Right then. This is part of a rather confused thing I posted on the JC boards. We were discussing Anakin's redemption and what would have happened to him had he survived the Battle of Endor. Do NOT expect a wellwritten essay - this is just some random thoughts put together in a rather odd way. Still. I thought I had a few points. Feel free to offer comments, critique or other thoughts.
As for redemption, and what would happen to Anakin had he survived ROTJ... It's a nasty question, that one, and one I find rather hard to answer. Dismissing it as easy would be... well, too easy. (Okay, so I lied. I'm going to keep on rambling.) Now, don't expect a coherent and eloquent presentation of the solution to this problem, 'cause I haven't got one of those. Just a few general thoughs on forgiveness.
No abslute unforgiveability One the one hand, I don't believe in absolute unforgivability (as in, an act that cannot, for ever reason, under any circumstances, be forgiven, ever) - as far as I am concerned, that is not for me or anyone else to say; the decision to forgive, or not, always rests with the victim. Of course, some things are harder (and should be harder, as we should not accept people treating us badly) than others to forgive, but ultimately, there is no such thing as an act that must not be forgiven. However, the fact that Anakin is a massmurderer, torturer and generally bad guy, does not make him inelegible for forgiveness as such.
Consideration for the victims. Having said that, the mere fact that Anakin is genuinely sorry for what he has done doesn't necesarrily help his victims (certainly not the dead ones). They have been hurt, and they deserve justice. Now, justice is a complicated concept at best. What is justice? Can there any be any true justice? Me being pretty much an atheist, I tend to think not, and thus any attempts to achieve it will fail, succeeding only on a surface level. So what about the victims? Ruling out true justice for them, what else can they have? For me, they should be given whatever (within certain limits, of course) they need in order to... move one is probably not the right word. But make them feel as all right with what happened as possible. When someone wrongs us, they basically says "you are not important, you do not matter, and thus I can hurt you" and thereby robs us of our self-esteem and the all-important sense of having a worth. Will punishing the offender restore that? If that is the case, then punishment does indeed seem like proper response. Then again, it needen't be the only way to achieve a restoration of significance (yeah, so I'm arguing from Pargament's coping theory). If the offender expresses genuine regret, that means that he acknowledges that he was wrong to treat us in such a way - that is, he confirms our human worth and dignity. Though that will not (and probably should not) always be enough for us to forgive those who have, as they say, sinned against us, it may be a way to make peace with what has been done to you. So, I would claim that a offenders repentance indeed does matter when he is judged.
Political versus personal forgiveness. As I earlier claimed, no one else has the right to forgive another being for crimes committed against me. Yet we have political forgiveness, excercised whenever criminals are pardoned by the state, king, government or whatever. The significance of such an act (in a moral and philosophical perspective) I would rather not go into, as I'm not very knowledgeable about it (ask me again in a year when I'm writing my final paper on national reconcilation). However, from a pragmatic view one can see that under certain circumstance such an act would have beneficial consequences if it can be framed in such a way as to appear meaningful to the victims and the community at large (as in the case with Anakin, which will discuss in a little while).
Consideration for the offender. Not only do we need to consider the victims and the crimes themselves, but we also need to consider the offender. Are there any mitigating circumstance? Is he likely to re-offend? To me, the sole purpose of punishment is to communicate the idea that was transpired was wrong, and to decrease the risk of it happening again. Punishment as a teaching device, if you will. Obviously, there must be laws and lawful consequence to a breach thereof in a society but if there was mitigating circumstances, and if we can be reasonably sure that there will be no re-offence I would advocate lenience, as far as that is possible without further damaging the victims.
Uh, you get what I meant about random? There are more points to be made, but I'm a) too lazy and b) too confused by my own train of thought to make them all. If you have questions or critique we can continue the discussion. Moving on to applying these various ideas on the case of Anakin Skywalker... First it ought to be made clear that I'm an Anakin lover, and a lover of happy endings. The idea of him being punished too harshly doesn't sit well with me, and thus I constantly try to find ways to 'get him off the hook' without it seeming unbelievable or improper. (Okay, so I've done the unbelieveable and improper thing in the past, but hey - getting better.) Second, the death penalty is off the table right from the start. Sorry, just doesn't exist in my world. I know that the NR practise it, as did the OR, but... no. I accept that my truth is far from the only one, but I just won't compromise on this. You don't kill people. You don't execute them. In my stories, in my Star Wars, in my mind, good guys don't do that. Basically, accepting that the NR (who, admittedly, aren't all that good) would considering executing him (or anyone else) simply doesn't work for me - it is not an acceptable response. (Gee, fundamentalist much?)
