#I hate how excessively anti-emotion the Jedi are in the prequels

[gch1995]

“Life seems so much simpler when you’re fixing things. I’m good at fixing things. I always was. But I..”

-Anakin Skywalker to Padme Amidala in chapter 21 of the novelization of Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (Salvatore, 1749).

While Anakin is technically talking about a broken shifter on the surface, this quote he says to Padme pretty much explains his motivations for why he ends up making the personal life choices he does, for better or worse. He feels like he needs to be powerful enough to fix the galaxy for the better and protect everyone he loves from bad things happening by being their hero and savior because he never had the ability to do so before. Then, when he can’t do that, he hates himself, and lashes out violently at those who caused himself and/or loved ones grief, guilt, and/or pain in the heat of the moment because Sidious taught him that was valid catharsis, and he constantly was being emotionally/individually denied and shamed for seeking healthy opportunities for catharsis, expression, personal freedoms, and support from Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the Jedi Council who all had power over him over the past ten years altogether. Afterwards, he hates himself even more for lashing out violently, but he doesn’t feel safe enough to go back because he knows there aren’t many opportunities for him to be safe doing so in these constantly toxic and oppressive environments under abusive, corrupt, and manipulative authority, so eventually he stops trying after going dark out of exhaustion until Luke comes along in ESB and ROTJ.

I’m not saying that Anakin is innocent, or that Obi-Wan, Yoda, the Jedi Council, or even Palpatine forced him to turn on the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith. Padme, the Jedi Order, and the Republic didn’t deserve Order 66, being hurt in ways that contributed to their ultimate demise by Anakin, and/or being killed outright. As deeply compromised as Anakin’s agency and emotional/mental health was with his limited options, grooming for subservience to corrupt, manipulative, and oppressive authority, and slave mentality, he did still have a conscience. While Palpatine did also tell him he could end the war by joining him, Anakin genuinely didn’t feel he had much of a choice after years of conditioning, and his support system was really limited, too he also was motivated to do terrible things that he knew were wrong to achieve personal worthy ends of saving Padme. He did stop trying after going dark. He deserved punishment for his crimes.

However, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, but I don’t know how so many people in this fandom can blame it all on Anakin for growing up to eventually become Vader when his entire life was spent under the thumb of abusive, corrupt, emotionally negligent, morally hypocritical, and oppressive authority figures in slavery and two space soldier cults from whom there was limited to nonexistent healthy support and safe escape opportunities. I don’t know how so many fans can pretend like Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the rest of the Jedi Council in the prequels didn’t heavily contribute to turning Anakin into a monster almost as much as Palpatine, even if unintentionally, by emotionally/individually/socially denying, invalidating, shaming, and oppressing him every time he did try to reach out to them for healthy and reasonable support, teaching him that emotional expression and individuality was “dangerous” altogether, instructing him to use the clones as slaves and enable slavery on the outer rims, including on his home planets, whenever they deemed it “necessary” for their “greater good.”

Like, I know Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council got their karma for treating Anakin like garbage, though it was far worse than they deserved. I know Luke found a healthy balance in the OT movies with that whole “no attachment” Jedi rule, if you ignore the bullshit Disney sequels that retcon everything. However, it always did bother me that Obi-Wan and especially Yoda never could admit just how much their old system was a toxic mess in which they fucked up. I’m not just talking about in regards to Anakin Skywalker, though he stands out as their greatest failure because he was an opportunity for them to self reflect on their flaws and improve their system, but pretty much every kid in general. Children never should have been getting trained to be soldiers under the age of 18, and, enforcing that whole “no attachment” rule created more harm than good.