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PT Why Doesn't Anakin Lose the Will to Live?

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by redlightning, Jan 31, 2016.

  1. redlightning

    redlightning Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 1, 2014
    After all that happens to Anakin during Revenge of the Sith, why does he still feel the ability or need to keep living on? I mean he lost his wife and child, his best friend, use of most of his body, any status of a Jedi or hero that he had, and more. There isn't much reason for him to be there any reason for him to continue on anymore, especially not serving the Empire. You would think at this point he would jumped off a cliff or not continued on. What is keeping him so motivated to even serve the Emperor, who lied to him anymore? It makes little sense to me for Vader/Anakin to stay there unless he was forced to against his will by the Emperor or someone else. There is little reason here for him to be motivated in this way to me.
     
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  2. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Hate probably plays a part - hatred of Palpatine driving him to seek to become powerful enough to overthrow him - hatred of Obi-Wan for leaving him the way he is - maybe even hatred of the people of the galaxy for letting Palpatine fool them into giving Palpatine such power.

    If you go right back to 1977 - there's material suggesting Vader hates all humans:


    STAR WARS: OFFICIAL POSTER MONTHLY #2
    Published November 1977 by Galaxy Publications. Text writers Jon Trux, John May, Michael Marten.

    http://www.theforce.net/image_popup/image_popup_global.asp?Image=timetales/misc/arcana/post2-02.jpg
     
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  3. ObiWanKnowsMe

    ObiWanKnowsMe Jedi Master star 4

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    Sep 7, 2015
    It's just a theory thatll never be proven but Ive always thought that maybe Palps pulled the life out of Padme and transitioned it to Anakin to keep him alive while they put the suit onto him since he was in bad shape and was close to death himself.
     
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  4. redlightning

    redlightning Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 1, 2014
    The best evidence of motivation I've seen is in the early drafts of Return of the Jedi where the Emperor uses the Force to shut down Vader's suit and stop his breathing. That was all I could see to me. You would thing Vader would've tried to end his life anyway after being so miserable in the suit to begin with.
     
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  5. PHIERY

    PHIERY Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2009
    Why Doesn't Anakin Lose the Will to Live?

    Because he is the still the Chosen one and is kept alive by the Force, so he can continue to fulfil the prophecy. Imho
     
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  6. Sith_Smuggler

    Sith_Smuggler Jedi Knight star 1

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    Jan 9, 2016
    Only my two cents but...I think after what he did in RotS, Anakin becomes so numb to his former self and his real emotions. He loses himself, and is instead living through the motions and motivations of his new persona, Darth Vader. Only at the end of RotJ does he regain a hold on his actual self. If he'd been like that throughout, there would be no Darth Vader and there would be no "will to live".

    If Anakin had remained loyal to himself, he wouldn't have a will to live after all he did.

    Vader was birthed from the ashes of Anakin, and in Vader he found the will to live. Vader lived - Anakin died.
     
  7. Big_Benn_Klingon

    Big_Benn_Klingon Jedi Master star 3

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    Nov 14, 2013
    "Escape into your work".. it's a cliche, but as a master of escape I know it is true. Escape into your passions... escape into your emotions.. escape into a crusade/cause/something bigger than yourself.. etc. It makes Vader all the more believable as a person for me - he is in a continual state of escape.
     
  8. Shaak Ti

    Shaak Ti Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2015
    Denial. Pure Denial. Even when he found out about Luke, he still tried to make it about Vader, and not Anakin. His whole life, it was always someone else, but as Vader, it was Vader.
     
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  9. friedbantha

    friedbantha Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 26, 2015
    I believe something slightly different. I think Anakin unwittingly pulled the life out of Padme. He learned the secret to cheating death without understanding it.

    That's my thought anyway.
     
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  10. ObiWanKnowsMe

    ObiWanKnowsMe Jedi Master star 4

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    Sep 7, 2015
    Emperor Palpatine did say that in his anger he seemed to have killed her
     
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  11. friedbantha

    friedbantha Jedi Padawan star 1

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    Dec 26, 2015
    Yes. That's part of my reason for believing it. That and how Obi Wan left believing Anakin was as good as dead and Palps was surprised Anakin was still alive when he found him.
     
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  12. ObiWanKnowsMe

    ObiWanKnowsMe Jedi Master star 4

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    Sep 7, 2015
    That does make sense. He may have done that without knowing he was killing Padme at the time. It also explains his regret at the end the sorrow you can tell he's feeling. Like when he says " she was alive, I felt it!".... Yeah, you felt is as you drained it possibly?
     
