And I think this notion of ‘loving people, but acknowledging that you don’t possess/own them, they have free will and are their own person’, ultimately ties to what made Luke resist the Dark Side, as opposed to Anakin.
Like, let’s put aside the fact that Anakin was essentially groomed by Palpatine for 13 years, and that in ROTS he was cornered so that he’d have to choose between two bad things… at the end of the day, he made a choice.
On Death Star II, Luke was given was also backed into a corner expected to make a choice between two bad options. And yet, contrarily to Anakin, he chose a third path, and did two things:
He had faith in his friends and in his father, he trusted them.
He let go of his fear for his friends and his anger towards his father.
Like a Jedi would.
Which Palpatine considered to be a weakness… he was wrong.
Luke came to the Death Star II knowing that he would either convince his father to turn, or die trying. He accepted this notion. He also had faith that his friends would be successful in their mission without his help (unlike in ESB where he ran to save them only to have them save him).
Anakin just wouldn’t do any of that.
He didn’t have faith in Padmé’s strength and ability to survive childbirth, or in Obi-Wan’s good intentions towards him, or Ahsoka’s independent spirit and skills. If he’s with them, it’s fine. But if he’s not, he just worries sick.
Fact is, ever since his Mom died, he sank his claws into every relationship he had and just. wouldn’t. let. go. Because he thinks that, if he did… holy crap they’re in danger! Why? Because he’s not there with them, that’s why!
A Jedi is trained to let go of anything that they have no control over. It’s pointless to get scared or angry over something you can’t do anything about.
And to paraphrase, Anakin’s solution to this is:
‘Then I’ll just control everything. I’ll become the most powerful Jedi ever. That way, I’ll never have to be afraid of letting people go.’
Which is just unhealthy. A Jedi doesn’t seek power. A Jedi is selfless.
But whatever, in ROTS, he’s, like, the 3rd strongest Jedi in the Order, anyway, right? Only Yoda and Windu are more powerful, and it’s mainly because they’re older.
And yet, despite all this power, he’s confronted to the reality that: Padmé may die. Which, if he was good at taking his own advice and thinking rationally: everyone may die. Like, that’s part of life. But he’s sleep deprived, stressed, pressured by Palpatine and by the Jedi (who are, themselves, also pressured by Palpatine).
And immediately, he thinks: “oh shit, Padmé will die, I’m losing control! What do I do?! Quick, I need a solution!” A solution presents itself in the form of Sidious, who makes him a bargain: his wife’s life, in exchange for the lives of his adoptive family.
And Anakin takes that bargain.
Luke, falters too.
His faith in his friends is shaken when Palpatine shows him that they’re getting slaughtered by the still-operational Death Star II and Vader threatens to turn Leia to the Dark Side.
However, he snaps out of his rampage and sees Vader’s mechanical hand… just like his own…
… and he comes to the realization that:
‘The only way I’ll be able to control everything is by becoming this monster in a mask… that’s where the path to power leads… no, I won’t become this. I’m a Jedi, like my father before me.’
Luke may be angry at Vader, this metallic heartless monster on the ground… but his love for Anakin is greater. He makes the hard choice and turns his back on the Dark Side, the easy path.
He lets go of his fears and his anger and shows compassion.
Which in turn, inspires Anakin to finally do the same.
Anakin lets go of the pain he feels for having killed and betrayed his wife and his Jedi family. He lets go of the anger. He even lets go of his own primal fear of death. Because this boy - who only knew the monster in the mask - loves him nonetheless.
And he can’t let that die. So in that moment, Vader dies, and Anakin, the Jedi, is back.
And there’s a lot interpretations about how Luke resisted because he’s a ‘gray Jedi’ or something, because he accepts his inner darkness, yada yada… personally, I prefer Lucas’ interpretation. That all these movies are about the dangers of giving into greed and selfishness, never letting anything go. And that, in spite of all this:
“Children teach you compassion.”
Luke teaches Anakin a different type of love. One that isn’t possessive, but selfless and compassionate.
So when my mom was going back to school for her masters, I was a little kid and got enrolled in the on-campus pre-school where they give people going into child care professions some hands on experience while also offering a free place to drop off your kid when going to class.
Anyway I found the portfolio they made of me back then and honestly this one entry almost made me cry when I got to the end.
“i am a monument to all your sins” is such a fucking raw line for a villain it’s amazing that it came from halo, a modernish video game, and not some classical text or mythos
also “you’re not brave, you’ve merely forgotten the fear of death. Allow me to reacquaint you.” Is the rawest line and it’s from dominus ghaul from destiny 2’s vanilla story when it first released.
dat-physics-boi
How can we forget the quote that sums up this entire reblog chain:
Why do you people feel profound thought has to come from high places? The gutter looks at the stars too
“For every kid that dreams up the electric lightbulb, there’s one who dreams up the atom bomb.” - Mr. Electric, The Adventures of Sharkboy And Lavagirl (2005).
so weird how in english some words are really just used in expressions and not otherwise… like has anyone said “havoc” when not using it in the phrase “wreaking havoc”? same goes for “wreaking” actually…
