Leo Fernevak @Leo Fernevak - 1y
Anakin's fall. I rember when I watched Revenge of the Sith for the first few times. The progression, or let's say regression, of Anakin toward the dark side left me thinking the story was incomplete. A gradual process of falling into the lies and manipulation of Palpatine seemed more likely to me than an abrupt conversion from values, honor and justice, to pure evil. Then at some point, I came to consider the possibility that George Lucas had offered an alternative progression toward the dark side within the plot. Here is an overview of the two possibilities: A) Anakin kills the younglings in the Jedi temple. B) Anakin doesn't kill the younglings in the Jedi temple. Both scenarios are clearly possible and I will describe the case for the latter. Now, in a previous scene we saw Anakin cutting off the arm of Mace Windu, so it is clear that he has already fallen into the narrative of Palpatine. The narrative is that the Jedi are the enemies of the republic and that peace can only be restored when they are killed. Anakin pledges to Palpatine to carry out this order. Already here, Anakin is lost to the dark side, we just don't know the extent of his corruption - is he willing to kill children already? I always felt the sudden corruption theory was off. Anakin goes from having ethical values and a belief in a fair trial, to the next moment, executing younglings in an instant. Next we see Anakin entering a chamber of youngling Jedi padawans in the Jedi temple, drawing his light saber as to kill them. What happened after that is hidden to us, except for the surveillance cameras. After that, we see Palpatine's execution of order 66. His forces captures the Jedi temple. Senator Organa lands on a platform by the temple and is told to leave by Palpatine's stationed troops. A young Jedi attacks the troops and is killed. That Jedi youngling was not killed by Anakin. How did he survive Anakin's massacre? It is possible that he was just lucky. At this point, Palpatine has full access and control over the Jedi temple. He sends out a message to all Jedi; to return to the Jedi temple on Coruscant. Palpatine also have access to all the surveillance cameras at this point. Considering the Machiavellian nature of Palpatine, he is not going to take any chances with his new apprentice Anakin. Palpatine is an advanced chess player that will likely always have a plan B. Anakin might kill the younglings on his orders, but Anakin might also refuse to kill them due to their young age - Palpatine cannot know the answer in advance with certainty. The logical chess move for Palpatine then is to win Anakin over to the dark side regardless if he kills the younglings or not. If Anakin is at the temple and the surveillance cameras shows him murdering the younglings, Anakin's future as a Jedi is game over, regardless if he committed the massacre or not. Palpatine is likely to attempt to trap Anakin in a situation that would result in his loss of humanity regardless if he killed the younglings or not. Neither his wife Padme nor his old friend Obi Wan would ever forgive him. It therefore makes sense for Palpatine to prepare a false video of Anakin murdering younglings in advance, or use technology to make the murderer to appear to be Anakin, just in case he wouldn't go along with the orders. Next scene, as the surviving Jedi arrives at the Jedi temple, we see dead Jedi younglings in an open area. This is not the chamber where Anakin drew his light saber. For some reason, while Anakin blocked the door of the chamber of younglings and drew his light saber, it seems as if he didn't kill them in that spot. So if Anakin didn't kill them in that chamber where we saw him draw the light saber, what really transpired? I like that George Lucas offered us this 'conspiracy' possibility, since we can consider both options - either that he killed the younglings or that he was framed - and decide for ourselves how quickly Anakin headed down on the path of evil. After the surveillance video showed Anakin killing children, there was no way back for him, regardless if he committed that massacre or not. It seems to me, from his belief that he would re-unite with Padme after killing the separatists on Mustafar, that he either didn't kill the younglings, or that he didn't remember killing them. There is no way that Padme would have forgiven him for such a terrible crime. His hope to re-unite with Padme therefore seems to be a hint that while he had already become evil to some extent, he was not yet a child killer. After Anakin lost Padme, he was ripe for the ultimate conversion to evil by Palpatine. The crime of murdering children would forever be on his name, and perhaps he believed himself to be a child killer at that point. The erosion of all values from that point seems like the unfolding of an avalanche that he himself had aligned with and built up, guided by Palpatine's manipulation, regressing him down the path of the dark side. Thank you for reading this alternative interpretation of Anakin's fall to the dark side. It challenges us with the question: how gradual is the process of coruption? Is corruption immediate or is it a process that spirals downward over time?
6389b - 1y
For the #StarWars people. This is real SW official merch produced before Lucas changed the name of the film. “Revenge” was not the way of a Jedi, he said. $boost https://image.nostr.build/5176eee9ea34fc2fbe0573e38ece821ebb85f734da4f26fbcd2be35bf9dee1c9.jpg
fd5d8 - 1y
that’s lore of which I was not aware
Interesting, I wasn't aware. Luke was also initially named Starkiller, iirc. I wrote an analysis of Return of the Sith and the corruption path of Anakin, if anyone is interested: nostr:nevent1qqsdkq4xg8t3fyeuxqph56270ahaqevyq9tu43698y9zuz8ym6f4unqpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyq3afyu5vyjc2urvw2gg5h3eqnu4zal2ppasxtwmlnfgvgcyclvcxqcyqqqqqqgty2kfv
Revenge of the Sith I meant, I have recently quit coffee. 😄
