Thoughts on Anakin, Shmi and the Tusken Raiders
I guess Iāll start this off by saying that Anakin shouldnāt have murdered the Tusken Raiders.Ā It was a senseless, evil act.Ā Iāll never deny that.Ā But Iām often upset with the hand waving thatās done on the Tusken Raiders behalf.Ā They are painted as these victims without any fault.Ā And thatās garbage.
Letās start with Shmi.Ā She was taken from her own homestead.Ā As far as we know she had never had an encounter with the Tuskens.Ā She had never harmed any of them.Ā Yet she was ripped away from her home by them.Ā She was with them for at least a month.Ā And during that time she was horribly mistreated.
Letās be honest here.Ā Letās not sugar coat what probably happened to Shmi.Ā She was a slave again.Ā She was probably not given enough food or water.Ā She was beaten, more than likely tortured, and possibly raped.Ā Thatās what happens to women who are taken without a ransom.Ā Thatās what happens to women who have no value to the people who kidnapped them.
And being the cynic that I am Iām not going to put all of the abuse on the men of that tribe.Ā Letās be real.Ā Iām feel pretty comfortable saying that the women probably didnāt care about Shmi in the least.Ā They probably viewed her in the same light as their men did.Ā And they probably took part in her abuse.
When I was trying to find out how long Shmi was with the Raiders, I stumbled upon several message boards that talked about why she was possibly taken.Ā Several people said that they thought Shmi was taken to be some sort of living sacrifice to the Tuskens Gods that took place at a certain time of year.Ā Why would they fight to keep Shmi when people came to save her?Ā Shmiās husband was wounded enough that he lost a limb.Ā I think others were outright killed.Ā Why was Shmi so important if they were abusing her so badly?Ā It makes sense that she was going to be killed to in some sort of ritual at a later date.Ā They just needed her alive up to a certain point.
And now Anakin.Ā We know heās been dreaming about whatās going on with Shmi.Ā In the movies, itās almost downplayed.Ā But heās having nightmares about Shmi being in pain every night.Ā Padme even hints that heās woken her up due to his dreams.Ā That implies that heās woken her with his screams or cries.Ā Iām betting that these dreams have been going on at least since Shmi was taken.Ā Perhaps even before she was taken.Ā So letās say heās been living through visions of all the abuse Shmiās been enduring for at least a month.Ā Heās not sleeping well.Ā Heās scared for his mother.Ā On some level he knows somethingās not right and he doesnāt know what to do.Ā This is eating away at him and there is no way for him to let go of it.
By the time Anakin finds out that what heās dreaming about isnāt just nightmares, itās too late.Ā His mother has been taken.Ā His stepfather is seriously injured and everyone there already believes that his mother is dead.Ā Heās got to go and try and save her by himself.Ā Can you imagine the amount of guilt, pain, grief and rage that heās feeling as he tries desperately to find his mother?Ā Heās running on pure hope and fear at this point.Ā Heās got to find her before itās too late.Ā Sheās just got to be alive.Ā He canāt be too late.
And he finds her.Ā Sheās in a hut, tied up like some kind of animal.Ā Sheās bruised, beaten, battered and bloody.Ā Sheās barely alive, but she manages to tell him how proud she was of him.Ā Her last words are that she loved him.Ā And heās too late.Ā She dies in his arms minutes after he finds her.Ā He didnāt free her.Ā He didnāt save her.Ā He failed her completely.Ā She died because he was too late.
Do I believe that Anakin was in his right mind when he killed that village?Ā NO.Ā I think he was overwhelmed with grief.Ā He hasnāt seen his mother in 10 years and he has to hold her while she dies in his arms.Ā She dies in pain because sheās been taken and abused for no reason.Ā I think that he truly lost his mind in those moments.Ā He didnāt think.Ā He reacted and did something incredibly evil.Ā I feel like he had a completely metal breakdown in those moments.Ā I think that it could be seen as a case of temporary insanity when you look at the whole picture.
Then he returns to Padme and his stepfamily.Ā He flat out told Padme what he did and she gave him a pass.Ā She accepted it and told him he was only human.Ā Guess what?Ā Iām willing to bet that the Lars had a pretty good idea what had happened to the Tuskens without being told.Ā They knew it was kill or be killed to get Shmi back.Ā I knew that before Anakin even left to find Shmi based on what Lars had said to him.Ā I donāt think most of the people on Tatooine gave what Anakin did a second thought if they did know.
Then we have good, old Palpatine.Ā Heās got his claws in good when it comes to Anakin.Ā Pretty sure that Anakin would have told Palpatine what he had done because The Sith Lord has been manipulating Anakin since he was a child.Ā We all know what he said.Ā Pretty much what Padme saidā¦He was human and they deserved it (wellā¦the sith lord said they deserved it).Ā You have Anakinās wife and his evilĀ āuncleā saying he should forgive himself and move on. If your wife and the leader of the republic says that what he did wasnāt so bad because it was done under extreme grief, shouldnāt he listen to them?
I feel like Anakin didnāt tell Obi-Wan for several reasons.Ā One was that there had to be some level of resentment towards Obi-Wan.Ā Right or wrong on some level I think Anakin did blame Obi-Wan for what happened to Shmi.Ā Anakin did tell Obi-Wan he was having bad dreams about his mother.Ā He didnāt go into enough detail and let Obi-Wan know how bad they were.Ā So Obi-Wan had no idea that these were actually visions and not just bad dreams.Ā I think that part of Anakin was hurt and angry that Obi said that dreams pass in time and didnāt help him check up on his mother.Ā Itās not logical but people arenāt logical when they are grieving.
Two:Ā we need to remember what happened right afterwards.Ā Anakin loses his arm within a day or two of his motherās death.Ā Iāve only got the movies to go on so I donāt know how long it took him to recover from that.Ā He has to get used to his new mech arm.Ā Heās got to learn how to do everything that he did with his real armā¦eating, bathing, dressing, fighting, etc.Ā Heās plunged right into a war within a matter of months of all this.Ā His mind wasnāt really on what had happened on Tatooine any more.Ā Healing and fighting for his life and the lives of his men were at the top of his list.
Iām not really going to argue with anyone over this post.Ā These are just my thoughts and feeling about what I think happened and why I can forgive Anakin for what he did.Ā No one has to agree with me.Ā Donāt come at me with quotes from books Iāve never read or what George Lucus said.Ā This is just based on the movies and my impressions.