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Star Wars Character Meta [Canon]
Originally posted here.
I was talking with @belldreams​ the other night and she’d recently rewatched ANH and brought up the question: “Why did Obi-Wan let Darth Vader strike him down?” and, boy, do I have thoughts and feelings about that scene!
But I think it was more than that and the prequels gave it so much more depth. Obi-Wan had spent the last 19 years in the desert in exile, that struggle to get up in the morning every day was only accomplished through his affection for Luke and his duty as a Jedi and holding on to the last bit of Anakin he had, it took everything that was left of him after he might as well have died on Mustafar.
Uncle Owen tells Luke that he thinks his father and General Kenobi died about the same time and, in the OT by itself, it’s a misdirection and rumor, it’s meant to throw the viewer (and Luke) off the scent of what really happened, to keep him safe. But with the new context, it’s such a true line–Obi-Wan Kenobi died on Mustafar, all that was left of him was just a shell, after the loss of the Jedi Order, the loss of his entire culture, and the loss of Anakin. On a personal level, I don’t know that he walked away from that fight, I think he maybe he did die there with Anakin.
Obi-Wan lets Darth Vader kill him because it’s his time, I’m sure the Force was telling him that it was okay to let go of this plane of existence now, and I think Obi-Wan may have welcomed it. He was just a shell of a person by that point, most of what was left of him was his care for other people. This was his next step forward, this is what he was meant for, to buy them time to escape, to show Luke what Darth Vader was capable of, and so that he could be there to spiritually guide Luke through the moments he most needed help in.
But most importantly of all, why did Obi-Wan let Darth Vader kill him?
Because, even if Obi-Wan honestly believed that there was nothing left of Anakin there (and, given his experiences with Sith Lords, I can’t blame him for thinking that, everything he’d been through would have told him exactly that, given Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, and Darth Tyrannus), he still couldn’t kill what was once Anakin Skywalker.
That:
[Originally posted here.]
Anonymous Asked: Just marathoned the prequels; why is Anakin such a whiny little bitch?
Possibly you meant this in nothing but a derogatory way, not wanting any kind of serious answer, but HA HA I AM THE WRONG PERSON TO POSE SUCH A QUESTION TO THEN.
I mean, aside from objecting to the phrasing, Anakin is the way he is because he’s not emotionally stable and he was never meant to be. He’s constantly anxious and fearful and doesn’t know how to deal with his constant, 24/7 boil of sheer amount of feelings, he’s living with this pressure of not feeling like he’s the person he’s supposed to be (he’s not the Jedi he’s supposed to be, he’s not the husband he’s supposed to be, he’s not the friend he’s supposed to be) and forget being the Chosen One, just feeling like you’re failing as a person is enough to fuck anyone over.
Anakin Skywalker was never meant to be a masculine power fantasy, he was never meant to be a cool badass who went dark side just because he had anger issues.
Anakin Skywalker is an actual emotional mess.
He doesn’t know how to talk to anyone about it (see: all the times Obi-Wan offered to talk about things with him, but Anakin could never bring himself to do it, it was too hard, too much, too complicated, he was too afraid of rejection, too afraid of losing people he loved), he lives with the absolutely constant fear of the unknown, the anxiety of “What if things went wrong?? What if I lose this person??” in a way that screams to me of mental health issues. And I relate to that–no matter how illogical it is, sometimes there are brain weasels in my head who will not stop squirming around in there, who will not stop wiggling and writhing and whirling, until that puts a tremendous amount of stress on me emotionally.
He’s someone who has been actively preyed on by Palpatine since he was a child, who constantly fed all the worst impulses and fears Anakin had, who made him think he was the most special ever and that the people who genuinely cared for him were holding him back, that the Jedi never appreciated him and that everything they were trying to do was because they couldn’t see his worth.
Anakin Skywalker hates himself more than anyone else ever could, he has so little sense of self and he tries to force himself to be the person he thinks he’s supposed to be. He idealizes certain things and people and methods, but when they don’t go the way he imagines them, he doesn’t know how to cope with that loss or how to be emotionally stable enough to handle it.
Those scenes he has with Padme in Episode II are so deeply emotional, because Anakin is 100% made of emotions that he doesn’t know how to handle, they are dialed up to 11 in him and he doesn’t know how to turn them back down. And they’re cringe-worthy because he is so very desperate and so very awkward and he doesn’t really know how to handle any of this, but he can’t not reach out to her, he can’t not spill his feelings everywhere.
Anakin Skywalker is someone who is emotions turned way the fuck up and then left at that level–when you want so many things so desperately, when you know you shouldn’t be like this, but you can’t stop yourself, when you have those brain weasels in your head, yeah, you get pretty “whiny” because you’re struggling to stay afloat and it just doesn’t fucking work, but you’re still full of all these feelings and they gotta go somewhere, so they burst out of you and blind you, because they’re just so intense you can’t see past them. They consume you.
And, honestly, I wouldn’t change him. Anakin Skywalker being an actual goddamned emotional mess is what made me understand him and come to love him!
I was talking with @belldreams​ the other night and she’d recently rewatched ANH and brought up the question: “Why did Obi-Wan let Darth Vader strike him down?” and, boy, do I have thoughts and feelings about that scene!
