#deception arc

Unpopular opinion about Anakin and Obi-wan's relationship just before Anakin's fall (pledge scene).

(Also, thank you for posting such organized, bullet-pointed analysis. I always enjoy it!)

thanks for the ask (and the compliment)! and oh, damn, this is gonna be spicy. and long, because we'd have to go through the evolution of their entire dynamic throughout the PT up until that point to understand the sheer nuance. [disclaimer: jedi order & obi-wan apologists will be blocked on sight. do NOT clown on my post.]

on obi-wan's side, we know he does care about anakin, and he's certainly let his guard down since AOTC: he actually praises anakin to his face in their last interaction before the fall! that's a step in the right direction for not being so emotionally constipated! they've spent the past years on a more equal level to each other (re: from actual mentor-student pair to "graduating" into relative equals as general-knights) and likely in close proximity to each other (re: TCW shared missions), which is why i feel obi-wan is finally in a position to let his guard down this much at all.

but the problem is, the damage of their first 10 years together especially has already been done.

before the war, as we can see in AOTC, obi-wan is just a straight-up asshole. he presents himself as the "perfect" jedi, the rigid, traditionalist rule-follower who can and will publicly scold anakin for going beyond council mandates. the fact anakin loses a lot of the confidence he had between TPM and AOTC is very telling of how obi-wan's tutelage has affected him. also, "then why don't you listen to me?" is an INSANE thing to say to a kid whose obedience was coerced with a bomb for the first 9/10 years of his life, especially when this is a response to "you're the closest thing i have to a father" of all things. (of course, we can't discount bullying from other jedi as seen in supplementary material, but again, that's supplementary material and probably isn't the most major factor at play, especially when we already have obi-wan dissing anakin every other conversation in AOTC.)

but the fact that obi-wan isn't as perfect of a jedi as he presents himself to be is a MAJOR issue. in TPM, he tells yoda that he's willing to leave the order to train anakin if he has to. in AOTC, he calls the jedi council "the old folks' home" in his transmitting code. in ROTS, he says that anakin has never disappointed him (to mace and yoda, not anakin) and finally admits that he might have gotten attached to his brotherson.

but anakin never sees any of that (except the last one, but considering he's literally dying at that point because of obi-wan, i don't think it counts). he might consider obi-wan close enough to be family, but also knows obi-wan would default to being the "perfect" jedi when push comes to shove, even up until ROTS (re: "the council is asking you", mustafar). anakin always plays second fiddle to the jedi council's orders when it comes to obi-wan's priorities.

and THAT is the issue: that's why anakin doesn't trust obi-wan anymore, at least not on a deep, fundamental level. by ROTS, he has very un-jedi secrets to keep: he got married, and he murdered a whole lot of people in a dissociative, grief-induced rage. both of which scream attachment (and emotion/passion) no matter how you look at it. and he doesn't trust obi-wan with it because obi-wan literally told him that he'd be kicked out of the jedi over it.

this isn't a case of "wanting to have his cake and eat it too", but more in the sense of anakin doesn't trust obi-wan with the fundamental aspects of himself (anymore, if ever) because he "knew" obi-wan would disapprove. it's kind of like being afraid to come out to your parent as queer because they're deeply religious (albeit he's still religious too, just with a more progressive/reformist stance), it's that sort of fear of a lack of acceptance. and so the only other person anakin confides all this in is his other mentor, who's been taking advantage of him all along and then essentially blackmails and coerces him into evil based on that knowledge.

part of me feels that obi-wan is being extra stuck-up to be the "perfect" jedi because he feels that's the role model anakin "needs". (an even smaller part of me is wondering if a "qui-gon was rebellious and he got killed" thought is relevant: it is certainly a compelling argument, but i'm not sure how much canonicity there is there.) or perhaps to maintain his own status in the jedi order after yoda dissed him for being defiant for once. but no, that's not what anakin needs as a mentor. not at all.

adding onto that is how obi-wan believes anakin used underhanded methods (or in husborth's words, "bestie privilege") to get onto the jedi council in ROTS. through the movie, he seems to be under the impression that anakin is power-hungry by nature and fell because of it (re: comments about his "lust for power"), which betrays a strong lack of understanding of anakin as an individual despite having raised him for half his childhood.

(not to mention the deception arc in TCW, if one were to take it as canon. seriously, obi-wan, faking your death in front of your brotherson whom you know to be very attached to you [re: AOTC] and using his reaction to sell the act? especially after your mentor died in front of you?! really, the fact they can even banter like nothing happened in ROTS is a miracle to me.)

I just watched Obi-Wan climb through a Jenga tower hellscape to get the job of the assassin and I nearly fell out of my chair laughing 🤣🤣🤣 it's so stupid 🤣🤣 this entire plot is so convoluted and stupid 🤣

Oh man I remember very well that the deception arc did a lil' character assassination oopsie with Obi-Wan and Anakin both but I forgot about the actual plot and man what a hall of famers those bounty hunter auditions scenes are 🤣🤣🤣

I was wondering what you thought of the Deception arc in TCW? Personally with most of the Jedi’s decisions during TCW i feel like they’re making the best choices they can, but with this arc it seems almost uncharacteristically cruel. Even if Anakin had not been attached to Obi-Wan (which the council surely knew he was?), his death would’ve been very painful to Anakin. Doesn’t that kind of go against Jedi compassion and the kindness we consistently see?

