Would it have made more sense for AOTC Anakin to turn to the Dark Side?

AOTC Anakin: Crazy, disobedient, rebellious, has dillusions of a perfect government, unstable, murderous, hateful, obsessed, not nice, rude, forceful, foolish, over dramatic and his demeanor is jusst very dark side esque.

ROTS Anakin: You can see with his first line in the Coruscant space battle that he has matured greatly. He is more soft spoken, has more genuine care for Padme, more respectful to Obi- Wan and Yoda. He has become hardened by war.

I just think that AOTC Anakin would have been easier to turn to the dark side and ROTS Anakin reverts back to his AOTC ways when he does turn.

 

If he had turned right away in AOTC, say, right after Shmi dies, many people would say that it was completely rushed, and that Lucas had no idea how to realistically tell a story. I think his character in AOTC was designed to show us his rash, implusive side, so that when he does turn in ROTS, its believable. The Dark side is supposed to be seductive...but in order for that to happen, Anakin needed to be seduced, not outright propositioned, lol. AOTC is needed to set the stage for his conversion later though. I do get what you are saying, I just think that if it had happened that early, it wouldn't have seemed believable. A punk teenager converting isn't as compelling as a more mature (okay, SLIGHTLY more mature) young adult doing it.

 

It's a strange transformation that Anakin undergoes from TPM to ROTS.
TPM Anakin - Perfect angelic kid.
AOTC Anakin - Moody, creepy, vengeful.
ROTS Anakin - Jokey, good friend to Kenobi.

Then at the end of RoTS he reverts back to his AOTC persona.

EDIT: As you say it would make more sense for it to be:

TPM - Perfect angelic kid
AOTC - Jokey, good friend to Kenobi
ROTS - Moody, creepy, vengeful

 

It would've made more sense, because in ROTS it's almost as if he's no longer anything like AOTC Anakin, and that he's a reknown hero among the galaxy and even "a better jedi" than Kenobi could ever hope to be.

But Lucas told it the way it had to be. It wouldn't have been believeable if Anakin, at 20, turned to the darkside. He wasn't finished his training yet, and he had his teenage angst. He was rash, and unpredictable and dramatic and such.. but like the other posters have said he had to be seduced by it, not rushed into it.

The tusken slaughter kinda sets him up in the future. The more evil you do, the more anger you use, it becomes easier to keep doing it. It was to show that he was starting to give in to that emotion, but not fully. You had to have him doing the little side jobs, like Assaj and Dooku, before he could finally say "It's ok if I keep doing it, it's for Padme."

 

I think that's an exaggeration.

 

But he was loved by most and didn;t show any signs of anger maybe a little determinationa and harheadedness. I think the fight with Greedo scene would have benn a very good scene.

 

Really? "He gives without any thought of reward." "He knows nothing of greed."

He seems incredibly content and well adjusted especially considering he's a slave.

If the fight with Greedo had been kept in then that image might have been changed slightly. As it is, there only time he doesn't seem cheerful is the "I'm a person and my name is Anakin".

 

I would have liked AOTC Anakin to have been a model Jedi.

Powerful but completely and utterly humble with his only "fault" being his lust for Padme.

 

I kind of started wondering this myself. It almost happens in a reverse order, doesn't it? I could believe that AOTC Anakin would turn to the darkside in a heartbeat cause theres nothing normal or likeable about him, but ROTS Anakin, while still a bit whiney, is compartively mature and relatable. Its almost like Lucas realised he had gone way too far way too early and then tried to compensate in ROTS, but then he had the opposite problem in that its very hard to swallow how ROTS-Anakin suddenly agrees to kill all these little kids.

 

The more mature Anakin makes the turn more heartbreaking if that is what Lucas wanted

 

But "moody, creepy and vengeful" describes very well how people tend to be in their teenage years, when hormones go crazy and emotions are like a powder keg waiting to explode -- before they mature into more responsible, more caring people. I was like this when I was younger, and many people I know, including my sweet-tempered sister, were like this before we matured. It's a much more realistic depiction of the arc of Anakin's life than if he were good and nice his entire life, and then suddenly turned to evil. The way the PT stands, we see the underlying angst, fear and confusion latent in teenaged Anakin before he grows up a little and puts those youthful emotions aside -- to a certain extent. As we see in Anakin's tirade before the Council and with Padme, he is still jealous, still desirous of power and still fearful of losing the things that he loves. He has not completely succeeded in unrooting those old, irrational emotions that prove to be his undoing.

 

There's also the Jedi Temple.

 

I think Vorti pegged it perfectly. He was more mature, had a better brotherly relationship with Obi-Wan and a hero, but he still had many of the basic problems he'd always had - quick to anger, greed for not losing those he loved and a desire to be powerful. He disposed of those he loved himself (Obi-Wan and Padme) and in his anger all that was left was his quest for power. But even in his first breath as the suited Vader he regretted his anger and desire when he realized he'd lost all he loved because of it. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! (er yes...)

 

And the scene before the podrace, where Sebulba trash talks him and he gives him a death glare. A pretty good one, too, considering he's only like 9 or 10.

 

ROTS was the right time for him to fall to the dark side. Palpatine was able to use the ongoing Clone War tension between his office and the Jedi, plus Anakin's disappointment in not being named a Master, to create a lie that ensnared him. This wasn't possible within the framework of AOTC. Anakin had the power and anger but still felt a strong loyalty to the Jedi Order and to his friends.

