Anakin's path to darkness too steep! (SPOILERS)

[Phaedrus]

How does one go from angst over the possible death of your wife to slaughtering children in such a short time?

I'm troubled, and I love my wife and my brother Obi-Wan.
I'm upset because these visions really scare me.
I'm confused because this evil Sith Lord keeps talking to me.
I'm unspeakably evil and I slaughter everyone in sight, and kill my wife.

TOTALLY unconvincing.

Almost ruined the whole movie for me.

 

[Jdvn1]

The power of the dark side is strong.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Point one: When one is dealing with the Force, one has to remember that outside influences exist. You may have to turn to the Dark Side, but once you do, it can influence you as much as you influence it.

Point two: This is Star Wars. Character development always happens at super-speed.

Point two-point-five: Considering the fact that it takes more time than Vader's turn back to the light side in RotJ, it's at least consistent with what we've seen before.

 

[fett527]

The power of the dark side is strong.

As is the power of running time.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I disagree.

Here he is, the Chosen One. Obviously the most powerful Jedi of his generation, possibly the most powerful alive. He's been saving the council since he was eight years old, he's saved Obi-Wan's life around ten documented times. He is completely dedicated to galactic peace. This is a guy who has done a lot of exceptional work and regularly put others first.

How does the Council treat him?

They leave his mother in slavery. They forbid him from getting married. He gets his place on the Council only because Palpatine forced their hand and even then Anikin gets dissed by being denied the rank of master. When he reveals to Yoda that he worried about a loved one dying, he's told to "rejoice" for them.

On the other hand, Palpatine is cool with his being married and is offering him a way to keep his wife (and potentially child, Ani's not sure about that) from dying.

I'd turn. I'd turn even faster. You put the lives of my wife and daughter against the lives of a lot of other people and as far as I'm concerned those other people are in for a very bad (albiet short) day.

Hmmmm. Maybe I should practice with that force lightning stuff. It looks cool.....

 

[Hand of Evil]

The Chosen One or shall we call him the Eternal Champion?

 

[Desdichado]

How does one go from angst over the possible death of your wife to slaughtering children in such a short time?

I'm troubled, and I love my wife and my brother Obi-Wan.
I'm upset because these visions really scare me.
I'm confused because this evil Sith Lord keeps talking to me.
I'm unspeakably evil and I slaughter everyone in sight, and kill my wife.

TOTALLY unconvincing.

Almost ruined the whole movie for me.

It would help if you didn't leave out a number of steps there. Like, his murder of the sand people, his belief that the Jedi are purposefully excluding him from all kinds of things, his convincing that the Jedi are traitors, his constant non-help from exactly those who should have helped him understand what to do, like Yoda or Mace Windu.

He's not just "troubled" and "confused" and if that's all you got out of the movies, you really need to watch all of the prequels again, and wake up this time when they're doing something else besides fighting.

 

[Darrin Drader]

There's a couple things here that are being overlooked in the assessment.

Anakin was asked by the council to spy on Palaptine. He considered that a violation of the jedi code (which it was), and he believed it to be a betrayal of the trust he had with Palpatine. He saw the jedi as hypocritical, unpatriotic, and possibly dangerous to the survival of the republic.

The other thing is that Palpatine didn't make it sound like it was either black or white. He made it sound like he included the dark side teachings in a balanced system of beliefs as opposed to standing on dogma and excluding options.

I feel that those two issues, combined with the fact that he desperately wanted to save Padme like he had not been able to do with his mother are the main factors that led to his decision. Regardless, his decision was forced when Mace and Palpatine were fighting. It isn't like he could reconsider his decision after Mace had been killed.

Edit: forgot to add that the movie takes place over the course of several months, and Palpatine begins asserting his influence at the beginning.

 

[CrusaderX]

It would help if you didn't leave out a number of steps there. Like, his murder of the sand people, his belief that the Jedi are purposefully excluding him from all kinds of things, his convincing that the Jedi are traitors, his constant non-help from exactly those who should have helped him understand what to do, like Yoda or Mace Windu.

He's not just "troubled" and "confused" and if that's all you got out of the movies, you really need to watch all of the prequels again, and wake up this time when they're doing something else besides fighting.

Right. I watched Attack of the Clones again last night, and Anakin's scenes on Tatooine, after he slaughters the Tusken Raider men, women, and children, really foreshadow his turn quite nicely.

PADMÉ: Sometimes there are things no one can fix. You're
not all-powerful, Annie.

ANAKIN: (angry) I should be! Someday I will be... I will be
the most powerful Jedi ever! I promise you, I will even
learn to stop people from dying.

PADMÉ: Anakin...

ANAKIN: (furious) It's all Obi-Wan's fault. He's jealous!
He knows I'm already more powerful than he is. He's holding
me back!

ANAKIN hurls the wrench across the garage. It CLATTERS to
the floor. He looks at his trembling hands. PADMÉ stares at
him, shocked.

PADMÉ: Annie, what's wrong?

ANAKIN: I... I killed them. I killed them all. They're
dead, every single one of them...

ANAKIN focuses on her like someone returning from far away.

ANAKIN: Not just the men, but the women and the children
too. They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like
animals... I hate them!

There is silence for a moment, then ANAKIN breaks down,
sobbing. PADMÉ takes him into her arms.


I didn't even realize he talked about stopping people from dying back in Episode II. I think Episode III actually improved I and II a good bit.

 

[WayneLigon]

I'd turn. I'd turn even faster. You put the lives of my wife and daughter against the lives of a lot of other people and as far as I'm concerned those other people are in for a very bad (albiet short) day.

Thus why they have the prohibition against being married.

Yes, Anakin has done all those good things but the way he reacts makes me think he's just doing them to prove himself, as a way of denying the fear and anger he still feels. It doesn't matter in the least what he does, it's what is stil inside him that counts as far as him going to the Dark Side. He does it for himself rather than others, even as he tries to tell himself and Palpatine that that's not the Jedi Way. I think that's the reason he deals with the children the way he does. He's eager to (again) prove himself, this time to his new master. He's doing it for his family, he thinks, but again he's really doing it for himself.