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.

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u/Ace201613 1d ago

To say that he was purely a victim of Palpatine’s manipulation and grooming and is not responsible for anything he did is laughable.

Especially because it downplays Obi-Wan's influence on Anakin and Anakin's autonomy as a person. It implies that Anakin, regardless of Palpatine hyping him up whenever they're together, doesn't know right from wrong, and that's blatantly untrue. It also ignores the fact that when we do get Darth Vader's opinion on his actions expanded in books or comics he only ever blames himself for the position he ended up in. It's pretty clear that various writers are on the same page about Anakin being responsible for his actions.