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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Saga How did you imagine Anakin to be like before the prequels?

Discussion in 'Star Wars Saga In-Depth' started by AshiusX, Apr 2, 2016.

  1. AshiusX

    AshiusX Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2016
    My pre-conceived vision of Anakin has basically been achieved due to his portrayal in The Clone Wars in a certain sense.

    I imagined Anakin to be a Han-Solo-esque figure but he was more moody and jaded due to his insecurities. His hotshot persona was a font to cover the natural insecure person he was. He had a natural thirst for excitement and adventure. He was very much a maverick and a pragmatic person; always willing to bend the rules for results. He wasn't concerned with following all of the red tape that most Jedi were accustomed to it.



    It actually isn't that different from what we go the movies. Just that the movies didn't do the best job showing it.
     
    Tommytom likes this.
  2. Lulu Mars

    Lulu Mars Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2005
    I don't think I had a clear picture of him as a person. I just expected him to look pretty much the way he ended up looking, based on Sebastian Shaw's features.
    When I saw his first scenes in AOTC for the first time, though, I did think "They've nailed this character!". He was just the perfect Anakin Skywalker to me.
    He still is, BTW.
     
  3. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I imagined Anakin to be:

    --the Anakin from the speeder chase scene in AOTC
    --the Anakin from the opening battle in ROTS
    --the Anakin from TCW

    Sarcastic, restless, a rule-breaker, and a distaste for inefficiency in power structures.

    I expected him to turn for a quick and easy path to power and to set the galaxy straight, not for love.
     
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  4. CT1138

    CT1138 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2013
    I imagined him to be more how he is in RotS: serious, no-nonsense, burdened with immense power, and maybe slightly troubled. I imagined him as both the good man that Obi-Wan described him as, and the angered man that Yoda described in him.
     
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  5. mute90

    mute90 Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 18, 2012
    I saw the OT shortly before the prequels started coming out. I didn't have much time to build my own image of Anakin. I can say I see Anakin under the suit when watching the OT. The characterization from PT to OT doesn't jar at all. It's the same with the TCW characterization (though I really prefer Hayden's choices regarding Anakin's voice.)
     
  6. ObiWanKnowsMe

    ObiWanKnowsMe Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 7, 2015
    I did not picture him to be how he was in the prequels. I guess, like most, I had a preconceived notion that he was noble and 100% good without an evil bone in his body. But the prequels did not disappoint. It may have not been what I expected, but it was better. He was not perfect but he was brave and powerful. Sure, he had his problems and you could tell he had shades of the dark side within him, but he always tried to do the right thing. He's a very complex character so it's hard to describe him. Anyway, I agree with mute90. When I see Darth Vader walk through the hatchway onto the Tantive IV in A New Hope, I picture Anakin from the prequels under that mask and armor.
     
  7. AniLukeRey

    AniLukeRey Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 6, 2016
    I don't know what I pictured, but he ended up being better than anything I could have imagined. I didn't imagine him being so YOUNG. I'm "old" (mid-30s) and I consider everyone under 25 still a kid. So I didn't picture him still being a "kid" when he became Vader. I just love Anakin- all his insecurities and complexities. His relationships to people. I def prefer the movie Anakin to the CW Anakin. I felt like the CW Anakin was older and more mature and just...different...than movie Anakin. And I can see that Anakin (older of course) under the suit in the OT.
     
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  8. CoolyFett

    CoolyFett Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2003
    I didnt imagine anything at all. I patiently waited for GL to finish his story. I had no preconceived image of who Anakin Skywalker was. The only thing I knew as fact was he was Lukes dad, Obi Wans former pupil and once was a Jedi. I honestly have to say I didnt care who Anakin Skywalker was. My interest was in how the Republic fell to the Empire. My interest was in how did Luke and Leias parent meet. My interest was what happened to the Jedi. Anakin was going to be whoever George wrote him to be. A character, one of many.
     
  9. ConservativeJedi321

    ConservativeJedi321 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2016
    I imagined him to be a Jedi who fell to the dark side, nothing more. Probably because I saw all the movies in such quick succession my mind never really had a chance to wander and day dream what certain characters are like.

    This is also why I like Anakin's character so much in episodes 1 2 and 3.

    And I see little if any difference in his portrayal in TCW.
     
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  10. Valiowk

    Valiowk Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 23, 2000
    This is what I imagined all the way until RotS came out. (Yes, even after Anakin had married Padmé and it was clear that that was going to become a problem down the road.)

