I Did A Thing

I did a thing

This comment reminded me of the above lines–which are literally like two minutes apart.  One of the things that’s really well done about Anakin’s story that I think often gets passed off as “bad writing” is that Anakin is all over the place. He doesn’t have a strong stance about how he wants to be loyal to the Republic, he wants to blame the Jedi, he wants to do this for Padme, he loves her, he chokes her, he wants to create an Empire, he wants to follow Palpatine, he wants to overthrow Palpatine, he wants to follow Palpatine again, etc. And I think THAT’S THE POINT.  This is like how Hayden’s voice is not strong and clear and projecting well in his portrayal of Anakin because that, too, IS THE POINT.  This is someone brittle and fragile and unstable, who is coming unhinged and you’re supposed to feel awkward and uncomfortable around him. When you listen to him, it’s not a FUCK YEAH villain moment, but the tragedy of someone crumbling into this horrible, awful tragedy. This is someone who does not really believe what he’s saying, but he’s literally quoting Palpatine’s lies (“He’ll betray you just as he’s betrayed me.” / “You were right.  The Jedi betrayed both of us.” - “The Sith are not afraid of the Dark Side of the Force.” / “I do not fear the Dark Side as you do.” - “Good is a point of view, Anakin. […] yet they are considered by the Jedi to be –” “Evil.” / “From my point of view, the Jedi are evil.”).  This is someone who does not really believe in doing this for the Republic, but in a justification for the horrible things he’s done. That’s why he goes from “I have brought peace to the Republic” to “I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire” in the span of like two minutes, because it doesn’t really matter what he’s grasping for, just that he’s reaching for something, anything to justify the horrors he’s done, the children he’s murdered, the innocents he’s attacked, the loved ones he’s betrayed. I think that lack of core central beliefs often gets written off as Anakin not being a clearly written character, when I think the truth is that he’s not supposed to have a clear, solid point of view.  That, instead, we’re watching someone who is falling apart, who is scrambling to justify his horrible actions, who is coming unhinged in a really ugly, awful way and that is the point.  Having him be coherent about his motivations would have taken away the heart of what was so awful and painful about his fall, what was so heartbreaking and tragic about his fall.

I’m still not over how well Reva Sevander fits into the storyline of not just Star Wars but specifically Anakin Skywalker’s story, that she’s not just a Jedi youngling that he brutally killed her family, but that the whole point of her character was that she was on the same trajectory as he was. “You have become the very thing you have sworn to destroy,” Obi-Wan says to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. “Have I become him?” Reva sobs to Obi-Wan in Obi-Wan Kenobi. She swore to destroy him and very nearly became the thing she herself swore to destroy.  She rationalizes it, she says she wants “Justice.” when she goes after Luke Skywalker, a youngling like herself with a family willing to die to protect this child, just as the Jedi Knights died protecting their younglings, their family.  Just as Anakin rationalized what he was doing, that he was doing this for Padme because he couldn’t live without her, this was the only way he could become strong enough to save her. Both are just excuses for their own pain and suffering and their desire for what they want, not what the people they love want.  Both come from places of understandable and deeply empathizable pain, they’re both characters that my heart aches for. But Reva stops herself, she chooses mercy at the last moment.  She honors her family, they are at peace because she chose to spare the youngling. Anakin does not stop himself, he chooses to slaughter the children every step of the way.  He loses his family, Padme and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, all of them, because he refuses to stop, to embrace mercy, even here in this show, he murders a child yet again. Reva’s story isn’t just filler for this show, she is central to the themes of Anakin’s journey, she is a reflection of what he could choose at any point, while also being a voice given to one of the Jedi younglings that he struck down.  She is absolutely VITAL to show that Anakin Skywalker chose this and continues to choose it every day.

"hands are made for holding" not in star wars. in star wars theyre made for geting chopped off..

EWAN MCGREGOR | Vanity Fair | 2024

You’ve heard of one shots, now get ready for none shots! It’s when you think of an idea for a fic and then don’t write it