It appears as if my entries are still meeting with a little success, and I can feel the pressure mounting up. After all of the many nice comments I have received, I hope I can still live up to expectations. However, I am determined to continue writing as long as people continue to read my entries.

Which brings me to today's topic: Anakin the slave boy. We all know that he was a slave when the Jedi picked him up, but it's easy to forget about the affect that the experience could have had on him. So that's what's on the menu for today's entry, and I hope I've got your attention. Let's get right into it.

As mentioned above Anakin was a slave when he was younger, but in truth, he was a slave his entire life. After leaving Tatooine he went right into the Jedi Order, which, with it's strict doctrine's and policies, could very well be like slavery. They tell him what to do, how to do it, where to sleep, and what to do all day. While it might not be slavery in the same way that he was to Watto, he was still a slave to the Order, doing everything he was commanded to do. Then after he defected, and became the evil villain Darth Vader, he became a slave to Palpatine, forced to do his bidding, and confined to a mechanical suit.

Throughout his entire life Anakin was a slave to someone, or something, and his life was never truly his own. When he left Tatooine he felt that he was going off to have adventures, to see the galaxy, be a hero. They were idealistic dreams to be sure, but it's what he thought he was getting into. Instead he found a life with an Order that didn't want him in the first place. At least when he was a slave he had friends who he could laugh with, he had people who he could love. As a slave he had the potential to be free to do whatever he wanted to do with his life, whether it was become a celebrated Pod-Racer, or to settle down on a moisture farm with a family. The point is, that with the Jedi those kinds of dreams were lost to him.

Instead, when he came to Order ready for adventure, he was met with a strict set of rules, forbidding him to love anyone, to have a family--meaning he couldn't even have contact with his mother--or to do anything without the Council's or his Master's permission. To a boy who was so excited to finally be free from slavery, who thought that he could do everything he wanted to that being a slave had kept him from, this has to be devastating. It would be like telling the African Americans, when the emancipation proclamation was enacted, that they could be free as long as they lived in certain areas, did exactly what certain people told them to do, and couldn't have any family. Well, that doesn't sound very appealing does it?

See this is one of the reasons that I feel Anakin was so impatient with the Jedi and their teachings. He always felt like he was being held back, he even said as much to Padme after the loss of his mother. He was impatient because he wanted the power and prestige in order to do the things he wanted to do. He wanted to be a full Jedi Knight so that he could have the adventures that he had always dreamed about, and so he could have a little bit of freedom, and only have to listen the Jedi Council. He wanted more power so that he could be free.

Then after he had become a Knight, he realized that he still wasn't free, and didn't have the freedom that he wanted. He still had to hide his marriage from the Council, and tip toe around it. He still had to listen to the Council and do exactly as they told him. The thing about that is that the Council never really trusted him, so they didn't let him go on certain missions, or do certain things that they'd let others, because of that distrust. So he was stilled confined to very strict rules, without a lot of leeway in the matter. Of course, the next step would be to become a Jedi Master. Maybe if he was a Master, then he could have the freedom to do what he wanted, to have his adventures. So imagine his ire, when he was told that he couldn't be a Master, but he could sit on the Council. Imagine that you were told you could 'own' a business, but that you couldn't make any decisions about your business, couldn't run it how you liked, didn't get the benefits that any other business owner would receive, but you could call yourself the owner. This is what happened to Anakin when he was appointed to the Council. He didn't have the prestige that the others on the Council had, and couldn't access the same things that they could. If you read the novelization, then you know that Anakin thought that there were files in the Jedi Library that could possibly help him save Padme, but he couldn't access them because only Masters could.

This is one of the things that pushed him over the edge. He wanted the freedom to do the things he had always dreamed of, but he was always denied those possibilities. It's another reason why he was always seeking power, and why he was so lustful after it. He wanted the power to attain his true freedom, the power to go and free all of the other slaves on Tatooine, and the power to finally be able to openly be with his wife.

He thought he saw that possibility in Palpatine and his teachings. With Palpatine he saw a friend who had always encouraged him to reach for his dreams and supported him in his decisions. He thought he saw true freedom with Palpatine and the Darkside, or at least a better shot at it than he had with the Jedi. Obviously he was mistaken. He became enslaved to a new Master, with probably a lot less elbowroom than he had before. Sure he could have anything he wanted in the Galaxy, a wife, kids, knowledge...as long as it fit in with his Master's plans. The worst the Jedi ever did to Anakin when he went against their wishes was reprimand him. The real threat with Palpatine, though, was death. At this point I am speaking more from the OT, and not ROTS, so bear with me here. It was clear that the Emperor had everyone on a very short leash, and if anyone rubbed him the wrong way, he would kill them. This is why I think Vader had such a short temper with the people around him; it was something he had learned from his Master. He even said, "the Emperor is not as forgiving as [he]." I am sure that Vader feared upsetting Palpatine for fear of his life, if you read the EU this becomes especially apparent.

In ROTS Anakin had the potential to become more powerful than any Force-User ever. Palpatine alluded to this fact to Yoda right before they began their epic duel. Anakin realized this, and began to entertain ideas of overthrowing the Emperor, and ruling the galaxy himself. While some might see this as mere megalomania, and power lust, I see it as the realization of a dream for Anakin: the ability to be completely free. Free from a Master, an Order, and free to do whatever he pleased. He wouldn't have to hide his marriage, or his unborn child (remember that at the time Anakin did not know Padme was pregnant with twins), he wouldn't have to listen to anyone else's orders, and he wouldn't have restrictions on how he lived.

By that time (Revenge of the Sith) freedom had become an obsession to Anakin, for he had never truly had it. He felt that the only way to attain it was by having more and more power. This conviction was so strong that he gave up his one chance to live the life he wanted. He refused Padme's offer to go away with her, to raise their child away from the politics and everything else, and in so doing lost the chance at true freedom. All because of a belief that power was the only way to attain it.

He did finally have the power to do what he wanted to do, but he lost the duel with Obi-Wan. His resulting injuries caused him to lose a great deal of his power (George Lucas has said that he was not as powerful after the Duel because of his injuries, in many interviews). He became trapped within a mechanical suit, without which he could not live. He was no longer strong enough to overthrow the Emperor, making it so that he had no choice but to do as the Palpatine commanded, or else risk losing his life. He became a slave once more.

This of course only fuels his hatred even more, so he does what he must to make it feel like he is in control. Notice his cruelty to the officers around him, or the way he tortures Han and Leia, and I assume Chewie on Cloud City (I know it was a way to lure Luke towards him, but it is still an example of how he enjoys what little power and control he has).

Only at the end, did he take control of his own life, and learn the true meaning of freedom. He didn't kill the Emperor for the power, as he had wanted to before, but for his son. He realized that freedom wasn't about what he wanted, but it was about the ability to choose. He chose to turn back to the Lightside, to save his son, and in so doing found his freedom. He knew that his choice would most likely kill him, but he knew that it was his choice, and that no one could control that.

In the end, Anakin became free, because he learned what it truly meant to be free. Once he had done that, he realized that he didn't need the power he had always sought to attain. Maybe if he would have chose to go with Padme things would have been different. So in a way, Anakin was a slave to more than Watto, the Jedi, and Palpatine. Anakin was a slave to an idea; the belief that power could give him what he wanted. So he made every decision based on that belief to attain more power.

Well, that's enough of my babbling for today, but I hoped you enjoyed today's entry, even though it is a tad long. As always I am open to comments, so if you didn't like the length, or grew bored, or had any thought at all about today's entry, make sure you post a comment and let me know. Once again thanks for all of your support, and great comments. Can't wait to hear from you guys.

--DLZ