Fractals of Obitine & Anidala (Part 4)
Aftermath of the Confession
As we all know, Obitine and Anidala make vastly different decisions following their confessions of love. On one level, their decisions have different consequences for the plot and the characters around them. But on a deeper level, these decisions reflect something about the characters themselves, as well as the overarching theme of the story of the Prequels.
Anakin and Padme, who have both been denying their personal desires for duty, finally give into their feelings for each other. For Padme, it’s the first time she’s really allowed herself anything selfish; for Anakin, it’s the first time he’s openly defied the Jedi’s prohibition of attachment. And as a couple, they’re both putting their respective careers and duties on the line for the sake of their relationship. Padme could possibly lose her position as a Senator, Anakin could be expelled from the Jedi--and both of them are at risk of putting their own wants ahead of the needs of the people of the Republic. Anakin does this fairly often--think of every time Padme’s in danger and he puts a mission on the line to save her--but even Padme is occasionally guilty of doing this. A good example would be when Padme decides to exchange Grievous for Anakin in Shadow Warrior.
Anakin’s marriage to Padme is also first time since he was separated from his mother that he has a significant connection with the feminine. This isn’t necessarily bad, but Anakin’s need to connect with the feminine is obsessive, to the point that he starts unraveling when the feminine figures begin disappearing from his life. As Anakin himself says, feminine influences such as Padme are so important to him that he can’t live without them.
In contrast, Obi-Wan and Satine decide it’s best that they not be together. Is this because they love each other any less than Padme and Anakin do? No. In fact, their actions demonstrate that their love is stronger.
Love is ultimately being willing to put the needs of the beloved ahead of one’s own needs and wants. Satine knows that Obi-Wan would leave the Jedi Order if she asked him to do so--but because she knows how much being a Jedi means to him, she never asks. Likewise, while Obi-Wan primarily never asks Satine to be with him out of his devotion to the Jedi, it is likely that he also understands what being married to a former Jedi would cost Satine. Remember, Satine was never readily accepted by other Mandalorians because of her pacificism; marrying Obi-Wan would make her that much less acceptable to her people. Even Almec, who shared Satine’s pacifistic ideals (but clearly not her morals), displayed a clear disdain for Jedi. Imagine what Mandalorians who weren’t as progressive might have thought about Satine and Obi-Wan’s love.
As an aside, I think that Obi-Wan and Satine’s relationship might be one of the many reasons why there was a rift between Satine and Bo-Katan. In Old Friends Not Forgotten, it was clear that Bo-Katan had knowledge of her sister’s relationship with Obi-Wan. Perhaps she was even the one who tipped off Vizla and Maul about Satine and Obi-Wan. At the very least, she’d had knowledge of this relationship for quite some time--possibly even while Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were still on Mandalore.
Because of Bo-Katan’s traditionalism, it’s safe to assume that she hated Jedi. If she was aware that her sister was in love with a Jedi, she would have had more reasons to resent Satine. Combined with Bo-Katan and Satine’s political and ideological differences and the fact that Bo-Katan had to help Satine hide the fact that she was pregnant with Obi-Wan’s child, it’s easy to see why the divide between them was so great.
There’s also a divide between Anakin and Obi-Wan, between Padme and Satine. For Obi-Wan and Anakin, the divide is more obvious; their relationship has cracks that eventually fracture and divide them. There’s also an element of a philosophical divide. Obi-Wan always takes the road of letting go, while Anakin almost always chooses to hold on.
Something similar can be said of the relational choices made by Padme and Satine. In her relationship with Anakin, Padme is willing to hold onto Anakin even when he’s done horrible things. Satine, on the other hand, is clearly fighting against her feelings for Obi-Wan, actively choosing to be apart from him because she knows the two of them can never be together.
So what is all of this saying? More importantly, what is the message of the prequel era of Star Wars? Some might just say that Obitine is a foil for Anidala, that Obitine shows the “right” way of handling relationship while Anidala shows the “wrong” way. I, for one, used to think this. But then I discovered Eastern pedagogy, and began considering the ways that George Lucas’s moral messaging in Star Wars might have been influenced by the Eastern approach to learning.
In contrast to Western didactic teaching methods, Eastern philosophies of pedagogy tend to involve a dialectic. That is, the instructor just doesn’t lecture at their students; they engage the student in a triad of theses until the student has arrived at their own conclusion. If a student makes the statement, “Life is suffering,” the instructor comes back with, “Life is pleasure.” The student may retort with, “Not all life is pleasure,” the instructor with “Not all life is suffering”--and on and on, until the student and teacher meet somewhere in the middle of their original positions.
When you develop an awareness of the Eastern approach to pedagogy, you can begin to see how George Lucas follows a similar approach when he’s trying to teach moral lessons to viewers. Take the Original Trilogy. The overall challenge presented to Luke is that he must choose between two uncomfortable options: 1) Kill your own father, or 2) Let your father live but allow the Emperor to continually oppress the galaxy. The former appears more “right” than the latter--Luke killing his father might cause harm to a single person, but refraining from killing him will harm the entire galaxy. As we all know, though, Luke recognizes that both options are wrong in their own ways, and chooses a third path: Refuse to continue the fight. It’s this decision, along with his willingness to die rather than murder his father, that makes the unthinkable happen--Anakin Skywalker is redeemed, and brings balance to the Force by destroying the Emperor.
(That is, unless you count the Rise of Skywalker. But fuck the Rise of Skywalker.)
With Luke’s story, George Lucas showed that there’s usually a middle path--a different choice than simply choosing the lesser of two evils. And I think he was saying something similar with the stories of Obitine and Anidala. He presents us with the two loves stories--one that is clearly problematic and results in tragedy, and one that appears much more innocent. But Obitine, even though it’s not as problematic as Anidala, is still flawed. And it still ends in tragedy and heartbreak. While Obi-Wan and Satine didn’t destroy jeopardize the other’s career and livelihood, they clearly lived with pain because of their separation. Their lives could have been so much fuller, so much more whole, if they had only remained together. More importantly for the story, they would have created a better Mandalore if they had ruled side-by-side rather than parting ways; Obi-Wan would have been less concerned with following the whims of the Jedi Council, and Satine might have had a more balanced approach to dealing with the traditionalist Mandalorians.
What’s the middle path here? I’m not sure. For Obi-Wan and Satine, perhaps it would have meant the Jedi Order allowing the Jedi to marry and form attachments. For Anakin and Padme, maybe the Jedi are more direct about teaching Anakin what it means to have healthy attachment--how to love someone without wanting to possess them.
Note all the “maybes” I used. It’s not clear what the middle path for these characters might be; all we know is that the characters don’t find it during the prequel era. Perhaps Anakin finds the middle path when he sacrifices himself--and his chance of resurrecting Padme--in Return of the Jedi. Perhaps Obi-Wan finds a form of this path when he’s watching over Luke Skywalker on Tatooine. But it’s never clear what the middle path, if taken at the right time, would have meant for these characters. That is something for us to contemplate, just as we must contemplate whether we ourselves are walking the middle path.
