Áine’s essay feelings on the tragedy that is the fall of Anakin Skywalker; 

First off, I would’ve probably hated Anakin and thought him a whiny piss-baby (and I certainly would not have cared when he became Darth Vader)  had I not watched The Clone Wars. I watched all of The Clone Wars before episode 3 and I was very reluctant to come to the conclusion Anakin was my favourite (he was annoying asf in the first two movies). So, if you haven’t seen The Clone Wars you probably don’t think that much of him, nor would you feel the utter grief that happens as he turns to The Dark Side.

Now when I say I love Anakin this is usually the kind of response I get;

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Let’s start talking about The Jedi Order, this order is just as much at fault for Anakin’s fall as it is Palpatine’s. The very notion that Jedi should be emotionless and be detached from everyone is so fucked up, it is not humanly possible to not form attachments to the people you work with, no matter how much the Jedi deny this attachment they all know it is inevitable (Obi-Wan forms an attachment to Anakin and loves him like a brother). So we have Anakin, a slave boy who couldn’t save his mother and was taken from his home to grow up with the Jedi and their warped beliefs. Anakin has shown great attachment to everyone he works with, he loves Ahsoka (his padawan, whom he calls Snips!!), Obi-Wan and obviously Padme. Anakin has even gone to great lengths to get R2-D2 back (an arc in The Clone Wars). He even forms a great attachment to his clone troops, and yet these attachments should be forbidden - he isn’t allowed to be who he is. When the stupid Jedi Council literally kicks Ahsoka out of the Order not bothering to trust her or Anakin, Ahsoka makes the decision to leave, a decision Anakin has thought about doing himself - the Jedi don’t trust him, they don’t trust each other. How could you keep peace if no one trusted each other? In episode 3 before everything goes to shit he is being constantly underestimated and not trusted by such Jedi as Mace Windu, Windu who throughout Anakin’s life as a Jedi has never trusted him and is constantly discouraging him. The Jedi aren’t supportive, if Anakin just had some people to trust about his fears of Padme’s death this whole thing could’ve been avoided, the whole reason he does turn to The Dark Side is to save her. 

And oh, is Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side the saddest thing I’ve ever experienced. I was beyond devastated when he turned, I genuinely felt betrayed. This poor boy just wanted to save Padme, yes he always had a connection to the Dark Side; it was a side of the force where he didn’t have to be an autonomous force-user, he could have emotion. But the thing is he never wanted to be Darth Vader, and that fucking kills me. 

In an arc in the Clone Wars he is shown his future as Vader;

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Now in this scene, he is shown what will happen but not why, and Anakin doesn’t ask why because he’s accepted it as fate, this is what is destined of The Chosen One, but he still wants to stop it; doesn’t want this destiny. By the time of episode 3 where Palpatine manipulates Anakin to become Darth Vader, Anakin has been worn down by the mistrust of the Jedi, having to deny who he is as a person to uphold his status as The Chosen One, again if he actually had support he wouldn’t need the help Palpatine offered. He doesn’t want to be a goddamn villain harming innocents, he is a good person, a person who just wanted to do what was right, yet the rules from the Jedi Order themselves were morally grey. (I mean taking kids from their homes to train them sounds an awful lot like Stormtroopers, hmm, where do you think Vader got the idea from?)

So, when Anakin becomes Vader I try my goddamn hardest not to picture Anakin under the helmet because he would never. Yet, that’s what makes it so tragic, it is Anakin - physically - trapped in a body he doesn’t want to be in. It breaks my heart every fucking day to see this has become Anakin, everything he never wanted to be. Anakin has never been free, he was born a slave, then under the order of the Jedi now under the order of Palpatine, just think about that for a second: Anakin has always had to serve to someone his ENTIRE life. The only time he makes a choice is to save Luke. Anakin has been abused for his power his entire fucking life, being The Chosen One the Jedi expected everything from him: to save the goddamn universe, Palpatine made him into the most powerful Sith the world had ever seen, no one ever wanted Anakin, they wanted his power. 

Anakin was denied a family, his fall to the Dark Side was to save them. So when Vader finds out he has a son and Palpatine lied to him he has no idea what to do. He’s shoved Anakin away and let himself be this monster, but there is just enough Anakin left buried very deeply inside him that he is able to save Luke. I mean just put yourself in his shoes, you became the worst guy in the whole galaxy and had to shut off who you used to be to save your family, only to have them “die” then twenty years find out they’re alive and you became this piece of shit for nothing, you became the very thing you did not want to be. Vader carries the pain that was leaving Anakin behind, he always felt too much and formed attachments too quickly, which is why he feels the need to kill Obi-Wan, and even his former padawan Ahsoka in the tv show Rebels;

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It is said when he was still Anakin, he felt abandoned by Ahsoka, she left him. One of the few people he trusted, left him. So as Vader he cannot have any remnants of Anakin, it is too painful, his turn to the Dark Side would’ve all been in vain, it’s not who he was supposed to become. 

We saw above, that Anakin did not want to be Vader, which is why Vader represses Anakin, represses the guilt, the shame. Could you think of anything more tragic? God. It physically pains me to see that my favourite character, ever, become the very monster he never wanted to be, a monster I hate, and he hates. I hate Vader so goddamn much for killing Anakin, for taking Anakin’s life away. Vader took away the life of Padme, Obi-Wan, Luke, Leia, Han and future generations like Rey, Finn and Ben… the whole galaxy is fucked up because of Vader’s killing of Anakin. Basically Vader is a piece of shit.

If Anakin Skywalker’s descent to the darkness isn’t the most tragic thing you’ve ever seen I don’t know how to help you pal. Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side is so much more than a ‘good guy loosing his way’ - it’s much more complex and tragic than people recognise. 

I probably missed a few points but :( also excuse my typos I’m tired