ROTS musings about Anakin and his loss of self confidence
"Love can't save you. Only my new powers can do that."
I've been thinking about this statement of Anakin's for quite a while. It's rather interesting that Padme trusts his abilities, but Anakin doesn't. He's convinced that only when he has gained additional powers will he be able to protect Padme.
It's really sad that Anakin has stopped trusting in his abilities. Because when I look back to episode I, he's very self-confident:
He advices Jar Jar not be be fearful: "Fear attracts the fearful. He was trying to overcome his fear by squashing you... be less afraid."
And despite having never won a podrace before he's convinced that he's going to win the race on Boonta eve: "...but Kitster's right, I will [win] this time."
He's quite proud of his abilities as can be seen when he shows the droid and the podracer he built to Padme. He's also convinced that he can "fix anything".
So what has happened to take away this self-confidence from him? Actually there are many things adding up to it, much more than the death of his mother:
- Anakin is presented to the Jedi Council and not accepted for training.
I think this must have hurt badly, especially because of the reason why he's found lacking which is his attachment to his mother. ("What's wrong with that?" Anakin wants to know of the Jedi.)
In addition to the pain of rejection, he must be extremely frightened at this point because what will happen to him now? Will he be sent back to Tatooine? Or to some orphanage? It seems the Jedi have not been very specific about this. Anakin is not be trained, but they have apparently mentioned no alternatives to him.
- Qui Gon is killed in battle.
Anakin used to be absolutely sure that nothing could harm a Jedi. "Noone can kill a Jedi" he says to Qui Gon at one point. I believe that becoming a Jedi for him meant to become a true hero, someone who's so far above other mortals that it would be impossible to kill him. Seeing that Qui Gon could be killed not only takes away his father-figure and protector, it also makes it frightfully clear that Jedi are not the immortal heroes he thought them to be.
In episode II, there are many more reasons to be found.
It's noteworthy that in the beginning of episode II, Anakin is doing quite well:
We learn that he rescued Obi-Wan from Gundark during a mission, he successfully senses the poisonous creatures in Padme's room and saves her, he manages to save Obi-Wan from falling and forces Zam Wesell to crashland. However, during the chase of Zam he also loses his lightsaber for the first time.
After this a lot of things don't work out for Anakin:
- The worst is, of course, his failure to come to his mother's aid on time.
The sequence of events here is really important when one wants to understand ROTS. Anakin dreams that his mothers is in pain. He does, however, not go off on a rescue mission immediately, because Obi-Wan seems to think Anakin's visions are just dreams and "dreams pass in time". Now if Anakin had followed his visions sooner, he might have been able to save his mother. So yes, it's understandable that he thinks he needs to do something immediately when he starts dreaming about Padme's death. The last time he waited and things turned out very badly.
So Shmi's death ultimately causes Anakin to lose faith in himself ('Why didn't I listen to my visions?', 'Why wasn't I strong enough to prevent her from dying in my arms?'). As a side effect he also feels let down by Obi-Wan ('Why couldn't my master see that my dreams were not just dreams, but mere visions?'). I think it's possible to interpret his accusation "Obi-Wan is holding me back!" partially in this light.
- The slaughter of an entire Tusken tribe ultimately causes Anakin to lose faith in himself as well. He knows that his actions are morally wrong, even if he has a hard time admitting it. And he realizes that he's not the Jedi he should be.
- After failing to save his mother, Obi-Wan is in danger. At this point, Anakin is so deeply shaken and has lost so much of his self-confidence that for once he's just going to do what the council demands, i.e. stay exactly where he is at the moment and not do anything. In the movie, it's very obvious that he wants to come to Obi-Wan's rescue by the way he snaps at Padme ("He's like a father to me."), but he just feels that he can no longer succeed in protecting the ones he loves. It's Padme who gives him a way out by deciding to go to Geonosis and if Anakin wants to fulfill his mission of guarding her he will just have to come along. It's Padme's trust in him that gives him some hope again.
- Things don't turn out right though:
Instead of a successful rescue mission, both Anakin and Padme get captured. During their capture, Anakin's lightsaber doesn't just get lost, it gets damaged permanently. While Padme is in mortal danger, he's chained to a conveyor belt. (I love the symbolism of this. It's so evocative of Anakin's total helplessness. In fact the whole sequence feels like someone's worst nightmare!) In the end, it's R2D2 who saves Padme for the moment. Anakin and Padme are both condemned to death in the arena.
