PT Did Anakin Have Any Friends In The Jedi Order

Curiously, i found the Anakin-Padme relationship to be the dark side of the one of Han-Leia . Anakin and Han were a lot of points in common : they are impulsive, passionates, they are adventurers and have a pronounced taste for the risk ; while Padme and Leia are quiet, reserved but not at all shy, thoughtful, warriors and very committed. But the strength of the relationship between Han-Leia , it is especially that Leia is the Force-Sensitive of the couple. Indeed, we find that since the Rebellion until FOTJ, in spite of "this factor", she still remains the same as before, her place in the couple has not changed: she did not want to change it. Han always remains the "leader" of the family and she, the loving and attentionate wife who still stands by her husband even when she became a Jedi Knight. If it was the same configuration in the couple Anakin-Padme , the result would be just as good. But I think that the real problem is Anakin because unlike Han, who has had a childhood just as miserable and a first chaotic sentimental experience and who has, in spite of everything knew to keep "an open heart", a certain empathy, Anakin is contained as an oyster a bit as Dooku, to no longer suffer (losses of Qui-Gon and Shmi, betrayal of Tru...) by placing a barrier between him and all the other individuals (apart from Palpatine who knew how break this barrier by cajoling him constantly and giving him more importance and attention that it should have ---- just what Jacen did with Ben in the aim of creating a schism between Luke and Mara ... and Ben also). What makes that he pushed away, voluntarily or not, all those who wanted the help and who loved him (Obi-wan and Padme...) and attracted those who wanted the exploit (Palpatine, Jorus C' Baoth, Granta Omega ... ).
Thank you for reading me.

 

Wasn't in the other way round? Leia was the "breadwinner" and Han the "childraiser".

 

I do not speak as a parents as a couple relationship.

 

Even as a couple, I always saw Leia as the leader and Han as the follower (albeit one who's got plenty of assertiveness himself).

 

i don't think they can even be compared as couples. Han was at least around 30 and who knows how many women he'd been with. Although we don't know about Leia's dating life she was a bit more mature it seems , in that area , than Padme also. Han and Leia were like a romantic comedy at times, Anakin and Padme were like Romeo and Juliet.

 

It's interesting that Anakin in AotC is the same age as Leia (and Luke, of course) is in ANH.

You get the sense that Padme had been so exclusively focused on her career/duty for so long that, yeah, she didn't really have much experience - probably mostly she'd just dealt with guys who were after her because of her status as queen or Senator (or purely for her looks), meaning that she probably did have less experience than Leia in that area. Anakin, of course, comes across as completely inexperienced, which is not at all the case with Han.

I agree with this. I think the fact that they never got the chance to actually live together for any length of time added to the "treating the marriage as if it were still the honeymoon" aspect. Since Anakin would be gone for months at a stretch and then they might only be reunited for a few days or weeks at most, being together would always seem like a special occasion - they never managed to settle down into actual patterns of married life. So Anakin continues to idealize her and their relationship, whereas Padme never spends enough time with him that (with the exception of the Clovis arc) it becomes necessary to confront him about the problems in their relationship. Her line about "how long will it take to for us to be honest with each other" shows that she has realized some of these things we've mentioned - they way he tries to keep problems from her, etc. - but since they don't have to live with each other every day, it had never been urgent for them to work those problems out.

I’ve always been very interested by the way Anakin seems determined to categorize his relationships in as concrete a way as possible. You can really see this in the way Anakin continues to refer to Obi-Wan as "Master" long after being Knighted. In the Utapau arc, he even uses the present tense when he says "I'm your Padawan, just like Ahsoka was mine." He clings to that aspect of their relationship, even as he tries to assert his independence and strives for the status of Master that would make him Obi-Wan's equal. IMO, part of it is about needing a parental figure , part of that was probably just habit, and part of it because it had become sort of a term of affection, but I think part of it a way to reassure himself about their relationship. The Master-Padawan bond is basically the only relationship that the Jedi allow, and technically speaking, after Anakin was Knighted, he and Obi-Wan weren’t officially anything to each other anymore. If the Council had decided it was a good idea, they could have been split up and never assigned together again, and there would be no grounds to protest. So even though Anakin and Obi-Wan’s friendship is strong, it isn’t formal and concrete enough to satisfy Anakin’s insecurities. Calling Obi-Wan “Master” suggests even if Anakin was unhappy with the lower rank of being an apprentice, he still clings to the idea of being Obi-Wan’s apprentice—within the context of the Jedi Order, there isn’t any other official role for him to take in that relationship.

His marriage to Padme is a another good example of this because practically speaking, it would seem like keeping their relationship unofficial would make it easier to hide. But after losing his mother, his only blood family, I think Anakin was (perhaps subconsciously) determined to make sure he had someone who filled that “family” role, which is why he craved something legally binding with Padme. Even if no one else knew about it, he could be reassured that their relationship had been formalized in the most permanent way possible.