Again I’d love your take on this, but either way I’ll continue to enjoy your blog in the future!

Hey @soopisoop! Thank you very much for the kind words 🙌! I'm glad to hear you enjoy the posts!

So I lightly touched on the "Obi-Wan undercover" arc in this older, more general post about Anakin's relationship with the Jedi Council, but, hey, let's zoom in!

Not telling Anakin... was wrong. Plain and simple.

Yoda says so himself.

But the train of thought was:

"The chancellor - leader of the free world - is gonna die if we don't do this, so the stakes are high. We gotta send Obi-Wan deep undercover behind enemy lines, but Anakin is very close to him and known for being volatile, so there's a 50/50 chance he'll go AWOL and fuck the mission up and those are unacceptable odds."

It's not an excuse, but a justification.

And, in a slightly different context, Anakin seems to use this justification too.

Hell, if anything, Anakin thinks the Jedi should employ even harsher methods in the war and that their values are holding them back.

It's just that, in this case, it hit closer to home.

There's a "hypocrisy" argument to be made, but honestly... that's the Clone War in a nutshell for you!

The Jedi repeatedly told the Senate and the Chancellor "please don't ask us to fight, we're not made for this, we're diplomats, we act on compassion not violence”...

... because they knew that's what the war would force them to do: compromise on their values, tarnish every principle that defines them and that they hold dear, turn them into hypocrites.

Yes, the Jedi are compassionate, but they're also at war, and they're forced to pick between two shitty choices on the daily.

And the deciding factor, EVERY time, is not "which option is the better/more compassionate one" but "which option does less damage?"

Lying to Anakin is just one of these hard "no other choice" choices.

And EVERY time they see an opportunity to step back from the fighting and let diplomacy start again, guess what Palpatine says?

"Fuck you, go back to the front."

And when you listen to Dave Filoni's commentary on this arc, it turns out that this whole plan by Dooku and Morallo Eval was actually engineered by Palpatine to:

1) Distance him even further from the Jedi so Palpatine can swoop in and manipulate him more and more.

2) Set the board for another Anakin vs Dooku confrontation, to gauge how much more powerful Anakin has become.

"Y’know, ultimately, what we realize is that the whole thing is a fake-out on the Jedi. That Dooku is conspiring with Sidious to set-up this whole bounty hunter plot to make the Jedi believe that they have once again saved the day, and it’s all an effort to get Anakin isolated. So what I really liked about this story that, y’know— as George handed it out, was: we tell the story that’s really about Anakin and Palpatine trying to tempt him to the Dark Side… and we tell it more from Obi-Wan’s point of view. And you see this whole other tale that’s going on, and we check in with Palpatine and Anakin every now and then, until finally, it’s really about them and their struggle. And we see that this is a point that Anakin really wasn’t ready to become the Sith apprentice. He wasn’t strong enough, I think there’s a possibility that Dooku would’ve killed him here." - Dave Filoni, The Clone Wars: “Obi-Wan undercover” video commentary, 2012

So, again, like... sure. The Jedi made a mistake.

But ultimately, had Palpatine not hatched this particular plan, hell, had he not engineered a whole war designed to corrupt the Jedi's morals... that mistake would never have been made in the first place.

To use an analogy:

I'm cleaning out my captures folder and I came across this particular gem (it's either a summary from a fic or a paragraph from one, I can't even recall). Every day stuff like this really has me thinking a lot of widely accepted views on SW/TCW canon/characters comes from people who have just straight up not watched it the source material lmao (not that it's breaking news or anything).

The Council is told there is a plot to assassinate the Chancellor. This plot involves Eval Moralo gathering up a bunch of the Best of the Best bounty hunters to determine who the Actual Best is, and have them be the one to kill the chancellor. Was this his own idea? Who knows.

The Council feels that the best way to stop this is to infiltrate the group of bounty hunters. They can't just make up a new bounty hunter--they wouldn't have enough of a reputation for Eval to trust them. But they also needed a bounty hunter that didn't have a lot of close contacts, who would know if something was Off about how he was acting. Which is how they end up settling on Rako Hardeen.

As it stands, Rako Hardeen has not done anything impressive enough to even be considered for this bounty hunter party, so they need to contrive a situation that puts him on people's radars. They also don't know where Eval's little get together is happening, but they do know he's currently in jail and planning a jail break. So they want something big enough that their chosen bounty hunter will end up in prison alongside Eval and can help him escape to garner some trust.

