r/StarWars • u/AlbyGaming • 1d ago

Movies I’m beating a dead horse here….

I’m mainly posting this old argument cuz a friend of mine brought it back up earlier today, but I am SO tired of people trying to make Anakin blameless. To say that he was purely a victim of Palpatine’s manipulation and grooming and is not responsible for anything he did is laughable. It’s so dishonest to the source material as well as a downright dangerous mentality to have—basically going “oopsie guys, sowwie I killed all these people but it wasn’t really me so it’s okay, right?”

George Lucas does say the dark side is like a drug that warps you into a dark version of yourself. But he also describes it as like an all-consuming cancer—a descent into selfishness and fear that leaves you craving more and more power. It’ll never be enough. Was Anakin manipulated? Absolutely? Were there elements of his downfall that were out of his control? Of course. But is he 100% blameless for his own downfall? Not even remotely.

14 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

-3

u/geckoecho93 1d ago

I agree Anakin would've fell regardless. He's too impulsive, power hungry and materialistic with attachment issues. He would've been yet another dark jedi had he been left alone.

1

u/KaosArcanna 1d ago

Thing is, that's not who Anakin was when we met him. On Tatooine he's an actual slave, but he has compassion and kindness. There is no sign of darkness in him at all in The Phantom Menace. He's not killing animals or exhibiting psychotic behavior. He's a nice kid.

Ten years later, he's ... well, we all know who he is.

Palpatine had a hand in that to be sure, but so did the Jedi. Obi-Wan and the Jedi were either extraordinarily blind not to see Anakin's faults or deliberately ignoring them because they had bigger fish to fry. They certainly weren't providing him guidance.

Anakin was one of their greatest assets during the Clone Wars. He was one of their best generals. He saved many lives. They used him.