With Ahsoka, I think that despite his initial doubts, Anakin came to really like not just Ahsoka personally (though that’s obviously true, too), but the idea of having an apprentice. With his other relationships, Anakin was usually not the one in emotional control. In AotC, he sets his feelings out there and allows Padme to define their relationship; with Obi-Wan, he’s almost always the one looking for advice and emotional support rather than vice versa. So I think he enjoyed the idea of being the “Master” in the relationship for once—not in a creepy way, but in the sense that he was the one giving out advice, making decisions, being needed and admired, etc.

And then, of course, Ahsoka decided to walk away from the Order and proved that even though she cares for Anakin, she doesn’t need him in the unhealthy way that he needs people. Even though she admired him, it wasn’t the sort of blind idealization or desperation for approval that he’d experienced.

(The one I haven’t mentioned is, of course, Palpatine, who fulfilled all of Anakin’s desires for approval and attention while still supporting his ideas and emotions in a way which allowed him to feel in control).

So yeah. tl;dr, Anakin definitely has some deep-running issues when it comes to trying to relate to others as equals. A childhood of slavery messed him up big-time.

 

In relation to the vote, I voted he was an outcast. But he didn't seem to be looked down upon by the other Jedi. If anything many other Jedi looked up to him, but he was still separate in the fact that he had known life outside the Jedi Order, and seemed to miss it.

 

Yes. He sees love in terms in terms of control, power and security. I don't doubt he genuinely loved Padmé and Obi-Wan, but his ideal of love is screwed up by his childhood. He needs to be unconditionally at the centre of someone's life to feel secure. That's why IMO he kept reverting to treating Obi-Wan as a parent. It's not just in the particular context of the Jedi Order's recognition of Master-Padawan relationships only, but common human experience -- parents are supposed to put your needs first and unconditionally, and forgive anything. He recognised on some level that he would get that from Obi-Wan as a Master, but not necessarily as a friend and partner, even a close friend. And that's why he was so enraged and personally betrayed when Padmé condemned his actions -- if she wasn't going to take his side in all things, he took it as a repudiation of their relationship.

That psyche is not a huge problem in a filial relationship, or even in the honeymoon marriage he had with Padmé, but it's not a good basis for forming genuine friendships, least of all with Jedi.

(I'm not saying this judgmentally, because this is what I find most human and relatable about Anakin.)

 

One of the things I find interesting about AotC is that you can already sort of see that he has this ideal of what love is, even though it hasn't yet turned into the problematic and controlling behavior of late TCW and RotS - one way he shows his feelings for Padme is by taking her side in almost everything.

In that movie he pretty much let her make all the decisions. He supports her wish to actively seek out the assassin (and Obi-Wan’s reaction suggests Anakin wouldn’t usually outright contradict him publicly like that), he covers the camera and allows her to be “bait” at her own suggestion, he only puts up a token protest before letting her decide where to go once on Naboo, she’s the one who decides they both should go after Obi-Wan, his reaction to her giving orders to him when they land on Geonosis is “Don’t worry, I’ve given up trying to argue with you,” etc. And with regards to their relationship, he ultimately acquiesces when she rejects him explicitly in the fireplace scene.

So if you look at his “What can I do? I will do anything that you ask” attitude as being indicative of how he thinks people are supposed to act to show their love, you can see the seeds of his later controlling behavior in the Clovis arc and so on when he demands that she do as he asks.

 

I would say Master Yoda was a friend of Anakin. Anakin went to him in confidence and sought council. Something that people often do with friends.

 

You get that vibe off the Yoda arc of TCW as well - generally speaking, they seem pretty friendly.

 

Ya know, I remember reading an article where it said, in our world, Anakin would likely be classified with BPD.

 

Not understanding why some think Anakin was a loner and only had Obi and Ahsoka as friends. I would imagine he would have some real good relationships with people, probably Obi and Ahsoka, then he'd have 'work' friends.

 

I would imagine Yoda is friends with EVERYONE though. He comes off as that good ol' grandpa kind of guy.

 

As has been said, a major prerequisite for friendship is equality. That creates problems for Anakin due to his force ability and personality. Even as a padawan he doesn't respect the abilities of his master in the force. He even goes so far as to compare himself to Yoda, while not even being a full Jedi Knight. Then you have his personality. Anakin is extremely loyalty based. He expects any relationship to be that of total loyalty. Obviously the dogmatic, detached Jedi can never fulfill that role for him. This is why he is so overly obsessive about Padme. She is pretty much the only person where he feels this is reciprocated. And R2 of course, who is programmed to be so. Even if you take the Clone Wars series out of the picture I can still see him risking entire missions to save R2 by what we see in the movies. R2 is like his pet dog. He'd do anything for him because he feels their relationship is pure. Deep down he knows that even Obi Wan would sacrifice him if necessary, because to him and the rest of the Jedi the "code" is more important than any personal relationship. Anakin can never understand or accept this. To him, if you can't stick up for your friends, what is the point of sticking up for anyone? To prove that you are a good, balanced, proper Jedi? That's not going to be enough for him.

 

well the options are the two extremes there should be a middle but anakin only has one friend in the order and thats Kenobi.