Something that always irked me was that Anakin was born into slavery, this really changes the way you see how he, on a personal level, probably interpreted the use of the word 'Master' when speaking. That word has a very different connotation to a slave, and yet he had to use it when speaking to his fellow Jedi and eventually the Sith; also really hits hard when he is denied the rank of Master; which is like saying, "No, you can never be equal to us." Makes you really reinterpret his saying to Obi-Wan "When I left you I was but the learner, now I am the master." Only for Obi-Wan to say he's only a master of evil and nothing more; disregarding even this feeble attempt at self-affirmation. Anakin's self hatred was definitely reinforced by subtle things like this, things that most nobody else he was around could really understand, which must have lead to a very unique kind of emotional loneliness and despair that would have been difficult to describe and cope with. It certainly didn't help that, if you are told you are constrained by some prophetic destiny, then, in some ways, that means you are a slave to the force, that you have not even the illusion of freewill, which would definitely lead to a form of despondency on a existential level. Honestly, there is nothing really enviable about Anakin Skywalker, his heroism is that of a tragedy that I always found interesting that, his fall to the dark side was in the name of love, wherein he dispensed with the Jedi, and then was brought out of the dark side by love, where he destroyed the Sith; thus bringing balance to the Force. The Force used love as the primary focal point of Anakin's prophetic destiny; with all the pain and sacrifice that it brought along with it.
Oh yeah...forgot about that line! "When you left...I was but the learner...now I AM the Master!" Obi-Wan should've said : "You might be a Master, but you're still not on The Jedi Council!"
Great observation, I love it when you can analyse what weight a single word can carry. The Star Wars Universe seems to be much less free and more dangerous than our own world, and they have not 'advanced' yet to the point where you'd take mental health seriously. Perhaps a shrink would have been better for Anakin than the Jedi-Priests.
I've always said Anakin was a great representation of what happens when someone doesn't have the proper support structure to handle their emotions. But I also just realized Anakin had another trait. When he did something, he put his whole self into it. This was why he was so effective, because he never, EVER half-assed something.
Anakin reminds me of myself. Like Anakin, I too have made big mistakes over my attachments and fear of loss. However, I also have good parents who gave me the emotional support to deal with it.
He didn't want to fail for many reasons. A lot due to the threat of losing those he cared about. During his time with the jedi he clearly cared for the people, those who couldn't help themselves and wanted to do for them what he desperately wanted someone to do when he was a slave. Basically, he wanted a knight in shinning armor to save his friends and family from slavery and as a jedi he could. However, the jedi didn't give him the proper support. Their ways held them back from helping him in any real meaningful way. They would not go deep enough into the force to see it. Qui-Gon had to be the last true jedi that adhered to the will of the force. A man who understood and could guide Anakin in the right direction.
This is why he’s so cool imo. I always hated the narrative of darth vader being a different entity inside anakin. IMO he always went all in, like you said, even when doing questionable things.
Yoda never needed to tell Anakin “try not - do, or do not.” And Padme wasn’t a half-@$$er either (certainly not if you buy the theory that Sidious killed her). I guess we all have a few ways we are, sometimes, so unlike either of our parents.
Amen. Anakin was passionate, and like many passionate people that's underscored by an intensity that can be incredibly good and productive or incredibly dark and destructive. Obi Wan absolutely failed him, more than anyone else. He apparently NEVER talked to him about Satine, or about Padme, or apparently much of anything that wasn't Jedi business. If he felt like Anakin's brother why didn't he act like it?
Anakin was seen as the "man without fear" because he risked his life to save others. The thing is, he was very fearful, but his fear wasn't losing his life, It was losing the ones he cared about. Palpatine knew that and exploited it.
The jedi always seemed to mention just how much uncertainty and fear they sensed in him. Anakin’s downfall was just how far he was willing to go for the people he loved.
I think even *he* knew that. I think that he used it as his motivation, knowing that he was balancing on a thin line. But in the end, in his own mind, his way was the only way. But his son showed him that love, which is what dictated all of his actions, can truly be used as a tool as long as you dont allow it to control you.
I went through this in my own life, went through things in life and childhood that made me quick tempered, I had some other stuff happen that drove me even deeper into anxiety and depression and then lost my mother as I had just found out I was a new father. I lost myself for a year or two after. Told I had PTSD from doctors but I couldn't feel anything. Finally in my late 20s and now early 30s I had realised why I'm so angry at times and its bc I fear the feeling of losing control. I fear being helpless and thats why I get irritated and aggressive when things start falling apart. I'm not a coach, I'm a drill instructor. It's a flaw but understanding the root of the problem is the beginning of correcting it. Maybe in my mid 30s I'll have it better in hand I think thats why star wars is so loved. Not actually bc of lightsabers or cool powers, it's the realistic character development where u see their philosophies change as they age and how the world and life influences these decisions
@@GottiGzz24 so you're saying if hitler some kids lollipops and said sorry for those other things he could be redeemed? anaking died right after doing one good thing for the first time in decades, for all you know he only saved him because it was his son not because the emperor was evil, the evils he committed far outweighed the good he did as a jedi
@@anthonyschlessman1848 He did get redeemed since he became a force ghost, siths can’t be force ghosts so the message behind it is that it’s never to late to do the right thing
"He was loyal to people." That is Anakin Skywalker. He didn't cared for abstract concept, he was anchored in the world before his eyes, the people by his side and whom he loved. Darth Vader was just the same, for a long part of that life as a Sith Lord he had no one he loved or cared about, so it was easy to inflict pain upon everyone. His own pain and loneliness were enough of a justification. Then Luke came along. To Darth Vader/Anakin there was a new light, someone who mattered, someone he LOVED. He feared losing his son because he loved him so much, he became more loyal to Luke than to Darth Sidious. Darth Vader didn't care about his own life, he cared about not losing the person he loved. Luke became this incarnation of what is good and right, not on an abstract level of morality principles, but simply because Luke loved him. Luke was willing to die for him. In Anakin's twisted interpretation of love, Luke's loyalty to him was greater than the Emperor's, who was willing to let him die at his son's hand. So Anakin/Darth Vader hung upon that love, that light and acted upon his instinct to protect the people he loved.
@@cadeshanley218 yes and he even says to luke "its too late for me son" that more proof vader indeed didnt see himself as redeemable and his "now go my son leave me" line too
This is one of the most well educated, simplistic, and beautifully written comments I have ever seen on TH-cam. Props to you for a great and holistic analysis!!
@@claudioforjan1743but he made a promise to Qui-Gon. Obi Wan was loyal to that fault. But the force ultimately was brought to a balance in the end albeit a tragic journey.
I don't think that he is misunderstood. He did commit many crimes. Considering how he was slaughtering children in the temple and many other innocent people I don't feel sorry for him. He has made his own choices.
He was best when Lucas’ godawful dialogue was coming out of his mouth-basically the sequence on Mustafar, where he got scowl and stare menacingly and show emotion without words
Anakin Skywalker: “Now...go, my son. Leave me.” Luke: “No, you're coming with me. I won't leave you here. I've got to save you!” Anakin: “You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me... Tell your sister... you were right...” Brings tears to my eyes every time.
Anakin is a very interesting character, but damn, the dude wiped out and helped wipe out millions possibly billions of people. I can give a f if Luke was right about him. He didn’t listen to the council on how the sith can exploit others through their attachments and he went and got a politician pregnant anyway.
If the force have followed the live heart not the death book of words. I think anakin Skywalker won't become vater and probably his unclear and confusion turned him to the dark side he was a good jedi before. His misunderstanding and selfishness made him become vater.
Read the Lucas approved novel of Return of the Jedi written by author James Kahn. James Kahn adds more to this scene, written mutch better in the book.
Let’s not forget that Anakin/Vader’s story comes full circle when he finds himself a slave to Palpatine. So, not only did he lose everyone he cared about, he ended up right back where he began - a slave.
@@hubris7434 What if Pong Krell infiltrated Padme's ship in ROTS??? I mean all of you were wondering nonstop what everything could have been if it was Ahsoka or Clovis but Krell would be a interesting change. Would Krell stab Vader before he attempted to Force Choke Padme??
@@nestorsifuentesaguirre2722 with respect, I don’t know who that is or what ya’ll talking about. I don’t speak Extended Universe. My only point was that Anakin visited his own suffering onto the entire galaxy. He suffered as a slave and yet his solution to suffering was to enslave everyone. I think that’s important.
Anakin was a slave his entire life. there was only one moment in his entire life where he wasn't a slave to anyone: after he had killed Palpatine. Hewas born as a slave on Tatooine, the became a slave to the Jedi, and finally, he was a slave to the Sith.
@@anakinlowground5515nope, y’all keep saying this dumb shii it’s getting me mad. He was NEVER a slave to The Jedi. They wouldn’t have killed or imprisoned him for leaving The Order. He had a choice to join the Order or NOT. Only thing he was a slave too was 1.) in his childhood, and 2.) his emotions and perhaps 3.) To Palpatine but honestly Palpitine didn’t really care about him too much and was ready to dispose him should he prove he was further no more of use.
It’s kind of messed up that Vader believes pretenting to always being a cruel killing machine is a better alternative to accepting he once was a caring and friendly person.
It's easier to believe you've always been this way than to actively reflect on what was and what is. Though not to that extreme, a lot of us think the same way when we self-loathe.
at least to me, vader's psychology reads as a dark mirror of a struggle that exists within us all many of us convince ourselves that we are uncaring, cold hearted or callous as a way to excuse to ourselves and others actions for which we would otherwise have to hold ourselves responsible. rather than facing up to the hypocrisy of justifying our indiscretions in this way, we say that this is just the way we are, or that our hard lives made us this way only when we find the courage to be honest with ourselves and others and own up to our poor choices and mistakes can we release ourselves from feeling like such monsters
I love Hayden Christensen as Anakin and always did. His look, his torment, the way he moves when he fights. I also love the fact that it was his love for Padme that took him down. Tragic Grandeur.
Anakin was so realistic of a character in the prequels that it upset people. It physically hurts to watch him make the choices he did when you are internally yelling at him that he has his priorities wrong. There are too many actual people who act this way in real life.
Or, you could be encouraging him, cheering him on. I as a young boy, never understood why Luke didn't join his father and take control of the galaxy. It made no sense, to not join the family business and create a new and improved empire
Anakin always felt like to me a reflection of myself... (but awesome and badass version btw lmao), He's an amazing characters, making us learn from his huge mistakes that has cost his soul and everyone he cared about , he reminds me alot of Kratos from God of war, a tragic character who hates himself for the decision he has done in the past.
"If Luke could choose to reject the dark side and be a Jedi like his father then Anakin could choose to be a Jedi like his son." That literally brought me to tears. This is a fantastic character analysis! One of the very best I've ever seen for Anakin Skywalker, this is truly spectacular! You understand this character so well!!!!
yo dude ------- WHY do you think Lucas named the movie "The Return of the Jedi ?" It was - at that last moment - the return of Anakin Skywalker & THE RETURN OF THE JEDI.
Anakin always had some darkness inside of him, but also he was known for being a selfless person, always trying to protect others. People like Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Padme always made Anakin the Best he could be, they took out the Best in Anakin. But Palpatine knew how to manipulate Anakin perfectly and that started to make Anakin paranoid about everything, even saying that Obi-Wan didn't want Anakin at his maximum, or Anakin feeling betrayed after Ahsoka left the Jedi order, and finally killing Padme. Palpatine took out the worst in Anakin and he was succesful.
You could even say that even as Vader, Vader/Anakin was a selfless person. Vader hated himself and to an Imperial perspective, had given up everything for the Emperor. (This is metaphorically true because the Emperor took away everything he had). Vader still respected his soldiers (although not to Anakin's level).
I’d also point out that when he finds out about Luke his immediate reaction is to find him and seek to have Luke join him. He is of course extremely harsh when confronting him the first time, but that’s how a darksider operates. It should be noted he is very passive in their second encounter when Luke surrenders, almost apologetic to him. This is all when he’s still “Vader” yet his love for Luke is obvious even then, this isn’t the act of a separate evil persona. This is Anakin.
I'd say his selflessness was motivated our of selfishness, paradoxically. His attachments were his downfall because he was selfish and wanted to possess them. Contrast that with Obi-Wan in the Kenobi series, where his emotional attachment to Anakin's children gave him strength because he is motivated by a selfless desire to serve and protect them for their own sake and the sake of the galaxy at large, not because he didn't want to let them go.
@@johnquach8821 He hasn't just taken the life of good soldiers once for something as trivial as seeing his face. I definitely don't think Vader respects anyone anymore, except for Tarkin
A scary point to consider....from a certain point of view, the Jedi cost Anakin everything... his mother, his chance at a "normal" life, ultimately Padme' and even Asoka... every ounce of hate he had for them, were in a way sadly justified.
His mom let the jedi take him so he could have a better life. Not sure that was really something he took to heart. Certainly not denying the Jedi's flaws, but Anakin had plenty of issues before the Clone wars.
Not really. Nothing prevented him from leaving the Jedi order. I never understood why he felt the need to stay. Padma was a senator and probably had enough funds at her disposal that she could have hired Anakin to act as a protector and to have him run missions that might need more of a specialized touch. If he did he could easily have been with Padma and the council would have had no say. When had visions he could have sought the council advice on the matter. At the end of the day it doesn't matter Anakin made his choice and he cant blame any one but himself. He knew the difference between right and wrong and still choose to commit evil acts know it was wrong.
One of my favorite Clone Wars scenes was where the villain of the week is baiting Obi-Wan into violating the Jedi Code and killing him, when Anakin walks up behind him and casually stabs him in the back.
A story like Anakin's is not something to throw away so easily as fiction. One can look at the tale of Anakin Skywalker and see the feelings one has for themself. About loss, self hatred, and redemption when all hope was seen gone. People can learn from such lessons. And perhaps they may be able to pull a Vader and return to the light.
"You either die a Hero or live long enough to see yourself become the Villain" "The road to evil is paved with good intentions" Anakin is the embodiment of those sayings 100%
It’s wild how the line Anakin has about a transmitter device implanted in slaves that will explode if the slave gets out of line or too far away from their ‘master’ is just so often overlooked
@@VestedUTuber How would the Jedi take it out when they didn't even know where the bomb was located? Anakin didn't even know where it was located, considering he won his freedom before he finished making the scanner that he told Qui-Gon about.
@@decepticonxhunter4850 1. The Force, but that's a cop-out answer. 2. Tatooine's level of development is extremely below-average, due to a lack of wealth outside of the Hutt cartels. It's reasonable to assume that the available healthcare on Coruscant FAR outclasses what's available on Tatooine, and the Jedi would have access to the best of it. And it's highly unlikely that the explosive wouldn't show up on some sort of general-use body scanner. Still, having the ability to find the thing still doesn't necessarily mean they actually bothered to remove it. They could have just not thought about it. Or, more darkly, they could have decided to keep it in at first as a failsafe in case he turned, and then forgot about it in the chaos of the Clone Wars.
@@decepticonxhunter4850 The Jedi has the technology there. You seriously believe they didn't have any form of technology to remove a tracking device left embedded in a person? Dude, this is logic considering where SW takes place
I always believed that Anakin's innate talents in The Force advanced before his maturity to handle it. As a result, he became impatient, impulsive, and passionate. Fertile soil for treachery and rage.
True but palpy was behind the turn by putting padme death in his head and I feel palpy used padme energy to rebirth Vader as you see Vader come to life as padme is dying
@@jimbowlan5804 It was not just Padme Anakin was worried for but his unborn offspring too he did not want to lose them like he lost his Mother and Qui Gon.
Saving his mother would have just the same effect as it did with Padme, if not making it worse. By rescuing his mother and putting her under the Temple's charge, it will be the Jedi that would have leverage over him and Palpatine would not hesitate to turn this fact against Anakin. Not only that, but the loss of both mother and lover over a shorter period may make Vader come out even more unhinged than he was in canon.
He needed a *father* figure. That's what Qui-Gon would have been for him, and what Obi-Wan could *not* be for him. Had the wizened old Jedi survived to train Anakin, things would have turned out very differently for him and ultimately, the galaxy as a whole. Sidious would likey have not been able to rise to power with a fully light-side Skywalker at his full Force potential, stated to be double that of the Emperor.
@@sabishiihito this is what I think. Palpatine came in and you can see how he tries to be a bit of a father figure. I suspect Qui-Gons view of the force would have helped Anakin more and likely help some of his own demons. If Vader was always there I bet Qui-Gon would have helped him not suppress but at least understand, accept and handle it. All this is conjecture but based in what we know of Qui-Gon it's possible.
@@Reliant1864 you do have a point there. Qui Gon would have definitely helped Anakin out with conquering Vader and learning to accept himself as a whole
Luke really reminds Anakin of Padmé a lot. He’s really Padmé son and always see good in people even Anakin acknowledged himself as monster. Luke didn’t accept that.
Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are one in the same, and the even though Darth Vader claims to have destroy Anakin Skywalker as he rose to become a Dark Lord of the Sith, but deep down Vader could never truly be rid off the man he once was. Anakin Skywalker is the story of a man who never truly had freedom as a Slave, Jedi, and even as a Sith Lord, but it is his ability to choose love to save him from the darkness he was in.
I’d interpret that as him saying “You didn’t kill your friend, I did.” He’s still Anakin, but all he feels for Obi-Wan now is hate. Their past means nothing. He’s absolving Obi-Wan of responsibility because he’s saying this is what he chose.
@@zephyr8072 I still believed he still loved his former master and brother but all that hatred for what happened on Mustafar buried it deep into the mental black hole that's within his furnaced heart. Same with Ahsoka in Rebels. It was only when Luke appeared that that love is slowly but obviously crawling it's way back up and it fully freed itself at the end of Return of The Jedi where Darth Vader became Anakin Skywalker one more time to save his son and die being able to save Luke as a "repentance" for failing to save Padmé.
Yeah! I know this sounds weird but when I turned Schizophrenic, I began to anger quicker while simultaneously caring more than before…..caring more because I knew more. When you look deep into the troubles of the world, then you know how much harder evil or sadness hits more than the all the love in the world you become more callused. Then you snap….you can’t take the world on your shoulders.
