RadiantPhoenix
Trudging up the Hill
- Location
- USA, Earth
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In the movie, Anakin is shown to be getting more and more afraid of Padme dying, and eventually Palpatine manages to push him into doing something awful (killing Mace Windu).I'm going to gently disagree there. If it's actually defined in the third film, then it's a whole film too late in that we've been watching them fret about what might happen and how they can't do this for hours before any reason is given. Plus Anakin's fall is such a jarring cliff-dive into mass child-murder that it doesn't feel connected to that rule except for it being a component of Palpatine's daft pitch.
And there's still room, even a need in some cases, for scenes which build theme and character even if they aren't vital to the plot. These are not films dedicated to narrative economy. Lucas made time for midichlorians. If he wants me to think that Anakin is failing to be honest because he's greedy and his relationship with Padme is inherently and uniquely bad, rather than Anakin is torn between two things that give him a vital sense of belonging, then I need to see a contrast to this uniquely toxic relationship.
Then, once that has already happened, the rest of the council on-planet is dead, and Anakin is lost, afraid, and confused, ashamed of himself, with nobody else to turn to, he finally gets Anakin to agree to become his slave, and then has him do a bunch of other horrifying stuff to put him even more off-balance and to further isolate him and make him even more ashamed of himself.
Anakin's fear of losing Padme goes beyond simple caution and compassion, and escalates completely out of control to the point of murdering the person he was trying to save!
That is attachment, that is what the Dark Side looks like, and that is Anakin's central theme in Revenge of the Sith.
EDIT: Basically: Anakin's fall had approximately nothing to do with the nature of the Jedi Order, they just happened to be part of Anakin's family and Palpatine already wanted them dead, same as Padme.
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