- Another failure: Anakin cannot stop Padme's fall from the battleship and is not allowed to go back for her as he and Obi-Wan have to caputure Dooku.
- Anakin's final failure in episode II is in his battle against Dooku. He rushes into battle without heeding Obi-Wan's advice and risks both his and Obi-Wan's life. It's good to see that he manages to save Obi-Wan from Dooku's fatal blow. During the course of the battle, he loses his right arm, though.
At the end of episode II, Anakin has a whole list of failures to look back on which must shake him up badly. He has lost much of his self-confidence. He's also determined to never fail like this again. Obviously, being just Anakin has not been enought to keep his mother, Obi-Wan and Padme safe. Therefore gaining new powers becomes extremely important to him.
We also have to take into account that Anakin grew up as a slave. While he's a self-confident slave ("My name is Anakin and I'm a person."), he still has no power over his and his mother's fate. Therefore a position of power must look very good to him.
I find it quite touching that Anakin is willing to share his position and his power with others, i.e. first with Padme, then with Luke. It makes it clear that Anakin/Vader doesn't want power for power's sake, but in order to achieve a greater goal together with someone he loves.
*****
Some thoughts about Palpatine and why he is ultimately disappointed by Vader:
George Lucas says that Anakin had double as much power than Palpatine, Vader due to his injuries was "only" 80% as powerful.
While that's very technical, the important statement behind is that Palpatine wanted to create the perfect Sith: More powerful than any Sith or Jedi before, a charismatic leader. That Anakin was very handsome probably didn't hurt either. :-)
But in the end, his apprentice doesn't surpass him in power, so in a way his great plan has failed.
I also think he must have felt that Vader was still tied to his past. In ESB and ROTJ I always got the feeling that Palpatine was impatient with Vader because he still felt an attachment to his son. Vader tries, of course, to hide it, but he isn't all that good with hiding his emotions.
And while Palpatine enjoys being evil simply because for him evil is a worthy goal, Vader always seems to need a justification. He doesn't want to believe his evil, instead he needs to believe that he's bringing peace and order and justice to the galaxy. That might have annoyed Palpatine after awhile - from his point of view this must be a ridiculous attachment to idealistic values.
I've been thinking about this statement of Anakin's for quite a while. It's rather interesting that Padme trusts his abilities, but Anakin doesn't. He's convinced that only when he has gained additional powers will he be able to protect Padme.
It's really sad that Anakin has stopped trusting in his abilities. Because when I look back to episode I, he's very self-confident:
He advices Jar Jar not be be fearful: "Fear attracts the fearful. He was trying to overcome his fear by squashing you... be less afraid."
And despite having never won a podrace before he's convinced that he's going to win the race on Boonta eve: "...but Kitster's right, I will [win] this time."
He's quite proud of his abilities as can be seen when he shows the droid and the podracer he built to Padme. He's also convinced that he can "fix anything".
So what has happened to take away this self-confidence from him? Actually there are many things adding up to it, much more than the death of his mother:
- Anakin is presented to the Jedi Council and not accepted for training.
I think this must have hurt badly, especially because of the reason why he's found lacking which is his attachment to his mother. ("What's wrong with that?" Anakin wants to know of the Jedi.)
In addition to the pain of rejection, he must be extremely frightened at this point because what will happen to him now? Will he be sent back to Tatooine? Or to some orphanage? It seems the Jedi have not been very specific about this. Anakin is not be trained, but they have apparently mentioned no alternatives to him.
- Qui Gon is killed in battle.
Anakin used to be absolutely sure that nothing could harm a Jedi. "Noone can kill a Jedi" he says to Qui Gon at one point. I believe that becoming a Jedi for him meant to become a true hero, someone who's so far above other mortals that it would be impossible to kill him. Seeing that Qui Gon could be killed not only takes away his father-figure and protector, it also makes it frightfully clear that Jedi are not the immortal heroes he thought them to be.
In episode II, there are many more reasons to be found.
It's noteworthy that in the beginning of episode II, Anakin is doing quite well:
We learn that he rescued Obi-Wan from Gundark during a mission, he successfully senses the poisonous creatures in Padme's room and saves her, he manages to save Obi-Wan from falling and forces Zam Wesell to crashland. However, during the chase of Zam he also loses his lightsaber for the first time.
