Hernalt posted:With great power _should_ come great responsibility. Jedi have access to, for lack of better words, zero point energy. Such demigods require a concrete shell of containment so they don't zap mere mortals kneeling outside the demi-pantheon. Attachment is one breach of containment, and as of the end of AOTC, Kenobi was looking the other way. Was it loyalty to Qui-Gon or a certain confidence in himself that he could handle the prize bull? Kenobi apparently had great confidence that Anakin could handle playing with fire, and if Anakin prevailed through an indiscretion but achieved his great calling, Kenobi would look the wiser. But Anakin's containment failed and he had a meltdown. Considering the energy transfer rate (power) available to a Force-sensitive person that elected to learn some of Sidious' tricks, I find the word "failure" apt for Kenobi.
Hernalt posted:How would Qui-Gon have reacted / dealt with a Padawan Kenobi having a fling with a Senator? I hesitate to think that Qui-Gon would tell his young Padawan, 'Well, you will do what you must.'
Hernalt posted:This now occurs to me: In light of the prequels and Mustafar, Vader in the original trilogy has no fleshly fingers, hands, or arms. So his Force choke is entirely mechanical. It becomes plausible that Sidious' Force lightning requires fleshly fingers to direct, and that Vader could not do it himself since he has lost his hands. Can any lightning be shed on this?
xx_Anakin_xx posted:Yes but in all of the analysis we are still left with the big question: What did Anakin return to in ROTJ? What principles, compassion, ideologies, etc., did he turn to in his head to base any distinction between what he and Palpatine represented and what Luke represented? If he'd lost all capability for compassion, he'd have none towards Luke, his son, who he desired to save. He'd not be able to make the statement: "you were right, tell your sister...". Right about what? There was still good in him - what good? I'll tell you - it was the good of 23 years before and the time prior to that when he was trained under Obi-Wan, who passed on values, morals, ideals, etc., to Anakin. That was still all there, if buried deep inside and that is all he had to draw on in his last minute redemption in ROTJ. So I don't see Obi-Wan as a complete failure in terms of Anakin. He helped to build the character of a lad that gave him something to fall back on in his ultimate decision to do the right thing, for a compassionate purpose, imo.
jc1138 posted:Good point about Shmi, DRush76. If I were Obi-Wan, and my friend and protege did what Anakin did, I would feel that I had failed in not helping them through their difficulties. If I were Obi-Wan I would feel that I should have fostered a relationship wherein he Anakin could have come to me with what was going on and that I would have helped him through it instead of putting him off with lectures and rules. Perhaps Obi-Wan believes that he failed Anakin because of his pride in being a teacher. Maybe Obi-Wan thought that he was doing the right thing by lecturing Anakin so much. There is that I believe very telling line: "I thought that I could train him as well as Yoda. I was wrong."