#Anakin’s role as the Chosen One is one of the reasons he’s my favourite character

[the-far-bright-center]

Came across a post discussing the concept of ‘inherent goodness’ in relation to Anakin’s story, and the implication was that talking about Anakin’s True Self as being ‘good’ was somehow missing the point of his character. I’m rather confused by such a take, but then I’m also very much an outlier on most SW fandom topics these days. My view on the saga is simply not ‘in fashion’, I’m afraid.

Welp, sorry not sorry, I DO think Anakin is supposed to be ‘inherently’ good, in the sense he is born innocent and, as a child, is pure of heart despite his hardships. I use this terminology partly to combat the weirdly pervasive fanon view of Anakin as some kind of ‘bad seed’, but also because the concept of one’s ‘True Self’ was introduced all the way back in Return of the Jedi, specifically in relation to Anakin. How things work in the real world is not relevant here — in the SW ‘verse there absolutely is this idea that someone can have a ‘True Self’ (aka, a core spiritual identity, almost akin to a ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’) and can lose that or turn away from it, but also regain it again. In Anakin’s case, he returns to his True Self through compassion, unconditional love, and sacrifice, all of which culminates in his redemption.

Whether people like it or not, Lucas’s Star Wars has spiritual and religious themes. Anakin himself is proof that a being in the SW universe can be ‘created’ for a specific purpose. Anakin’s status as a Force-user and particularly as the Chosen One *is* absolutely relevant to this topic, even if some would rather downplay it. Anakin has a ‘divine’ role and purpose. But even so, having a True Self that is ‘good’—or perhaps, more accurately, that is intended to DO good—doesn’t mean the character is any less human, or any less flawed. Because goodness does NOT necessarily equal perfection, and that’s one of the things that makes Anakin particularly fascinating: he’s a demigod, an ‘angelic’ figure, even, but also simultaneously a tragically-flawed human being. I adore these dual aspects to his character and it’s one of my favourite things about him.

Some may prefer to view Star Wars from solely humanistic, agnostic, or secular perspectives. Some may prefer to see the saga as mainly a political allegory or a modern day Greek drama. Some may acknowledge the mythic references and fantastical elements but balk at outright spiritual interpretations. That’s fine, to each their own. There isn’t one singular way to perceive or appreciate the Lucas SW films. But for me, personally, it’s always been the spiritual elements of the saga that have moved me the most deeply. It’s what elevates the story to a truly transcendent level for me, and which gives me the greatest sense of catharsis. All of this is due to my own personal experience with the saga and the way I was introduced to it as a child. But I truly don’t think this perspective is in any way negating Anakin’s humanity or his flaws — in fact, I feel strongly that it is the tension between Anakin’s cosmic role as a demigod and his all-too human vulnerability that makes his story so unique and so incredibly compelling.

[randomnameless]

Since the new Star Wars will be released in less than a week, I’ve been binge watching some of my favourite episodes...

I’m a bit surprised, but given how the original sixology (? the first 6 episodes) all revolve around a certain character who fell to “the dark side” and then was redeeemed, i couldn’t help but think about a certain game -

Ani’s the chosen one (tm) and knows it.

It goes over his head, makes him arrogant, his descent to madness is kind of gradual but it is well portrayed (unlike his romantic plot) - he really wanted to save the mom he never forgot but was forced to and now his wife is going to die and he must do something to prevent it because he is just so strong isn’t he supposed to be the chosen one (tm)?

Ani murdering children is never whitewashed. Ani, in his madness, tries to kill the one he swore to protect.

Ani doing all the shit he does in Episode III is, and will never be whitewashed

There is this “split-persona” thing where Darth tells Luke that Ani’s dead (just like Obi-Wan says Darth killed Ani) but in the end, we discover that the real Ani never died and there was still some part of him buried inside Darth’s evil looking armor.

(Ani never realising that the force is strong in his daughter when Luke says it is is on par with Princess Julia shenanigans, the plot never wanted it to happen but it had to be mentionned in some weird way)

so yes, at the end of the 6th movie, Ani’s kind of redeemed and appears as a force ghost.

GG Ani?

I thought Ani was a nice parallel to another mask wearing authoritarian character we know.

Granted, Anakin is shown to be subservient to Palpatine (calls him master and does whatever he wants - even if i read on the wiki that he tried to kill him after learning that Padmé died?) when Edel’s not so subservient to her uncle Arry.

Both were manipulated by external forces who are actually the reason why they suffered (even if it is not that simple in Star Wars? You can make the argument that Palpating was nurturing the “asshole” streak of Anakin, but he was still an asshole ?) and choose wrong pathes - Palpatine deceived Anakin into killing Windu and isolated him from the Jedis, Uncle Arry experimented on Edel and is apparently the reason why she’s so lonely and can’t trust anyone, save for Hubert and Billy.

But Anakin is called on his bullshit, by Padmé - the one he sacrificed everything for. Confronting his wife, Ani reacts violently and tries to kill her.

(it is never said why “she died in childbirth” apparently she lost the will to live so bar the WTF YOUR CHILDREN ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM ALONE BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO LIVE ANYMORE??? - I think it’s pretty implied that when Anakin tried to kill her she lost it, she couldn’t save him, she knew he still had “some good left in him” but she knows she isn’t the one able to call to him)

When Ani realises that Padmé and their kid (remember guys, those people can sense pregnant women being alive but not two force sensitive babies inside said pregnant woman, i mean sense a daughter) died he breaks (tries to kill his master?) and becomes the souless husk we see until Luke comes in.