After this a lot of things don't work out for Anakin:
- The worst is, of course, his failure to come to his mother's aid on time.
The sequence of events here is really important when one wants to understand ROTS. Anakin dreams that his mothers is in pain. He does, however, not go off on a rescue mission immediately, because Obi-Wan seems to think Anakin's visions are just dreams and "dreams pass in time". Now if Anakin had followed his visions sooner, he might have been able to save his mother. So yes, it's understandable that he thinks he needs to do something immediately when he starts dreaming about Padme's death. The last time he waited and things turned out very badly.
So Shmi's death ultimately causes Anakin to lose faith in himself ('Why didn't I listen to my visions?', 'Why wasn't I strong enough to prevent her from dying in my arms?'). As a side effect he also feels let down by Obi-Wan ('Why couldn't my master see that my dreams were not just dreams, but mere visions?'). I think it's possible to interpret his accusation "Obi-Wan is holding me back!" partially in this light.
- The slaughter of an entire Tusken tribe ultimately causes Anakin to lose faith in himself as well. He knows that his actions are morally wrong, even if he has a hard time admitting it. And he realizes that he's not the Jedi he should be.
- After failing to save his mother, Obi-Wan is in danger. At this point, Anakin is so deeply shaken and has lost so much of his self-confidence that for once he's just going to do what the council demands, i.e. stay exactly where he is at the moment and not do anything. In the movie, it's very obvious that he wants to come to Obi-Wan's rescue by the way he snaps at Padme ("He's like a father to me."), but he just feels that he can no longer succeed in protecting the ones he loves. It's Padme who gives him a way out by deciding to go to Geonosis and if Anakin wants to fulfill his mission of guarding her he will just have to come along. It's Padme's trust in him that gives him some hope again.
- Things don't turn out right though:
Instead of a successful rescue mission, both Anakin and Padme get captured. During their capture, Anakin's lightsaber doesn't just get lost, it gets damaged permanently. While Padme is in mortal danger, he's chained to a conveyor belt. (I love the symbolism of this. It's so evocative of Anakin's total helplessness. In fact the whole sequence feels like someone's worst nightmare!) In the end, it's R2D2 who saves Padme for the moment. Anakin and Padme are both condemned to death in the arena.
- Another failure: Anakin cannot stop Padme's fall from the battleship and is not allowed to go back for her as he and Obi-Wan have to caputure Dooku.
- Anakin's final failure in episode II is in his battle against Dooku. He rushes into battle without heeding Obi-Wan's advice and risks both his and Obi-Wan's life. It's good to see that he manages to save Obi-Wan from Dooku's fatal blow. During the course of the battle, he loses his right arm, though.
At the end of episode II, Anakin has a whole list of failures to look back on which must shake him up badly. He has lost much of his self-confidence. He's also determined to never fail like this again. Obviously, being just Anakin has not been enought to keep his mother, Obi-Wan and Padme safe. Therefore gaining new powers becomes extremely important to him.
We also have to take into account that Anakin grew up as a slave. While he's a self-confident slave ("My name is Anakin and I'm a person."), he still has no power over his and his mother's fate. Therefore a position of power must look very good to him.
I find it quite touching that Anakin is willing to share his position and his power with others, i.e. first with Padme, then with Luke. It makes it clear that Anakin/Vader doesn't want power for power's sake, but in order to achieve a greater goal together with someone he loves.
*****
Some thoughts about Palpatine and why he is ultimately disappointed by Vader:
George Lucas says that Anakin had double as much power than Palpatine, Vader due to his injuries was "only" 80% as powerful.
While that's very technical, the important statement behind is that Palpatine wanted to create the perfect Sith: More powerful than any Sith or Jedi before, a charismatic leader. That Anakin was very handsome probably didn't hurt either. :-)
But in the end, his apprentice doesn't surpass him in power, so in a way his great plan has failed.
I also think he must have felt that Vader was still tied to his past. In ESB and ROTJ I always got the feeling that Palpatine was impatient with Vader because he still felt an attachment to his son. Vader tries, of course, to hide it, but he isn't all that good with hiding his emotions.
And while Palpatine enjoys being evil simply because for him evil is a worthy goal, Vader always seems to need a justification. He doesn't want to believe his evil, instead he needs to believe that he's bringing peace and order and justice to the galaxy. That might have annoyed Palpatine after awhile - from his point of view this must be a ridiculous attachment to idealistic values.