#pro anakin

Love or hate him, Anakin Skywalker is the protagonist of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, a classic Greek hero whose story ends tragically with his fall to the dark side and, more damningly, the death of his beloved wife, Padmé Naberrie.

I like and deeply empathise with his character, flaws and all. Here is my collection of tumblr posts about him, focusing on the Prequel Trilogy.

Part 1

Chapter 1: empathising with anakin

Chapter 2: defending anakin

Chapter 3: please stop mischaracterising anakin

Padme was a strong leader who wanted and indeed did great things in defense of the her Planet first as Queen and later as it´s Senator. She believed the Old Republic Order was the best way to achieve this but even her could notice the old Order was in crisis, first because of the way they ignored the emergency on her planet and later when she saw how this same negligence created the perfect situation for a civil war, when the planets in a similar situation to her own wanted to secede from the Republic.

So both of them fell in love because of these shared beliefs but also the way they noticed the flaws on the system them both protected and tried to defend.

Anakin with the Jedi Order and Padme with the Republic.

Together, as children, were pretty much the only ones who could stop for 10 years, the plan of the sith to take over the old republic. Padme and Anakin didn´t make each other worse, they made each other better by being together.

Anakin didn´t fall because he loved and trusted Padme, he fell because he believed Palpatine when he said could no longer trust her.

I said this because I really hate the fandom take that believes Padme and Anakin were selfish for marrying in secret because they believe this was the reason why the Republic and the Jedi Fell. Padme and Anakin married in secret so Anankin could keep being part of the order and help the Jedi during the clone wars. Anakin planned to leave after the war was done but he also feared leaving because he didn´t want to dissapoint Obi-Wan.

The Jedi and the Republic were aready going to fall with or without Padme and Anakin. The Republic because it´s corruption allowed the Sith to take the lead and the Jedi because they became complacent in their ways and stopped doing their duty with the force, contenting themselves to do their duty for a Senate they knew was corrupt, which was what both Qui-Gon, Dooku, Obi-Wan and Barris detected was the problem with the Order.

Anakin actually tried to stay loyal to the Jedi Order but their fatal mistake when it came to him wasn´t related to Padme, it was related to Anakin´s mother and their lack or care or mercy for Shmi, by ignoring her situation and forcing her Son to forget about her, so when she died tortured to death Anakin bassically died with her, he lost his mind and his revenge for her death gave way to the darkside in him, a darkside that otherwise would not have a handle on him.

Padme didn´t have anything to do with this and her marriage to Anakin pretty much help to keep Anakin sane, it still wasn´t enough but it keep him focused and away from the darkside until those last days of the republic when Palpatine made his move to complete Anakin´s fall into madness and his plan to take over the republic and destroy the Jedi Order using their own army agaisnt them.

If Anakin and Padme married and left to have their family on Naboo shortly after the war started, the Republic and the Jedi still would have fallen but Anakin would not have fallen, He, Padme and their children would have been able to help and the Empire would have been shorter.

So I believe their main mistake as a couple was keeping the secret of their relationship but their love on itself was what saved both the galaxy and Anakin and defeated the Emperor in canon.

I’m not really a big Star Wars blog but I do consider myself more Jedi critical/pro Anakin. One of the things I am fascinated by is the Vader suit lore. I know the scene with Vader in ROTS is not meant to be fan service but I wish we could have seen more of this Vader. Disney really loves the ANH look with the red lenses, small chin vent, widows peak and asymmetrical mask and uses it in Fallen Order, TCW, Kenobi, Rebels and R1. I know they only used Hayden in close up shots and flashbacks for OWK but I feel like it would have been better if he got to wear his ROTS suit again. It was made to fit a smaller, slimmer actor like Hayden as David Prowse was an enormous man in the 1970s. I dislike OWK for a lot of reasons but something really feels off about Vader in Disney SW media like OWK and R1 whether it’s the costume, voice or characterization.

All of the OT Vader helmets are asymmetrical due to being hand sculpted and once you see it, you can’t unsee it. ANH looks very smudged and scarred due to the low budget and documentary style Lucas shot the film with. ESB reworked the mask and suit to be much more polished and robotic. ROTJ held onto the same look, albeit with a few alterations. OT purists dislike the look of the ROTS Vader as it made a lot of changes to the character but I consider it my favorite. There’s something beautiful about it, the slick, all black mask, the more elegant prequel trilogy aesthetic and being made by Trisha Biggar who also made the exquisite costumes for the prequels like Padme’s dresses. It takes elements from ANH like the simpler chest panel but carries over more from ESB/ROTJ with the glossier, more robotic appearance, larger chin vent, reduced widows peak and darker lenses. It fits a more youthful and vulnerable Vader which is what Hayden was going for compared to David Prowse’s aging military general of the OT. It’s the only Vader mask to be completely symmetrical and digitally sculpted. There’s a bts documentary that goes into the making of this Vader and how the crew sought to improve it.

The ROTS Vader feels like George Lucas’ ideal version compared to the OT. ANH, and by extension most Disney media makes Vader look quite angry with the widows peak and red lenses. Over the trilogy, the mask’s expression softens and looks more sad and pathetic by ROTJ and again for ROTS which is what Lucas wanted the character to be. Lucas is far from unproblematic but he made a bold decision to strip away the mythos of Vader as cult figure and show him as a kind and selfless boy and later a tragic man worthy of both revulsion and pity akin to Hamlet, Othello or Gendo Ikari. The ROTS Vader is divisive among OT purists but it’s more fitting of the character Lucas intended Anakin to be. He’s not a dudebro fantasy but rather a pathetic character wracked by self loathing and trauma who made his bed but was failed by the Jedi and dug himself deeper because he had internalized it was too late for him until his son offered the acceptance and unconditional love he needed.

Edit: here’s ANH and ESB/ROTJ for reference and comparison:

Personally, I love Anakin so much and will defend him till I die. I randomly ran into someone who did not share this sentiment, and pointed out that what happened to Anakin could have happened to anyone. Palpatine just chose someone powerful. The person completely freaked out and got so mad, I've never seen anyone so mad about something like this before.

No names willl be said in this post as I don't want to shame anyone but to that random person who threatened me, I don't know what you're going through or where your hatred of this character comes from. And look, whatever it is, I can tell it hurts. I get that. I've seen a lot of people hurt. I know how easy it is to feel so strongly about something that you say something you'll regret later.