    I remember being disappointed at the end of RotS. Before someone takes that to mean that I was disappointed with the film itself, I'd like to clarify: I was disappointed by the fact that "Really? It was merely love and a self-fulfilling vision - things that, from an omniscient perspective, were within Anakin's control the entire time - not something more complicated (e.g. setting the galaxy straight more quickly vs letting many people suffer for a long time) and not entirely within his control, that caused Anakin to turn to the Dark Side?" (Don't interpret the descriptions "merely" and "more complicated" too literally here - they're just there to describe my ideas at that time.) For a long time I pondered whether it was a problem with the film itself that Anakin turned for something so simple instead of having a more complex story that caused this disappointment, or whether it was completely intentional that the viewer was supposed to feel disappointed at this "simplistic" ending.

    This question kept RotS in my mind for years after it came out, and now, when I believe I have the answer, it's one of the defining properties I remember about RotS. So, to use ObiWanKnowsMe's words above in a different context, "It may have not been what I expected, but it was better."
     
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  11. Chewies_bandolier

    Chewies_bandolier Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    May 5, 2002
    Lets see .. all I had to go by, were Ob-wan's words to Luke so, for me, he was a talented pilot who fought in the clone wars (like Poe, perhaps) who was in tune with Force (like Poe again, perhaps) but unaware of his potential until at some point, he ran across Obi-wan who recognised his nascent talent.

    Anakin was a family man who had left his wife and infant twins behind when Obi-wan began to train him (as an adult). He took some shortcuts in his training (being impatient and all) and ended up being seduced by the darkside - using the negative aspects of the Force for his own gain. Obi-wan confronted him and defending himself, ended up maiming Anakin on the slopes of a volcano with lava flowing down the sides. No idea what happened to Mrs Skywalker, but the twins were removed from her, for their own safety and etc. etc. etc.
     
  12. Darth Formidious

    Darth Formidious Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 19, 2015
    I expected Anakin to have been a wise, diplomatic, and authoritative Jedi. The no nonsense type. But I also imagined him to have been one to crave power and this lead his eventual fall to the dark side; forming a despotic leader in the form of Darth Vader. My main image of Anakin was based upon Sebastian Shaw's portrayal of Anakin; hence the wisdom and admirable authority.

    And then came the prequels... [face_plain]
     
  13. BadAcrobat

    BadAcrobat Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 20, 2015
    No a whiny, immature, egotistical greedy SOB.

    Completely ruined my perceptions and feelings towards the greatest movie character of all time, Darth Vader.
     
  14. CT1138

    CT1138 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2013
    This is a lot of how I imagined Padme prior to the prequels. I assumed she separated and hid the twins before Vader hunted her down and killed her.

    Beyond that, I feel like this is how a lot of people expected the PT to go down, perhaps even Lucas, prior to the late '90s. I'd actually wouldn't mind seeing this version. It sounds immensely interesting.
     
  15. Game3525

    Game3525 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 25, 2008
    I expected him to be what we essential got in TCW and early ROTS.
     
  16. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    I imagined he had a decent haircut.

    Darned hippy.
     
  17. Ord-Mantell70

    Ord-Mantell70 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 9, 2009
    I basically envisioned him that way too. But no real lust for power. Actually more as a mix between OT Luke and PT Obi-Wan.

    I also imagined him older (Luke's age) when he meets Obi-Wan and starts his training.

    Had he been portrayed more as that good at heart, heroic, noble, and wise Jedi knight, without any apparent fatal flaw, his final turn to the dark side would have been far more emotional and tragic to me.

    That's what I had in mind all along between the OT and PT.
     
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  18. lardandlard

    lardandlard Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Oct 19, 2015
    I imagined him looking like Sebastian Shaw, and being like this charming, calm and stable family guy. The PT Obi Wan isn't far away from my vision when I think of personality.
     
  19. CoolyFett

    CoolyFett Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2003
    Ha ha ha ha funny
     
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  20. CrAsHcHaOs

    CrAsHcHaOs Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    May 7, 1999
    I always imagined him going "Yipppeeeeee" all the time, even when he was a young adult.
     
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  21. AniLukeRey

    AniLukeRey Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 6, 2016
    Now I want to hear James Earl Jones going "Yipppeeeeee!!!!" as Vader.
     
  22. Qui-Riv-Brid

    Qui-Riv-Brid Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2013
    I really spent no time thinking about it and only became interested with the story being told in the prequels.
     
  23. Deliveranze

    Deliveranze Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2015

    Yep. TPM was my gateway to SW.
     
  24. Darthman92

    Darthman92 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 24, 2016
    Whilst I had already seen the OT a number of times I didn't really do that sort of speculating/fantasizing by the time TPM came out when I was 7.
     
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  25. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Oh hell.