a very limited defense of Anakin Skywalker

[elizabeth_hoot]

In my head, this post has always been the natural follow up to my Death Star rant, aka “why Luke was totally justified in blowing up the Death Star and certainly not a mass murderer.” Actually I'm not sure they have anything to do with each other, but anyway.

Comments

[elizabeth_hoot]

Re: Alderaan - I suppose it's that I don't seem as particularly guilty at all for it. I think he's morally complicit in the Empire's crimes in general, and especially those he's present for, but ... no more than any of the other higher-ups. And in this case less, because he does seem to have openly opposed it, and I'm not sure what more, short of treason, can reasonably be expected of him.

Re: Owen and Beru - yeah, I don't buy any of the EU: as canon, anyway. I mean, their interpretations are perfectly valid and it's great if it works for you or anyone else; there are things in it I've enjoyed myself. But I don't feel obliged to adopt anyone else's interpretations as my own - not even George Lucas', much less those of a bunch of third parties who had nothing to do with the creation of the movies anyway. (Especially when those third parties come up with ideas like mofferences, and Anakin's sacrifice not balancing the Force or even defeating the Emperor, and Luke and Leia's births being, alas, so different that their love can never be.)

Well, it's pretty clear from the movie that they're not keeping an eye out for anyone in particular, so I can't blame the EU for that. But it'd definitely be an interesting and very probable departure - though that may be a little because I really really like Vader-finds-out-earlier fics, whether we're talking eighteen years or six months. So I totally support this. :)