PT Why NOT send Anakin to kill Grievous?

Something that has bothered me for years...why not send Anakin after Grievous??? Yoda says "a master is needed with more experience" and then they vote to send Obi Wan. What bothers me is that Anakin just killed COUNT DOOKU, the idea that he could not handle Grievous is laughable at best.

 

Anakin's specific assignment at that point was to be Palpatine's "voice" on the Jedi council. How can he give the Council reports on Palpatine if he's hopping around the Utapaun sinkholes?

 

Funnily enough, the Council might have send Anakin to kill Dooku.... but not after Palpatine and Anakin himself had proposed it. They didn't want to accept orders from Palpatine; that's why Palpatine was wise to request that... He put that idea in Anakin's mind, and the council, mistrusting them both, was forced to find someone else.
It's the same as Palpatine appointing Anakin to be his representative... The Council didn't like it and that's why he wasn't made a Master.

 

Uhh, yeah - that's kind of the idea. If Yoda and the other Council members were suspicious of Palpatine and distrusting of his relationship with Anakin, they should have done whatever they could to keep Anakin as far away from Palps as they could. Utapau sounds like a nice likely location.

Here's an even better question - after Anakin tells Mace about Palpy being the Sith Lord, wouldn't it be a good idea to, y'know, have someone keep an eye on Anakin for a while? Make sure he stays out of trouble until the Sith Lord has been safely dealt with?

Anyhow, if I keep doing this, I'm going to have to start using the Plinkett voice.

 

At the time, the Council were more worried about Palpatine than Anakin's relationship with him. They wanted to use Anakin to spy on the Chancellor, and those surrounding him, because they believed the Sith Lord was close to Palpatine. As I said, given that Anakin's specific role on the Council at that point was to be the Chancellor's Voice, as in, report to the Council what Palpatine wants or doesn't want, and given that Palpatine suggested that Anakin should be the one to go and hunt Grievous, you can see why the Jedi would be reluctant to do just that. Plus, if Anakin's on the other side of the Galaxy, how can the Council keep an eye on him?

After Anakin tells Mace about Sidious's identity, Windu sends him to the Council chambers. The chambers are supposed to be a place of quiet contemplation - not only that, but it's at the top of a Temple filled with Jedi to watch Anakin, featuring Shaak Ti amongst others. But, though that was Mace's directive, if Anakin wants to leave, then the others don't really have the authority to stop him. It's not very "Jedi" to practically imprison one of their own.

 

"Anakin, I'm appointing you to be my personal representative in the Jedi Council."
1 hour later:
"Then Master Kenobi is up for the challenge. I'm surprised they didn't ask you for the job. You were the best choice, by far."
later:
"They don't trust you, Anakin."

 

The Council thought Obi-Wan was more skilled and thus was more suitable.

 

Even so, considering the two have been in so many missions together, it would make sense to send more than just 1 Jedi to kill the one guy whose death would bring the war to an end.

 

That's what they'd do if he didn't have his assignment to spy on the Chancellor.

Palpatine did everything to separate Anakin from Obi-Wan's guidance (the only voice of reason and the only Jedi who actually care for him). He wanted Anakin to leave Obi-Wan on Grievous's ship. When that didn't work, he came up with something else. Always a schemer, Palpatine is.

 

face it Sidious is the Karpov/Kasporov of the chess world in the GFFA

 

Also, up until that point, Anakin was having a few too many confrontations with the Council, from being appointed to the High Council by Palpatine and demanding why he wasn't a Master, to confronting them on issues that he felt he should have been involved with, hence Palpatine suggesting Anakin should take on that mission. It might have been the Council showing Anakin they were in charge, not him or Palpatine.

 

I don't know about that. It seems to me outwitting these people is akin to Kramer dominating the dojo on Seinfeld. You don't have to wake up too early to pull the wool over the council or the senates' eyes.

 

Not only that, he was a better ambassador and leader. Remember, Obi-Wan doesn't just go to kill Grievous, he was leading the battle. Anakin was not ready for that.

What they should have done was get Anakin out of there and send him with Obi-Wan, but then again, they didn't know Palp was the Sith, and were trying to get Anakin to spy and get info for them.

