Out of curiosity, do you have any good star wars fic recommendations that are pro Anakin? I've been trying to find them. Like I don't hate Obi-wan as a protagonist, but they're so ubiquitous and it gets old. it would be nice to read a fanfic that treats Anakin better.
Oh, yes, there are a number of fanfics out there that treat Anakin/Vader as a really well-written protagonist. Granted, he’s rarely written to be a prototypical heroic male lead who always makes the right choices by fans, and I think that’s a good thing because that’s never been the point of Anakin’s/Vader’s character, either. He’s typically characterized as an anti-hero, an anti-villain, a Byronic Hero, a tragic hero, or a tragic villain protagonist . My favorite ones are the time travel fix-it canon divergent AUs, and the ones where he see him trying to be a dad to Luke and Leia. There are many fanfic writers who do an awesome job of simultaneously weaving back-and-forth between both the tender and terrifying aspects of Anakin’s/Vader’s characterization.
The Truth by MJ Mink - This is probably my favorite canon-divergent AU fic. In this fic, Luke Skywalker is an essentially goodhearted, but rebellious 15 year old boy when meets his father Darth Vader. After losing his Aunt and Uncle Beru, he goes to live with his father. Of course, this fanfiction also takes place in the series during a period when Anakin has been Darth Vader for 15 years in the story now, too. Not to mention the additional combined 28 years he had already spent being emotionally/psychologically abused, enslaved, manipulated, groomed oppressed, traumatized in war, and so on from the time he was a child. Thus, he’s not always a good dad to Luke. In fact there are a handful or so of instances in this story where Anakin/Vader veers straight into dangerously emotionally and/or physically abusive parent territory with Luke, even if it’s not premeditated. While there’s no excuse for any it, he has become so used to just being Palpatine’s deeply and horrifyingly angry, disillusioned, domineering, and merciless attack dog/galactic dictatorial enforcer/murder servant Darth Vader.
Understandably, it’s not just this cycle that Anakin breaks right away upon first meeting his biological son after spending 37-40 years as both the perpetrator and/or victim of systematic abuse of power, crime, manipulation, oppression, and violence to deal with problems and threats under corrupt male toxic authority figures from whom healthy support and safe escape was always highly risky. He’s become abusive, angry, bitter, cold, and short-tempered. However, Anakin’s greatest morality pet is his son Luke and family in general. That’s true in this fic too, which is why he gets better at being a good dad to Luke over time the closer they become.
While never putting up with his dad’s shit, Luke also does learn to ultimately forgive and love his father, the more Anakin softens up towards him, and the more he learns about just how tragically fucked up and unfair his dad’s entire life has been.
It’s a really great story with plenty of really great angst, character development, and humor. This Luke isn’t pro Sith because I mean, look at the crimes they commit! However, after hearing his dad’s story, he’s not really pro-Yoda, Obi-Wan, and the old Jedi Order’s way either. He’s neutral, which I really like. Although the Jedi started out as the good guys in the SW universe, it quickly became apparent that most of them only got to hold that title because the Sith were their only competition who were far worse. It always bugged me that we could never get a SW canon story that had more characters pointing out that both sides suck, and deciding not to be either as a result. The closest we got to that in canon was Ahsoka Tano, but the Mouse ruined that too.
Test of Time Book 1: A Father’s Son by AngelDesaray - This is a whole story of Luke Skywalker being thrust back in time by the force, learning about his father, bonding with his father, and changing the entire future by stopping him, Obi-Wan, and the Jedi Council from falling for Palpatine and doing all their other bullshit. It’s followed up by Test of Time Book 2: The Past Meets the Future and Test of Time Book 3: Blood, Sweat, and Tears. The sequels follow the Skywalker family in the alternate future that Luke created after going back in time, particularly Anakin and Luke. The first two fics in this series are complete. The third one still hasn’t been marked as complete yet. There’s also a series of cute, fluffy, and funny one shots that talk about the years in between the alternate timeline with Anakin, Padme, Luke, and Leia as a happy family called Life as a Skywalker. Yeah, Obi-Wan makes appearances as Anakin’s and the Skywalker family’s friend, and, occasionally the twins irritated babysitter, considering the fact that this version seems to have learned from his mistakes with Anakin, but he’s not a main character.
Future Imperfect by TheRealThing - A time travel fic where Anakin is sent 19 to 23 years in to the future to witness the consequences of his and the overall Jedi Order’s actions.
Ambient Dreams by sohna - After his dream of Padme dying in childbirth, Anakin has another dream of what will happen if he pledges himself to Palpatine to try to keep her from dying in childbirth. Obi-Wan and Yoda are there, but Anakin’s the main character, not them.
There are a lot more on ff.net and ao3.org in the Star Wars sections, but these Anakin/Vader fics stick out the most to me.
