One destiny, one love, one will, one truth, one dream

If you've watched the "tone poems" that were released for Episode 1, you may recognise the five meanings above. If you haven't seen them, I suggest you chuck your special features disk in your dvd player and watch them in the trailers section.

All five "poems" have a profound and resolute meaning to the fall of Anakin to the dark side, to his becoming a Sith Lord.

If you want a reminder to their content, read on:

One Destiny. Qui-Gon Jinn

It will be a hard life
One without reward
Without remorse
Without regret
A path will be placed before you
The choice is yours alone
Do what you think you cannot do
It will be a hard life
But you will find out...who you are

It certainly was a hard life for Anakin. But without remorse? Remorse means a deep regret for one's wrongdoing. Is Qui-Gon suggesting he shouldn't have any regrets for any wrongdoing? Maybe Anakin should have had regrets. If you followed the Clone Wars comics, you will have seen that when asked by Tusken Jedi Master A'Sharad Hett whether he would kill Tuskens for revenge again, Anakin simply said "yes". Definitely no regrets there.

Then, a path will be placed before him. No kidding. One of the most emotionally charged scenes in all six episodes is when Anakin is alone in the Jedi Council Chamber. He's just learned that Palpatine is the Sith Lord, and knows that Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin are going to arrest him. Anakin makes his choice. He makes it again when confronted by the scene in Palpatine's office - when Master Windu attempts to end the Sith Lord's rule. Minutes later, he finds out "who you are".

One Love. Shmi Skywalker

Don't look back, before you go
Eyes forward
Choices to make
Dreams to realise
Don't look back, before you go
Know the truth
Learn to let go
Don't look back, before you go
Before you leave...me

Again, choices to make, and these choices are centred on his dreams. He made his choice to leave his mother behind, and made his choice to seek revenge for her death. When more dreams would haunt him, he finally knew the truth, a terrible truth. It's a shame that he didn't learn to let go, even Yoda suggested that he do so. It's also a shame that he didn't take Qui-Gon's advice to "do what you think you cannot do", or even take heed to part of the Jedi Precepts; "There is no death, there is only the Force". Had he done what he could not do, had he let go, things would have been different.

One Will. Padme

There are things I cannot do
I cannot watch while people suffer
I cannot sit when something must be done
I cannot judge those who are different
There are things I cannot do
Run, hide, ignore
There are things I cannot do
But there are certainly things I will do

Anakin saw people suffer, saw them die. Throughout the Wars, he faced it often; on Jabiim with the Padawan Pack, on Aargonar with Bhat Jul, on Zaadja with Master Tohno, to name a few. He tried not to watch, tried not to ignore, to sit. He knew something must be done, he knew there were things he could not do. But when faced with saving the one he loved, he knew there were certainly things that he would do.

One Truth. Darth Maul

Fear
Fear attracts the fearful
The strong
The weak
The innocent
The corrupt
Fear...
...Fear is my ally

"I sense much fear in you" said Yoda to a young Anakin. Why then, was he allowed to be trained? Perhaps he thought that if Anakin were to be trained as a Jedi, then he would be free from being corrupted by the Dark Side. But it was not so. An innocent became strong, but he was also weak. He was too weak to stop being afraid. He was fearful, fearful of losing his wife, and so was corrupted. Fear became his ally, and made him strong. And, as in the Sith Precepts, where: "Through passion I gain strength, through strength I gain power", so did Anakin.

One Dream. Anakin Skywalker

What if dreams came true
And you could be who you wanted to be
You could do what you wanted to do
And you could help who you wanted to help
What if dreams came true
And the world opened up
And you were never, ever afraid
What if dreams came true
But dreams do come true, don't they?

I deliberately put Anakin's tone poem last. We all know what happened with Anakin's dreams. "I had a dream I became a Jedi." So he became who he wanted to be, and he tried to help. But again, he couldn't help the ones he loved, and in the end, he couldn't help himself. If he ever dreamt that he was never afraid then he was wrong. He became afraid, afraid of losing Padme. He dreamt that she died, but she died as a result of him being afraid. As she said in her own tone poem "there are things I cannot do" and she could not live with the truth, the grief. The truth about Anakin meant that their world ended. It was all to be so beautiful; together as a family, their world was to open up, but because of her husband's actions and his intent, the fact that "she truly, deeply loved him", the grief overwhelmed her and stopped her functioning. Because of Anakin, she lost the will to live, and Anakin's dream came true.

And that's why I think he deserves some sympathy.




The real Rogueish will return in due course.