@@Blues2green "All it takes is One Bad Day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am, just One Bad Day." - The Joker
I imagine that part of why Vader loyally served the Empire was that he felt a loyalty and connection to the men who served under him. He was still leading the 501st, the same legion he led during the Clone Wars. They would have been men he knew so he still would have felt attached to them. They fought for the Empire, therefore he did as well. This probably gave him some level of motivation despite his extreme depression.
I believed it was because he had no where he could go, no mother, no home, no friends, and no family, what other choice did he have, working for sidious was horrible, but his position as second in an empire was better than nothing
Sad thing is the 501st wasn't even allowed full command over the 501st he was was only allowed to borrow them from time to time when the situation called for it. Palpatine didn't trust him enough to give him command of his own army.
Tbf the 501st and all clones were replaced relatively quickly after the formation of the empire. This justification only applies for a few years at best. Personally I lean more towards his lack of any other place or people in the galaxy other than being Palpatine's apprentice. I'd say it probably helped that leading armies was probably what he was most used to doing. All of this however assumes that George Lucas actually gave it that much thought, which I kinda doubt tbh. At least not when the original trilogy was written.
One of the most vicious gut punches this franchise ever delivered was when Vader said "Anakin is gone. I am what remains" in the final episode of Obi-Wan. He knew the horror that statement would inflict on Kenobi - because it was the same horror that he lived with for every second of every day.
" This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever: The first dawn of light in your universe brings pain. The light burns you. It will always burn you. Part of you will always lie upon black glass sand beside a lake of fire while flames chew at your flesh. You can hear yourself breathing. It comes hard, and harsh, and it scrapes nerves already raw, but you cannot stop it. You can never stop it. You cannot even slow it down. You don’t even have lungs anymore. Mechanisms hardwired into your chest breathe for you. They will pump oxygen into your bloodstream forever. Lord Vader? Lord Vader, can you hear me? And you can’t, not in the way you once did. Sensors in the shell that prisons your head trickle meaning directly into your brain. You open your scorched-pale eyes; optical sensors integrate light and shadow into a hideous simulacrum of the world around you. Or perhaps the simulacrum is perfect, and it is the world that is hideous. Padme? Are you here? Are you all right? you try to say, but another voice speaks for you, out from the vocabulator that serves you for burned-away lips and tongue and throat. Padme? Are you here? Are you all right? I’m very sorry, Lord Vader. I’m afraid she died. It seems in your anger, you killed her. This burns hotter than the lava had. No…no, it is not possible! You love her. You have always loved her. You could never will her death. Never. But you remember… You remember all of it. You remember the dragon that you brought Vader forth from your heart to slay. You remember the cold venom in Vader’s blood. You remember the furnace of Vader’s fury, and the black hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth… And there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. That there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker. That it was all you. Is you. Only you. You did it. You killed her. You killed her because, finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were thinking about yourself… It is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith - Because now yourself is all you will ever have. "
They didn't make any exceptions for him, they didn't take care of him the way he needed to be taken care of. He needed to be reassured instead of being told to let his feelings go. All he needed was someone who understood him and to tell him everything was going to be okay
The tragic thing is Qui Gon (an unorthodox Jedi) probably would've given him that. Maul really robbed Anakin (and Obi Wan) of a truly caring mentor and role model.
@@hodarinundu Qui Gon was the only one who could have taken care of Anakin in the way he needed to be. Obi-Wan was young and inexperienced at the time, and didn’t really know what to do with Anakin…
@@Wingbar And Obi Wan was nowhere near as flexible as Qui Gon. He was much more of a by the book man. A perfect Jedi maybe but not the kind of person Anakin needed growing up.
@@hodarinundu Couldn't have said it better myself. He needed to be treated like a human, and not like a 'robot' like the rest of the Jedi were. They knew from the moment he arrived he was an exceptional case, both ability wise and emotionally, and they did nothing to accommodate for that.
@@Wingbar At that point they had been doing things their way for a thousand years IIRC. Maybe they just didn´t even know how to accommodate. In any case, it shows they had detached themselves quite a bit from the very compassion they were supposed to exercise. Anakin himself says to Padme that compassion is central to a Jedi's life, but not many people had a lot of compassion for him. It really is a sad story at the end of the day. Perhaps the saddest part is that Anakin never got to be his own master. There was always someone else deciding for him.
Hayden Christensen didn’t deserve any of the hate; he played his role well. But Matt Lanter’s version is the one that made me love Anakin. In fact, The Clone Wars show made me view the prequels in a completely new light. What a gem it was.
I think he's a better actor than what people give him credit for. It may not be perfect but doesn't warrant bullying and death threats like it happened with poor Jake Lloyd. Anakin is not my favorite character but Christensen seems like a nice guy and had he been given better dialog, his performance could have been a success. He did play Anakin's vulnerability, love and selfishness to a T and I do wish he could have gotten more praise in the role he played. He wasn't the one who wrote the movie and can't be blamed for how the script was written. He seemed to move on to have a nice life though so that's good.
From the moment Vader knew Luke was his son, he did everything he could to find him, protect him and turn him so they could rule the universe "as father and son". He'd have everything he ever wanted: control, order, and a family.
Protect him? Mf cut his hand right off and allowed him to jump off into the abyss 😂😂 Vader could have force caught him and floated him back to safety. But he just let him fall lol
He could have killed Luke instead, not just then but in their earlier duel. He literally told Luke to join him, that they would end the destructive conflict, bring order to the galaxy, and rule together as father and son. He NEVER would have killed Luke.
Anakin wanted to have his family back, even if he has to commit questionable deeds to do it. It was grateful that he sacrficed himself to save Luke from Palpatine.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Everything that happened is Qui-Gon's fault. Including not freeing Shmi. He knew Anakin was maladjusted, he knew it would be a problem. Here's the thing though, Qui-Gon trusts in the Force rather than what he sees with his own eyes. Yes, the Jedi made the same mistake, but Qui-Gon 'supposedly the better master than Obi-Wan' Jinn did it first.
@@josephrichter2104 Yes, that's what both Anakin and Shmi wanted. The Jedi actually didn't think it was a good idea, because they didn't want to separate him from his mom. People want to say f the Jedi and praise Qui-Gon, but it's Qui-Gon that said he couldn't free Shmi though he wanted to. And Shmi was freed, she got married
What a tragic character. His fear of losing loved ones (mostly Padme and Obi Wan) at some point in the future, led him to rash choices in the present that ended up costing him the many more years he could've had with them. All he had left was Palpatine, who clearly couldn't care less for him, but rather what he could do as his apprentice. Well done George! Brilliant storytelling.
There's a Vader in everyone. It's whether we chose to be that person or not. I think its so uncomfortable for people because it's so easy to see ourself becoming that. I also think on some level everyone wants to be a Vader.
Everyone has an inner darkness it’s whether we chose to let it control us or whether we chose to control it. I think George Lucas has stated something similar to this, the darkside and light side exist but to maintain balance the darkside within us must be controlled so the light can prevail
@@Capybara2240 I think its natural to lean into the darkness more because it's easier to do the wrong thing then the right. It would be so much easier to just go punch out someone thats giving you a hard time. It takes true strength to say you know what I'm just gonna let them say their piece and then go on with my day.
@@dimetime35c quote from the clone war’s when (spoiler) maul captures kenobi on mandalore and kills satine You can kill me, but you will never destroy me. It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it. Darth Maul : It is more powerful than you know. Obi-Wan Kenobi : And those who oppose it are more powerful than you'll ever be. This dialogue just reminded me exactly of what you said and proves the dark side takes strength to resist as it’s the faster and easier way to deal with a problem
Jungian psychology holds this as a core principle. That the only true path to maturity is to integrate the shadow within. Not to suppress it, but to understand your own capacity for evil, and maintain vigilant watch over it. To use it only when necessary to combat evil or injustice. This is where the Jedi Order failed, and where Palpatine could seduce those who weren't completely dogmatic.
I just finished Revenge of the Sith Novel and the entire Dark Lord trilogy. I have to agree, the book is literally 10 times better than the movie. One of the best novels I've ever read, actually. The fight between Obi-Wan and Grievous literally goes on for 25 pages. The novel really gives you the inside of Anakin's mind.
The entire character of Anakin Skywalker is a masterful study of the concept of "the banality of evil." That is, the concept that evil and the capacity for it exists within every thinking being, and to purge oneself of it is simply impossible. In a way, for all the mistakes that he made, Yoda did a far better job coming to terms with this than Anakin did. It's summarized really well in a quote from Clone Wars Season 6, when he fights the shadow version of himself: "Recognize you, I do. Part of me, you are, yes. But power over me, you have not. Through patience and training, it is I who control you...My dark side, you are. Reject you, I do." Anakin thought he could destroy evil by seizing power, because he didn't recognize that evil lived within him, and so in his quest to destroy evil, he destroyed himself. Quite poetic really. George Lucas is a genius and Revenge of the Sith is one of the greatest films of all time.
I tell people all the time, that ROTS is probably one of the greatest pieces of cinema ever. Most just think I'm being nerdy, but I've watched a lot of great movies that aren't "fandoms."
This isn’t what the banality of evil is. The banality of evil is the idea that evil acts are not necessarily perpetrated by evil people. Instead it can be the result of bureaucrats or whatever dutifully obeying orders. The term was coined by political theorist Hannah Arendt after watching the 1961 trial of the Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann A real depiction of the banality of evil would be if Anakin was never a Sith, never even a Jedi. Just some schmuck living with Padme and his two kids. Comes to work, punches the clock every day, does his job, goes to the local bar with the boys after work, goes home, plays with his kids, kisses his wife, and takes out the trash every Thursday evening. Banal. But he is part of a machine that just bulldozes people. Banality of evil is a mid-level imperial officer not Darth Vader.
I guess on a technical level that's correct, but the broader point of Arendt's book was that every human being has a capacity for evil, and while she was specifically talking about the ordinary man who did extraordinarily horrible things, the basic principle is that no person is entirely pure.
Yoda never came to terms with it. Luke was the one who did in the films and EU. In the OT, he goes back to preaching that Vader and the Dark side was evil instead of realizing good and evil are diametrically opposed and both can be used for good and evil. Luke in the EU (Not the disney garbage) was the one who had anakin's passion and drive but also padme's compassion and logic. He knew that good and evil was far more complex and since he didn't suffer much trauma compared to Anakin and the Jedi wasn't there telling him he was always wrong, he should do this instead of that. He told yoda and kenobi to fuck off when they said to sacrifice his friends
Anakin created Vader to hide his shame and pain. Living as Anakin was to painful he had lost everything. Taking on Vader gave eased the pain, by retreating into another persona
This is how I’ve always seen it, hates himself so much which he has said in multiple comics. He couldn’t handle the failure he was, so he he pretended to be a different person as a psychological coping mechanism, truly heartbreaking character
@@floridaman6982 yea that's what I'm saying at that point it was past the point of return he was all messed up and can't breath without the Vader suit lol
As much as this "original take" sounds good.. it isn't. He became Vader by way of his "yoga", or, his actions. Sins. Halal. He engaged in repeated acts of merciless brutality AFTER brooding on them for a while. This literally physically reformats the shape and behavior of one's brain. The way the neurons fire.. from mirror neurons for empathy.. to oxytocin for consideration.. Anakin mutated his own brain-shape/function by basting in hatred and fury and vengeance. His own liver poisoned him. - 10+ yrs. Rx
Anakin and Vader are very similar, but Anakin is when he's on your side, Vader is when he's the enemy. TCW shows that while respected, some clones were nervous to serve under Skywalker because of his reckless strategies. And Vader is certainly a fearless commander as well. Anakin has always used his ends to justify his means. Its just that when his end goal shifts nobody is on board anymore.
I always knew that Anakin had what was necessary to "become Darth Vader," but could never really explain the continuum between the two; what Anakin and "Darth Vader" had in common, aspects that never changed after the switch. And this video explains it really well. Anakin was Darth Vader, with much of his simplistic world view and need to defeat the enemy, and Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker, with all of the emotional turmoil that clouded his ability to think clearly.
It’s pretty clear to see the vader in anakin as early as aotc, he supports a dictatorship government and killed tuskens in revenge, unleashing his dark side
This is the best character breakdown I’ve ever heard of Anakin. A lot of people pan the prequels for being wooden and shallow. And yet, I found Vader interesting in the original trilogy, but it wasn’t until the prequels that I found him heartbreaking. That poster of the adorable Jake Lloyd with his shadow turning into Darth Vader still haunts me. It is also all too real, as the actor who portrayed young Anakin became schizophrenic after being horribly abused for what I believed to be a really great performance from a child actor. When evil takes someone over, it’s sad more than anything…
5:10 this part right here! Imagine all the confusion he was feeling, especially given his age. Also, I think the presence (and death) of Qui Gon had a major impact on his character as well. Given the fact that he was the one that acknowledged him first, then was willing to train him when nobody else wanted to, and then losing him in a short time after, killed by an evil man who already tried to run him over and kill him. Too many big changes and extraordinary events in such a short time, being already a super critical time of his life/ childhood.
The dark side is a good analogy for sin. It's like drinking salt water (or a sugary drink). It seems to quench thirst at first but in the end makes one more thirsty than before.
Anakin is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction, and this analysis just reinforces that. It also makes luke redeeming him in episode 6 more powerful. The bond between father and son is something else, ya know? Im kinda rambling but this is just such an amazing video, magnificent job
Anakin and Vader are the two greatest constructs of characters ever invented combined into one character. It's ingenious but somehow it happened. We are fortunate to have this character as he teaches a lot of lessons all at the same time
This is literally the single best video talking about Anakin, no "but...but..." mumbo jumbo, it's straight to the point and has the most concise analysis of his character, great work!
If you enjoy the Revenge of the Sith Novelization, you may also like Shatterpoint by the same author, it's a really solid Mace Windu adventure and brings the horrors of the Clone Wars and war in general home in a way few books do.
Shatterpoint was a brilliant fever dream. Stover was the GOAT legends author. I wish he'd done more. His novel Traitor just turned 20 this month and that was another brilliant deconstruction of light and dark sides
Great video! Vader's redemption reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I really like how you said "inertia" is what kept Vader going. When Anakin accepted the title of "Darth Vader," he became monotone and stayed that way for most of the time after. He was perpetually sad and only kept going because he thought he had to as a servant of the Dark Side.
I personally feel like Anakin always had a great darkness within himself, we all do, every one of us. He was destined for great good or great evil. Qui-Gon was meant to be the Master of Anakin, he'd be able to lead him on the right path and allow the prophecy of the chosen one to become true. But following his death Anakin's destiny was no longer certain. Obi-Wan Kenobi did well enough, but he was no Qui-Gon. Palpatine was able to corrupt Anakin. You know the saying about feeding the wrong wolf? Palpatine was feeding the wrong wolf, his inner darkness, sowing seeds of distrust for the Jedi. If Qui-Gon was still alive this would have been prevented, Maul unknowingly changed the future of the universe by killing one man. I'm sure Palpatine knew what the death of Qui-Gon would allow but I doubt Maul knew, he was just a tool for the mastermind behind it all. What also contributed to Anakin's fall was Ashoka leaving the order, she was one of his few anchors to the order and his path. With her departure the darkness within him grew.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan being unable to figure out that Jar Jar was Palpatine's Master was quite amusing. Especially when Jar Jar's luck caused him to run into Anakin on a Planet that he normally wouldn't have gone too. Who knows, perhaps it was Jar Jar who told Palpatine to influence Ani's Training to the darkside. Still would be amusing seeing Maul trying to kill Jar Jar using everything he was trained with.
@@srstriker6420 in a way, yes. The force lead Qui-Gon to Anakin, he was meant to be the one to train and him and allow him to become the chosen one he was supposed to be. I'm sure he'd be able to sense the darkness within Anakin and quell it before it grew more. He also would have most likely felt something with off with Palpatine. The rest of the order wasn't able to carry on the forces will and were not as attached as they should have been, partly because the Jedi Order or the republic strayed from what they were supposed to be and party due the Palpatine himself. But unlike the rest of the order Qui Gon was able to allow the force to guide him and it would have most likely alerted him that he was not what he seemed. He wouldn't have known he was a sith but definitely would have had a bad feeling about him and wouldn't allow him and Anakin to get close. This in turn would prevent Palpatine for being able to corrupt Anakin as he did before. So yeah, Qui Gon would have brought out the good and Palpatine brought out the evil and made Anakin turn to the dark side
It's a shame no one at Disney is doing or is capable of this kind of literary and psychological analysis. Excellent job on both the literary and the psychological / archetypal levels.
This was a geniusly and very insightful breakdown of anakin. One of my favorite , very relatable, and most tragic characters to ever exist in cinema. George Lucas is a genius story teller
This was an amazing analysis of my favorite character in all of literature and media. You absolutely nailed it, especially that last part about Luke being the hero we'd like to be or even see ourselves as. However, the reality is that we're really all "Anakin" at heart.
The way Anakin was treated is a prime example of the Jedi Order not changing with the times, why do you think Luke threw all that archaic crap out when he started the New Jedi Order in legends, he didn't want anyone to end up like his father, he didn't want another Darth Vader.
/whoosh....... If Luke had listened to Yoda, he never would have turned Anakin back to the light. It's not that the Jedi shouldn't have trained him, it's that the dogmatic ways of the Jedi are/were wrong to begin with & upon an individual like Anikin had disasterous effects. (as prophisized) The Jedi tried a cookie cutter methodology on all padawans instead of the individual approach while even having a 1 on 1 teacher to student ratio with him. Kenobi at least was aware of this and admitted it to Anakin on Mustafar when he said "I have failed you"
@@barklordofthesith2997 nope, just like it says in the video, the Jedi MUST NOT have attachments. They're not like other people. Attachments for someone like Anakin can lead to fear of loss, which can lead to a psychopath doing whatever it takes to prevent that loss. It's like you're seeing what you want to see vs what actually happened. The guy says it in this very video. Anakin shouldn't have been trained. He was way too attached to people and it lead to this entire movie saga.
@@dwoodstwin Yet again showing that you don't comprehend the point of the O/P. Your line of thought follows Yoda's teaching which PROVED to be WRONG in the films (perhaps YOU are only seeing what you want to) Luke ignored Yoda's words to not confront Vader. Luke WAS right, Yoda WAS wrong. OP -"why do you think Luke threw all that archaic crap out when he started the New Jedi Order "
And despite Luke "changing with the times", it did absolutely nothing to stop his nephew Jacen from becoming another Vader and killing his wife Mara Jade in the process.
