#Yes Anakin is a hot mess but a lot of that comes down to meddling from the Sith

[polgarawolf1]

There's a trope that repeats in a lot of the stories about Jedi and it's the whole attachment issue, basically. And most Jedi manage to eventually muddle their way through and come up with a way to balance love with duty (even if it's hard and even if they might slip up a bit occasionally). We see this over and over, in the old EU, in the various animated shows, and in all of the new stuff (comics, shows, etc.) being put out by DISNEY!SW. And yet people act like, because we know that Anakin was so madly in love with Padmé, his fall would have always been inevitable, whether the Sith ever got involved or startling meddling or not. And I'm just like, EXCUSE ME?! Have you completely and utterly failed to interact with the ENTIRE REST OF THE FRANCHISE beyond the live-action films? WTF??? SERIOUSLY? Because that? Makes absolutely NO frakking sense. In a kinder, more gentle 'verse without that snake of a Sith constantly pouring poison into Anakin's ears and all too possibly using Force knows what kind of Dark Side frackery to reinforce his manipulations, Anakin almost certainly would have been FINE and never fallen to the Dark Side.

Sometimes I just remember that oh right it's apparently a slightly controversial opinion that I think if Palpatine hadn't been involved at all that Anakin could've been perfectly happy and fulfilled with the Jedi.

Like just from rots we see Anakin want to follow Jedi ideals, to seek advice and even help from the very Jedi that fandom loves to act like he hates and who hate him in return, and we see the Jedi around him actually have a lot of respect for him! But every time he makes progress Palpatine is whispering in his ear and pulling out the stitches and re-opening the wounds, making it near impossible for him to actually grow as a Jedi and instead he grows closer to Falling. Not to mention the war, which was orchestrated in part to actively challenge the Jedi's morals and make them make bad and questionable choices.

Plenty of Legends canon and even current canon in things like the marvel comics show Anakin actively wrestling and considering Jedi philosophy, the pros and cons, and working through all his trauma and trying to figure out what's right for him and what the Jedi code actually means. People act like he only ever does lightsaber training and that he never picked up a book in his entire padawanship (which not only is just not how the Jedi Order works from what we see but honestly is just a boring take on the character imo).

Like, I just don't think that Anakin is actually incompatible with the Jedi Order! I think he could've thrived there if he wasn't being actively sabotaged and also had more time.