Why Anakin Is The Hero Of The Story
For Those of You Who Have Never Watched the Clone Wars Animated Series, Go. Watch. Dave Filoni Saved Anakin’s Story.
I think I have only watched the prequel movies once. I remember being angry at Lucas for several reasons before even watching them, his horrific add-ins to the re-release upon the re-release of the original trilogy hadn’t benefited those masterpieces at all.
Han Shot First FFS! Grrrr.
Everything he had done with regard to the original movies felt like a cash grab. Then the prequels came out and I hated Anakin and never connected with any of the other characters. I barely remember the movies, I am not even sure I watched the third one in the series all the way through. I do remember thinking, “Well, Lucas destroyed his own franchise. Wow.”
And then I came across an animated series called Clone Wars, and I loved it. It was Star Wars, it was a story, it was character-driven, it had heart and it had Anakin as he should have been portrayed in the movies, which is as one of the greatest Jedi that ever lived, not as a whiny brat who had a creepy obsession with Padme and was a narcissist.
I never understood after watching the prequel movies how Obi-Wan could have been so fond of Anakin even years later when he’s talking to Luke. In the original trilogy you get a definite sense that Anakin was someone worthy of respect, of admiration, none of which you see in the prequel, but you do see it in the animated series.
Dave Filoni, as you all know now from the live-action Star Wars Series Mandolarian etc, is a storytelling genius, and he has a deep love for all Star Wars lore, whether it’s tapping into obscure toys to stuff that happened in the books or comics, to giving fans subtle things they’ve always wanted, “May the Force be with you. And also with you.” I mean come on! Genius writing.
But above all that he understands story and character. Lucas does not and that was very evident in the prequels. I have been watching this show about ILM on Disney Plus and it explains so much about who Lucas is. (It’s called Light and Magic, go watch it. It’s fascinating and I give mad props to Lucas for his technical visionary foresight and ambition.).
The prequels for him were more of a chance to showcase everything he could now do with digital filmmaking, most of the advances in digital filmmaking had come from ILM so he wanted to play with all the new toys. And he did. Visually the movies were amazing, writing-wise, they were cringeworthy, to say the least.
In Clone Wars Animated Series, however, while Lucas is part of it in an advisory role, the writing is all Filoni. I think Lucas realized what he had done to the characters he loved and decided to try to fix it with Clone Wars, and it worked.
You will love Anakin from the moment you see him in the animated series. He’s a confident, kind, wonderfully compassionate leader of troops who inspires insane amounts of loyalty and trust in his decisions. He’s funny, he’s not spoiled and you see his relationship with Padme as a healthy adult relationship, (at least for several seasons before their situation creates some issues). Above all, you see the man that Obi-Wan is still mourning in the original trilogy. You see Anakin as a hero, not a failure. And he isn’t a failure. Not in the least.
As you watch the Clone Wars series you see that Filoni was driving towards another reason why Anakin falls to the Dark Side, a reason that has nothing to do with ego or hate or anger, but exhaustion. Exhaustion from the endless war that he had been fighting since childhood, a war that no matter what he or the Jedi do they seem to lose ground day after day after day, a war that takes the lives of his clone troopers who he views as family, a war that takes fellow Jedi day after day and a war that he just wants to win and have over and have a more normal life.
He’s frustrated, angry, and irritated that the Jedi Council refuses to listen to him but the thing that I think really sets him on a path to the Dark Side is what happens with Ahsoka. Now I am not going to put spoilers in here but I will state that the lack of action by the Jedi Council to protect one of their own from accusations is what sets the real seeds into Anakin’s mind that the Jedi aren’t the honorable keepers of peace and followers of the Light Side of the Force that he was trained to believe in.
Filoni does a masterful job of slowly weaving in more and more seeds and plot points to show just how worn down and frayed Anakin’s faith in the Jedi is and how it tortures him to watch the consequences of the Jedi’s absolute adherence to their code that is obviously failing and costing the lives of millions around him.
