It's been a while since my last entry, but here I am, and I was browsing the other blogs when I read this one, which inspired me and really caught my attention:
http://blogs.starwars.com/anakinside1/20
An excellent blog. In fact, I feel kind of bad mooching off the ideas, but anakinside1 always has such inspiring thoughts, I can't help myself. (I hope that plug helps make up for it).

Anakin (as detailed in the blog above) continually turned to others for not just guidance, but emotional sustinance. He should have looked into himself, to his own feelings to discover what *he* must do.

Who to turn to?

He felt he needed his mother, because she kept him alive as a slave. And he lost control when he lost her.

He fell in love with Padme, and there wasn't even anyone else he could have turned to for guidance had he wanted to, concerning love. It was a secret from everyone, especially because he was in the Jedi Order, the most sacred, prominent, and encompassing aspect of his life; and it forbid even considering love.

He needed Obi-Wan as a freind and ally against everything that confronted him.

He shed blame of his own flaws to others. To Obi-Wan for holding him back, and again for "taking Padme from him."

He turned to and accepted Palpatine soley because he beleived that he simple could not live without Padme.

Every one of Anakin's decision is not a real one of his own moral values. He considers what he thinks he should and should not, and wants to do, but every decision is makes really only boils down to who he is pledging his allegiance to.

Why? Two reasons

First, Anakin had his own problems. His psychological problems about this are well detailed in the aforementioned blog. He submits to other people, his subconsious is still that of a slave. Which really brings us to the problem of his upbringing. His flaws of attachment can also be attributed to him growing up with his mother. His childhood was not that of a normal Jedi. He should have been taken early, but wasnt, so he wasn't always indoctrinated with Jedi philosophy, he learned about real life, and not just any life, a hard life. The life of a child slave living in a slum part of the slummiest planet.

That is an unideal background for a Jedi, to say the least, and it caused many of his psychological flaws as a Jedi. Add the facts that he was very powerful in the Force, amplifying his problems, and he's ripe for corruption by the Dark Lord of the Sith, who he's already attracted the attention of. And add in my next point, and he's not going to be getting better any soon.

Second, the teachings of the Jedi Order were flawed. Anakin is the perfect example of how. The Old Jedi Order was not compassionate enough. Not that they weren't nice or humanitarian, but they weren't nurturing of the real feelings and things that Jedi realistically must face. Basically, Jedi refused to look inward, to what made them human (, zabrak, frog thing, whatever). In doing so, they also lost connection with the real universe and how ti functioned. And that's exactly what Anakin got a taste of as a child, and it proved to be entirely poisonous to the Jedi order.

Anakin himself, when making the distinction to Palpatine, once said, "Sith think inward, only of themselves. Jedi are selfless, they think only of others." Such is the word of the Jedi teachings. And that just doesn't work out for Anakin.

Anakin once turned to Yoda for help about his emotional issues (I wrote a blog about it, too). Hmm, Anakin only looking up for answers, never in, what a shocker. Yoda was his usual wise self, realizing exactly what the problem was, and gave the perfect solution... for a Jedi like Yoda. But Anakin was unique. He already knew attachment. He couldn't prevent it. And he certainly couldn't give it up.

So that led to some problems

The Jedi Order should have allowed for greater personal inquiry, to discover what really worked for individuals, because not every person will become a perfect Jedi by adhering to the strict unifrom rules of the Jedi. Anakin was unique. So unique, that his own incompatabilities with the Jedi way forced him down the Dark Path, and brought to light all the flaws of the arrogant hierarchy and ingrained ideals of the Jedi Order.

When Anakin gave in to what he felt was right, he knew he must do everything in his power to save Padme. Since the Jedi Order exluded the mere premise of love for Padme, let alone the idea of supporting Anakin's quest to save her, he had no alternatives when the time came. He was forced to submit to Darth Sidious.


And So,

Anakin had this problem of always turning to others. The Jedi Order only enforced it. And that made it worse when he was at odds with the rest of the Jedi teachings, and he was forced into the hands of the Lord of the Sith.

If Anakin had been able to look inward, if the Jedi Order had been able to teach him to look inward, many of his problems would have had much nicer outcomes.


So that's it then?

Well, not quite. There's also Luke. Luke didn't revive the Old Jedi Order, he created the New. Obi-wan and Yoda tried to teach him the old ways, even after they saw how greatly they had failed. They taught patience, concentration, devotion to the Jedi. They said that Vader could never be redeemed. But Luke, he simply didn't believe them.

He was a real person. He grew up in a world without the detachment of Jedi. He knew, within himself, that he had to leave to help his freinds on Cloud City. He felt, he knew, that Anakin Skywalker was still alive and could still overcome Darth Vader. And despite whatever Obi-wan and Yoda tried to make him believe, he was absolutely right. He was able to see the truth and break away from the old Jedi ways.

He showed his strength as a hero and a Jedi, and redeemed the Jedi Order and the galaxy, by doing the thing that Anakin couldn't and the Jedi wouldn't allow, he looked inward for truth.