It is such a shame to see so few here acknowledge how amazing this video is. Rarely if at all I have seen such a deep going, complete and imo correct analysis of a character
Hayden played it wonderfully. People who can't reconcile the two versions simply forget that Anakin was a man. He wasn't born evil. He simply suffered too much loss. 1. Raised as a slave 2. Lost his mother 3. Had visions of losing his wife dying. In between he suffered multiple battle injuries, psychological trauma and so on. I cannot think of a more realistic reason to go against your own moral code than to save the woman you love who is carrying your child. In the OT Vader was initially a pretty generic "evil because I'm evil" character. That changed when A new Hope was a hit and Lucas decided to add more depth to Vader by making him the father of Luke and making him come back to the light. People who assumed Vader was always this evil person and wanted to see that in the prequels forget that in the end Vader was good. As a result they almost cancelled the career of a very promising young acror who needed years to really come back. That would be the equivalent of hating on Adam Driver or Daisey Ridley( both very good actors judging by their other works) just because the writing was shit. You don't do that to an actor but that is what (almost) happened to Christensen.
I really believe the greatest failure the prequels had, isn't the childs humor in Ep.1 or the weird dialogs of Ep.2, but its the fact that we havn't seen young Anakin suffering as a slave. The sequence on Tatooine should have been much darker in tone and should have shown us why Anakin is the person he is since childhood. This is the real part, that is executed the worst, not the love story, not the final fall to the dark side or anything else people still might complain about the prequels.
I was literally thinking about this earlier today. To me, it feels like we missed a movie that should have come either before episode 1 or between episodes 1 and 2 that explored more of Ani’s childhood.
You gotta a point, but i like the phantom menace version more, seeing anakin as someone so hopefull even as a slave, its so tragic when he finally goes to the dark side
@@Rockstarrclarkethey still should the negative sides of being a slave. Look at the way Watto treated him in his slimy, cruel, and greedy nature and how he felt close to his mothet
I think they made it perfectly. First we have a cute child, suffering from his life, but like fully pure and kind-hearted. Then he goes from a neglected and mentally worsening teenager to the point of painful stressed out adulthood - his power grows but so does the pain and the insecurity. Most Jedi don't seem to notice - or just don't give a flying turtle about his feelings. So I would say YES Vader was always a part of Anakin, his deepest abyss. As strong and talented as the rest, but completely unleashed and not caring about any negative consequences. Like "You made me suffer, so you will see what it's like" If I could change Star Wars, I would NOT think of any replacement for the two young Anis we got :) It shows us how being misunterstood and not treated properly can make you go from a pure good to nearly absolutely evil. Just look at a stock photo of 9-10 yrs old Anakin and take a second to imagine him burning to charcoal - you can't tell me that it is not touching. It gets even harder after watching all the clone wars or reading the novels for episode 1-3 :O
I don't think Anakin doesn't fit into any character archetype. He falls into the biblical archetype of the fallen human. A person that tries to be good in a corrupt world but wouldn't know good even if somebody hit him on the head with it
Matt Stover knocked it out of the park with the novelisation. He did a complex character analysis down to the second, and opened my eyes to the real story being told. Makes watching the movie so much more fun
“Join me. And together we will rule the galaxy! And commit many war crimes.” Luke, “What?” Vader, “It must’ve been a tremor in the Force or something else.”
This is one of the deepest, most thoughtful and profound analysis of a character thousands have already analyzed. That you've gotten me to rethink my understanding of such a complex character is awe-inspiring.
After hearing all of this, I think the one thing that comes to mind is that Anakin would have been much better off as a Mandalorian. Yes, the Mandalorians follow a strict code (especially the children of the watch), but ultimately, their loyalty is to each other. That's why anyone can become a Mandalorian, and that's why, in my opinion, they are the perfect neutral ground between the Jedi and the Sith. The Jedi want you to accept what is natural without any regard to how you may feel about it, whereas the Sith want you to embrace your darkest emotions in pursuit of power. If Anakin and his mother were saved by Mandalorians, and he was taught their ways, he would have been among the most fearsome Mandalorians in the history of the galaxy. After all, if he went to a Mandalorian, and expressed his fear about losing his loved ones, they wouldn't give honeyed lies of power to prevent it, or simply tell him that his attachment is wrong, and he should just accept what is to pass, the Mandalorian would make every possible effort to protect his loved ones from said fear, and fight to destroy what caused that fear in the first place. This is also why I would want to be a Mandalorian myself if I were in Star Wars. I don't crave power like the Sith, and I absolutely despise the ideals of the Jedi and their surrender to a dogmatic belief bereft of human emotion, I simply want to be free, and to have my loved ones care about me as I care about them, not because of some law, but because empathy, solidarity, and loyalty are what drive the Mandalorians.
Interesting. Reading this it's clear that the Jedi didn't get the prophecy and were too blind in their own code. If the Mandalorians were force sensitive would they be the balance in the force?
@@Reliant1864 That's because the prophecy wasn't meant for SIth or Jedi to interpret. It was for the original Je'daii order, who were gray force users.
The Jedi never believed in a lack of human emotion, this is a misconception. They encouraged compassion and love. What they discouraged was attachment, aka a love so selfish and possessive that it’s not even love anymore
8:11 loyal to people not principles 10:24 hero with no fear 13:00 what makes him the real hero 16:37 seizes upon the force 21:19 Vader kills the dragon 24:58 there was no dragon, no Vader, only Anakin Skywalker
I've discussed this at length with people I know. Anakin was troubled, and insecure, and tormented, and anyone who can't connect the prequel Anakin with Darth Vader doesn't understand the character or psychology. His desperation going to Yoda, who would be the one who most disapproves of his relationship with Padme, and Yoda's giving him possibly the worst and most damaging advice in history (I really have a lot of questions about Yoda and his philosophy on things) underlines this. If at least Obi Wan had taken him aside and said, 'you need to have a little faith. We have an advanced society, great technology and medical knowledge, and with you by her side there's every reason to think she'll be okay'. If Obi Wan had actually talked to him about Padme, and told his own history and how he'd been willing to leave the Jedi for a woman, and how it was perfectly natural to be terrified and protective. However flawed the prequels are Anakin's emotional and psychological disintegration was understandable and avoidable, and his latching onto Palpatine for even the illusion of support and encouragement fits that profile. The insidious nature of taking a troubled kid with no support and emotional issues and twisting him to the point where he hates everything, and in the end hates himself, is more tragic because of just how avoidable it was. Yoda and Mace were right about him being dangerous, but very wrong about the reasons, and ironically if they had embraced him and at least looked the other way regarding his 'attachments' (which in his case were like a lifeline to sanity) maybe he wouldn't have crossed the line and become unredeemable. Oh, and as for the dialog, the only reason Romeo and Juliet don't sound the same way Anakin and Padme do is Shakespeare did a lot of embellishing. I think Hayden and Natalie did a good job showing two young, sheltered, confused kids getting way in over their head and it destroying both of them.
Guts and Anakin are my favorite fictional characters in all of media, because they are the most human who've made mistakes and ultimately have become better by learning from those mistakes. What wonderful analysis.
Now that you've mentioned it, Anakin/Vader is the stereotypical object of study in psychoanalysis and psychiatry, namely for Borderline Personality Disoder, which almost exactly fits his character analysis, and as someone who has BPD as well, your in-dept analysis basically throw everything that it is to my face :)
@@Matthew-Anthony borderline personality disorder and what I meant is it doesn’t mean you don’t care about others it means you have went though some shit to a point where your brain has been rewired to be use to abusive situations you can be manipulative clingy emotionally unstable do risky behaviour or go though moments of suicidal ideation you feel empathy but it’s different it’s almost like your both more and less empathetic at the same time it has a list of different symptoms and most people have different ways of coping I have bpd and it’s made me do risky behaviour manipulate my way into situations so I can survive and feel a intense amount of empathy while at the same time trying to convince myself I’m somehow not human it’s different for everyone but like it’s not like you don’t care about people as much as it’s you care but cannot really trust people
@@sophiehatter3111Borderline personality disorder, along with similar personality disorders are common among people with gender dysphoria. It is a shame that people are normalizing it and all of the behavior that comes with it.
This amazing video gave me a whole new view of Anakin/Vader. I already knew some of this but you help me understand him better. And made me love his incredible character even more.
For years I held the opinion that Obi-Wan speaking of Anakin and Vader as separate personas was a way to cope with the trauma and guilt of his perceived failure as a teacher. That said, I do love the Revenge of the Sith novelization. As I may have mentioned before, I bought the book before I saw the movie, so I completely agree that it is superior. It tells the story better, with the exception of one scene. Seeing the Order 66 montage in the movie, especially with the musical score, always hits me harder than reading it in the book.
And I feel like Yoda did that too. Palpatine did it in a darker way. To convince Anakin/Vader that he serves and is binded to the Emperor, The Sith, and The Dark Side of The Force.
He speaks of them being separate personalities because they are, although anakin had the anger and “vader” always within him as a Jedi, he was still a good person and used the light side of the force, when he became vader he was physically changed, Became part machine, the dark side twisted his mind to think he killed anakin and he is vader instead and anakin was weak. So that’s why obi wan and yoda say that because vader acts and looks different to anakin. He even says in the kenobi show anakin is gone, he knows deep down he is anakin but the darkside doesn’t let anakin prevail
@@cadeshanley218 people say that saying vader and anakin are different personalities ruins the redemption and how he saves luke but they don’t understand that the anakin personality which has long been dormant or never/hardly reaching the surface for 20+ years has begun to resurface more frequently during episode 5+6 as his love for Luke reminds him of his past life and who he once was but he’s already done so much evil that he can’t be brought back easily so vader is still in control and wants luke to join him for his own selfish desires, it’s only until their fight in episode 6 does anakin resurface once more when he sees luke in pain and his love for Luke allows him to commit a selfless act that goes against everything the sith believe. Vader would never sacrifice himself for anyone but anakin would. Imo it actually enhances how the story plays out because we all know anakin is vader and vice versa, no one is saying they are different people, it’s just a different personality within the same person. A long battle between two personalities which stir heavy amounts of conflict and a battle between both to remain “in control” of the mind of anakin/vader. Vader even sees it this way in universe as he mentions destroying anakin to ahsoka and mentions anakin is gone to obi wan (sure maybe apart of him knows it’s all a bluff and he didn’t kill anakin but the darkside has a hold over him and convinces him that he’s right and he’s not actually anakin, it’s like cognitive dissonance). Like you said yoda and obi wan believe anakin to be different to vader as they look and act completely different and obi wan even saw vader aay anakin is gone and vader is what remains. Pretty sure anakin actually has a high number of mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and split personality disorder along with some other ones that cause him to fear abandonment and loss etc and be prone to anger
The Jedi might have been able to keep Anakin from turning to the Dark Side and avoided their downfall if they had a dedicated "therapy/emotional counseling" division in the Temple. Many other Jedi would have benefited greatly from that as well. One former Jedi who understood how to talk to someone who needed "relationship counseling" was Ashoka. Instead of telling Din Djarin "You mustn't see Grogu again because that is forbidden and a path to evil," she said "You can go to him if that is what you REALLY want...but are you doing it for Grogu, or for yourself?" She put the ball in Din Djarn's court and forced him to confront his motivations. If Yoda and Obi Wan had used a similar approach to training Anakin, the fate of the galaxy may have turned out very differently. And ultimately, Luke put the ball in Grogu's park...and Grogu chose Din Djarin. Like Padme ultimately chose Anakin, as did Luke. The one line that probably sealed the fate of the entire galaxy was when Yoda told Anakin "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." While wise words on paper it's tactless and cold, not seeing the root of the issue. If Yoda had instead replied to Anakin's query, "Ask not who or what you fear to lose. Ask those you love what they want and need." Anakin probably would have gone right back to Padme's apartment and just sat down and had a long chat about their future and she could have further assured him. Then they could have researched the safest way to give birth and made sure they had all the best doctors (and maybe even Jedi healers) on hand just in case. Padme would have had no issues what so ever in labor (since childbirth wasn't what killed her in Revenge of the Sith), and Anakin would have realized right then and there that not all premonitions are set in stone and Palpatine was just trying to manipulate him.
I don't think Yoda knew the context that Anakin was coming to him with, because obviously his relationship with Padme was being kept secret, and as a result he was vague with the details of what he was dealing. From Yoda's POV, Anakin could have just been worrying about losing his comrades in the war, like Obi-wan. Considering the lack of context, I think Yoda gave decent advice.
@@jueljohnson41 But you just hit the nail on the head there. Anakin couldn't give Yoda context because he had to keep his marriage to Padmé a secret from the Jedi...because of Yoda's and the council's strict unbending rules about "forming attachments." Anakin wouldn't have needed to be so vague if the very idea of him being married wouldn't have jeopardized his career as a Jedi. This is why the Jedi temple REAAAALLY could have used a department of dedicated therapists and social workers to help Jedi cope with their emotions and relationships in a healthy way.
@@AceSpadeThePikachu Anakin’s problem is that he is impulsive, rash and arrogant but wants to avoid the consequences of his actions from affecting the special status he has as a Jedi. Those aspects of his personality, the Jedi collectively tried to work on, but he felt that they were just stifling him when they were just trying to teach him to be more patient. Unfortunately, this was also probably being constantly undermined by Palpatine. It also probably didn't help that he knows that he is the Chosen One. Anakin only learns to be more patient after experiencing disastrous losses, first by Count Dooku on Geonosis, and latter by Obi-wan on Mustafar. So I don't think that a team of therapists could have helped on that front. Anakin's desire to maintain some sort of special status is somewhat reasonable, because as far as he’s seen from being a slave to becoming a Jedi, only special or important people matter. If you’re a regular person, maybe by chance you might receive help, but it’s just as likely you are left to die like his mother was. So when he makes impulsive decisions that are against the Jedi code, he tends to be secretive, only confiding in a couple of people (Padme, Palpatine) that are outside the order. And from even those two, he still tries to keep some things secret. Jedi are already very empathetic, seeing as they can literally sense your feelings. But someone who has been trained in the force can guard or mask these feelings, especially when in a low stress, low conflict environment. Anakin is definitely no Palpatine when it comes to masking his feelings, but it is something he has tried to do from to do from his first meeting with the Jedi Council, if albeit very poorly at first. By the time he begins to have visions of Padme dying, Anakin is much better at this. I believe that even in a confidential therapy session, he would still try to mask most what he is going through.
@@AceSpadeThePikachu anakins mind was already made up at this point, he could’ve had yoda say the most intricate and caring advice but anakin is full of fear, he would never be certain that padme is going to be okay especially since his mom died after dreaming about her. The future is always in motion like yoda said but to anakin the dreams confirm his belief that padme will die. She even told him I’m going to be okay yet he doesn’t listen and still thinks she’s gonna die. Only if sidious was removed from the conversation would yoda be able to help truly
Man this is probably one of your best videos ever man the final script from the book its like you didn’t know him but you know what he felt you know that if you were go through what he went through you couldn’t live with yourself it was so good the way you told it great job man like this video is my favorite one yet everything from the music to the back ground to the novelty great job from ever one working at geetsly’s
Often ignored is the deep, loving, and supportive relationship that Palpatine had with Anakin. He was his father figure, protector, and the single most influential person in his life. Palpatine played it perfectly.
That's not love it's just simple manipulation love come from within not from without. All those moments of love are lie meant to get his talons into anakin.
And yet Anakin says Obi Wan is the closest thing he had to a father. Wherever you got this from, the movies clearly didn’t do a good job of portraying it.
one thing I really like about the novelisation is that it uses anakin and vader interchangably after he becomes a sith, and also comparing Anakin's fears to a dragon, only to say at the end "there was no dragon, only you "
Personally I loathe the idea that’s crept up in the fandom and some alleged writers both in legends and Disney that Vader is some sort of separate entity and personality. That Anakin is “good” and Vader is “bad. This is entirely false and the prequels show quite clearly that Anakin’s darkness was always there. The Anakin who fought in the clone wars is the same Anakin who terrorised the galaxy as Vader is the same Anakin who chose to save Luke and defeat the Emperor. That he shifted from light to dark and back again doesn’t mean that there’s another personality there waiting to take over. It doesn’t work like this for any other Sith Lord, why him? To absolve him of his crimes? That’s simple-minded thinking.
Plus Anakin's presence in the Force is completely different than it is when he's Darth Vader as seen in the Ahsoka novel when she tries to reach out with The Force to sense if Anakin survived Order 66 but felt something like a void. A black hole in The Force. Which made her think he's dead until Rebels.
@@cadeshanley218 darth vader sensed obiwan as obiwan sensed him....even when he was in the suit obiwan still refered to him as anakin until vader tells him he didnt kill anakin he did
I think Anakin and Vader are meant to represent yin and yang. Two sides of the same coin. Two different aspects of one entity. So yes, they are one and the same person, but one could say the spiritual balance was lost when Anakin turned. His darker half became dominant, while his better half was seemingly gone. So like Obi-Wan said, it's the truth, from a certain point of view.. In regards to Vader himself. I feel like it became a mindset for him to view his life before the Empire and the Sith as that of a completely different person. That's how he coped with losing everything and everyone that mattered to him. At least that's how it seemed to me in some of the things that have been done through the years.
@@OneGaurdian The thing is names and personalities are two different things. Anakin Skywalker is the name and legacy of a famous and heroic Jedi Knight. This is what Vader rejects, because what he is is now vastly different, and the name only serves to remind him of his failures. "I know, father." "So you have accepted the truth." "I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father." "That name no longer has any meaning for me." "It is the name of your true self you've only forgotten." So in a way you're right, but not because he views himself as a different person but because he can't stand remembering what he used to be. In his rejection of his true name he also confirms that he regards himself as Luke's father, and loves him. A different person wouldn't give a damn about Anakin's son.
You can also see how even his chosen lightsaber form echoed his need for control. Power and domination are just two of some of the words that best describe Form V, and Anakin Skywalker has probably dreamed of nothing less since being a young slave on Tatooine. The power to free those enslaved like himself and his mother, and to dominate the masters that had once oppressed him. Be it Gardulla, Watto, the Jedi Order and even the Republic itself. All were masters to a young man who never truly stopped being a slave. Even as Darth Vader he would continue to exercise Form V and use it conjunction with the Dun Moch tactic to overwhelm all of his enemies both physically and psychologically. And yes I agree with Geetsly that the Revenge of the Sith novelisation is a must-read (it sits easily in my top 3 Star Wars books of all time). So please go find a copy to read, whether it’s a second hand physical copy or even a digital copy.
