pattern that TCW follows. So I don’t really think it’s fair to say it should be viewed as an AU when, as far as actions go, it’s pretty in-line with the behavior we see from him in the Prequels. If it was contradictory, then that’d be a discussion to have, but it’s just…not.
TCW is just putting a magnifying glass to it in the sense that each episode focus on one thing/person and episodes that feature Anakin aren’t really flattering to him when you look closer at his behavior/actions than the episode does.
@elenorasweet THIS!!! ALL OF THIS!!!
There was exactly one moment after EP 1 where I felt bad for him, which was when Shimi died in AotC (although most of my sympathy was for her, not him), but that was all immediately wiped away because he then proceeded to commit mass murder and child murder in her name.
After that, there was not one singular moment where I was like "awww poor Anakin," because he literally caused every single problem he was having! And, on top of that, he just kept making stupid heinous selfish choices over and over and over again--making the Jedi, and then the galaxy as a whole, pay for shit that he caused!
Now, personally, I like Anakin/Darth Vader as a villain! He makes me want to bash his head in and set his musty dusty ass on fire, which--for me--is a good thing when I'm watching a villain. I want the villain to be a horrible person, I want the villain to make me angry, I want to hate them in the context of whatever media they're in!
My main issue, and the reason why I actively reject Anakin and hate his character in a way that is more frustrating than anything else, is because of his damn apologists! Anakin is not meant to be "the hero" or whatever, yes, he was manipulated by Palpatine, but manipulation can only take someone so far.
Anakin chose to murder the Tuskens, Anakin chose to commit genocide against the Jedi and destroy their culture, Anakin chose to mind control the clones, Anakin chose to choke and inadvertently cause the death of his wife, Anakin chose to enslave and conquer the galaxy, Anakin chose to make life miserable for everyone else, Anakin chose to hunt down every single Force-sensitive in the galaxy and murder them...
You can't blame Palpatine for all that, especially when the three people closest to him--Padme, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan--all offer him a chance to stop and change his mind.
If people like Anakin, that's fine! Me too! He's a great villain! But he is, in fact, a villain and people need to fucking accept that!
Can I just chime in and say that, absolutely guaranteed that if Anakin wasn’t attractive, this woobification “he’s just a baby 🥺👉👈” BS wouldn’t be happening. At least not to this scale.
And I don’t know if it says something about the state of society, literature, or both, but the fact that people can somehow only comprehend a villain who has nothing going for them aside from ✨trauma✨ where, in fact, everyone else around him is the real asshole and he was just ✨made this way✨ truly drives me up the fucking wall. VILLAINS CAN GENUINELY JUST BE BAD FUCKING PEOPLE. And even then, Anakin gets his uwu-babygirl traumatic past in slavery, but we have to acknowledge that Watto was a far kinder slave-owner than he could have been.
Past 9 years old, Anakin is in training to be a Jedi. He is literally chosen as a Padawan a solid 3-4 years before standard because Obi-Wan chose to do so. He chose to raise a whole CHILD after losing his own beloved father figure in a gruesome way. And maybe y’all are just damn stupid, but the Jedi are not bad guys. Again, this is classic “people can’t handle a fantasy religious system NOT based on Western-Christianity being the GOOD GUYS.” I mean, that’s straight up racism.
People gotta start accepting that Anakin chooses to be a twat every damn time. The Jedi are not evil. The Sith are not good.
And especially, enjoying an evil character doesn’t make you a bad person. Anakin is fun. He’s complex. He’s a whiny bitch and I fucking despise him, but by god is he such a GREAT character to love to hate.
TW: mentions of SA (in the context of Genya from Shadow and Bone) and grooming (in the context of Alina from Shadow and Bone)
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Oh absolutely!
If Anakin was unattractive, if he was a person of color, if he was LGBTQ, etc. I GUARANTEE that he wouldn’t be nearly as woobified as he is in fandom right now, and show runners would definitely not be trying as hard as they are to shine the Sith in a good light—which, in my opinion, is done primarily because part of the fandom want to demonize the Jedi in order to absolve Anakin of the blame for his own shitty behavior/actions.
Look at Mace Windu!
The only things he did in the movies and shows were 1. Make reasonable and rational decisions, 2. Show compassion to others, 3. Be calm under pressure, and 4. Not give Anakin a title that he didn’t deserve after already granting him a position that he didn’t deserve!
Even if you could say that some of the stuff he did was bad (and I honestly can’t think of anything that would fall into that category, but whatever), he doesn’t do nearly anything as bad as what Anakin did! And yet certain parts of the fandom paint him as this cruel, rude, cold-hearted asshole while also asserting that Anakin is a poor misunderstood sweetheart…gee, I wonder what could contribute to that.
Not to mention Reva!
She’s an antagonist, yes, but she also has a sympathetic backstory, eventually gets redeemed, and also does far less horrible things than Anakin ever does! And part of the fandom practically fucking crucified her!
Huh, I can’t possibly imagine what makes her and Anakin so different /sarcasm
And yeah, at this point I’m sick of villains with a “tragic backstory” who are shined in a sympathetic light as “oh, but because of x, y, z reasons, this now makes the fact that they’re doing heinous things to other people less bad and/or ok.” Like, just make the villain fucking evil for once—I would vastly prefer that.
Right now (or recently ig) we’re seeing pretty much the same thing with the Darkling from Shadow and Bone.
Darkling, in the book, is written as an attractive young man and, in the show, he’s played by an attractive actor (both white btw). So now people in the Grishaverse fandom are willing to ignore the fact that he groomed Alina (yes “groomed,” he was hundreds of years old and she was like 17), he basically gift-wrapped Genya to the king knowing that he would SA her, he then mutilated Genya for not stopping Alina from escaping, he mutilated his mother for just about the same reason, etc.
We also see people (or, at least, I’ve seen people) demonize Zoya (a WoC), just like people demonize the fucking Jedi—albeit in different ways/for different “reasons.” Making the good guys the “true villains” while absolving the bad guys of guilt.
Like, you can’t just decide that a villain wasn’t at fault for doing things, or just plain didn’t do them, or “was really the good guy all along” just because you think they’re pretty! That’s not how that works!
If you’re gonna like the villain, like the fucking villain! That’s fine! But don’t try to change the whole story just because you feel a little bad about liking a character who’s morally corrupt.
I have a plan.
It’s Jedi June right now. I petition Anti Anakin August for us based Jedi appreciators who require more of our favourite, beautiful ship Anakin/Consequences. Do you know how hard it is to find Anti Anakin fanfiction because the parent tag doesn’t exist?! We gotta change that!
