Iâm not sure what happens when you pile multiple electrocutions on top of PTSD and the neurochemical changes (and actual structural brain changes) caused by severe childhood trauma, but Darth Vader is a not unsurprising possibility.
Iâve never had a problem reconciling âAnakin had many problems contributing to his Fall that werenât his faultâ with âHis terrible continuing decisions were his responsibilityâ, because making oneâs own choices is not the same as making choices in a vacuum.
Itâs not like he had a long, calm time to think about it, and he made the right decisions right up until he found Mace about to kill Palpatine:
1. None of his Imperial March-inducing decisions before that were any worse than anything multiple other âgoodâ Jedi did during the warâexcept the Tuskens, which I also understand without condoning.
And 2. I can even argue going to the Senate was theoretically the right decision, not going might have prevented his own Fall, but Iâm convinced Palpatine was playing possum and buying time and would have slaughtered Mace the minute he gave up on Anakin, so it wouldnât have stopped Order 66 at the very least. The decision to stop Mace rather than help him was made in a split second under almost unimaginable stress, in the impaired condition discussed above (and wasnât unambiguous, Mace âassassinatingâ Palpatine would have led to serious shit hitting the fan too).
Sidenote: Anakin does not look sane when heâs kneeling for Sidious and he acts totally different after. You have to wonder what Sidious and the Dark Side were doing to him in those moments.
What Anakin did immediately after thatâalso in impaired condition and absolutely believing heâd already passed the point of no returnâwas horrific and he could have made the opposite choice many, many times after that. That he did not is on him. But as someone uncomfortably aware of how impaired my own judgement is by something as innocuous as a hypoglycemic attack (ads make very unfunny jokes about being âhangryâ and ignore the complete inability to think)ânot to mention depression because holy hell that will warp everythingâIâll own the unpopular opinion that I understand how incredibly hard it would have been to choose differently.
The brain is a complex, glitchy, unreliable, easily damaged (though very resilient, or weâd all be screwed) thing and far from as under constant, voluntary, rational control as most people believe.
And none of the above really takes into account the years of Palpatine dripping poison in his ear and the long history of bad decisions and misunderstandings between the Jedi Order and this damaged kid that, despite good intentions, they had no fucking idea how to handle.
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