I'm so glad ur talking about this principle!! Anakin never fell. His attempts to restrain his demons, his genuine love, passion, n effort being unrequited, exploited yet ridiculed, and the follwing destruction of his will and innocence deserves more respect and recognition.
I've had my fair share of trouble in the past few years. Striving to do the right thing, failing, alienating the people I loved in the process, and realizing that there might not be a definitive right or wrong thing to do in the first place. Anakin has always been a character I identified with to some extent, but your analysis has opened up a whole new perspective on him, and through that perhaps on myself as well. Excellent Video. Excellent Channel. Thank you for everything you do and may the force be with you.
Wow. This was profoundly deep. It scares me how much I see myself in Anakin. His story is tragic but there's a strange kind of beauty in it. Like you said, he's arguably the most human character, because he represents the worst in us. Our dark sides. And it's scary to see our darkest reflection in him. Great analysis.
What do you think then of the idea that's floating out there that attachments were what caused Anakin to fall, but attachments to Luke are also what redeemed him? It's the idea that attachments aren't inherently bad, only when they become selfish. Though I guess you addressed that by differentiating them by calling the selfish version "attachment" and the selfless version "love." Either ways, do you think failing to differentiate between the two was the folly of the jedi order during the skywalker saga? I think Kenobi (Obi Wan's love for Luke and Leia let him draw on the light side enought to beat Vader) or Return of the Jedi (Vader's redemption because of his love for Luke) tries to demonstrate that.
The Jedi's fear of attachment caused the order to lose its way, and was ultimately the foundation for its fall. The Republic had become a corrupt monstrosity, yet the Jedi routinely propped up the government anyway because that was what they had always done. When the clone army was presented to the Jedi, they accepted the responsibility of using it in battle without giving much thought to the moral implications of using solders bred to fight and die. Deep down, the Jedi stood for principle rather than people (a polar opposite to Anakin), which is what led them to make decisions that always put people second. Protecting the Republic became more important to the Jedi than protecting the people within, and Palpatine skillfully used this not just to drive a wedge between the Jedi and Anakin, but also the Jedi and the people of the galaxy.
To an extent, I agree: The Jedi worry that attachments would lead to their demise and it led to them rejecting such connections time and time again. _However_ Anakin's interpretation of love, to me at least, has never particularly been a positive one. He clings to people, he wants them to never leave him and to never leave them. This is a decidedly _weak_ personality trait in my opinion as in behaving in such a way, Anakin denies the people he cares about from growing into newer, potentially better, versions of themselves, he wants them to stay exactly as they are because that's the version of them that he likes. This is actually on display in Attack of the Clones when he states that Padme hasn't changed one bit from the Padme of his dreams - put aside the... obviously disturbing bit for a minute and think about what he's saying: He says that the Padme before him - the 24 year old Senator - is still the same 14 year old girl he met on Tatooine. I don't know if that was Lucas's intent, but this subtle line means that Anakin cannot see that Padme _has_ changed. She's grown up, seen new places, done new things, met new people. She is not Queen Amidala anymore. But Anakin refuses to see it that way because it was Queen Amidala that he was infatuated with. This is why, when I hear Yoda say Anakin needs to learn to let go of people I don't immediately translate him being unfeeling or lacking understanding - he's 900 years old, grief must have been a part of his life - but a very clear instruction: You cannot control people, they have the right to live and die by their own wills. "Attachment leads to Jealousy. The shadow of _Greed_ that is." That right there sums Anakin up: He is Greedy of others affections. I know that sounds odd, but I personally believe that is his defining trait: He wants all the love for himself. And when even a smidgeon of suspicion arises that that love is not returned... well, I think Padme's crushed trachea speaks for itself. Long story short: Do not pin Anakin's turn on the Jedi teachings alone. After all, the Jedi didn't hack children to bits, it was Anakin. It wasn't Sideous who butchered inhabitants on hundreds of worlds, it was Anakin. It wasn't Obi-Wan who turned Padme away: It. Was. Anakin. Anakin made the choice to be a monster, out of greed and a pathological unwillingness to Grow Up and accept other's choices.
@@Tahkaullus01 see, all this sounds really on point if you stick to just the movies. I'm not so sure how well it fits if you include material that expands Anakin, primarily the Clone Wars.
@@jacobjensen7704 Ah, but Clone Wars is Level 2 Canon. It's a nice _add-on_ but it is not the _Prime_ Canon. That will only ever be the movies (I-VI, VII-IX is Disney property and therefore Level 5 Canon). Also: Rush Clovis. Defend that.
Great video. Despite Disney's defacing of the franchise, I still think Star Wars has some of the best characters that you can just lose yourself in. I think most people are like Anakin, in that they care more about people than they do abstract ideas. Luke, the idealized version of Anakin, is much the same, but when the hard decisions came, he succeeded where Anakin failed. Just really amazing characters.
I wouldn't say he was EXACTLY like Anakin. Anakin was a warrior who wasn't afraid to fight any threat. Luke doesn't like combat. Not because he was a coward in any way, but because he does not prefer aggression. He even trains his students to use lightsaber as the absolute LAST RESORT.
@@dragonsamurai559 I don't think you understood or possibly read my OP. I was saying that Anakin valued individuals above individual ideas and Luke was similar in this aspect. I said nothing about fighting or fear of fighting, or the lack thereof.
@@dragonsamurai559 Luke is the idealized form of Anakin. Anakin free of flaws. If Anakin lived in a time of peace and was never called to fight in a civil war, he would look almost exactly like Luke at the end of Episode 6. At peace, happy, surrounded by people he loves, people who love him, in tune with the Force in a way that almost nobody else ever reached in their life. Anakin perfected, or rather, uncorrupted and pure. Cowardly or brave was never a point I tried to raise, and frankly, is not part of the discussion.
Wow, this was a beautiful video and analysis. I really appreciated the end and the correlation between the hero we want to be and the hero we actually are, flawed and driven by self interest but redeemable and not set for hopelessness. Thank you for this❤️❤️❤️
The novelization is absolutely brilliant - Stover can’t paper over all the holes in the script but he writes so well every time I read it I find myself hoping Anakin somehow doesn’t fall….
This is great man, seriously. To take the time to create such a detailed and intuitive video essay on a complex and perplexing character like Anakin, even though he is a favorite amongst fans and people who do similar dissections as yourself, shows how much love and devotion you have to the fantastic and amazing world that is Star Wars. The time you put into the video is evident in its quality and I commend you for that, as do the rest of your viewers and fans I'm sure. It's so great to see such a resurgence in Star Wars over the past few years, although I know there have always been loyal and staunch fans to the franchise, possibly more than any other to be completely honest, and maybe I just didn't notice it before but it seems like since the sequels and shows like The Mandalorian came out there's been a huge wave of new and old fans that have returned to Star Wars content and concepts. Videos like this make me happy and proud to be a star wars fan.
I basically grew up with star wars. And the older i get, the more i realise how sad the story is. It even got me to take an extended break of it until the sequels were released. The story still makes me so sad. But the genius way to portrait it is what brought me back here, Hayden did such a great job on both Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. He also was my teenage crush LOL, but I really would love to see more of Anakin / Vader. Now I find myself sucked into the universe more than ever again. Now that I am old enough to finally understand what was really going on, instead of having nice lightsaber fights or handsome actors being the thing I like best about the movies. I know, the whole universe kind of rotates around his story. But there is still so much you can do with the character. Give flashbacks, alternate storys. Just bring Hayden back as much as you can, please!!! What makes me especially nostalgic is the fact that Ewan and Hayden get to act together. I've always loved their synergy together. I just love that duo. They're amazing.
This is the most comprehensive and thoughtful video I’ve seen on a Anakins psychology. Well done and great use of the novelization of Revenge-one of my favorites!
It is actually from a certain point of view. But at the same time not it at all. It was because of his childhood as a slave, Qui-Gon's death, the strict Jedi Code, the corrupt Republic, the lack of trust, and Palpatine’s manipulations.
@@cadeshanley218 yes but saying they're two different people is just wiping away all of Anakin's actions. It's easy to say IT'S DARTH VADER when he has the mask on. But when you cut it open and reveal the human underneath you realize....it's just Anakin. Same person, different moniker. That's all. And you KNOW it's just Anakin due to the fact that he stalled for just a second before trying to kill his own apprentice.
@@acemstudio Yeah. Before his Darkness pulled him back. I always imagined the "consciousness of Anakin Skywalker" chained up and locked away in a giant Darth Vader mask cage where the "mouth" is being where the cellbars are. Only when finding out Luke is alive that he starts pulling on his chains, slowly getting faster and easier to break free as the days and years after A New Hope goes by and finally breaking free when the Emperor was going to kill Luke. At then he frees himself from his "Darth Vader" persona, accepts his actions, and saves his son like any father would do in his shoes in order to save their child.
I'll always hate that comparison because it's correct but people use it wrong. Hyde is just the name Jekyll used whatever he changed forms to escape his regular life so he could act and commit crimes he couldn't before like Anakin does with Vader to escape his past and not some sort of alternative personality.
@@julioc.3158 And because Jekyll drank a formula that brings out the darker side of human nature. Which also inspired the creation of The Hulk by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby.
Long video but worth the watch. You can see the points you make in the video most clearly in all of The Clone Wars media. In the 2d Samurai Jack piece in the battle with Asajj is a very direct the way they portray it, but throughout both the movie where Ashoka is introduced and the show there's a bunch of moments that really do such a good job of the portrayal of Anakin and his "slip" into the darkside, but more accurately as you point out, there isn't much of an actual "slip", it's just kind of always there. There's one instance that comes to mind in particular where Kenobi and I think it was Ashoka are holding up some separatist, and they're discussing what to do with him and how they can't just kill him or whatever, and then a lightsaber just pops out of his chest and Anakin shows up having done it all confused about the shocked and disappointed looks he got from them, like "What? We couldn't let him escape." Another point that drives it home is his relationship with Tarkin. It's clear that Tarkin is trusted to a major degree by the Emperor for many years when he first appears in the Clone Wars, and Anakins readiness to accept his extreme viewpoint shows again that the divergence in personalities never actually took place, and despite his lies to himself Vader never did manage to kill Anakin Skywalker, they were always just one and the same.
I read all 3 prequel novelizations before seeing the films. "Revenge" especially gave so much insight into Anakin's character. I really enjoyed this video.
"That isn't love, that's selfishness." This is the one point I'll disagree with: You can still fear and dread your love dying even if they accept that possibility. Actually, even in normal people, them accepting is just likely to have a negative or positive effect: You're either going to come more to peace with it or hate that they're not fighting for their own life as much as you are.
@Dave Bieleveld it is completely possible to accept something bad is going to happen to someone and still feel fear, and hate that they will just let it happen and not try to change it.
@Dave Bieleveld so you are saying that you know more about the minds of other people including those that you have never met even more than they do?, I highly doubt that you do and are simply projecting your own thoughts onto others.
I remember reading the novelization of Revenge of the Sith in one sitting after picking it up at an airport bookstore. They released the book a few weeks before the movie premiered in theaters. To this day, it is one of my favorite stories, and I have reread the book on multiple occasions. It is one of the most underrated books of all-time, regardless of it being the novelization of a Star Wars film. As cliché as it may sound, the book is soooo much better than the movie!
I almost cried when you described Anakin's fall. Revenge of the Sith is my favorite prequel for a reason, and it's not (just) the memes, it's the characters.
Yeah, me too. That shit broke my heart so hard when I read it. The novel is even more heartbreaking than the film, because you get _all_ the juicy details of his perspective and those of his loved ones.
As a medic you get taught: " you can't save them all." But hearing it is one thing, but knowing , really accepting this , is a challenge. And even then, it takes time to learn at what point you stop the self-inquisitiom that follows (if you give a damn). And even when you come to the conclusion : " i did my best. I can't save them all" , it can be so easy to flip the script on yourself and say awful things to yourself like: Really. Did you really do what you could? Or are you lying to yourself ? So, to have a conflict like this running through your head all the time, to believe the only person who really gets you is evil, and on top of everything you have the power of Anakin skywalker....crap id love to say that i wouldnt have given to the Dark Side, but Id be lying. I love the channel y'all. These character analysis episodes are my favorite Thank you.
0:49 Geetsly: Today, in our FIRST long-form video... Geetsly's video on The Entirety of The Star Wars Galaxy, which was over 30 minutes long: AM I A JOKE TO YOU???
Mace Windu should have been Anakin's trainer. Unfortunately he voted NOT to train him, which was a huge mistake. Windu could have taught Anakin what to do with his inner darkness. EDIT : Mace did NOT vote against Anakin. My bad.
Mace Windu would've been an awful choice, he was so by the books him and Anakin never would've gotten along at all. Even in the EU where Mace is married, he still had it out for Anakin
![The Star Wars Philosopher's Guide to Every Single Lightsaber Technique [Form I - Form VII]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2MIpVjbVl5M/mqdefault.jpg)
Something that always irked me was that Anakin was born into slavery, this really changes the way you see how he, on a personal level, probably interpreted the use of the word 'Master' when speaking. That word has a very different connotation to a slave, and yet he had to use it when speaking to his fellow Jedi and eventually the Sith; also really hits hard when he is denied the rank of Master; which is like saying, "No, you can never be equal to us." Makes you really reinterpret his saying to Obi-Wan "When I left you I was but the learner, now I am the master." Only for Obi-Wan to say he's only a master of evil and nothing more; disregarding even this feeble attempt at self-affirmation. Anakin's self hatred was definitely reinforced by subtle things like this, things that most nobody else he was around could really understand, which must have lead to a very unique kind of emotional loneliness and despair that would have been difficult to describe and cope with. It certainly didn't help that, if you are told you are constrained by some prophetic destiny, then, in some ways, that means you are a slave to the force, that you have not even the illusion of freewill, which would definitely lead to a form of despondency on a existential level. Honestly, there is nothing really enviable about Anakin Skywalker, his heroism is that of a tragedy that I always found interesting that, his fall to the dark side was in the name of love, wherein he dispensed with the Jedi, and then was brought out of the dark side by love, where he destroyed the Sith; thus bringing balance to the Force. The Force used love as the primary focal point of Anakin's prophetic destiny; with all the pain and sacrifice that it brought along with it.
Oh yeah...forgot about that line!
"When you left...I was but the learner...now I AM the Master!"
Obi-Wan should've said : "You might be a Master, but you're still not on The Jedi Council!"
@@dancooke8811 🤣
Beautifully spoken
@@dancooke8811 so uncivilized
Great observation, I love it when you can analyse what weight a single word can carry. The Star Wars Universe seems to be much less free and more dangerous than our own world, and they have not 'advanced' yet to the point where you'd take mental health seriously. Perhaps a shrink would have been better for Anakin than the Jedi-Priests.
I've always said Anakin was a great representation of what happens when someone doesn't have the proper support structure to handle their emotions.
But I also just realized Anakin had another trait. When he did something, he put his whole self into it. This was why he was so effective, because he never, EVER half-assed something.
Anakin reminds me of myself. Like Anakin, I too have made big mistakes over my attachments and fear of loss. However, I also have good parents who gave me the emotional support to deal with it.
He didn't want to fail for many reasons. A lot due to the threat of losing those he cared about. During his time with the jedi he clearly cared for the people, those who couldn't help themselves and wanted to do for them what he desperately wanted someone to do when he was a slave. Basically, he wanted a knight in shinning armor to save his friends and family from slavery and as a jedi he could. However, the jedi didn't give him the proper support. Their ways held them back from helping him in any real meaningful way. They would not go deep enough into the force to see it. Qui-Gon had to be the last true jedi that adhered to the will of the force. A man who understood and could guide Anakin in the right direction.
This is why he’s so cool imo. I always hated the narrative of darth vader being a different entity inside anakin. IMO he always went all in, like you said, even when doing questionable things.
Yoda never needed to tell Anakin “try not - do, or do not.” And Padme wasn’t a half-@$$er either (certainly not if you buy the theory that Sidious killed her). I guess we all have a few ways we are, sometimes, so unlike either of our parents.
Amen. Anakin was passionate, and like many passionate people that's underscored by an intensity that can be incredibly good and productive or incredibly dark and destructive. Obi Wan absolutely failed him, more than anyone else. He apparently NEVER talked to him about Satine, or about Padme, or apparently much of anything that wasn't Jedi business. If he felt like Anakin's brother why didn't he act like it?
Anakin was seen as the "man without fear" because he risked his life to save others. The thing is, he was very fearful, but his fear wasn't losing his life, It was losing the ones he cared about. Palpatine knew that and exploited it.
The jedi always seemed to mention just how much uncertainty and fear they sensed in him. Anakin’s downfall was just how far he was willing to go for the people he loved.
@@venusinvoyage
Yep, he went all in... even at times when the bottom of that pit was nothing but an endless dark hole
Hiding feelings preached from the Jedi only intensified his selfish feelings. Blind devotion to someone is super scary. Anakins love turns to poison.
I think even *he* knew that. I think that he used it as his motivation, knowing that he was balancing on a thin line. But in the end, in his own mind, his way was the only way. But his son showed him that love, which is what dictated all of his actions, can truly be used as a tool as long as you dont allow it to control you.
I went through this in my own life, went through things in life and childhood that made me quick tempered, I had some other stuff happen that drove me even deeper into anxiety and depression and then lost my mother as I had just found out I was a new father. I lost myself for a year or two after. Told I had PTSD from doctors but I couldn't feel anything.
Finally in my late 20s and now early 30s I had realised why I'm so angry at times and its bc I fear the feeling of losing control. I fear being helpless and thats why I get irritated and aggressive when things start falling apart. I'm not a coach, I'm a drill instructor.
