I couldn’t bare to have this beautiful fanart show up shrunken on the dash because it’s a lengthy pic, so I settled for two parts. Personally I love this depiction of their outfits, check out those sweet sleeves on Anakin.
Can we talk about how this one panel tears down the idea that Vader hated Obi-Wan beyond all others? Yes, that is certainly a statement that could be taken as scornful, though I read it as at least somewhat wistful. No matter what tone he says it in, and surely it would be with relish and anger, he had to think it first. He does not call Obi-Wan an old fool, nor does he call him a dangerous renegade. He levies no insults at Obi-Wan at all. He’s an old man who thought he could help gifted children.
He recognizes that Obi-Wan wanted to help him. And rather than blaming Obi-Wan for fucking him up, he essentially shoulders the blame as that gifted child for being impossible to help. He actually blames Obi-Wan only for optimism. His destiny, after all, was predetermined. Obi-Wan thought otherwise, but that is not a crime worthy of hatred.
And I kind of get on about this because I think there is literally no canon evidence that Vader directed hatred or energy toward killing Obi-Wan between their duels. Rewind from their pitiful duel on the Death Star, and what do you have? Twenty years of Obi-Wan living in peaceful exile. The EU conjures up reasons for why Vader personally did not hunt down all the Jedi, both creating Inquisitors for us and at times having Palpatine personally counsel against it as a detriment to Vader’s growth as a Sith. But the point remains that Vader did not focus pursuit on Obi-Wan. Rewind further to the duel on Mustafar. Amid Anakin’s ranting, he tells Obi-Wan “Don’t make me kill you.” He waits for a solid declaration of intent from Obi-Wan that a fight must commence. That is not obsession and it is not drive to see Obi-Wan’s death. While they both prepare for the duel they know is inevitable, on both sides, they require that last push to make them fight. It is not an uneven assault where only Anakin pursues combat because he specifically wishes for Obi-Wan to die.
Back to their final, pitiful duel. I know that people like to characterize it as murder since, well, murder and heavy breathing are pretty much what Vader does best. It only barely fits the criteria, since Obi-Wan not only lowers his weapon, but outright declares that when Vader strikes him down, he will become more powerful. He intends for it to happen. Vader is the instrument of his suicide.
How does Vader react? With fury that Obi-Wan denies him even his vengeance? No. Obi-Wan is an old man who thought he could help gifted children. He was mistaken. Now, Vader is well and truly abandoned for Obi-Wan has given up on him and living in a world that has him in it.
This is, in many ways, a sadder interpretation than the more prevalent idea that Vader obsessed over vengeance every hour of the day.
Hayden takes a lot of flak, you know, for what he did, what he didn’t do in his performance…but the one thing that I will always love about Hayden’s performance as Anakin/Vader is…there’s a vulnerability there. And I think that’s one of the reasons why George cast him. George was looking for a James Dean-style actor that could be vulnerable, could be sensitive. And there’s this moment as he’s laying there on the table, and that mask is lowering and it’s JUST about to go on his face–there’s this panicked look in his eyes at what’s about to happen to him. That scene just kept playing over and over in my mind.
Jason Swank, on the ‘Revenge of the Sith’ 10th anniversary and what scene kept him up the night he saw the film (via izzythehutt)
This short scene from “Slaves of the Republic” give an interesting insight about Anakin & Jedi Order:
despite living in Jedi Order by ~10 years, Anakin is still traumatized by slavery
looking how Obi-Wan is willing to take a child on dangerous mission and let Ahsoka play the role of slave raises a question about Jedi’s altruism. As much as Obi-Wan’s acceptance for her plan was born from pragmatism (”If you can’t produce a prize valuable enough to bid on you might not even gain admittance to the auction”) there is a little concern for Ahsoka’s safety and how the experience of being / playing slave will affect her afterwards. She may be
promising padawan, but she is still a 14? 15? years old kid.
The fact that Ahsoka thought that playing the role of slave could be seen as similar to being bossed around by her master and how Skywalker reacted [that’s NOT FUNNY] raises a question how young Anakin felt about calling his mentor and other Jedi as [his] masters? Did it bring some traumatic memories? Did anyone explain him it was a way to show a respect toward older person, not some sign of slavery? Was there someone who helped him to adjust into Jedi Order by really understanding his life experiences and not just telling him “let it go”?
I get the feeling that both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan – and probably most of Jedi – didn’t understand slavery and its extremaly traumatic effect on people what at least for me implies that Anakin by ~10 years struggled with his past without much of real support…
