Not This Crude Matter @notthiscrudematter - Tumblr Blog

THIS IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE MOMENT. Think about everything that’s going into it and happening here! This is why the comics are so good and also must reads imo, because the moment where Darth Vader finds out about the mysterious pilot he’s been chasing is phenomenal, but even more so because of the build-up to it. We’ve spent the last five issues and the first several issues of Darth Vader vol. 1 with Vader obsessing over this, largely because of Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan cared about this kid, Obi-Wan was training him, Obi-Wan gave him Anakin’s lightsaber. Vader already wants to steal this boy away, wants to corrupt him and drag him into the dark, just because he’s still so furious with Obi-Wan (which is layered over and mixed with Anakin’s love for Obi-Wan that he can never fully rid himself of). And then this moment hits him. The name Skywalker. This is why Obi-Wan was training him. This is why Obi-Wan gave him Anakin’s lightsaber. This is Sidious’ lies to him about having killed Padme in his anger falling apart. This is Padme having lived long enough to give birth. This is pure fury at the idea of everyone in his life having betrayed him and stolen what should have been his away from him. He doesn’t even know Luke, he only wanted to drag him into the dark, that’s what he continues to want, even when it hurts Luke deeply and nearly destroys him. Because Anakin is so furious that these people would take anything away from him, that they outmaneuvered him, that they betrayed him (even when it’s the way of the Sith, Anakin still seems to take it so personally, as he takes everything so deeply personally, that it’s not about Obi-Wan hurting him, but about Obi-Wan trying to save Luke, about trying to save the galaxy, that Sidious betrays everyone, that Anakin isn’t special enough to avoid that). All he needs is the last name of the pilot and his fury is enough to shatter the glass of a Star Destroyer. It’s a phenomenal moment for showing Vader’s sheer power, but it’s even more incredible for not having any facial expressions to work off and yet you feel his rage. You remember everything about the people Anakin Skywalker loved and how he twisted their actions in his mind to being a betrayal of him, and that’s exactly what’s happening here, too. The comics are incredible for bridging the gaps in the story, for giving us intensely important moments like this, but they’re must reads because of moments like this, because they dig into the characters and allow for richer, more complex, weighty moments in the movies. They’re must reads because HOLY SHIT THE GLASS OF A STAR DESTROYER CRACKING UNDER THE SHEER EMOTIONAL RAGE OF DARTH VADER.

gffa

This reminds me of that Soule quote re: Dark Lord of the Sith–

“A fear of facing up to what he’s done.” That’s the huge thing that governs Vader’s life–the fear of facing up to what he’s done and how he can’t do it for twenty four years, until finally he has to make a choice and he’s ready to let go of that fear, ready to let go of everything that he’s been holding onto, and acknowledge that there’s good in him, which I like to think means acknowledging all the monstrous things he’s done. If he can admit Luke was right about him, then he’s admitting he fucked up real bad. (Which is part of the selflessness that lets him be able to become a Force Ghost, imo.) But in this moment? No, he’s not ready. He’s not thinking about what’s best for Luke, he’s not thinking about how his own actions and choices led him here, he’s not thinking about anything but HOW DARE THEY STEAL FROM ME. Never mind that he was in no position to take care of a child, never mind that he never really seemed to think the child was ever really real (his fears about Padme’s pregnancy ate away too much at him for him to connect with that life, he never even asks about the baby after Mustafar, only about Padme), never mind that they were saving this child from him. No, it’s all about how dare they keep something from him. Because anything else means admitting how badly he fucked up, anything other than rage and fury will lead him to a path that unravels the justifications he’s built up in his head. This is why his actions on Cloud City make perfect sense to me–Anakin is so furious about how dare someone lie to him that it eclipses everything else, he uses it to prop up his justifications for the things he’s done. So he reveals an ugly, terrible truth to Luke (that he’s his father, that Obi-Wan didn’t tell him that) and thinks that the obvious answer (even though he just cut Luke’s hand off, even though he’s done nothing but hunt Luke down and be evil at him, like on Cymoon 1) and obviously that should mean that Luke is so furious and angry that he’ll justify his actions in the same way Anakin does! But Luke doesn’t. He’s devastated by the truth and basically kind of tries to commit suicide (as Mark Hamill says) by falling off Cloud City. He doesn’t take the excuse of It’s all someone else’s fault! to do whatever lashing out he wants, and instead works to really find himself. Anakin, however, just keeps lashing out and keeps using this anger to feel justified in being the victim, rather than looking at how his actions genuinely led him to this point. And it’s no coincidence that this issue came out at the same time the Luke story is all about him going back to Tatooine to find himself and understand himself, after he feels responsible for the deaths on Cymoon 1. Luke is seeking a way out of the spiral he’s gotten stuck in, how much his choices do and don’t affect those around him. Anakin is just spinning around in the same spiral he’s been in for the last 20 years, that his choices aren’t his fault, but everyone else’s around him.