It's a flaw but understanding the root of the problem is the beginning of correcting it. Maybe in my mid 30s I'll have it better in hand
I think thats why star wars is so loved. Not actually bc of lightsabers or cool powers, it's the realistic character development where u see their philosophies change as they age and how the world and life influences these decisions
Padme’s last words: There’s still good in him
Anakin’s last words: You were right
@DraculaCronqvist At the end he saved his son from the hands of someone more powerful than himself therefore their still was good in him
@DraculaCronqvist Except he didn’t excuse himself, he redeemed himself
@@GottiGzz24 so you're saying if hitler some kids lollipops and said sorry for those other things he could be redeemed? anaking died right after doing one good thing for the first time in decades, for all you know he only saved him because it was his son not because the emperor was evil, the evils he committed far outweighed the good he did as a jedi
@@anthonyschlessman1848 He did get redeemed since he became a force ghost, siths can’t be force ghosts so the message behind it is that it’s never to late to do the right thing
@@anthonyschlessman1848 Here’s the difference, Hitler was pure evil while Darth Vader still had good in him
"He was loyal to people." That is Anakin Skywalker. He didn't cared for abstract concept, he was anchored in the world before his eyes, the people by his side and whom he loved. Darth Vader was just the same, for a long part of that life as a Sith Lord he had no one he loved or cared about, so it was easy to inflict pain upon everyone. His own pain and loneliness were enough of a justification.
Then Luke came along. To Darth Vader/Anakin there was a new light, someone who mattered, someone he LOVED. He feared losing his son because he loved him so much, he became more loyal to Luke than to Darth Sidious. Darth Vader didn't care about his own life, he cared about not losing the person he loved. Luke became this incarnation of what is good and right, not on an abstract level of morality principles, but simply because Luke loved him. Luke was willing to die for him. In Anakin's twisted interpretation of love, Luke's loyalty to him was greater than the Emperor's, who was willing to let him die at his son's hand. So Anakin/Darth Vader hung upon that love, that light and acted upon his instinct to protect the people he loved.
That was perfect man/lady.
He was so loyal to people slaughter many of them
@@cadeshanley218 yes and he even says to luke "its too late for me son" that more proof vader indeed didnt see himself as redeemable and his "now go my son leave me" line too
This was.....BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN!
This is one of the most well educated, simplistic, and beautifully written comments I have ever seen on TH-cam. Props to you for a great and holistic analysis!!
"He should've been sent to a therapist after the Battle of Naboo, not the Jedi Temple."
That line's golden as all hell.
👍👍👋👋
Obi Wan realised this. That's why he never informed the Council about Anakin's marriage with Padmé. It was too late though.
@@claudioforjan1743but he made a promise to Qui-Gon. Obi Wan was loyal to that fault. But the force ultimately was brought to a balance in the end albeit a tragic journey.
Anakin is perhaps one of the most misunderstood characters in movie history. When you look at the whole story, Hayden Christensen played it perfectly
Which makes Jar Jar's actions during the period much more interesting.
I don't think that he is misunderstood. He did commit many crimes. Considering how he was slaughtering children in the temple and many other innocent people I don't feel sorry for him. He has made his own choices.
He was best when Lucas’ godawful dialogue was coming out of his mouth-basically the sequence on Mustafar, where he got scowl and stare menacingly and show emotion without words
Probably because he was written as the movies where made..
He played the roll as good as he could but he’s not that great of an actor.
Anakin Skywalker: “Now...go, my son. Leave me.”
Luke: “No, you're coming with me. I won't leave you here. I've got to save you!”
Anakin: “You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me... Tell your sister... you were right...”
Brings tears to my eyes every time.
The last time Anakin Skywalker asked someone to save themselves…
Every time
Anakin is a very interesting character, but damn, the dude wiped out and helped wipe out millions possibly billions of people. I can give a f if Luke was right about him. He didn’t listen to the council on how the sith can exploit others through their attachments and he went and got a politician pregnant anyway.
If the force have followed the live heart not the death book of words. I think anakin Skywalker won't become vater and probably his unclear and confusion turned him to the dark side he was a good jedi before. His misunderstanding and selfishness made him become vater.
Read the Lucas approved novel of Return of the Jedi written by author James Kahn. James Kahn adds more to this scene, written mutch better in the book.
Let’s not forget that Anakin/Vader’s story comes full circle when he finds himself a slave to Palpatine. So, not only did he lose everyone he cared about, he ended up right back where he began - a slave.
He also enslaved the galaxy in the process.
@@hubris7434 What if Pong Krell infiltrated Padme's ship in ROTS??? I mean all of you were wondering nonstop what everything could have been if it was Ahsoka or Clovis but Krell would be a interesting change. Would Krell stab Vader before he attempted to Force Choke Padme??
@@nestorsifuentesaguirre2722 with respect, I don’t know who that is or what ya’ll talking about. I don’t speak Extended Universe. My only point was that Anakin visited his own suffering onto the entire galaxy. He suffered as a slave and yet his solution to suffering was to enslave everyone. I think that’s important.
Anakin was a slave his entire life. there was only one moment in his entire life where he wasn't a slave to anyone: after he had killed Palpatine. Hewas born as a slave on Tatooine, the became a slave to the Jedi, and finally, he was a slave to the Sith.
@@anakinlowground5515nope, y’all keep saying this dumb shii it’s getting me mad.
He was NEVER a slave to The Jedi. They wouldn’t have killed or imprisoned him for leaving The Order.
He had a choice to join the Order or NOT.
Only thing he was a slave too was 1.) in his childhood, and 2.) his emotions and perhaps 3.) To Palpatine but honestly Palpitine didn’t really care about him too much and was ready to dispose him should he prove he was further no more of use.
It’s kind of messed up that Vader believes pretenting to always being a cruel killing machine is a better alternative to accepting he once was a caring and friendly person.
Wasn't that because he had no idea he had two children running around causing chaos?
It's easier to believe you've always been this way than to actively reflect on what was and what is. Though not to that extreme, a lot of us think the same way when we self-loathe.
at least to me, vader's psychology reads as a dark mirror of a struggle that exists within us all
many of us convince ourselves that we are uncaring, cold hearted or callous as a way to excuse to ourselves and others actions for which we would otherwise have to hold ourselves responsible. rather than facing up to the hypocrisy of justifying our indiscretions in this way, we say that this is just the way we are, or that our hard lives made us this way
only when we find the courage to be honest with ourselves and others and own up to our poor choices and mistakes can we release ourselves from feeling like such monsters
Not just the men but the women and children.
Palpatine was the only thing he had left. Can you blame him?
I love Hayden Christensen as Anakin and always did. His look, his torment, the way he moves when he fights. I also love the fact that it was his love for Padme that took him down. Tragic Grandeur.
In the clone wars he was average tbh, in revenge of the sith he really adapted to the role (still my favourite one)
Agree
@@shaunwhitehead1485 Hayden wasn't the voice actor for Anakin in TCW. That was someone else.
@@refertopfp9627 What? Who was?
@@shaunwhitehead1485 Matt Lanter
Anakin was so realistic of a character in the prequels that it upset people. It physically hurts to watch him make the choices he did when you are internally yelling at him that he has his priorities wrong. There are too many actual people who act this way in real life.
Or, you could be encouraging him, cheering him on. I as a young boy, never understood why Luke didn't join his father and take control of the galaxy. It made no sense, to not join the family business and create a new and improved empire
Because Luke wanted his father to join the family business. The light side.@@asmith1711
Anakin always felt like to me a reflection of myself... (but awesome and badass version btw lmao), He's an amazing characters, making us learn from his huge mistakes that has cost his soul and everyone he cared about , he reminds me alot of Kratos from God of war, a tragic character who hates himself for the decision he has done in the past.
@@asmith1711wasn't happy with the holiday allowance!
@@asmith1711you mad evil lmao
"If Luke could choose to reject the dark side and be a Jedi like his father then Anakin could choose to be a Jedi like his son." That literally brought me to tears. This is a fantastic character analysis! One of the very best I've ever seen for Anakin Skywalker, this is truly spectacular!
You understand this character so well!!!!
Cool pfp \m/
I remember hearing that line first over on So Uncivilized, and it has always resonated.
Can you imagine someone writing a detailed, emotional analysis like this for Rey and the sequel trilogy? Honestly, I can't.
yo dude ------- WHY do you think Lucas named the movie "The Return
of the Jedi ?" It was - at that last moment - the return of Anakin Skywalker
& THE RETURN OF THE JEDI.
@@jameseckl6243It is called, "The Return of the Jedi" because Luke Skywalker takes over and recreates the Jedi Order after the Sith are defeated.
Anakin always had some darkness inside of him, but also he was known for being a selfless person, always trying to protect others. People like Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Padme always made Anakin the Best he could be, they took out the Best in Anakin.
But Palpatine knew how to manipulate Anakin perfectly and that started to make Anakin paranoid about everything, even saying that Obi-Wan didn't want Anakin at his maximum, or Anakin feeling betrayed after Ahsoka left the Jedi order, and finally killing Padme. Palpatine took out the worst in Anakin and he was succesful.
You could even say that even as Vader, Vader/Anakin was a selfless person. Vader hated himself and to an Imperial perspective, had given up everything for the Emperor. (This is metaphorically true because the Emperor took away everything he had). Vader still respected his soldiers (although not to Anakin's level).
I’d also point out that when he finds out about Luke his immediate reaction is to find him and seek to have Luke join him.
He is of course extremely harsh when confronting him the first time, but that’s how a darksider operates.
It should be noted he is very passive in their second encounter when Luke surrenders, almost apologetic to him.
This is all when he’s still “Vader” yet his love for Luke is obvious even then, this isn’t the act of a separate evil persona. This is Anakin.
I'd say his selflessness was motivated our of selfishness, paradoxically. His attachments were his downfall because he was selfish and wanted to possess them. Contrast that with Obi-Wan in the Kenobi series, where his emotional attachment to Anakin's children gave him strength because he is motivated by a selfless desire to serve and protect them for their own sake and the sake of the galaxy at large, not because he didn't want to let them go.
@@johnquach8821 He hasn't just taken the life of good soldiers once for something as trivial as seeing his face. I definitely don't think Vader respects anyone anymore, except for Tarkin
But it was the jedi order that ultimately gave palpatine the power to manipulate him the way he did
A scary point to consider....from a certain point of view, the Jedi cost Anakin everything... his mother, his chance at a "normal" life, ultimately Padme' and even Asoka... every ounce of hate he had for them, were in a way sadly justified.
Is Asoka’s story mostly in the Clone Wars cartoon series?
@@jameswilkerson4412 Clone Wars -> a book -> Rebels
Now she has her own show too and I'm pretty sure she was in The Mandalorian
His mom let the jedi take him so he could have a better life. Not sure that was really something he took to heart. Certainly not denying the Jedi's flaws, but Anakin had plenty of issues before the Clone wars.
Not really. Nothing prevented him from leaving the Jedi order. I never understood why he felt the need to stay. Padma was a senator and probably had enough funds at her disposal that she could have hired Anakin to act as a protector and to have him run missions that might need more of a specialized touch. If he did he could easily have been with Padma and the council would have had no say. When had visions he could have sought the council advice on the matter.
At the end of the day it doesn't matter Anakin made his choice and he cant blame any one but himself. He knew the difference between right and wrong and still choose to commit evil acts know it was wrong.
Obi Wan, as stated repeatedly in the video, he was loyal to the people he loved. He couldn't just leave the order.@@deaddudegaming
One of my favorite Clone Wars scenes was where the villain of the week is baiting Obi-Wan into violating the Jedi Code and killing him, when Anakin walks up behind him and casually stabs him in the back.
"What? He was going to blow up the ship!"
@@dianabarnett6886 Good point lol
@@dianabarnett6886 Anakin...
This is one of my favorite scenes!
yeah, I love that scene
A story like Anakin's is not something to throw away so easily as fiction. One can look at the tale of Anakin Skywalker and see the feelings one has for themself. About loss, self hatred, and redemption when all hope was seen gone. People can learn from such lessons. And perhaps they may be able to pull a Vader and return to the light.
"You either die a Hero or live long enough to see yourself become the Villain" "The road to evil is paved with good intentions" Anakin is the embodiment of those sayings 100%
@@andrewmeyer3599 don’t forget a wise old turtle’s saying: “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.”
@@andrewmeyer3599 Anakin also represents a saying Alfred says in BVS: “That’s how it starts: the fever, the rage. It turns good men cruel…”
@@EricGraham94had to look up that de la Fontaine is known for that
It’s wild how the line Anakin has about a transmitter device implanted in slaves that will explode if the slave gets out of line or too far away from their ‘master’ is just so often overlooked
You know, they never do say if the Jedi even bothered to take it out.
@@VestedUTuber How would the Jedi take it out when they didn't even know where the bomb was located? Anakin didn't even know where it was located, considering he won his freedom before he finished making the scanner that he told Qui-Gon about.
@@decepticonxhunter4850
1. The Force, but that's a cop-out answer.
2. Tatooine's level of development is extremely below-average, due to a lack of wealth outside of the Hutt cartels. It's reasonable to assume that the available healthcare on Coruscant FAR outclasses what's available on Tatooine, and the Jedi would have access to the best of it. And it's highly unlikely that the explosive wouldn't show up on some sort of general-use body scanner.
Still, having the ability to find the thing still doesn't necessarily mean they actually bothered to remove it. They could have just not thought about it. Or, more darkly, they could have decided to keep it in at first as a failsafe in case he turned, and then forgot about it in the chaos of the Clone Wars.
@@VestedUTuber We here on earth call it a C.A.T scan. Fives got one and a medical droid removed his chip.
@@decepticonxhunter4850 The Jedi has the technology there. You seriously believe they didn't have any form of technology to remove a tracking device left embedded in a person? Dude, this is logic considering where SW takes place
I always believed that Anakin's innate talents in The Force advanced before his maturity to handle it. As a result, he became impatient, impulsive, and passionate. Fertile soil for treachery and rage.
True but palpy was behind the turn by putting padme death in his head and I feel palpy used padme energy to rebirth Vader as you see Vader come to life as padme is dying
Well that plus everyone shoving the Chosen One thing down his throat.
@@jimbowlan5804 It was not just Padme Anakin was worried for but his unborn offspring too he did not want to lose them like he lost his Mother and Qui Gon.
was Obi Wan the right one to train him, as Kenobi was inexperienced
@@mrbojangles8133 No. Obi-Wan wasn't perfect for Anakin. Qui-Gon would've been better. And having both of them guide him might've saved the day.
The Jedi failure to free his mother was pivotal. Without that, would Palpatine have been able to manipulate him?
Saving his mother would have just the same effect as it did with Padme, if not making it worse. By rescuing his mother and putting her under the Temple's charge, it will be the Jedi that would have leverage over him and Palpatine would not hesitate to turn this fact against Anakin.
Not only that, but the loss of both mother and lover over a shorter period may make Vader come out even more unhinged than he was in canon.
Palpatine would have orchestrated her death to piss him off. If anything, Anakin would have been turned sooner if Palpatine could have helped it.
He needed a *father* figure. That's what Qui-Gon would have been for him, and what Obi-Wan could *not* be for him. Had the wizened old Jedi survived to train Anakin, things would have turned out very differently for him and ultimately, the galaxy as a whole. Sidious would likey have not been able to rise to power with a fully light-side Skywalker at his full Force potential, stated to be double that of the Emperor.
@@sabishiihito this is what I think. Palpatine came in and you can see how he tries to be a bit of a father figure. I suspect Qui-Gons view of the force would have helped Anakin more and likely help some of his own demons. If Vader was always there I bet Qui-Gon would have helped him not suppress but at least understand, accept and handle it. All this is conjecture but based in what we know of Qui-Gon it's possible.
@@Reliant1864 you do have a point there. Qui Gon would have definitely helped Anakin out with conquering Vader and learning to accept himself as a whole
Luke really reminds Anakin of Padmé a lot. He’s really Padmé son and always see good in people even Anakin acknowledged himself as monster. Luke didn’t accept that.
Yes. Leia is more like Anakin. Luke is like Padme
And Leia has always been Anakin's daughter.
Padme could love Anakin unconditionally like Luke did.
Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader are one in the same, and the even though Darth Vader claims to have destroy Anakin Skywalker as he rose to become a Dark Lord of the Sith, but deep down Vader could never truly be rid off the man he once was. Anakin Skywalker is the story of a man who never truly had freedom as a Slave, Jedi, and even as a Sith Lord, but it is his ability to choose love to save him from the darkness he was in.
I’d interpret that as him saying “You didn’t kill your friend, I did.”
He’s still Anakin, but all he feels for Obi-Wan now is hate. Their past means nothing. He’s absolving Obi-Wan of responsibility because he’s saying this is what he chose.
@@zephyr8072 I still believed he still loved his former master and brother but all that hatred for what happened on Mustafar buried it deep into the mental black hole that's within his furnaced heart. Same with Ahsoka in Rebels. It was only when Luke appeared that that love is slowly but obviously crawling it's way back up and it fully freed itself at the end of Return of The Jedi where Darth Vader became Anakin Skywalker one more time to save his son and die being able to save Luke as a "repentance" for failing to save Padmé.
To be a Dark Lord of the Sith, one must kill their master. So yes he became one, but only in Death, or was he redeemed?
Yeah! I know this sounds weird but when I turned Schizophrenic, I began to anger quicker while simultaneously caring more than before…..caring more because I knew more. When you look deep into the troubles of the world, then you know how much harder evil or sadness hits more than the all the love in the world you become more callused. Then you snap….you can’t take the world on your shoulders.
@@Blues2green "All it takes is One Bad Day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am, just One Bad Day." - The Joker
I imagine that part of why Vader loyally served the Empire was that he felt a loyalty and connection to the men who served under him. He was still leading the 501st, the same legion he led during the Clone Wars. They would have been men he knew so he still would have felt attached to them. They fought for the Empire, therefore he did as well. This probably gave him some level of motivation despite his extreme depression.
I believed it was because he had no where he could go, no mother, no home, no friends, and no family, what other choice did he have, working for sidious was horrible, but his position as second in an empire was better than nothing
Sad thing is the 501st wasn't even allowed full command over the 501st he was was only allowed to borrow them from time to time when the situation called for it. Palpatine didn't trust him enough to give him command of his own army.
Tbf the 501st and all clones were replaced relatively quickly after the formation of the empire. This justification only applies for a few years at best.
Personally I lean more towards his lack of any other place or people in the galaxy other than being Palpatine's apprentice.
I'd say it probably helped that leading armies was probably what he was most used to doing.
