Those of you who know me know it is out of the ordinary for me to post a blog about Anakin/Darth Vader - well, unless it is in direct correlation to my favorite Star Wars character (that would be Luke for those of you who are unfamiliar with that little piece of knowledge ). But why not step outside the box, do something a little out of the norm for me? (Now, that would be out of the norm for me! )

I was at our local Star Wars shop (every town has one, right?) earlier this week, and I was chatting with the proprietor about - surprise, surprise! - Star Wars! Both of us love ALL SIX of the movies, and we have a good time discussing (as I'm sure you can imagine ) everything Star Wars.

At one point, my friend posed this query: "Was it Palpatine who planted (in Anakin) the vision of Padmé dying (thus intentionally precipitating her death)? Or did Anakin's dream happen naturally, the way they come to all Jedi?"

As I drove home - and ever since - I've been churning this question around in my head. I never really gave this idea any thought, but it has possibilities. Hmmm, I wonder what the answer is . . .

Honestly, I always have thought the images came to Anakin as images often come to the Jedi (kind of like premonitions we meer mortals sometimes get, or, better yet, déjà vu). But, upon this dear man's posing, I can see good ol' Palpy planting that idea in Anakin's all-too-easily-manipulated mind. It would be just one more example of Palpatine's control of the entire situation pertaining to Anakin - who already was assuaged by guilt and despair over losing his mother.

Could it have been just coincidence that Palpatine told Anakin about the greatest Dark Lord of the Sith's ability to cheat death? And Palpatine (intentionally) let it slip to Anakin late in ROTS that he (Palps) knew about Padmé and Anakin. (One would have to be blind not to see there was something between the Senator From Naboo and the Hero Of The Republic.) It's no wonder, given Anakin's feelings about his mother's death, that Palpatine would exploit that the first chance he got. Planting the idea that Padmé would die in childbirth would be a masterful coup on Palpatine's part. The moment Anakin had that vision, he was a slave to the Dark Side. He just didn't realize it.

Maybe we'll never know for certain under what circumstances Anakin experienced that troubling vision that led to such despair and suffering. It wouldn't be the first time a quandry arose over one facet of the story, and it certainly won't be the last. That's one of the aspects that makes Star Wars so fascinating. We wonder. We pose. We consider. We question.


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Upon returning home from the local shop, I settled on the our sofa in our Star Wars Room, and switched on the television to kill a little time before I had to start dinner. I flipped through a few channels until I happened upon one of the Cinemax stations airing - A New Hope! I came in on the scene where Darth Vader grabbed two of his elite TIE fighter pilots . . . well, you know the rest.

If my husband had come home at that moment, he would have asked, "Why aren't you watching this on dvd?" A pertinent question since the tv version was not in widescreen (I really don't like to watch a movie on tv if it isn't aired as it appeared on the big screen. You lose too much detail if it isn't broadcast in widescreen.), and it wasn't in high definition (we actually bought our HDTV just to watch a sharper image of SW! ). "That would take too much work," I would have responded in a dead-pan voice.

To make a pretty darn good afternoon stretch into an exceptional evening, ANH was followed by TESB and ROTJ. I ask you - does it get any better than this?

Considering my attention was on Star Wars, we settled for leftovers for dinner. Whose attention could be diverted to cook up dinner when Luke, Leia and Han were cooking up mischief of their own on screen!

(Just thought I'd share this little sidebar with you. )

Have A Great Day!

MTFBWY

JMW

p.s. While I type this entry, I have my Itunes library of songs serenading me in the background. I have the program set to "shuffle". It amazes me how the majority of songs playing are Star Wars songs (Meco and Weird Al, with a smattering of SW Christmas songs. . . . a little early for the latter tunes, but they are Star Wars. ). You'd almost think some force beyond my control is at play here.