Thing of importance here : Anakin is called on his bullshit.

A certain someone from Fire Emblem’s latest opus is never called on her bullshit, let it be her odd allies, the fact that Kronya used to be a thing, why Jeralt died or the funny experimentations on peasants.

Anakin, angry that his beloved doesn’t react like he planned, kills her (tries to) violently.

He then has to fight his sensei

Billy never tells Edel that nope, Rhea isn’t the Goddess the Church is venerating, the real Goddess lives in their head, or that Edel’s story about Nemesis and the relics is doodoo. Would Edel have reacted violently and tried to kill Billy?

SS plays the scene where sensei has to fight his wayward student as a tragic thing but there is nothing on par with Obi-Wan and Ani’s duel on Mustafa. We’ve seen Obi-Wan raise, as much as he could do, Anakin, who was naught but a brat. We saw them spend time, do missions etc, together. Even share jokes!

Anakin tried to killed Obi-wan, and all of his former allies (the Jedis). He managed to kill (he and Sidious) a crapton of them (even babies!) but the one in front of him he has to kill is his father figure, his mentor.

When Ani “I 8 U” memetic words are heard it’s a parallel to Obi-Wan’s “I thought of you as my brother” “I loved you” - there is no returning point here. Kenobi’s torn - Anakin became their enemy and he dealt with him accordingly (alway being on the defensive and severing his legs after warning him that it was useless to continue) but still showed sadness.

Billy? Is shown to be sad?? But why? Where is the weight? They spend (in SS?) a year together?

Sadly Billy also spent a year with Bernie’n’co and Edel tried to kill them. Was he closer to Edel than to Bernie’n’co? Nothing prevents Billy from reaching supports with the other BE students - so if Edel confessing her torture to Billy could be seen as that big thing for her, why should it be different than, say, Bernie confessing that her dad wanted to make her a good wife, Dorothea more or less confessing that she used her talents to get a place in the academy or Ferdie’s insecurities about being the eldest son of House Aegir?

“But Rhea is an evil baby-eating monster; the church lied to everyone”

Note that Obi-Wan never says that Anakin’s distrust with the Jedi Council is unfounded (during episode III iirc) or that he’s plain wrong.

Obi-Wan considers Anakin dead because he tried to kill Padmé, because he fell to the Dark Side, and because he effing cut babies (i don’t even know if Obi Wan knew about Ani’s role in Mace Windu’s death).

Just because one party did shit it doesn’t enable you to do way worse shit

Morale (one of them?) is that I don’t know Star Wars universe like I pretend to know FE.

But if there is one thing I loved in Episode III and in the subsequent episodes (4 5 6 and even 7 where Ben’s entirely wrong about grandpapa) is that while Darth’s story is a sad story (Palpatine manipulated him), he found his redemption doing the only thing he could, at the cost of his life - saving Luke and embracing his Jedi persona.

And yet, does it absolves Ani of everything he did? Hell no!

Anakin-Darth dies. He doesn’t get to live a fruitful life with his son (and daughter he only discovered in the last minutes of his life despite having meet her earlier), he dies.

Pilling on all of the shit he did deprived him of living the perfect life he envisaged with his wife and Luke (maybe Leia if we insist).

He might not be alone when he dies, he still dies as the empty husk of what he used to be and what he had been for years.

Ani lost everything, but in the end, thanks to his son, he found his jedi pride/self or something like that.

Edel? Doesn’t face consequences of her shit.

So no Sensei trying to kill her, or if Sensei does it’s painted as a tragedy for reasons we don’t really know because, hey, Sensei is also the Sensei of the other BE - there’s no special Edel exclusive bond with Sensei (and no as i said earlier, revealing her tragic backstory in supports doesn’t count, because Bernie and Ferdie did the same thing).

Edel doesn’t lose Sensei, since the loli in Sensei’s head doesn’t see anything wrong with her daughter having been turned into minced meat due to her race and fuses with Billy or some other shit to explain why Sensei’s defective - since birth - hearth suddenly starts beating (is it the moment where Billy realises that shit, without Rhea i’d be a dead baby in the end i owe my life to her?)

Since Edel never loses anything of importance, Edel never learns.

When Edel threatens her nuncle it’s funny, when Anaking turns against Sidious (after having watched the prequels) it’s satisfying and cathartic - finally, Sidious who used to dispose of his minions right and left tastes his own medicine as in, he who betrays must expect some sort of betrayal.

Edel gets to live with her significant other even when she wanted to kill Billy (in the tomb and with the “we don’t need gods anymore” “i’m the vessel of god she kind of fused with me do you mean you don’t need me anymore??” but the last one is never adressed in the game :p) when Anakin has to live with the (distorted) fact that he killed Padmé.

They still share some loltastic moments.

When Ani argues to Windu that Palpatine can’t be executed without a trial, Windu says fig it.

But Anakin never gave a fair trial to count Dooku or to the Tusken Riders he rekt a long time ago (in episode 2)...

TFW due process only concerns senators...

Tl; Dr : Even Anakin, in all of his pear-slicing glory is a better written character than Edel.