So you have a bounty hunter from Concord Dawn who doesn't have many close contacts, has a reputation for being a sharpshooter, and can easily be put into position and then replaced. Who are you going to have play this guy? Well, you need someone who knows about the culture of Concord Dawn--and its complicated relationship with Mandalore. Someone who perhaps speaks some of the language. And someone who is a decent enough marksman. Also, it's convenient that if the person who is to play him has a part in giving him the necessary street cred.

So of course, Obi-Wan ends up being chosen for this part. He knows about Mandalorian culture and history, and probably a fair amount about Concord Dawn as well. He possibly speaks some of the language (never confirmed). He's a good marskman. And he is a High General, a Council member, visible enough that if Rako Hardeen were to actually kill him, it would make a huge splash.

I don't think Palpatine told the Jedi who to use. At most, he may have found a way to plant the idea of Rako Hardeen being their fall man, knowing it would probably lead to Obi-Wan ending up in the position.

As for Anakin not being told--operational security is a serious issue, one that has blown up in their faces before. Is it worth risking the life of the chancellor--of Anakin's friend and mentor--just to reassure Anakin in the short term? It's not like Anakin wouldn't have learned the truth after the assassination attempt was foiled. And anyway, we see him being angry in the moment, but that's also probably partly because he could have unintentionally hurt Obi-Wan. We don't see any lingering anger or trust issues because of this (though it's also a kids' show that doesn't always follow through).

Hi! I've talked a bit about it here and there, but it's kind of a really complicated topic for me, both in terms of in-universe and out-of-universe reasons. Generally my feelings come down to that: - They're at war, the Chancellor's life was under legitimate (from their perspective) threat, and Anakin Skywalker was a huge potential leak they couldn't afford. At the very heart of this, Anakin's feelings couldn't be more important that people's lives. That's what was at stake here. - I have a hard time believing that Obi-Wan would choose to keep Anakin in the dark just for shits and giggles, just to sell the ruse, but that Anakin's past behavior (see everything with losing R2-D2 who still had incredibly sensitive military info on him, despite that Anakin was clearly and directly ordered to wipe the info out, showing that Anakin was an amazing fighter, but he did not take security seriously) meant that he would have been a liability. I just don't buy that Obi-Wan, who has never been shown to be uncaring towards Anakin (quite the opposite) wouldn't take into consideration Anakin's feelings about this. (As a reminder: the rest of the Jedi Council were in favor of telling Anakin, but they let it be Obi-Wan's choice.)

Keep in mind, these aren’t just regular soldiers, they are PSYCHIC SPACE WIZARDS WHO CAN READ EACH OTHERS’ FEELINGS, it’s not just “Anakin Skywalker can’t act for shit” (though, I think that’s true as well) but that Count Dooku, being a powerful psychic space wizard, would literally be able to feel Anakin’s feelings, because Anakin is not great at controlling them. Having to genuinely sell a reaction isn’t just physical acting, but emotional and mental acting as well.  Two things Anakin is not good at, all while the Chancellor’s life is on the line. - Anakin Skywalker was a full grown adult and Jedi Knight. He should have been able to handle this.  And, honestly, I think he mostly handled Obi-Wan's death reasonably well, from what we saw! He struggled, he staggered, he nearly toppled a time or two, but when it came to it, he didn't kill Rako Hardeen (even though he wanted to very much) because Obi-Wan wouldn't have wanted it.

And I also think that, while it hurt their relationship and probably allowed bad feelings to fester within Anakin, their relationship improves again, the way they move together on The Invisible Hand, the way Anakin is willing to let Palpatine (and himself) die rather than rescuing Obi-Wan, the way Anakin confesses how frustrated he's been to Obi-Wan before he leaves for Utapau, the way he glows at Obi-Wan's praise. Palpatine says, “Leave [Obi-Wan], or we’ll never make it.” and THIS is Anakin’s immediate response:

I have never seen more “I will fucking drop you down that elevator shaft myself if you suggest leaving him behind one more time.” energy in my LIFE. 😂 But also, look at how in synch they are, in the opening shots of Revenge of the Sith, the shot that establishes our understanding of where these characters are at with each other:

"Lucas has now designated the opening shot [of Revenge of the Sith] as being one minute long, during which he wants Anakin and Obi-Wan to fly in perfect harmony to express their friendship." Or how they banter, that Obi-Wan and Anakin are both laughing and smiling at each other:

I don't think it fundamentally broke something in their relationship, because they are still shown to be incredibly close and important to each other after the Deception arc happened. - I think Anakin's hurt feelings are very understandable, Obi-Wan very much did lie to him, and sometimes people just can't be fully logical in response to a situation like this. The Jedi don't expect Anakin to never have less than perfect feelings, to never react in a way that isn't fully rational, but they do expect him to deal with it. Spend time acknowledging his feelings, working through them, and letting them go. But I think it’s also illustrative of Anakin’s issues that were already there--he immediately assumes it was the Council’s decision when it wasn’t and, even when Obi-Wan explains that, Anakin immediately swings it back around to wanting to blame them anyway, that it had to be their fault somehow.