Even before the context of the prequels, to me it was clear that Obi-Wan knew that he couldn’t beat Darth Vader, there was no point in trying and he wanted to show Luke just what this man was capable of: Killing, in cold blood, someone who lowered their weapon and wasn’t fighting back. Was it a manipulative move? Kinda, but it also relied on Darth Vader murdered a defenseless old man who wasn’t fighting back. Someone who had been mentor and friend would not stop Vader from ruthlessly striking them down. Luke needed to know that.
But I think it was more than that and the prequels gave it so much more depth. Obi-Wan had spent the last 19 years in the desert in exile, that struggle to get up in the morning every day was only accomplished through his affection for Luke and his duty as a Jedi and holding on to the last bit of Anakin he had, it took everything that was left of him after he might as well have died on Mustafar.
Uncle Owen tells Luke that he thinks his father and General Kenobi died about the same time and, in the OT by itself, it’s a misdirection and rumor, it’s meant to throw the viewer (and Luke) off the scent of what really happened, to keep him safe. But with the new context, it’s such a true line–Obi-Wan Kenobi died on Mustafar, all that was left of him was just a shell, after the loss of the Jedi Order, the loss of his entire culture, and the loss of Anakin. On a personal level, I don’t know that he walked away from that fight, I think he maybe he did die there with Anakin.
Obi-Wan lets Darth Vader kill him because it’s his time, I’m sure the Force was telling him that it was okay to let go of this plane of existence now, and I think Obi-Wan may have welcomed it. He was just a shell of a person by that point, most of what was left of him was his care for other people. This was his next step forward, this is what he was meant for, to buy them time to escape, to show Luke what Darth Vader was capable of, and so that he could be there to spiritually guide Luke through the moments he most needed help in.
But most importantly of all, why did Obi-Wan let Darth Vader kill him?
Because, even if Obi-Wan honestly believed that there was nothing left of Anakin there (and, given his experiences with Sith Lords, I can’t blame him for thinking that, everything he’d been through would have told him exactly that, given Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, and Darth Tyrannus), he still couldn’t kill what was once Anakin Skywalker.
That:
Contemplation of death brought only one slight sting of regret, and more than a bit of puzzlement. Until this very moment, [Obi-Wan] had never realized he’d always expected, for no discernible reason–
That when he died, Anakin would be with him.“
–Revenge of the Sith, Matthew Stover
Obi-Wan’s path had led him here. He couldn’t kill what was left of Anakin, no matter how evil and corrupted it was, and it was his time, he was ready to die, with what little of Anakin there was in this galaxy was with him, one last time.
[Originally posted here.]
Anonymous Asked: Just marathoned the prequels; why is Anakin such a whiny little bitch?
Possibly you meant this in nothing but a derogatory way, not wanting any kind of serious answer, but HA HA I AM THE WRONG PERSON TO POSE SUCH A QUESTION TO THEN.
I mean, aside from objecting to the phrasing, Anakin is the way he is because he’s not emotionally stable and he was never meant to be. He’s constantly anxious and fearful and doesn’t know how to deal with his constant, 24/7 boil of sheer amount of feelings, he’s living with this pressure of not feeling like he’s the person he’s supposed to be (he’s not the Jedi he’s supposed to be, he’s not the husband he’s supposed to be, he’s not the friend he’s supposed to be) and forget being the Chosen One, just feeling like you’re failing as a person is enough to fuck anyone over.
Anakin Skywalker was never meant to be a masculine power fantasy, he was never meant to be a cool badass who went dark side just because he had anger issues.
Anakin Skywalker is an actual emotional mess.
He doesn’t know how to talk to anyone about it (see: all the times Obi-Wan offered to talk about things with him, but Anakin could never bring himself to do it, it was too hard, too much, too complicated, he was too afraid of rejection, too afraid of losing people he loved), he lives with the absolutely constant fear of the unknown, the anxiety of “What if things went wrong?? What if I lose this person??” in a way that screams to me of mental health issues. And I relate to that–no matter how illogical it is, sometimes there are brain weasels in my head who will not stop squirming around in there, who will not stop wiggling and writhing and whirling, until that puts a tremendous amount of stress on me emotionally.
He’s someone who has been actively preyed on by Palpatine since he was a child, who constantly fed all the worst impulses and fears Anakin had, who made him think he was the most special ever and that the people who genuinely cared for him were holding him back, that the Jedi never appreciated him and that everything they were trying to do was because they couldn’t see his worth.
Anakin Skywalker hates himself more than anyone else ever could, he has so little sense of self and he tries to force himself to be the person he thinks he’s supposed to be. He idealizes certain things and people and methods, but when they don’t go the way he imagines them, he doesn’t know how to cope with that loss or how to be emotionally stable enough to handle it.
Those scenes he has with Padme in Episode II are so deeply emotional, because Anakin is 100% made of emotions that he doesn’t know how to handle, they are dialed up to 11 in him and he doesn’t know how to turn them back down. And they’re cringe-worthy because he is so very desperate and so very awkward and he doesn’t really know how to handle any of this, but he can’t not reach out to her, he can’t not spill his feelings everywhere.
Anakin Skywalker is someone who is emotions turned way the fuck up and then left at that level–when you want so many things so desperately, when you know you shouldn’t be like this, but you can’t stop yourself, when you have those brain weasels in your head, yeah, you get pretty “whiny” because you’re struggling to stay afloat and it just doesn’t fucking work, but you’re still full of all these feelings and they gotta go somewhere, so they burst out of you and blind you, because they’re just so intense you can’t see past them. They consume you.
And, honestly, I wouldn’t change him. Anakin Skywalker being an actual goddamned emotional mess is what made me understand him and come to love him!