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  13. PMT99

    PMT99 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 23, 2000
    Anakin still fears death. Not just fearing the deaths of others, but his own death because to him, it's the ultimate failure. He still wants to learn the power to cheat death and will continue using the dark side until he does.
     
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  14. Mnhay27

    Mnhay27 Jedi Knight star 2

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    Sep 4, 2012
    As George Lucas has said, Anakin became greedy. He wanted power and control. Anakin himself makes this explicit when he talks to Padme about overthrowing Palpatine and ruling the galaxy. Later on, he tries to tempt Luke by suggesting the very same thing.

    In the end, I think that was what kept him alive; the sense of power and control he gained from being "Lord" Vader. And he probably clung to the idea that one day he would overthrow the Emperor.
     
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  15. Mr. Forest

    Mr. Forest Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2012
    In a way he did, from a certain point of view. After hearing about Padme's death I think Anakin all but completely fell, allowing Vader to completely take over. Vader desired power and would one day try to eliminate the Emperor to become the true Dark Lord of the Sith. As we know, a part of Anakin always remained and was drawn back out through his son, Luke. Before then, the part of Anakin that remained would have wanted revenge against Palpatine for his lies, especially after discovering he had a son which lived, thus proving Padme must have survived long enough to give birth to their child and Anakin had not in fact killed her.
     
  16. Seagoat

    Seagoat Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2013
    Weren't there some old EU books where he contemplates suicide in the intermittent years between trilogies? I know there was some book where he fought a Darth Maul clone or something and won by stabbing through himself to kill the clone with little regard to his own life

    Sent from my C5155 using Tapatalk
     
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  17. Seeker Of The Whills

    Seeker Of The Whills Jedi Master star 4

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    Jan 20, 2015
    Anakin DID, but Vader didn't.
     
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  18. HevyDevy

    HevyDevy Force Ghost star 5

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    Apr 13, 2011
    Like others have said, I think technically the good side of Anakin does lose the will to live. His words "I can't live without her" ring true in the end.

    As to why he stays with the Empire, he gradually developed the opinion that Order at any cost was best for the galaxy, and this ends up as all he has to hold on to after he loses everything. He's addicted to power, and I think in the back of his mind he still wants to overthrow Palpatine and rule as he once intended, it is just he sees no way to do this until Luke emerges.
     
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  19. Billy_Dee_Binks

    Billy_Dee_Binks Force Ghost star 4

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    Mar 29, 2002
    He had already sold his soul (or at least deeply burried it) for the pact with the devil Palpatine. He literally had to burn in hell for it and "live" with his regretful decisions.
     
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  20. DARTHLINK

    DARTHLINK Force Ghost star 4

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    Feb 24, 2005
    I think it was a combination of pure anger at Palpatine for tricking everyone, the Jedi for letting this happen, Padme for not running away with him, and of course, himself for basically damning himself and killing/isolating the few people in the galaxy that actually gave a crap about him as a person. He's got nowhere else to go, and on some level, he probably feels he deserves what's happening to him.
     
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  21. EMPEROR_WINDU

    EMPEROR_WINDU Force Ghost star 5

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    Nov 23, 2002
    Spot on.
     
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  22. Darth Ward

    Darth Ward Jedi Youngling

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    Jan 8, 2016
    In the book Rise of the Dark Lord which takes place after the events of Revenge of the Sith, there are certain times in the book where Anakin hates himself for what he done to Padme, Obi Wan, the Jedi. Also I think he thinks about death as he has a hard time adjusting to the suit and his life within it and it's limitations.
    But of course the limitations along with the emporors snake like comments only fuel his anger to the point where he buries the small part of Anakin that's left in him deep down and is consumed by Vader. Therefore he hunts down the remaining Jedi and even plots the emporors demise in the future when he can find himself an apprentice.
    He even in some parts believes that he was played by the emporor all along and that it was the emporors plan to put him in that suit in order to keep him weak so he could never overthrow him.
    There's alot of Twisted stuff in his mind
     
  23. Qui-Riv-Brid

    Qui-Riv-Brid Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 18, 2013
    The need for control and wanting power.

    He's a Sith.
     
  24. Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

    Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid Force Ghost star 6

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    Mar 13, 2014
    He still wants to rule the galaxy. He might be burned up and living in an armoured lung - but he's the second most powerful person in the galaxy with hopes of becoming #1. Palpatine isn't much better looking than Anakin by the time their plan is successful.
     
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  25. Evening Star

    Evening Star Force Ghost star 4

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    Dec 18, 2015
    I believe this theory to be true. I don't see Anakin as a suicidal person. I think he was too immersed in the dark side to feel any sorrow.
     
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