All of this however assumes that George Lucas actually gave it that much thought, which I kinda doubt tbh. At least not when the original trilogy was written.
that’s why he didn’t necessarily hate stormtroopers but he hated the officers, who often acted like slave drivers
@@rc59191 their nickname became "Vader's fist" during the empire
One of the most vicious gut punches this franchise ever delivered was when Vader said "Anakin is gone. I am what remains" in the final episode of Obi-Wan. He knew the horror that statement would inflict on Kenobi - because it was the same horror that he lived with for every second of every day.
" This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever:
The first dawn of light in your universe brings pain.
The light burns you. It will always burn you. Part of you will always lie upon black glass sand beside a lake of fire while flames chew at your flesh.
You can hear yourself breathing. It comes hard, and harsh, and it scrapes nerves already raw, but you cannot stop it. You can never stop it. You cannot even slow it down.
You don’t even have lungs anymore.
Mechanisms hardwired into your chest breathe for you. They will pump oxygen into your bloodstream forever.
Lord Vader? Lord Vader, can you hear me?
And you can’t, not in the way you once did. Sensors in the shell that prisons your head trickle meaning directly into your brain.
You open your scorched-pale eyes; optical sensors integrate light and shadow into a hideous simulacrum of the world around you.
Or perhaps the simulacrum is perfect, and it is the world that is hideous.
Padme? Are you here? Are you all right? you try to say, but another voice speaks for you, out from the vocabulator that serves you for burned-away lips and tongue and throat.
Padme? Are you here? Are you all right?
I’m very sorry, Lord Vader. I’m afraid she died. It seems in your anger, you killed her.
This burns hotter than the lava had.
No…no, it is not possible!
You love her. You have always loved her. You could never will her death.
Never.
But you remember…
You remember all of it.
You remember the dragon that you brought Vader forth from your heart to slay. You remember the cold venom in Vader’s blood. You remember the furnace of Vader’s fury, and the black hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth…
And there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. That there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker.
That it was all you. Is you.
Only you.
You did it.
You killed her.
You killed her because, finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were thinking about yourself…
It is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith -
Because now yourself is all you will ever have. "
You didn't kill Anakin Skywalker. *I did.*
Shit tier show + Vader would never say that, as it would comfort obi wan. Vader would want to play on Obi Wans guilt.
@@enclaveherewhyisntyourvide3089 Except Vader demonstrably did say that.
@@enclaveherewhyisntyourvide3089we have seen that when Vader is in contact with people he actually cares about he waivers. As seen with Luke..
They didn't make any exceptions for him, they didn't take care of him the way he needed to be taken care of. He needed to be reassured instead of being told to let his feelings go. All he needed was someone who understood him and to tell him everything was going to be okay
The tragic thing is Qui Gon (an unorthodox Jedi) probably would've given him that. Maul really robbed Anakin (and Obi Wan) of a truly caring mentor and role model.
@@hodarinundu Qui Gon was the only one who could have taken care of Anakin in the way he needed to be. Obi-Wan was young and inexperienced at the time, and didn’t really know what to do with Anakin…
@@Wingbar And Obi Wan was nowhere near as flexible as Qui Gon. He was much more of a by the book man. A perfect Jedi maybe but not the kind of person Anakin needed growing up.
@@hodarinundu Couldn't have said it better myself. He needed to be treated like a human, and not like a 'robot' like the rest of the Jedi were. They knew from the moment he arrived he was an exceptional case, both ability wise and emotionally, and they did nothing to accommodate for that.
@@Wingbar At that point they had been doing things their way for a thousand years IIRC. Maybe they just didn´t even know how to accommodate.
In any case, it shows they had detached themselves quite a bit from the very compassion they were supposed to exercise. Anakin himself says to Padme that compassion is central to a Jedi's life, but not many people had a lot of compassion for him. It really is a sad story at the end of the day.
Perhaps the saddest part is that Anakin never got to be his own master. There was always someone else deciding for him.
Anakin is the new Revan. That quote Darth Malak gave to Revan about him being a savior and a conqueror fits Anakin almost just as well.
That was actually what Revan was tbh a better written Anakin
Worse for the wear
@@Clippychinw Id disagree. I think they are both greatly written. The only difference is that one was capable of seeing the light way before he dies.
@@__mindflayer__ if you take away the side media around the main movies you’d get my meaning
@@Clippychinw that’s how I always saw it too
Hayden Christensen didn’t deserve any of the hate; he played his role well. But Matt Lanter’s version is the one that made me love Anakin. In fact, The Clone Wars show made me view the prequels in a completely new light. What a gem it was.
While I love Matt Lanter's Anakin, I'm glad Hayden's getting a second chance in Live Action.
I think he's a better actor than what people give him credit for. It may not be perfect but doesn't warrant bullying and death threats like it happened with poor Jake Lloyd. Anakin is not my favorite character but Christensen seems like a nice guy and had he been given better dialog, his performance could have been a success. He did play Anakin's vulnerability, love and selfishness to a T and I do wish he could have gotten more praise in the role he played. He wasn't the one who wrote the movie and can't be blamed for how the script was written. He seemed to move on to have a nice life though so that's good.
From the moment Vader knew Luke was his son, he did everything he could to find him, protect him and turn him so they could rule the universe "as father and son". He'd have everything he ever wanted: control, order, and a family.
And much like Padme before him, Luke rejected such a smothering existence.
"You were right"
Protect him? Mf cut his hand right off and allowed him to jump off into the abyss 😂😂
Vader could have force caught him and floated him back to safety. But he just let him fall lol
He could have killed Luke instead, not just then but in their earlier duel. He literally told Luke to join him, that they would end the destructive conflict, bring order to the galaxy, and rule together as father and son. He NEVER would have killed Luke.
Anakin wanted to have his family back, even if he has to commit questionable deeds to do it.
It was grateful that he sacrficed himself to save Luke from Palpatine.
The Jedi treated him like a weapon, not a child.
With all the reasorces of their order, they made no attempt to rescue his mother.
An elegant weapon, for a more civilized era.
"They treated him like a weapon not a child" you do realize he was a padwan until he was like 19 years old right?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Everything that happened is Qui-Gon's fault. Including not freeing Shmi. He knew Anakin was maladjusted, he knew it would be a problem.
Here's the thing though, Qui-Gon trusts in the Force rather than what he sees with his own eyes.
Yes, the Jedi made the same mistake, but Qui-Gon 'supposedly the better master than Obi-Wan' Jinn did it first.
Well, both Anakin and his mother agreed for him to be a Jedi. He was not kidnapped and made one against his will.
@@josephrichter2104 Yes, that's what both Anakin and Shmi wanted. The Jedi actually didn't think it was a good idea, because they didn't want to separate him from his mom. People want to say f the Jedi and praise Qui-Gon, but it's Qui-Gon that said he couldn't free Shmi though he wanted to. And Shmi was freed, she got married
What a tragic character. His fear of losing loved ones (mostly Padme and Obi Wan) at some point in the future, led him to rash choices in the present that ended up costing him the many more years he could've had with them.
All he had left was Palpatine, who clearly couldn't care less for him, but rather what he could do as his apprentice. Well done George! Brilliant storytelling.
But imagine if Anakin caused something much more hideous than the actual prequel canon. A Jedi Civil War. Would you still talk like that?
Obi-Wan: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes"
Anakin: "are you sure?"
Obi-Wan: "absolutely" activates crimson saber
"Being a Sith lord is my speciality."
There's a Vader in everyone. It's whether we chose to be that person or not. I think its so uncomfortable for people because it's so easy to see ourself becoming that. I also think on some level everyone wants to be a Vader.
This comment should be pinned on top
Everyone has an inner darkness it’s whether we chose to let it control us or whether we chose to control it. I think George Lucas has stated something similar to this, the darkside and light side exist but to maintain balance the darkside within us must be controlled so the light can prevail
@@Capybara2240 I think its natural to lean into the darkness more because it's easier to do the wrong thing then the right. It would be so much easier to just go punch out someone thats giving you a hard time. It takes true strength to say you know what I'm just gonna let them say their piece and then go on with my day.
@@dimetime35c quote from the clone war’s when (spoiler) maul captures kenobi on mandalore and kills satine
You can kill me, but you will never destroy me. It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it.
Darth Maul : It is more powerful than you know.
Obi-Wan Kenobi : And those who oppose it are more powerful than you'll ever be.
This dialogue just reminded me exactly of what you said and proves the dark side takes strength to resist as it’s the faster and easier way to deal with a problem
Jungian psychology holds this as a core principle. That the only true path to maturity is to integrate the shadow within.
Not to suppress it, but to understand your own capacity for evil, and maintain vigilant watch over it. To use it only when necessary to combat evil or injustice. This is where the Jedi Order failed, and where Palpatine could seduce those who weren't completely dogmatic.
I just finished Revenge of the Sith Novel and the entire Dark Lord trilogy. I have to agree, the book is literally 10 times better than the movie. One of the best novels I've ever read, actually. The fight between Obi-Wan and Grievous literally goes on for 25 pages. The novel really gives you the inside of Anakin's mind.
The entire character of Anakin Skywalker is a masterful study of the concept of "the banality of evil." That is, the concept that evil and the capacity for it exists within every thinking being, and to purge oneself of it is simply impossible. In a way, for all the mistakes that he made, Yoda did a far better job coming to terms with this than Anakin did. It's summarized really well in a quote from Clone Wars Season 6, when he fights the shadow version of himself: "Recognize you, I do. Part of me, you are, yes. But power over me, you have not. Through patience and training, it is I who control you...My dark side, you are. Reject you, I do." Anakin thought he could destroy evil by seizing power, because he didn't recognize that evil lived within him, and so in his quest to destroy evil, he destroyed himself. Quite poetic really. George Lucas is a genius and Revenge of the Sith is one of the greatest films of all time.
I tell people all the time, that ROTS is probably one of the greatest pieces of cinema ever.
Most just think I'm being nerdy, but I've watched a lot of great movies that aren't "fandoms."
This isn’t what the banality of evil is. The banality of evil is the idea that evil acts are not necessarily perpetrated by evil people. Instead it can be the result of bureaucrats or whatever dutifully obeying orders. The term was coined by political theorist Hannah Arendt after watching the 1961 trial of the Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann
A real depiction of the banality of evil would be if Anakin was never a Sith, never even a Jedi. Just some schmuck living with Padme and his two kids. Comes to work, punches the clock every day, does his job, goes to the local bar with the boys after work, goes home, plays with his kids, kisses his wife, and takes out the trash every Thursday evening. Banal. But he is part of a machine that just bulldozes people. Banality of evil is a mid-level imperial officer not Darth Vader.
I guess on a technical level that's correct, but the broader point of Arendt's book was that every human being has a capacity for evil, and while she was specifically talking about the ordinary man who did extraordinarily horrible things, the basic principle is that no person is entirely pure.
Yoda never came to terms with it. Luke was the one who did in the films and EU. In the OT, he goes back to preaching that Vader and the Dark side was evil instead of realizing good and evil are diametrically opposed and both can be used for good and evil. Luke in the EU (Not the disney garbage) was the one who had anakin's passion and drive but also padme's compassion and logic. He knew that good and evil was far more complex and since he didn't suffer much trauma compared to Anakin and the Jedi wasn't there telling him he was always wrong, he should do this instead of that. He told yoda and kenobi to fuck off when they said to sacrifice his friends
Anakin created Vader to hide his shame and pain. Living as Anakin was to painful he had lost everything. Taking on Vader gave eased the pain, by retreating into another persona
This is how I’ve always seen it, hates himself so much which he has said in multiple comics. He couldn’t handle the failure he was, so he he pretended to be a different person as a psychological coping mechanism, truly heartbreaking character
He also caught on fire and got chopped up…
@@floridaman6982 yea that's what I'm saying at that point it was past the point of return he was all messed up and can't breath without the Vader suit lol
In other words, Anakin Skywalker is a coward. Agreed.
As much as this "original take" sounds good.. it isn't.
He became Vader by way of his "yoga", or, his actions. Sins. Halal.
He engaged in repeated acts of merciless brutality AFTER brooding on them for a while.
This literally physically reformats the shape and behavior of one's brain. The way the neurons fire.. from mirror neurons for empathy.. to oxytocin for consideration.. Anakin mutated his own brain-shape/function by basting in hatred and fury and vengeance. His own liver poisoned him.
- 10+ yrs. Rx
Anakin and Vader are very similar, but Anakin is when he's on your side, Vader is when he's the enemy. TCW shows that while respected, some clones were nervous to serve under Skywalker because of his reckless strategies. And Vader is certainly a fearless commander as well.
Anakin has always used his ends to justify his means. Its just that when his end goal shifts nobody is on board anymore.
I always knew that Anakin had what was necessary to "become Darth Vader," but could never really explain the continuum between the two; what Anakin and "Darth Vader" had in common, aspects that never changed after the switch.
And this video explains it really well. Anakin was Darth Vader, with much of his simplistic world view and need to defeat the enemy, and Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker, with all of the emotional turmoil that clouded his ability to think clearly.
It’s pretty clear to see the vader in anakin as early as aotc, he supports a dictatorship government and killed tuskens in revenge, unleashing his dark side
This is the best character breakdown I’ve ever heard of Anakin. A lot of people pan the prequels for being wooden and shallow. And yet, I found Vader interesting in the original trilogy, but it wasn’t until the prequels that I found him heartbreaking. That poster of the adorable Jake Lloyd with his shadow turning into Darth Vader still haunts me. It is also all too real, as the actor who portrayed young Anakin became schizophrenic after being horribly abused for what I believed to be a really great performance from a child actor. When evil takes someone over, it’s sad more than anything…
😢😢😢
5:10 this part right here! Imagine all the confusion he was feeling, especially given his age. Also, I think the presence (and death) of Qui Gon had a major impact on his character as well. Given the fact that he was the one that acknowledged him first, then was willing to train him when nobody else wanted to, and then losing him in a short time after, killed by an evil man who already tried to run him over and kill him. Too many big changes and extraordinary events in such a short time, being already a super critical time of his life/ childhood.
The dark side is a good analogy for sin.
It's like drinking salt water (or a sugary drink). It seems to quench thirst at first but in the end makes one more thirsty than before.
Anakin is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction, and this analysis just reinforces that. It also makes luke redeeming him in episode 6 more powerful. The bond between father and son is something else, ya know? Im kinda rambling but this is just such an amazing video, magnificent job
Anakin and Vader are the two greatest constructs of characters ever invented combined into one character. It's ingenious but somehow it happened. We are fortunate to have this character as he teaches a lot of lessons all at the same time
I still cry when he says "I'm a jedi, like my father before me" against all hell he has been through their relationship. It is so eloquent.
This is literally the single best video talking about Anakin, no "but...but..." mumbo jumbo, it's straight to the point and has the most concise analysis of his character, great work!
If you enjoy the Revenge of the Sith Novelization, you may also like Shatterpoint by the same author, it's a really solid Mace Windu adventure and brings the horrors of the Clone Wars and war in general home in a way few books do.
Shatterpoint was amazing.
I second the recommendation.
I third it. It’s definitely interesting reading.
Matthew Stover is extremely underrated!
Shatterpoint was a brilliant fever dream. Stover was the GOAT legends author. I wish he'd done more. His novel Traitor just turned 20 this month and that was another brilliant deconstruction of light and dark sides
@@ingobernoble2678 yes, not to mention his brilliant novelization of Episode III.
Great video! Vader's redemption reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
i guess i found waldo
I really like how you said "inertia" is what kept Vader going. When Anakin accepted the title of "Darth Vader," he became monotone and stayed that way for most of the time after. He was perpetually sad and only kept going because he thought he had to as a servant of the Dark Side.
I personally feel like Anakin always had a great darkness within himself, we all do, every one of us. He was destined for great good or great evil. Qui-Gon was meant to be the Master of Anakin, he'd be able to lead him on the right path and allow the prophecy of the chosen one to become true. But following his death Anakin's destiny was no longer certain.
Obi-Wan Kenobi did well enough, but he was no Qui-Gon. Palpatine was able to corrupt Anakin. You know the saying about feeding the wrong wolf? Palpatine was feeding the wrong wolf, his inner darkness, sowing seeds of distrust for the Jedi. If Qui-Gon was still alive this would have been prevented, Maul unknowingly changed the future of the universe by killing one man. I'm sure Palpatine knew what the death of Qui-Gon would allow but I doubt Maul knew, he was just a tool for the mastermind behind it all.
What also contributed to Anakin's fall was Ashoka leaving the order, she was one of his few anchors to the order and his path. With her departure the darkness within him grew.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan being unable to figure out that Jar Jar was Palpatine's Master was quite amusing. Especially when Jar Jar's luck caused him to run into Anakin on a Planet that he normally wouldn't have gone too. Who knows, perhaps it was Jar Jar who told Palpatine to influence Ani's Training to the darkside. Still would be amusing seeing Maul trying to kill Jar Jar using everything he was trained with.
Like nature vs nurture?
@@srstriker6420 in a way, yes. The force lead Qui-Gon to Anakin, he was meant to be the one to train and him and allow him to become the chosen one he was supposed to be. I'm sure he'd be able to sense the darkness within Anakin and quell it before it grew more. He also would have most likely felt something with off with Palpatine.
The rest of the order wasn't able to carry on the forces will and were not as attached as they should have been, partly because the Jedi Order or the republic strayed from what they were supposed to be and party due the Palpatine himself. But unlike the rest of the order Qui Gon was able to allow the force to guide him and it would have most likely alerted him that he was not what he seemed. He wouldn't have known he was a sith but definitely would have had a bad feeling about him and wouldn't allow him and Anakin to get close. This in turn would prevent Palpatine for being able to corrupt Anakin as he did before.
So yeah, Qui Gon would have brought out the good and Palpatine brought out the evil and made Anakin turn to the dark side
U know all this, but still can’t spell Ahsoka right. Apparently no one can tho
@@brodyasaro6339 heck I had to look up how to spell Qui Gon Gin, so yeah my mistake
It's a shame no one at Disney is doing or is capable of this kind of literary and psychological analysis. Excellent job on both the literary and the psychological / archetypal levels.
