Okay, I've taken a deep breath. I realized about half-way through my last entry that I'd bitten off way more than I could chew in 500 words or less. So, here is the first in a series of break-outs intended to hit on each idea in my last entry, "Life is Hell, You Become One With The Force"

Here, I'm going to look at why Vader's mask is the appropriate ironic punishment for Anakin's misdeeds. In ROTJ, we get a glimpse of Anakin's fall. When Luke removes the mask, we see a mis-shapen face without any real definition. We learn why this symbolism reveals a deeper truth when Lucas shows us how the mask was put into place. As a sidenote, I know that Lucas says the movies are meant to be watched One through Six, but I like the order they came out as I think it adds more drama.

In any event, Anakin's face in ROTJ lacks clarity and is close to a ubiquitous blob. Because of his final actions on Mustafar, Anakin/ Vader cannot become the powerful Sith Lord that Sidious thought Vader could be. I hypothesize (although its not really necessary for my thesis here) that Sidious did not realize that Anakin at full strength could not be controlled by the Dark Side. Therefore, the Force (maybe the Dark Side, I don't know) had to find a way to use Anakin.

Anakin fought out of control and in an over-confident manner. He allowed his emotions (anger, hate, fear, aggression, in this case) to control him. I think its a relatively well-accepted notion that Anakin was a better swordsman than Obi-Wan at this point in time.

Notably, Vader did not allow the hate to "flow through" him nor did he "unleash his anger" on Obi-Wan. He went even further than "giving in" to his hate. He relinquished control of his body and mind to his emotions. At this moment in time, he lost his identity. His identity was replaced my a mask, chosen for him by his Dark Master.

There are several good blog discussions about how Jedi and Sith react differently to emotions. Briefly, however, this is my plagiarized analysis. Jedi bury them, to a degree, and try to remove themselves from the effects of their emotions; meanwhile the Sith embrace them. The Jedi fall by neglecting their instincts and emotions. Sidious' fall occurs not when he become too powerful with the Force, but when he tries to control the Force itself (this is a different blog entry, for a later time).

I want to drive this point home, and I'm trying to do it from a few different angles: Vader falls to Obi-Wan when Vader stops focusing and utilizing his negative emotions (note how Sidious, at least partially, fries himself in Episode 6). He looses by relinquishing his center.

I do not believe that Anakin's transformation into Vader was complete at the beginning of the duel on Mustafar. Obi-Wan does sense a struggle (a conflict) in Anakin at times, and this is why Obi-Wan refers to him as Anakin, not Vader (I don't think it was a friendhsip thing). Before the end of the fight, Anakin himself is too powerful to be controlled by the Dark Side of the Force.

However, fate plays a trick on Anakin. Fate puts the inferior swordsman in a superior position. What is Anakin going to do to get what he wants? Sacrifice everything.

Anakin's final act of yielding to his primal urges (there are several that I will not address here) is what pushes him to the Dark Side. He cannot defeat Obi-Wan without the assistance of the Dark Side. This is why we see is Sith Eyes glow again at this point in time. He is calling on the Dark Side for assistance. This is Anakin's signature on his contract with the Devil.

Anakin learns, only too late, that you cannot trust the Devil. The punishment for allying himself with the Devil is that he lost his identity.

The mask, literally and symbolically, hides Anakin's face from the rest of the world. The mask punishes both Anakin for his misdeeds and for his loss of control. The mask is something he didn't choose and hides his true identity from the galaxy. He is therefore trapped inside an identity he did not create and his forced identity is one which he has no control over.

There's more to come in this series. Stay tuned, sports' fans. Thanks for taking the time to read this stuff.