Nobody Made Anakin Skywalker Fall.

Nobody made Anakin Skywalker fall.

He had a horrible life, yes. He grew up a slave, his mom died, the man who freed him died, the Jedi Council initially rejected him, Palpatine groomed him, Ashoka left the order, Obi-wan faked his death, he participated in a civil war.

All of this is absolutely horrible, traumatizing stuff and he no doubt had depression, raging bpd, and C-PTSD. However, none of that was an excuse commit multiple genocides, kill children, commit countless war crimes, choke out his pregnant wife, enforce galaxy wide tyranny, blow up a planet, and cut his sons hand off.

You don’t kill billions of people because you have untreated and unacknowledged trauma. You do it because you choose to.

He was a grown man. He could have gotten mental help, could’ve left the Jedi, could’ve rejected Palpatine, could have accepted the help of his loved ones (Obi-Wan and Padme). He could’ve have made different choices.

This isn’t an Anakin hate post though. He had good qualities. He was brave and loyal and clever and he loved deeply. But even before he became Darth Vader we saw that he was also cruel and selfish and arrogant. He told Padme that he didn’t believe in democracy. Anakin felt if everybody would just let him run things, then everything would be better. And that really is the center of his character. If Obi-Wan, if Padme, if the Jedi, had just let him run things and stop undermining and regulating him than he could fix everything.

He truly believed that everybody else was the problem not him. Additionally, his loyalty and deep love for others more often than not was unhealthy. He killed all the Tusken Raiders for his mother and killed the Jedi for Padme. His only moral compass was his loved ones and he was angry when they didn’t love him in the same way. Didn’t understand why they would be upset when he did it for them. Didn’t understand why they wouldn’t do the same for him.

At the heart of his character is Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker didn’t become him, he was always him. That’s why I believe that even if he had a different master, if his mother hadn’t died, if the war hadn’t happened, and even if he didn’t fall in love with Padme that he would’ve fallen anyways. Those event exacerbated his issues, but they didn’t cause his selfishness or cruelty or narcissism.

He was a vivacious young boy, but he was a selfish, selfish boy.

Watching the generational trauma be passed down through Dooku, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ashoka, and Luke is so heartbreaking. Every dysfunction in one relationship can be traced by to the earlier one.

We need an animated series about Luke and Leia in the aftermath of the Return of the Jedi where they learn how to be siblings

hot take: I don’t like The Mandolorian series

Obi-Wan Kenobi is the pinnacle of catholic guilt

*Luke traveling back in time and meeting the Jedi Council*

Luke, describing being trained by Yoda: I miss that crazy old gremlin

The council: *going into shock at the description of their grandmaster*