It’s been a while since I’ve featured someone else’s meta. Here’s an interesting one on Tumblr comparing Palpatine bringing Anakin and Padmé together in AOTC and Snoke bridging Kylo and Rey’s minds in TLJ:
So, both Palpatine and Snoke saw something that was already naturally there between the respective pairings–Anakin’s feelings for Padme and their childhood friendship; Ben’s compassion for Rey and their nascent Force bond. And, being the opportunistic, manipulative, exploitative gremlins that they were, sought to take advantage of it for their own benefit. By helping things along and pushing the two together–physically, in Anakin and Padme’s case, and mystically/mentally in Ben and Rey’s.
Megan Crouse wrote this piece for Star Wars.com about the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan in the prequels:
Some cracks show long before that, though. In the Obi-Wan & Anakin comic book series, the two Jedi are sent on a rescue mission to the ruined planet Carnelion IV. Anakin was considering leaving the Jedi Order, disturbed by what he saw as the hypocrisy of the Republic. For some Star Wars fans, this was a major revelation: Anakin had considered leaving the order before Revenge of the Sith, trading the life of a Jedi for a peaceful civilian existence? (Maybe he would have ended up as a navigator on a spice freighter. What a different world it would have been if Owen Lars had been telling Luke the truth.)
I haven’t highlighted The Prequels Channel on YouTube (though I have it under the blogroll links) because it posts videos very frequently. But I thought I’d highlight this “what if” video:
hafanforever posted an essay called Choose Or Lose, which discusses the mirroring of ROTS and ROTJ in the scenes where Anakin/Vader have to choose whether to serve good or evil:
In Revenge of the Sith, in Palpatine’s office, Anakin arrives at Palpatine’s office after Mace defeats Palpatine in their duel. The latter still tries to kill the former with Force lightning, but Mace manages to deflect it back using his lightsaber. As this happens, Anakin is off to the side, watching and trying to decide if he should help Mace or Palpatine. Believing that Palpatine holds the power to prevent death, which is what Anakin desires for Padmé, Anakin chooses to help Palpatine and cuts off Mace’s lightsaber hand. This leaves the latter defenseless against a new bolt of lightning, and Palpatine sends Mace plummeting out the window to his death. Although horrified that he helped to murder a Jedi, Anakin submits himself to Palpatine and finally becomes Darth Vader.
The Wisdom Of Qui-Gon Jinn was posted a few weeks ago but I finally read it today. Again, more love for everyone’s favorite maverick hippie Jedi:
Qui-Gon Jinn as played by Liam Neeson in the Phantom Menace is one of the most curious characters in the entire Star Wars saga. Little understood and frequently misunderstood, I thought it was an appropriate time to take a look at this character who is both one of my favourite from the series and also one of the most interesting.
Matril is back with another installment of her series, this time it’s about one of Queen Amidala’s more famous lines from early in TPM:
It’s already too late. Amidala’s words are all very well as a pacifist ideal, but in the face of an actual invasion, they can’t do a bit of good. Whether she wanted to lead her people to war or not, war has come. And whether it’s her fault or not, she must deal with the consequences.
This was posted on Future of the Force on St. Paddy’s Day but I didn’t see it until now:
Qui-Gon Jinn. The wisest of Jedi, and an advocate of the living Force. A critical voice to the Republic’s Jedi Council. A voice in the wilderness, in a period increasingly dominated by bureaucracy, rules and regulation. Qui-Gon was convinced that Anakin was the Chosen One, the one who would bring balance back to the Force.
Everyone’s favorite bad mo-fo Jedi Master gets some love from this Crossing Sabers essay:
We would expect the Jedi to commune with the Force in order to divine what purpose or action they should apply the clone army to, but instead we see them rush into battle and try to squelch the fledgling Separatist movement with sheer force. When you combine this with Mace’s acknowledgment that their ability to use the Force has diminished, we get our next key: Mace is trying the best he can even though he can see the foundations of the Jedi starting to crumble.
Think about it. He starts as a slave and he ends as a slave. The whole journey in between is really trying to figure out where he fits into the galaxy. Is he a lover, a Jedi, or something else entirely? He never really figures out until he meets Luke, and realizes that his true purpose is found in his son (and hopefully his daughter, too, although we never get to see it). But to say that Anakin is without motivation is a fallacy.
The author also relates Anakin’s problems to some very serious personal issues.
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