 

The Jedi were not making sense. They were reacting emotionally. Remember . . . the Jedi were not perfect, even if many believed they should have been.

 

They believed Obi-Wan's saber style was better suited than Anakin's, for one reason. You send your best and Obi-Wan was it for that assignment. Not to mention that they believed they needed the Chosen One on Coruscant, both to keep an eye on Palpatine (they suspected the Sith was someone near to him) and hopefully duel the Sith once he was drawn out (by the Council sending Yoda to the Wookiees, etc.).

If not for the fact that Sid's plan was to separate Anakin and Obi-Wan, was the Sith, etc., the plan MIGHT have worked as the Jedi intended.

And in relation to the thread question: why should Anakin have been sent instead of Obi-Wan? Leave out the consequences which were unknown to the Jedi. Obi-Wan DID succeed alone - he beat Grevious and he did it without Anakin. So why do you think Anakin should have been sent instead?

They did not have 20/20 hindsight in the GFFA as we do so no one had any inkling that keeping Anakin behind would prove fatal to the Order when the goal was to take down Grevious.

 

I was going to mention this because I think they're absolutely right on this point.

Is there an in-universe source for this? I'm not aware of one, it's just a conclusion I came up with on my own.

 

Obi-Wan has faced Grievous and bested him multiple times in the past, on the Malevolence, twice during the Battle of Saleucami, and the Battle of Kamino. That's why he was chosen for the assignment. Anakin has never once before ROTS faced Grievous. See here:


Though, I don't know why they didn't choose Kit Fisto instead. He defeated Grievous with Jamaican style.

 

Don't they have similar styles, Obi-Wan being the one who trained Anakin? BOTH shows they're evenly matched.

 

I think a wiser decision could have been sending someone else to deal with GG. Obi-Wan was needed to keep an eye on Anakin.

 

No, they have almost opposing styles. They may be evenly matched, but they definitely don't fight the same way.

I think it's demonstrated quite well in their duel in ROTS.

Anakin is all brute strength, constantly coming forward, trying to bash his way through his enemies.

Obi-Wan is all defense. He falls back, and back, and back, looking for weaknesses, waiting for his opponents to make a mistake, to get tired, careless, frustrated, etc. Obi-Wan isn't as strong as Anakin, so he relies a little more on craftiness and guile.

Anakin would have had a tough time bashing his way through a 7ft tall cyborg with four lightsabers. (though Anakin might be strong enough in the Force to just toss him around like a doll, it doesn't really happen like that in the movies)

 

ROTS novel.

 

It's true in some situations (let's face it, old Vader wasn't known for his subtlety either) but I don't think it's that simple. Obi-Wan can be reckless (bursting through the window of the freaking skyscraper). Anakin can be unconventional (taming of the beast on the Arena).

Also, when they crash into the Invisible Hand, it's Obi-Wan who jumps out of his fighter even before full stop, lightsaber blazing. Anakin actually waits for it to stop moving.

It appears it's mostly the dark side's influence that makes Anakin to lose finesse and rely more on sheer strength (maybe because he feels that it's much stronger, why waste time on planning anyway).

I'm not so sure. I think GG would have lost in the end: it's practically impossible for a non force-user, however strong he might be, to win in a lightsaber duel with a very strong force user. Even Obi-Wan successfully uses force push against Grievous.

 

Agreed, the Force would have won the day for Anakin, but I still see Obi-Wan as the better match up.

When it comes to just dueling, if Anakin tries to overwhelm Grievous with the strength of his blows and rapid fire offense, he'll fail. Grievous could probably block Anakin's blows with one arm, while having three lightsabers to counter with. He might just be able to slip one through. Obi-Wan gains the upper hand by falling back steadily until he gets Grievous' timing down and sees an opening in his attack, allowing him to subtly poke his lightsaber through and take off one of Grievous' hands. Anakin at times has shown fantastic defense, but he's also shown lapses in concentration.

 

The council was trying to put Anakin in his place. Unfortunately, he put them in theirs.

 

Anakin would probably get frustrated and give into his anger and stuff.
Whereas Obi-Wan is cool as a cucumber.