By the time of ROTS the good within Anakin was torn with the Jedi's instructions for him to spy on his 'friend' Palpatine. Anakin felt the Jedi was making him do something he felt was wrong and deceitful. Palpatine managed to convince him that the Jedi's intention was to "sieze control of the Republic". Palpatine also deceived Anakin into thinking the Jedi were holding him back and therefore denying him the opportunity to use his powers as he saw fit - including learning Sith techniques to save Padme. Palpatine requested Anakin's assistance to get rid of the 'corrupt' Jedi and in doing so offered Anakin the chance to be a "person of significance" and help restore order to the galaxy.

As great as it would have been to see Darth Vader for an entire film walking around strangling Imperial Officers and speaking with James Earl Jones's voice again it made it far more effective to have him turn in Episode III.

 

I agree that ROTS Anakin - more mature, a "better Jedi" - makes the turn to the Dark Side more heartbreaking and makes the film, and the entire saga, that much better.

 

All three stages of Anakin's life have included his ambition to become something more than himself. He desires greatness and this is at the heart of all of his emotions and this is what Palpatine exploits.

 

I was fine with Anakin's turn taking place in ROTS. If he had fallen in AOTC, I think it would have felt rushed (even more so than some feel it does in ROTS). Palpatine's seduction of Anakin in particular needed to take place over the course of all three PT films.

 

I quite like the way the turn's portrayed and paced over the 3 films. I think we see a good balance of Anakin's admirable qualities, with a disturbing feeling that there are other factors at play in his make up from the get go, which are systematically exploited to the max by Palpatine.Even in TPM he's quite defiant and a bit of a smart ass to Yoda and the other masters.

 

I have been a SW fan for years, but some time ago I was watching ROTS when I noticed for the first time this scene: Anakin was venting out his frustrations to Kenobi, who then said, "Anakin, the only reason the Council approves of your appointment, is because you're close to the Chancellor." And then he goes on to ask Anakin to spy for the Chancellor.
As we know, the movies only show short periods of time (usu. a few weeks) in Anakin's life at various ages; thus we can infer from the dialogues and actions in each film, what had transpired in the intervening years. In AOTC, when Kenobi was complaining of Anakin's arrogance to Yoda and Mace, Yoda said that Anakin's behavior is quite typical ("Yes, a fault more and more common amongst Jedi...even the older, more experienced ones") and Mace displayed great confidence in Anakin's destiny. Apparently, Anakin is not so different from other padawans his age.

But in ROTS, we know that the dynamics have tremendously changed. The Council showed no trust in Anakin due to his closeness to Palpatine. It seems that Palpy is deliberately orchestrating this, i.e. alienating Anakin from the Jedi. Even though at this time, Anakin still identified himself as a Jedi and is still fighting for their cause, he became more and more disillusioned because NONE of the masters trusted him, despite his never being disloyal to them up to that point, and his successes in battle (to quote Kenobi: "he will not fail me, he never has"). See the difference: in AOTC, everyone had great confidence in him, in ROTS, even though he's matured, Yoda and Mace didn't trust him and even doubted the prophecy. In ROTS, Anakin is no longer a typical Jedi for his age. Normally, as padawans become knights, they are more trusted by their peers and masters, and in turn show more trust and loyalty to the masters and the Order. But the exact opposite happened to Anakin.

Back to Kenobi's comment: THE ONLY reason the Council approved...the Council is unwittingly using Anakin for their own benefit. As the war progressed, their morale also become less clear (spying the Chancellor and killing him without trial are both against the Jedi Code--and these remarks were made by Anakin, showing his disillusionment that the Order no longer lived up to their ideals, to his ideals). If you think about all this, I think that it's PERFECTLY logical for ROTS Anakin to turn, and not AOTC Anakin. In ROTS, the only person who trusts him is Padmé, whom he's afraid to lose; he's mistrusted by everyone and disillusioned by the Order. This makes is very easy for Palpy to manipulate him. I also think that Anakin is not power-hungry at all; it is the Order who, in ROTS, failed to show him some respect and appreciation. Instead of mistrusting him without any proof (we have proof of his killing Dooku illegally, but they don't), they should have helped him and showed him some gratefulness, just like they did with the other knights and in AOTC. If you think about it, Anakin is in a very sorry position in ROTS; if I were in his position, most likely I would have fallen to the dark as well.

People's first reaction when seeing Anakin turn is, "How can he do that? He's a good person...oh right, he's too ambitious and wants too much power, and can't control his emotions." But if we look closer, giving it more than a second's thought, we'll be screaming instead, "How can he NOT turn to the dark side under those circumstances? If you take in all the factors, his decision--albeit wrong and disastrous--is what any human being would have made under the circumstances(save for the most extraordinary or unemotional, of course).

 

Yep, and to be on the jedi council you need to be extraordinary and unemotional. That was the problem.

 

Anakin leaves the love of his life to become a Jedi in Episode I. In Episode II Shmi dies in Anakin's arms, so he turns to Padme for affection. In Episode III the fear of losing Padme tempts Anakin to turn to the dark side. In the end the thing that turns Anakin away from the dark side is the fear of losing his son.

There are a couple of ways to restructure the prequels so that Anakin turns at the end of Episode II, but simply pushing back the turn without changing a bunch of other stuff doesn't make sense. Padme wouldn't have married Anakin if his name was Darth Vader, and Anakin wouldn't have turned to the dark side unless he thought that it was the only way to save Padme's life.

 

Anakin already looked like a lost cause in AOTC.

Murdering the Sandpeople showed that he could never abide by the Jedi way that requires extreme levels of discipline.

 

I think if he did turn to the dark side in episode 2, it would have been rushed and too soon.

 

It would have been interesting if at the end of Episode II Anakin would have officially resigned his commitment to the Jedi Order so that he could legally marry Padme. Then when the Jedi try to remove Sidious from power Anakin could come back on the scene as the savior of the republic to protect Palpatine from the Jedi rebellion.