Now, yes, Palpatine is playing both sides masterfully and you see plenty of that in the show (and I still have NO idea how the Jedi never sensed a Sith Lord sitting right there), but you can see that even Obi-Wan starts to wonder about how they can keep getting things so wrong.
But back to how Anakin is the hero. It’s simple, he did the one thing no one else in the galaxy could and he fulfilled the prophecy to perfection. He brought balance by wiping out both sides.
“But he slaughtered children!” Yes. He did, but, as others have mentioned, the Jedi had no qualms creating an entire Clone Army who they knew were being programmed to die for their cause. Although to be fair, there were some qualms..kind of.
The Clone Wars Animated Series goes into how the Clone Army was created, and it’s fascinating really, but when push came to shove, the Jedi Order fell in line and knew they were paying large sums of money for genetically altered humans to use as cannon fodder. So they’re hardly saints.
(Also, the other reason I love the series is you get to see the Clones as characters and people and there are several eps where it is just the Clones’ lives and what they continue to go through as the war drags on.)
Then there’s the fact that the Jedi took force-sensitive kids and basically raised them in a cult for all intents and purposes.
By wiping out the Jedi, Anakin removed one half of the out-of-balance Force, the other half was Palpatine. As you watch Clone Wars, you will see that Anakin was the only apprentice that Palpatine held any affection for. When he calls Vader “My old friend,” it’s not meant in a mocking way, it’s accurate and you see their friendship grow in the animated series.
Now, yes, Palpatine was also grooming Anakin to be his apprentice, but there is a level of respect there as Anakin consistently impresses Palpatine over and over again and they have a lot of interesting discussions throughout the series. You’ll never see Palpatine threaten Vader if he fails as he does Dooku and others.
One never gets the impression that Vader fears Palpatine, which you certainly do with Dooku.
I wish in the Obi-Wan series that they had written Vader’s dialogue with a bit more of his humanity still in it than you see in Clone Wars. I know they were showing the transition to when Anakin becomes so consumed by the Dark Side that he is essentially a lap dog of Palpatine but I felt there were some missed opportunities there.
It is that friendship between Anakin and Palpatine that allows Vader to betray him in the end. No one else would ever get as close as Vader could, nor would Palpatine ever let his guard down around anyone else. When Palpatine dies and Anakin dies soon after, the Force is in complete balance, because there is no longer a conflict between the two halves.
With the Jedi and the Sith both removed the Force is in balance. It’s Anakin that really brings peace and wins the war for the Rebels, not Luke.
There are fan theories that Anakin was secretly working for the Light Side all along. I don’t think if he is he is doing it consciously, but there is an episode in the animated series that really brings Anakin’s true strength into focus. He is given a choice to take the place of a powerful being who is the Father of the Light and Dark side of the Force (they’re all entities of course) and keep the darkness from escaping into the universe.
During the episode, he sees his future, which is then wiped from his mind, but he chooses not to stay and keep darkness locked up because he wants to keep Obi-Wan and Ahsoka safe and feels like he has to keep fighting, however, he shows that he can control both entities that embody the Light and Dark, and does it fairly easily as well.
I don’t think he ever loses that ability especially as Luke keeps saying that he feels the good in Anakin. I don’t think Anakin ever loses that strength to harness both sides, but as they hint in multiple ways in the Clone Wars, Anakin wanted the war to end and I think by the time he becomes Vader he truly didn’t see a difference between Jedi and Sith, he just wanted it all to stop.
It wasn’t until Palpatine betrayed him and tried to kill Luke that Anakin steps up and uses his strength to do the one thing that the Jedi always told him it was bad to do, care for family and have attachments. It’s his rebellion against both sides of the belief systems that bring peace.
The Jedi tell you to not have attachments or give into your feelings, the Sith say relish in your hate and anger…but it’s only when you find that balance in between that you can do the right thing and that’s what saves Anakin, and the universe, in the end.
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