This was a geniusly and very insightful breakdown of anakin. One of my favorite , very relatable, and most tragic characters to ever exist in cinema. George Lucas is a genius story teller
This was an amazing analysis of my favorite character in all of literature and media. You absolutely nailed it, especially that last part about Luke being the hero we'd like to be or even see ourselves as. However, the reality is that we're really all "Anakin" at heart.
The way Anakin was treated is a prime example of the Jedi Order not changing with the times, why do you think Luke threw all that archaic crap out when he started the New Jedi Order in legends, he didn't want anyone to end up like his father, he didn't want another Darth Vader.
Whoosh.. the whole video went right over your head. Anakin was not treated poorly by the Jedi. The Jedi's mistake was training him at all.
/whoosh.......
If Luke had listened to Yoda, he never would have turned Anakin back to the light. It's not that the Jedi shouldn't have trained him, it's that the dogmatic ways of the Jedi are/were wrong to begin with & upon an individual like Anikin had disasterous effects. (as prophisized) The Jedi tried a cookie cutter methodology on all padawans instead of the individual approach while even having a 1 on 1 teacher to student ratio with him. Kenobi at least was aware of this and admitted it to Anakin on Mustafar when he said "I have failed you"
@@barklordofthesith2997 nope, just like it says in the video, the Jedi MUST NOT have attachments. They're not like other people. Attachments for someone like Anakin can lead to fear of loss, which can lead to a psychopath doing whatever it takes to prevent that loss. It's like you're seeing what you want to see vs what actually happened. The guy says it in this very video. Anakin shouldn't have been trained. He was way too attached to people and it lead to this entire movie saga.
@@dwoodstwin Yet again showing that you don't comprehend the point of the O/P.
Your line of thought follows Yoda's teaching which PROVED to be WRONG in the films (perhaps YOU are only seeing what you want to) Luke ignored Yoda's words to not confront Vader. Luke WAS right, Yoda WAS wrong.
OP -"why do you think Luke threw all that archaic crap out when he started the New Jedi Order "
And despite Luke "changing with the times", it did absolutely nothing to stop his nephew Jacen from becoming another Vader and killing his wife Mara Jade in the process.
It is such a shame to see so few here acknowledge how amazing this video is. Rarely if at all I have seen such a deep going, complete and imo correct analysis of a character
This is why Iroh told Zuko to never lose hope, as that can turn the greatest of us into those among the worst humanity has to offer
Hayden played it wonderfully. People who can't reconcile the two versions simply forget that Anakin was a man. He wasn't born evil. He simply suffered too much loss. 1. Raised as a slave 2. Lost his mother 3. Had visions of losing his wife dying. In between he suffered multiple battle injuries, psychological trauma and so on. I cannot think of a more realistic reason to go against your own moral code than to save the woman you love who is carrying your child. In the OT Vader was initially a pretty generic "evil because I'm evil" character. That changed when A new Hope was a hit and Lucas decided to add more depth to Vader by making him the father of Luke and making him come back to the light. People who assumed Vader was always this evil person and wanted to see that in the prequels forget that in the end Vader was good. As a result they almost cancelled the career of a very promising young acror who needed years to really come back. That would be the equivalent of hating on Adam Driver or Daisey Ridley( both very good actors judging by their other works) just because the writing was shit. You don't do that to an actor but that is what (almost) happened to Christensen.
They nearly did it to Natalie Portman too.
I really believe the greatest failure the prequels had, isn't the childs humor in Ep.1 or the weird dialogs of Ep.2, but its the fact that we havn't seen young Anakin suffering as a slave. The sequence on Tatooine should have been much darker in tone and should have shown us why Anakin is the person he is since childhood. This is the real part, that is executed the worst, not the love story, not the final fall to the dark side or anything else people still might complain about the prequels.
I was literally thinking about this earlier today. To me, it feels like we missed a movie that should have come either before episode 1 or between episodes 1 and 2 that explored more of Ani’s childhood.
You gotta a point, but i like the phantom menace version more, seeing anakin as someone so hopefull even as a slave, its so tragic when he finally goes to the dark side
Exactly. It was so playful and light hearted. It should have been grim and haunting. Like … real world slavery. The prequels suck.
@@Rockstarrclarke Not even James Gunn would dare himself to downplay the tragedy of slavery
@@Rockstarrclarkethey still should the negative sides of being a slave. Look at the way Watto treated him in his slimy, cruel, and greedy nature and how he felt close to his mothet
I think they made it perfectly. First we have a cute child, suffering from his life, but like fully pure and kind-hearted. Then he goes from a neglected and mentally worsening teenager to the point of painful stressed out adulthood - his power grows but so does the pain and the insecurity. Most Jedi don't seem to notice - or just don't give a flying turtle about his feelings. So I would say YES Vader was always a part of Anakin, his deepest abyss. As strong and talented as the rest, but completely unleashed and not caring about any negative consequences. Like "You made me suffer, so you will see what it's like" If I could change Star Wars, I would NOT think of any replacement for the two young Anis we got :) It shows us how being misunterstood and not treated properly can make you go from a pure good to nearly absolutely evil. Just look at a stock photo of 9-10 yrs old Anakin and take a second to imagine him burning to charcoal - you can't tell me that it is not touching. It gets even harder after watching all the clone wars or reading the novels for episode 1-3 :O
I don't think Anakin doesn't fit into any character archetype. He falls into the biblical archetype of the fallen human. A person that tries to be good in a corrupt world but wouldn't know good even if somebody hit him on the head with it
He falls into the archetype of the blackguard, the oathbreaker.
Amen!
Many biblical references in star wars especially anakin
or any other mythology
Great observation
Matt Stover knocked it out of the park with the novelisation. He did a complex character analysis down to the second, and opened my eyes to the real story being told. Makes watching the movie so much more fun
“Join me. And together we will rule the galaxy! And commit many war crimes.”
Luke, “What?”
Vader, “It must’ve been a tremor in the Force or something else.”
Heh😅
I'm surprised you haven't done character analysis before now. Keep them coming
This is one of the deepest, most thoughtful and profound analysis of a character thousands have already analyzed. That you've gotten me to rethink my understanding of such a complex character is awe-inspiring.
After hearing all of this, I think the one thing that comes to mind is that Anakin would have been much better off as a Mandalorian. Yes, the Mandalorians follow a strict code (especially the children of the watch), but ultimately, their loyalty is to each other. That's why anyone can become a Mandalorian, and that's why, in my opinion, they are the perfect neutral ground between the Jedi and the Sith. The Jedi want you to accept what is natural without any regard to how you may feel about it, whereas the Sith want you to embrace your darkest emotions in pursuit of power. If Anakin and his mother were saved by Mandalorians, and he was taught their ways, he would have been among the most fearsome Mandalorians in the history of the galaxy.
After all, if he went to a Mandalorian, and expressed his fear about losing his loved ones, they wouldn't give honeyed lies of power to prevent it, or simply tell him that his attachment is wrong, and he should just accept what is to pass, the Mandalorian would make every possible effort to protect his loved ones from said fear, and fight to destroy what caused that fear in the first place.
This is also why I would want to be a Mandalorian myself if I were in Star Wars. I don't crave power like the Sith, and I absolutely despise the ideals of the Jedi and their surrender to a dogmatic belief bereft of human emotion, I simply want to be free, and to have my loved ones care about me as I care about them, not because of some law, but because empathy, solidarity, and loyalty are what drive the Mandalorians.
Interesting. Reading this it's clear that the Jedi didn't get the prophecy and were too blind in their own code. If the Mandalorians were force sensitive would they be the balance in the force?
Grey Jedi were often like that. They acknowledged the dark side was evil yet refused to follow the cultic dogma of the Jedi Order
Anakin would have been better off if he was born thousands of years earlier and became a Je'daii, instead of a Jedi or Sith.
@@Reliant1864 That's because the prophecy wasn't meant for SIth or Jedi to interpret. It was for the original Je'daii order, who were gray force users.
The Jedi never believed in a lack of human emotion, this is a misconception. They encouraged compassion and love. What they discouraged was attachment, aka a love so selfish and possessive that it’s not even love anymore
8:11 loyal to people not principles
10:24 hero with no fear
13:00 what makes him the real hero
16:37 seizes upon the force
21:19 Vader kills the dragon
24:58 there was no dragon, no Vader, only Anakin Skywalker
I've discussed this at length with people I know. Anakin was troubled, and insecure, and tormented, and anyone who can't connect the prequel Anakin with Darth Vader doesn't understand the character or psychology. His desperation going to Yoda, who would be the one who most disapproves of his relationship with Padme, and Yoda's giving him possibly the worst and most damaging advice in history (I really have a lot of questions about Yoda and his philosophy on things) underlines this. If at least Obi Wan had taken him aside and said, 'you need to have a little faith. We have an advanced society, great technology and medical knowledge, and with you by her side there's every reason to think she'll be okay'. If Obi Wan had actually talked to him about Padme, and told his own history and how he'd been willing to leave the Jedi for a woman, and how it was perfectly natural to be terrified and protective. However flawed the prequels are Anakin's emotional and psychological disintegration was understandable and avoidable, and his latching onto Palpatine for even the illusion of support and encouragement fits that profile. The insidious nature of taking a troubled kid with no support and emotional issues and twisting him to the point where he hates everything, and in the end hates himself, is more tragic because of just how avoidable it was. Yoda and Mace were right about him being dangerous, but very wrong about the reasons, and ironically if they had embraced him and at least looked the other way regarding his 'attachments' (which in his case were like a lifeline to sanity) maybe he wouldn't have crossed the line and become unredeemable. Oh, and as for the dialog, the only reason Romeo and Juliet don't sound the same way Anakin and Padme do is Shakespeare did a lot of embellishing. I think Hayden and Natalie did a good job showing two young, sheltered, confused kids getting way in over their head and it destroying both of them.
Guts and Anakin are my favorite fictional characters in all of media, because they are the most human who've made mistakes and ultimately have become better by learning from those mistakes. What wonderful analysis.
And the irony is Kentaro Miura himself (Berserk's author/creator) was a HUGE fan of Star Wars when he was alive!
Now that you've mentioned it, Anakin/Vader is the stereotypical object of study in psychoanalysis and psychiatry, namely for Borderline Personality Disoder, which almost exactly fits his character analysis, and as someone who has BPD as well, your in-dept analysis basically throw everything that it is to my face :)
You do not care about others? ☹
@@Matthew-Anthony that’s not at all what bpd means
@@sophiehatter3111Bipolar disorder?
@@Matthew-Anthony borderline personality disorder and what I meant is it doesn’t mean you don’t care about others it means you have went though some shit to a point where your brain has been rewired to be use to abusive situations you can be manipulative clingy emotionally unstable do risky behaviour or go though moments of suicidal ideation you feel empathy but it’s different it’s almost like your both more and less empathetic at the same time it has a list of different symptoms and most people have different ways of coping I have bpd and it’s made me do risky behaviour manipulate my way into situations so I can survive and feel a intense amount of empathy while at the same time trying to convince myself I’m somehow not human it’s different for everyone but like it’s not like you don’t care about people as much as it’s you care but cannot really trust people
@@sophiehatter3111Borderline personality disorder, along with similar personality disorders are common among people with gender dysphoria. It is a shame that people are normalizing it and all of the behavior that comes with it.
This amazing video gave me a whole new view of Anakin/Vader. I already knew some of this but you help me understand him better. And made me love his incredible character even more.
For years I held the opinion that Obi-Wan speaking of Anakin and Vader as separate personas was a way to cope with the trauma and guilt of his perceived failure as a teacher. That said, I do love the Revenge of the Sith novelization. As I may have mentioned before, I bought the book before I saw the movie, so I completely agree that it is superior. It tells the story better, with the exception of one scene. Seeing the Order 66 montage in the movie, especially with the musical score, always hits me harder than reading it in the book.
And I feel like Yoda did that too. Palpatine did it in a darker way. To convince Anakin/Vader that he serves and is binded to the Emperor, The Sith, and The Dark Side of The Force.
He speaks of them being separate personalities because they are, although anakin had the anger and “vader” always within him as a Jedi, he was still a good person and used the light side of the force, when he became vader he was physically changed, Became part machine, the dark side twisted his mind to think he killed anakin and he is vader instead and anakin was weak. So that’s why obi wan and yoda say that because vader acts and looks different to anakin. He even says in the kenobi show anakin is gone, he knows deep down he is anakin but the darkside doesn’t let anakin prevail
@@Capybara2240 Exactly as you said.
@@cadeshanley218 people say that saying vader and anakin are different personalities ruins the redemption and how he saves luke but they don’t understand that the anakin personality which has long been dormant or never/hardly reaching the surface for 20+ years has begun to resurface more frequently during episode 5+6 as his love for Luke reminds him of his past life and who he once was but he’s already done so much evil that he can’t be brought back easily so vader is still in control and wants luke to join him for his own selfish desires, it’s only until their fight in episode 6 does anakin resurface once more when he sees luke in pain and his love for Luke allows him to commit a selfless act that goes against everything the sith believe. Vader would never sacrifice himself for anyone but anakin would. Imo it actually enhances how the story plays out because we all know anakin is vader and vice versa, no one is saying they are different people, it’s just a different personality within the same person. A long battle between two personalities which stir heavy amounts of conflict and a battle between both to remain “in control” of the mind of anakin/vader. Vader even sees it this way in universe as he mentions destroying anakin to ahsoka and mentions anakin is gone to obi wan (sure maybe apart of him knows it’s all a bluff and he didn’t kill anakin but the darkside has a hold over him and convinces him that he’s right and he’s not actually anakin, it’s like cognitive dissonance). Like you said yoda and obi wan believe anakin to be different to vader as they look and act completely different and obi wan even saw vader aay anakin is gone and vader is what remains. Pretty sure anakin actually has a high number of mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and split personality disorder along with some other ones that cause him to fear abandonment and loss etc and be prone to anger
@@Capybara2240 And it's no thanks to the Dogma of the Jedi and the flawed Jedi Code.
The Jedi might have been able to keep Anakin from turning to the Dark Side and avoided their downfall if they had a dedicated "therapy/emotional counseling" division in the Temple. Many other Jedi would have benefited greatly from that as well.
One former Jedi who understood how to talk to someone who needed "relationship counseling" was Ashoka. Instead of telling Din Djarin "You mustn't see Grogu again because that is forbidden and a path to evil," she said "You can go to him if that is what you REALLY want...but are you doing it for Grogu, or for yourself?" She put the ball in Din Djarn's court and forced him to confront his motivations. If Yoda and Obi Wan had used a similar approach to training Anakin, the fate of the galaxy may have turned out very differently.
And ultimately, Luke put the ball in Grogu's park...and Grogu chose Din Djarin. Like Padme ultimately chose Anakin, as did Luke.
The one line that probably sealed the fate of the entire galaxy was when Yoda told Anakin "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." While wise words on paper it's tactless and cold, not seeing the root of the issue. If Yoda had instead replied to Anakin's query, "Ask not who or what you fear to lose. Ask those you love what they want and need." Anakin probably would have gone right back to Padme's apartment and just sat down and had a long chat about their future and she could have further assured him. Then they could have researched the safest way to give birth and made sure they had all the best doctors (and maybe even Jedi healers) on hand just in case. Padme would have had no issues what so ever in labor (since childbirth wasn't what killed her in Revenge of the Sith), and Anakin would have realized right then and there that not all premonitions are set in stone and Palpatine was just trying to manipulate him.
I don't think Yoda knew the context that Anakin was coming to him with, because obviously his relationship with Padme was being kept secret, and as a result he was vague with the details of what he was dealing. From Yoda's POV, Anakin could have just been worrying about losing his comrades in the war, like Obi-wan. Considering the lack of context, I think Yoda gave decent advice.
@@jueljohnson41 But you just hit the nail on the head there. Anakin couldn't give Yoda context because he had to keep his marriage to Padmé a secret from the Jedi...because of Yoda's and the council's strict unbending rules about "forming attachments." Anakin wouldn't have needed to be so vague if the very idea of him being married wouldn't have jeopardized his career as a Jedi.
This is why the Jedi temple REAAAALLY could have used a department of dedicated therapists and social workers to help Jedi cope with their emotions and relationships in a healthy way.
@@AceSpadeThePikachu Anakin’s problem is that he is impulsive, rash and arrogant but wants to avoid the consequences of his actions from affecting the special status he has as a Jedi. Those aspects of his personality, the Jedi collectively tried to work on, but he felt that they were just stifling him when they were just trying to teach him to be more patient. Unfortunately, this was also probably being constantly undermined by Palpatine. It also probably didn't help that he knows that he is the Chosen One. Anakin only learns to be more patient after experiencing disastrous losses, first by Count Dooku on Geonosis, and latter by Obi-wan on Mustafar. So I don't think that a team of therapists could have helped on that front.
Anakin's desire to maintain some sort of special status is somewhat reasonable, because as far as he’s seen from being a slave to becoming a Jedi, only special or important people matter. If you’re a regular person, maybe by chance you might receive help, but it’s just as likely you are left to die like his mother was. So when he makes impulsive decisions that are against the Jedi code, he tends to be secretive, only confiding in a couple of people (Padme, Palpatine) that are outside the order. And from even those two, he still tries to keep some things secret.
Jedi are already very empathetic, seeing as they can literally sense your feelings. But someone who has been trained in the force can guard or mask these feelings, especially when in a low stress, low conflict environment. Anakin is definitely no Palpatine when it comes to masking his feelings, but it is something he has tried to do from to do from his first meeting with the Jedi Council, if albeit very poorly at first. By the time he begins to have visions of Padme dying, Anakin is much better at this. I believe that even in a confidential therapy session, he would still try to mask most what he is going through.
@@AceSpadeThePikachu anakins mind was already made up at this point, he could’ve had yoda say the most intricate and caring advice but anakin is full of fear, he would never be certain that padme is going to be okay especially since his mom died after dreaming about her. The future is always in motion like yoda said but to anakin the dreams confirm his belief that padme will die. She even told him I’m going to be okay yet he doesn’t listen and still thinks she’s gonna die. Only if sidious was removed from the conversation would yoda be able to help truly
This was such a great analysis video! I hope you guys make more long form videos like this.
Man this is probably one of your best videos ever man the final script from the book its like you didn’t know him but you know what he felt you know that if you were go through what he went through you couldn’t live with yourself it was so good the way you told it great job man like this video is my favorite one yet everything from the music to the back ground to the novelty great job from ever one working at geetsly’s
Often ignored is the deep, loving, and supportive relationship that Palpatine had with Anakin. He was his father figure, protector, and the single most influential person in his life. Palpatine played it perfectly.