That being said...
If Anakin is truly repentant, he should be willing to make whatever reparation he can. Follwing the Battle of Endor, the best way for him to do that (or so I think - I really want to write a fic about this) would be for him to take his place as Emperor and negotiate a peaceful transition into a democracy, preferably working closely with the Alliance. Say he does that - what then? Would he turn himself over to justice, following the return to democracy? I tend to think that he would. But then it gets rather complicated, because having accepted his help the Alliance might have a hard time suddenly shifting stance as to regard him once again as a an enemy. (Not that the would find it hard - but it would be hard to do so without appearing a little... hypocritical and thus loss respect and legitimacy in the eyes of the public.)
Of course, the Alliance could simply refuse his help, but that would be... ah... stupid, and I don't think they would refuse a chance to end the conflict and restory democracy without any more bloodshed. Then again, if they want to decry him as completely evil, and punish him without regards to his moral change (which, as I already argued, should be taken into consideration), they must do so. However, I will deem this scenario unlikely and leave it at that.
Here comes an interesting problem - for the galaxy at large, it might be better to let Anakin off the hook, pretty much for the reasons stated above, but for the victims that might not be desirable at all. Whose interest should take predecene? Most people in the galaxy haven't been harmed by Darth Vader - but those who have have often been harmed grieviously. Should future stability and happiness be considered more important than past hurts? I would argue that one should seek a balance, but as to how one does that I'm not sure. Sorry.
Some kind of public penance (a contrite apology or mourning rite at one of the sites of his crimes?) migth go a long way to acknowledge that both Anakin himself and the NR reconize that what he did was wrong (and, also as stated above, recognizing the worth and dignity of those offended). Is it enough, considering what he has done? Probably not. (Here we come back to the slippery concept of justice - what is enough? He has killed people. You can't really make up for killing people, can you? Nothing, neither forgiveness nor revenge, will bring the dead back. We can only strive to heal the living, as well as we can.)
But Anakin has suffered, as much if not more than any of his victims. Most of the pain he experiences is due to his own actions, and one might argue that he already has punished himself. Twenty-three years of solitary confinement and continual torture? I just find the notion of the mask and suit being his punishment highly appropriate. Poetice justice, if you will. If the question is about making him suffer, because he deserves to suffer for what he did, then this should fit the bill. Yet, would this make his victims feel better? I would say that they would want something that makes him pay specifically for the crimes he comitted to them. I have already noted why this might be problematic from a political point of view, but leaving that aside... Is it fair to demand that he should pay for every single crime? Taking into consideration that he already has suffered tremendously, truly regrets what he has done and strives to make whatever reparation possible - would that not be reasons enough for us to consider mercy a viable option? Mercy, after all, cannot be deserved, only freely given and accepted.
(I did warn you about this not being very coherent or eloquent, didn't I?) So. What's my point?
Um. Due to mitigating circumstance, his service during the Clone War and efforts to make reparation after ROTJ, genuine repentance I think he should be shown mercy. There would still be some need for public recognition of his crimes (truth commission, anyone?) and perhaps a formal punishment (no idea what that could be). Obviously the rest of his life should be spent in service of the Republic (the Jedi... whatever). Actually, the best thing would be for him to publicly acknowledge his guilt and be turned over by the NR to the (surviving) Jedi for judgement. They would, of course ('cause they're nice guys deep down!
) chose some kind of wise punishment that's not much of a punishment but more of an atonement, if you understand what I mean (yeah, back to the spend his rest of his life as a fully reinstated Jedi). Of course, Anakin might well demand to be punished (masochist punk that he is) but that's his problem...
Uh, yeah, I'm avoiding writing my final paper, but hey - at least this was a related subject!