I dusted off this nine months old draft because of the previous dayās post about howĀ āif we were meant to think Anakin had a point about his betrayal of the Jedi, Star Wars wouldnāt have shown it through the lens of murdering childrenā, but I also wanted to further examine how the above (that Anakin doesnāt actually criticize the Jedi in his fall beyond echoing Palpatineās words) isĀ something I actually really love and I think informs Anakinās choices in this movie so much.Ā That we get used to how Star Wars is so blatantly obvious in some ways that we miss the ways itās sometimes a purposeful paralleling thatās not immediately obvious, yet that is incredibly consistent:
That Anakin isnāt expressing genuine criticism of the Jedi, heās literally just parroting Palpatineās lines as a justification for his actions.
The thinnest veneer of Anakinās protest, āItās not the Jedi way!ā is stripped away in Palpatineās office (despite that itās a blatant hypocrisy on Anakinās part, given that he killed the actually unarmed Dooku, unlike Palpatine, who was both still physically powerful and in the very central seat of his political power) when the final moment comes.
āI need him!ā, Anakin cries, because he needs him to save Padmeās life. Ā This isnāt about the Jedi, this is about Anakinās fear of loss.
Anakinās immediate horror, āWhat have I done!?ā he moans, showing that even in this moment he knows heās made the wrong decision, that saving Palpatine was the wrong choice.
āJust help me save Padmeās life. I canāt live without her.ā Ā Thatās what this is all about at the heart of it, that Anakin canāt stand the idea of losing her, so heās willing to do anything Palpatine says, including becoming a Sith Lord, including marching on the Jedi Temple, including killing the family that took him in, including killing their children.
And his excuses reflect thatātheyāre nothing that Anakin expressed up to this point, not even his āIāve been so frustrated with the Councilā is given much merit in the movie, because Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the most narratively reliable characters in this movie (and GL has defended Obi-Wan as telling an emotional truth in the OT, so heās pretty reliable in ROTS, too) tells him to calm down and that heās way ahead of things already.
Anakin, having just accepted a position granted to him not by the actual body heās sitting on, but an outsider forcing their will on the Jedi (and Anakin is apparently fine with this act of nepotism and refuses to understand why this would affect the political situation between the Jedi and the Chancellor, if they just gave Palpatine everything he wanted within their already shrinking agency to govern themselves and why they would want to resist and itās notĀ just about Anakin), is complaining about this, but itās not exactly well supported in the actual movie.
Same for his conversation with Yoda, that GL has indicated that this was very much a pro-Yoda moment, that his advice of learning to let go was Actually Really Good and itās pretty much one of the core themes of Star Wars, that youāre supposed to let go if the person is going to go.Ā Protect them while you can, love them while you can, but ultimately people die and you canāt stop death.Ā Audiences often hate Yodaās advice, but the movie itself did not. (This is all setting aside that Anakin gave Yoda basically nothingĀ to work with in that scene, he doesnāt tell him any details and just wants a way to Stop Death.)
Anakinās criticism of the Jedi is nowhere to be found in these important moments in the movie. Ā You could make a case that maybe TCW added some context, but the movie itself makes it very, very clear that this is about his fear of losing Padme, thatās it, thatās whatās going on with him.
Further, itās why George Lucas chose to show Anakinās immolation scene, precisely because he betrayed his friends.
This is not the narrative arc of someone who had a point, but the narrative arc of someone who did an unjustifiable thing:
Anakin doesnāt actually believe the Jedi are evil, he has show more than onceĀ that he actually believes in the Jedi teachings, in moments like after the Brain Invaders, he helps Ahsoka with finding the line between caring about people and not getting Attached to them (clinging, grasping, so afraid to live without them that youāll do terrible things, unable to let go when the time comes, thatĀ is Attachment as SW defines it).Ā He teaches her the same thing on Onderonāpurpose before feelings, he tells her.Ā He teaches Rex the same thing on Skako Minorāyou hope for the best, but you have to be prepared that Echo might be dead, that you canāt save him.
Anakin believes in Jedi teachings until they apply to him.Ā And then he just absolutely loses the plot because his fears consume him and he canāt handle the idea that he might lose Padme, that he canāt stop death from happening, that heās wanted this all the way since Attack of the Clones, to learn how to Literally Stop Death.
He doesnāt actually believe the Jedi were evil, not in the bottom of his heartāand this is why he ultimately returns to them, appears as a Force Ghost specifically in traditional Jedi robesābut heās so desperate for an excuse to save Padme that he parrots back Palpatineās lines as a desperate rationalization for what heās doing.
Thereās no actual criticism of the Jedi in these important moments, thereās nothing he throws at Obi-Wan thatās actually about the Jedi, justĀ āIām not afraid of the dark side!Ā I see through your lies!Ā The Jedi were plotting to take over!Ā Iām going to create a new Empire!Ā The Jedi are evil from my point of view!ā
Thatās 100% Palpatine right there.Ā He twisted Anakinās mind to make him the very thing Anakin swore to destroy.Ā And Anakin ate it up because he couldnāt face his own fears.
