This blog entry was inspired by Jediholtech who said that she always wanted someone to write about these two very similar lines spoken by Anakin to two very different people:

"I will do anything you ask."

"I will do whatever you ask."

The first is said to Padme by a roaring fire on Naboo. The second is after helping Palpatine murder Mace Windu on a windy Coruscant night. The lines are deceiving though. They appear to be about someone else and what that other might want, but in reality both are about Anakin and what he needs to feel whole. Both lines reflect that while Anakin is no longer a slave in name his mind is still not free.

As a slave your will can never be your own. There is no autonomy. You have no real power over your life. You have no ability to determine your destiny as your fate is always in the hands of your master. Anakin, of course, lived this way as a child, and while it was a twisted sort of upbringing it was still the one that was most familiar. What do any of us do when things spiral out of control, when we feel desperate and confused? We revert to old patterns, because twisted or not they're where we feel the safest. When love was spinning out of control Anakin reverted to the old way. He submitted, he gave his will away, gave his power away, put his fate in someone else's hands. He chose his fate by giving the choice to someone else.

There can't be a slave if there is no master. If one is dominated by a slave mentality (or worse a shadowy slave mentality that lurks just below the conscious level - pulling the strings, but always just off stage to the main action) then one is never complete unless there is another stronger other. A slave mentality makes someone always half of a whole. Perhaps that is part of the reason that Anakin so desperately wanted to be one half of a couple. He never really felt complete without someone else, because for a slave the source of power is always located in someone else. However, Anakin took it one step further - his sense of Self was located in someone else. So much so that when it seemed Padme would die Anakin felt sure he couldn't live without her. Unfortunately for him, he found he could.

In ROTS when Anakin kneels down to his new master and pledges himself to the darkness, he finds himself in a position he has been in many times before. He is a slave again but to a new master. It seems strange that the boy who longed to be free is so quick to give his power away and enslave himself again, but it's a role that has never really left Anakin's sense of himself. However, this time when Anakin promises to do whatever it takes, the price is higher than ever.

It doesn't take long for Anakin to dream of finally being the master himself. He tells Padme that he's more powerful than the chancellor that he can overthrow him, but those schemes never truly come to pass. Not in the way Anakin imagines. Because one of the samskaras (impressions left on the mind from previous experiences) left over from his slavery is a complete misunderstanding of what true power is. Anakin associates power with ultimate control, and control over others. If Anakin could only let go he'd actually finally gain everything he seeks, but he can't do it because such leap of faith would be too scary for him to take. It would mean going it alone, and that is something Anakin cannot do. It would mean being willing to lose Padme and to sacrifice Palpatine. Instead, Anakin dreams of being the ultimate power but he never becomes the puppet master of the universe himself. Instead he remains a servant to someone else always doing what another, more powerful other asks, an attack dog on a very short leash.

But there's one other component to slavery that Anakin also remembers from childhood. Anakin was very careful as a little boy to not let on to his master what his full range of skills were. "One of the tricks to being a successful slave was to know things your master didn't know and take advantage of that knowledge when it did you some good." (TPM) It has always struck me that in the novelization of ROTS Mace Windu realizes just before his death that Palpatine trusts Anakin, but it becomes clear in Dark Lord, (mild spoiler) that Anakin no longer trusts Palpatine. Anakin is aware of the Emperor's tricks - sending him back to the temple, the scene of his first crimes to ensure his prison of shame stays locked tight. It's at this time that the other instincts of the slave mentality kick in. Vader will do anything the Emperor asks, but he will never let him see the full breadth of his abilities again leaving the door wide open for those with more compassionate eyes to notice the flashes of goodness that might still be there - the flashes of goodness that will be his master's undoing.

Well, Jediholtech, I hope that that lives up to some of your ideas, take as much space to comment as you like, and tell us what you think about those lines!
Thanks for the inspiring and insightful idea! Again this one's for you