Conflicting views on attachment between the OT and PT

George has been saying for a while that it is Anakin's feelings for others, his attachment to them, that leads to his fall to the dark side. Jedi's aren't supposed to develop relationships like that, which is why they're trained at such a young age.

Yet in the end, it's Vader's love for Luke that brings him back to the light side before his death. Vader got emotionally attached to Luke, and this is what redeems him in the end.

So why the two conflicting presentations?

 

No! No different. Only different in your mind.


Think of Anakin's situation as how Luke rushed off to save Han and Leia at Bespin, at the expense of focusing on his training and combating the greater problem.

Vader's love for Luke was unconditional (encouraged!). He wasn't trying to possess Luke or make Luke do something or bend him to his will. He wasn't building his life around what HE wanted, the way Anakin wants to ensnare Padme, or how he wants to stop things from changing (re: his mother).

When Vader saves Luke, it is a selfless act, one done purely because he loves his son and wants his son to survive. He knows he could die because of it, and that's fine with him.

I think you may simply be misreading the semantics. Vader is ATTACHED to Luke, in a controlling, myopic, "obsessed" (as the crawl tells us) sense, in ESB. He truly finds his path in ROTJ when he gives his own life to send Palpy on a scenic tour of the reactor shaft.


EDIT: Clear as mud? It was difficult for me to put into words, as emotions always are! But you raised an interesting question.


Rick McCallum loves you! (EDIT: That's a funny thing to say in this thread, lol)

 

But the love that Anakin feels for his mother and Padme doesn't seem any different than his love for Luke. You don't think he'd have risked his life to save either of them as he did for Luke when he grabbed Palpatine?

 

His mother... maybe, just maybe. That'd be an interesting scenario. Let's not forget that in the films he was never forced to defend her against anything more than some Tusken Raiders. We may never know.

BUT -- remember that when Obi-Wan is captured in AOTC by them frightening droidekas in the hologram, Obi-Wan who is 'like his father', he doesn't go out of the way to save him; he makes an excuse ("You heard Master Windu!"). Padme has to make him go.

Would he give his life to save Padme? I don't know... I am leaning towards no. When she falls from the gunship in AOTC, note that he doesn't jump out of the window to go get her, but instead yells "Put the ship down". Yet he's willing to jump out of a speeder into traffic to go kick Zam Wesell's butt. Interpret that as you like.

I have always believed that Anakin is more in love with being in love than with the actual Padme person, though many disagree with me.

I have a personal idea for an Episode III scenario... that Palpatine is going to be zapping Padme with Force lightning... and Anakin's just gonna watch, nod sadly and walk away.


Here's another thing to think about. Padme (presumably) freely gives Obi-Wan the twins to hide them. Would Anakin have done that? If HE had been in charge of keeping the twins safe from Palpatine (let's pretend it was Padme who turned into Vader--work with me here), would he have let go of them, entrusted their control to someone else... or held onto them, thinking he could keep 'em safe from Palpatine himself?

Anakin saves Luke because Luke's life is worth saving.
Anakin would save Padme or Shmi because he wants them alive.


It isn't a black-and-white issue, as Anakin's "encouraged to love" speech in AOTC tells us.



Rick McCallum loves you! (Unconditionally.)

 

Very well-explained, I'll have to give that some thought.

Rick McCallum seems to love everyone. He should be more discriminating. You wouldn't want people thinking he gets around the town too much.