Ignored because the movies don't address it deeply enough. He has like, 4 on-screen conversations with him?
That's not love it's just simple manipulation love come from within not from without. All those moments of love are lie meant to get his talons into anakin.
@@808INFantry11X It's a lie, but that's the way he acted regardless, and it worked.
And yet Anakin says Obi Wan is the closest thing he had to a father. Wherever you got this from, the movies clearly didn’t do a good job of portraying it.
@@Alizudo yeah, but that’s the prequels in a nutshell unfortunately. They have all these amazing ideas and they just drop the ball.
one thing I really like about the novelisation is that it uses anakin and vader interchangably after he becomes a sith, and also comparing Anakin's fears to a dragon, only to say at the end "there was no dragon, only you "
Personally I loathe the idea that’s crept up in the fandom and some alleged writers both in legends and Disney that Vader is some sort of separate entity and personality.
That Anakin is “good” and Vader is “bad.
This is entirely false and the prequels show quite clearly that Anakin’s darkness was always there.
The Anakin who fought in the clone wars is the same Anakin who terrorised the galaxy as Vader is the same Anakin who chose to save Luke and defeat the Emperor.
That he shifted from light to dark and back again doesn’t mean that there’s another personality there waiting to take over. It doesn’t work like this for any other Sith Lord, why him? To absolve him of his crimes? That’s simple-minded thinking.
Plus Anakin's presence in the Force is completely different than it is when he's Darth Vader as seen in the Ahsoka novel when she tries to reach out with The Force to sense if Anakin survived Order 66 but felt something like a void. A black hole in The Force. Which made her think he's dead until Rebels.
@@cadeshanley218 darth vader sensed obiwan as obiwan sensed him....even when he was in the suit obiwan still refered to him as anakin until vader tells him he didnt kill anakin he did
@@Chuck_EL Only because he saw him on Mustafar before the suit.
I think Anakin and Vader are meant to represent yin and yang. Two sides of the same coin. Two different aspects of one entity. So yes, they are one and the same person, but one could say the spiritual balance was lost when Anakin turned. His darker half became dominant, while his better half was seemingly gone. So like Obi-Wan said, it's the truth, from a certain point of view..
In regards to Vader himself. I feel like it became a mindset for him to view his life before the Empire and the Sith as that of a completely different person. That's how he coped with losing everything and everyone that mattered to him. At least that's how it seemed to me in some of the things that have been done through the years.
@@OneGaurdian The thing is names and personalities are two different things.
Anakin Skywalker is the name and legacy of a famous and heroic Jedi Knight.
This is what Vader rejects, because what he is is now vastly different, and the name only serves to remind him of his failures.
"I know, father."
"So you have accepted the truth."
"I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father."
"That name no longer has any meaning for me."
"It is the name of your true self you've only forgotten."
So in a way you're right, but not because he views himself as a different person but because he can't stand remembering what he used to be.
In his rejection of his true name he also confirms that he regards himself as Luke's father, and loves him. A different person wouldn't give a damn about Anakin's son.
You can also see how even his chosen lightsaber form echoed his need for control. Power and domination are just two of some of the words that best describe Form V, and Anakin Skywalker has probably dreamed of nothing less since being a young slave on Tatooine. The power to free those enslaved like himself and his mother, and to dominate the masters that had once oppressed him. Be it Gardulla, Watto, the Jedi Order and even the Republic itself. All were masters to a young man who never truly stopped being a slave.
Even as Darth Vader he would continue to exercise Form V and use it conjunction with the Dun Moch tactic to overwhelm all of his enemies both physically and psychologically.
And yes I agree with Geetsly that the Revenge of the Sith novelisation is a must-read (it sits easily in my top 3 Star Wars books of all time). So please go find a copy to read, whether it’s a second hand physical copy or even a digital copy.
I see his transformation from Anakin to Darth Vader as an absolute win.
How so? He's so terribly miserable as Vader.
Darth Sidious. Lol.
LoL 😂🤣
@@jessielakes8118 being miserable is how the become powerful.
You're back! But how is that possible?
I'm so glad ur talking about this principle!! Anakin never fell. His attempts to restrain his demons, his genuine love, passion, n effort being unrequited, exploited yet ridiculed, and the follwing destruction of his will and innocence deserves more respect and recognition.
I've had my fair share of trouble in the past few years. Striving to do the right thing, failing, alienating the people I loved in the process, and realizing that there might not be a definitive right or wrong thing to do in the first place. Anakin has always been a character I identified with to some extent, but your analysis has opened up a whole new perspective on him, and through that perhaps on myself as well.
Excellent Video. Excellent Channel. Thank you for everything you do and may the force be with you.
Wow. This was profoundly deep. It scares me how much I see myself in Anakin. His story is tragic but there's a strange kind of beauty in it. Like you said, he's arguably the most human character, because he represents the worst in us. Our dark sides. And it's scary to see our darkest reflection in him.
Great analysis.
What do you think then of the idea that's floating out there that attachments were what caused Anakin to fall, but attachments to Luke are also what redeemed him? It's the idea that attachments aren't inherently bad, only when they become selfish.
Though I guess you addressed that by differentiating them by calling the selfish version "attachment" and the selfless version "love." Either ways, do you think failing to differentiate between the two was the folly of the jedi order during the skywalker saga? I think Kenobi (Obi Wan's love for Luke and Leia let him draw on the light side enought to beat Vader) or Return of the Jedi (Vader's redemption because of his love for Luke) tries to demonstrate that.
The Jedi's fear of attachment caused the order to lose its way, and was ultimately the foundation for its fall. The Republic had become a corrupt monstrosity, yet the Jedi routinely propped up the government anyway because that was what they had always done. When the clone army was presented to the Jedi, they accepted the responsibility of using it in battle without giving much thought to the moral implications of using solders bred to fight and die. Deep down, the Jedi stood for principle rather than people (a polar opposite to Anakin), which is what led them to make decisions that always put people second. Protecting the Republic became more important to the Jedi than protecting the people within, and Palpatine skillfully used this not just to drive a wedge between the Jedi and Anakin, but also the Jedi and the people of the galaxy.
To an extent, I agree: The Jedi worry that attachments would lead to their demise and it led to them rejecting such connections time and time again.
_However_ Anakin's interpretation of love, to me at least, has never particularly been a positive one. He clings to people, he wants them to never leave him and to never leave them. This is a decidedly _weak_ personality trait in my opinion as in behaving in such a way, Anakin denies the people he cares about from growing into newer, potentially better, versions of themselves, he wants them to stay exactly as they are because that's the version of them that he likes. This is actually on display in Attack of the Clones when he states that Padme hasn't changed one bit from the Padme of his dreams - put aside the... obviously disturbing bit for a minute and think about what he's saying: He says that the Padme before him - the 24 year old Senator - is still the same 14 year old girl he met on Tatooine. I don't know if that was Lucas's intent, but this subtle line means that Anakin cannot see that Padme _has_ changed. She's grown up, seen new places, done new things, met new people. She is not Queen Amidala anymore. But Anakin refuses to see it that way because it was Queen Amidala that he was infatuated with.
This is why, when I hear Yoda say Anakin needs to learn to let go of people I don't immediately translate him being unfeeling or lacking understanding - he's 900 years old, grief must have been a part of his life - but a very clear instruction: You cannot control people, they have the right to live and die by their own wills.
"Attachment leads to Jealousy. The shadow of _Greed_ that is." That right there sums Anakin up: He is Greedy of others affections. I know that sounds odd, but I personally believe that is his defining trait: He wants all the love for himself. And when even a smidgeon of suspicion arises that that love is not returned... well, I think Padme's crushed trachea speaks for itself.
Long story short: Do not pin Anakin's turn on the Jedi teachings alone.
After all, the Jedi didn't hack children to bits, it was Anakin.
It wasn't Sideous who butchered inhabitants on hundreds of worlds, it was Anakin.
It wasn't Obi-Wan who turned Padme away: It. Was. Anakin.
Anakin made the choice to be a monster, out of greed and a pathological unwillingness to Grow Up and accept other's choices.
@@Tahkaullus01 see, all this sounds really on point if you stick to just the movies. I'm not so sure how well it fits if you include material that expands Anakin, primarily the Clone Wars.
@@jacobjensen7704 Ah, but Clone Wars is Level 2 Canon. It's a nice _add-on_ but it is not the _Prime_ Canon. That will only ever be the movies (I-VI, VII-IX is Disney property and therefore Level 5 Canon).
Also: Rush Clovis. Defend that.
Great video. Despite Disney's defacing of the franchise, I still think Star Wars has some of the best characters that you can just lose yourself in. I think most people are like Anakin, in that they care more about people than they do abstract ideas. Luke, the idealized version of Anakin, is much the same, but when the hard decisions came, he succeeded where Anakin failed. Just really amazing characters.
Yess!
I wouldn't say he was EXACTLY like Anakin.
Anakin was a warrior who wasn't afraid to fight any threat.
Luke doesn't like combat. Not because he was a coward in any way, but because he does not prefer aggression. He even trains his students to use lightsaber as the absolute LAST RESORT.
@@dragonsamurai559 I don't think you understood or possibly read my OP. I was saying that Anakin valued individuals above individual ideas and Luke was similar in this aspect. I said nothing about fighting or fear of fighting, or the lack thereof.
@@daniell1483 I was going on how you said he was the Idealized Anakin.
@@dragonsamurai559 Luke is the idealized form of Anakin. Anakin free of flaws. If Anakin lived in a time of peace and was never called to fight in a civil war, he would look almost exactly like Luke at the end of Episode 6. At peace, happy, surrounded by people he loves, people who love him, in tune with the Force in a way that almost nobody else ever reached in their life. Anakin perfected, or rather, uncorrupted and pure.
Cowardly or brave was never a point I tried to raise, and frankly, is not part of the discussion.
Wow, this was a beautiful video and analysis. I really appreciated the end and the correlation between the hero we want to be and the hero we actually are, flawed and driven by self interest but redeemable and not set for hopelessness. Thank you for this❤️❤️❤️
The novelization is absolutely brilliant - Stover can’t paper over all the holes in the script but he writes so well every time I read it I find myself hoping Anakin somehow doesn’t fall….
This is great man, seriously. To take the time to create such a detailed and intuitive video essay on a complex and perplexing character like Anakin, even though he is a favorite amongst fans and people who do similar dissections as yourself, shows how much love and devotion you have to the fantastic and amazing world that is Star Wars. The time you put into the video is evident in its quality and I commend you for that, as do the rest of your viewers and fans I'm sure. It's so great to see such a resurgence in Star Wars over the past few years, although I know there have always been loyal and staunch fans to the franchise, possibly more than any other to be completely honest, and maybe I just didn't notice it before but it seems like since the sequels and shows like The Mandalorian came out there's been a huge wave of new and old fans that have returned to Star Wars content and concepts. Videos like this make me happy and proud to be a star wars fan.
I basically grew up with star wars. And the older i get, the more i realise how sad the story is. It even got me to take an extended break of it until the sequels were released. The story still makes me so sad. But the genius way to portrait it is what brought me back here, Hayden did such a great job on both Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. He also was my teenage crush LOL, but I really would love to see more of Anakin / Vader. Now I find myself sucked into the universe more than ever again. Now that I am old enough to finally understand what was really going on, instead of having nice lightsaber fights or handsome actors being the thing I like best about the movies. I know, the whole universe kind of rotates around his story. But there is still so much you can do with the character. Give flashbacks, alternate storys. Just bring Hayden back as much as you can, please!!! What makes me especially nostalgic is the fact that Ewan and Hayden get to act together. I've always loved their synergy together. I just love that duo. They're amazing.
The part that no matter how far you fall you're not irredeemable, the future is not set in stone, really hits hard...
This is the most comprehensive and thoughtful video I’ve seen on a Anakins psychology. Well done and great use of the novelization of Revenge-one of my favorites!
Wow, this was an extremely deep video. Your break down of Anakin's suffering is totally relatable.
THANK. YOU.
I am so tired of people thinking Anakin and Vader is like this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation when that's not it at all.
It is actually from a certain point of view. But at the same time not it at all. It was because of his childhood as a slave, Qui-Gon's death, the strict Jedi Code, the corrupt Republic, the lack of trust, and Palpatine’s manipulations.
@@cadeshanley218 yes but saying they're two different people is just wiping away all of Anakin's actions. It's easy to say IT'S DARTH VADER when he has the mask on. But when you cut it open and reveal the human underneath you realize....it's just Anakin. Same person, different moniker. That's all. And you KNOW it's just Anakin due to the fact that he stalled for just a second before trying to kill his own apprentice.
@@acemstudio Yeah. Before his Darkness pulled him back. I always imagined the "consciousness of Anakin Skywalker" chained up and locked away in a giant Darth Vader mask cage where the "mouth" is being where the cellbars are. Only when finding out Luke is alive that he starts pulling on his chains, slowly getting faster and easier to break free as the days and years after A New Hope goes by and finally breaking free when the Emperor was going to kill Luke. At then he frees himself from his "Darth Vader" persona, accepts his actions, and saves his son like any father would do in his shoes in order to save their child.
I'll always hate that comparison because it's correct but people use it wrong.
Hyde is just the name Jekyll used whatever he changed forms to escape his regular life so he could act and commit crimes he couldn't before like Anakin does with Vader to escape his past and not some sort of alternative personality.
@@julioc.3158 And because Jekyll drank a formula that brings out the darker side of human nature. Which also inspired the creation of The Hulk by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby.
Long video but worth the watch. You can see the points you make in the video most clearly in all of The Clone Wars media. In the 2d Samurai Jack piece in the battle with Asajj is a very direct the way they portray it, but throughout both the movie where Ashoka is introduced and the show there's a bunch of moments that really do such a good job of the portrayal of Anakin and his "slip" into the darkside, but more accurately as you point out, there isn't much of an actual "slip", it's just kind of always there. There's one instance that comes to mind in particular where Kenobi and I think it was Ashoka are holding up some separatist, and they're discussing what to do with him and how they can't just kill him or whatever, and then a lightsaber just pops out of his chest and Anakin shows up having done it all confused about the shocked and disappointed looks he got from them, like "What? We couldn't let him escape." Another point that drives it home is his relationship with Tarkin. It's clear that Tarkin is trusted to a major degree by the Emperor for many years when he first appears in the Clone Wars, and Anakins readiness to accept his extreme viewpoint shows again that the divergence in personalities never actually took place, and despite his lies to himself Vader never did manage to kill Anakin Skywalker, they were always just one and the same.
I read all 3 prequel novelizations before seeing the films. "Revenge" especially gave so much insight into Anakin's character. I really enjoyed this video.
"That isn't love, that's selfishness." This is the one point I'll disagree with: You can still fear and dread your love dying even if they accept that possibility. Actually, even in normal people, them accepting is just likely to have a negative or positive effect: You're either going to come more to peace with it or hate that they're not fighting for their own life as much as you are.
To an extent it is
@Dave Bieleveld it is completely possible to accept something bad is going to happen to someone and still feel fear, and hate that they will just let it happen and not try to change it.
@Dave Bieleveld so you are saying that you know more about the minds of other people including those that you have never met even more than they do?, I highly doubt that you do and are simply projecting your own thoughts onto others.
I remember reading the novelization of Revenge of the Sith in one sitting after picking it up at an airport bookstore. They released the book a few weeks before the movie premiered in theaters. To this day, it is one of my favorite stories, and I have reread the book on multiple occasions. It is one of the most underrated books of all-time, regardless of it being the novelization of a Star Wars film. As cliché as it may sound, the book is soooo much better than the movie!
The novel really shines light on characters such as mace, showing that he does everything out of affection and duty instead of just an asshole
I almost cried when you described Anakin's fall. Revenge of the Sith is my favorite prequel for a reason, and it's not (just) the memes, it's the characters.
Yeah, me too. That shit broke my heart so hard when I read it. The novel is even more heartbreaking than the film, because you get _all_ the juicy details of his perspective and those of his loved ones.
You are mentioned several times in thisvideo
It’s everyone’s favorite, idk a single person that prefers episode 1 or 2.
Disney star wars could never make a character this deep and interesting. Great video
As a medic you get taught:
" you can't save them all."
But hearing it is one thing, but knowing , really accepting this , is a challenge.
And even then, it takes time to learn at what point you stop the self-inquisitiom that follows (if you give a damn). And even when you come to the conclusion : " i did my best. I can't save them all" , it can be so easy to flip the script on yourself and say awful things to yourself like:
Really. Did you really do what you could? Or are you lying to yourself ?
So, to have a conflict like this running through your head all the time, to believe the only person who really gets you is evil, and on top of everything you have the power of Anakin skywalker....crap id love to say that i wouldnt have given to the Dark Side, but Id be lying.
I love the channel y'all. These character analysis episodes are my favorite Thank you.
Damn dude, you really outdid yourself with this one. It further solidifies Disney sequels as non canon to me.
0:49 Geetsly: Today, in our FIRST long-form video...
Geetsly's video on The Entirety of The Star Wars Galaxy, which was over 30 minutes long: AM I A JOKE TO YOU???
"Make a Jedi fall, one cannot; beyond even Lord Sidious this is. Chose this, Skywalker did."
This is what people always forget. It's always a choice to go dark. Always.
@@Darth_Xionn What about the Inquisitors?
@@Darth_XionnThat choice could be heavily influenced though.
@@JDog2656 You can be tortured to make a choice, but you can still choose not to turn.
@Jeff-bd5yo Of course. You can influenced and manipulated, but it's still on you to make that final choice.
Mace Windu should have been Anakin's trainer. Unfortunately he voted NOT to train him, which was a huge mistake.
Windu could have taught Anakin what to do with his inner darkness.
EDIT : Mace did NOT vote against Anakin. My bad.
Probably because Windu was afraid of admitting that he didn't know what to do about it either.
Not only that, but Anakin and Vapaad would not be a good combo.
@@laukinath194 It would have been if Mace was his master.
Mace Windu would've been an awful choice, he was so by the books him and Anakin never would've gotten along at all. Even in the EU where Mace is married, he still had it out for Anakin
That's why Qui Gon Jin wears that crown.