Anakin Skywalker and Humanity

It sounds like the name of a thesis, I know, but bear with me.

I'm currently writing a story that involves Obi-Wan's training of Anakin, and in one part, Obi-Wan has a flashback to a moment where Qui-Gon, who has been studying the prophecy of the Chosen One, talks about the Chosen One's unusual birth--the conception by midichlorians (the Force)--and Qui-Gon, followed by Obi-Wan, followed by me, when I just realized what the characters were saying, pointed out--could Anakin Skywalker really be called human?

I'm not talking about a physiological difference between Anakin and humanity--I'm talking about an emotional/moral/psychological difference. This idea is currently becoming one subplot of the story--is it possible to understand a hybrid that is quintessentially alien? Can an argument be made that Anakin's reactions should be judged differently?

The idea excited me--proving my true SW geekiness--and I wanted to know if anyone else had thought about it, or written about it, or had something to say about it.

So... before I do turn this into a thesis statement (and I promise I won't... yet), what do you think?

 

I'm not talking about a physiological difference between Anakin and humanity--I'm talking about an emotional/moral/psychological difference. This idea is currently becoming one subplot of the story--is it possible to understand a hybrid that is quintessentially alien?


It's a very interesting idea, but I'm not sure that I see Anakin as being a hybrid or alien. He is 100% fully human.


The 'message' of Anakin's life is the results of human failings. While Anakin's conception is a mystery and his knowledge if himself as the Chosen One does differentiate him from his fellow Jedi, to look at Anakin as anything other than human tends to lessen the impact of his fall and redemption.

As far as Anakin's emotion/morality/psychology is concerned, then you're getting into the nature vs. nurture argument. Anakin was raised as a son of a human mother. For those who follow the 'nurture' argument, then the mystery of Anakin's conception would have no bearing on those aspects of his personality, but rather are ingrained into his psyche as he grows.

 

Now this is what I call a fascinating discussion!

While I understand that there are those who feel that Anakin's redemption is diminished if he is anything but human I disagree. If you make that distinction, your implying that redemption is limited to humans in a galaxy full of millions of species. I think Anakin is meant to represent the vast diversities in our favorite galaxy not just one species. Yes, Anakin is clearly a human being but his "father" the midichlorians are definitely NOT human they reside in all life. I have to admit that G.L probably never intended this debate to take place. However I have to say that he opened a Pandora's box by introducing the Midichlorians. If G.L meant Anakin to simply be a religious symbol he should have left science out of it.

BTW: I would love to explore the idea of Anakin being a "hybrid that is quintessentially alien." in my current fic. Any objections Lady_Moonbeam? As I consider this an inspired area of discussion worthy of further debate.<--My own SW geekiness rises to the surface lol!

 

While I understand that there are those who feel that Anakin's redemption is diminished if he is anything but human I disagree. If you make that distinction, your implying that redemption is limited to humans in a galaxy full of millions of species.


I didn't mean that it's diminished in terms of Anakin the character, but rather for us in the audience. By watching Anakin's flaws onscreen we can see aspects of ourselves.

Obviously all species in the GFFA are capable of falls and redemption, but for us watching it strikes closer to home to see a human make these errors than some latex muppet.

Consider Luke's reaction while in the cave on Dagobah. It was an awakening for him to realize that by straying from the path just as Vader had, he was capable of becoming the same evil that he abhorred.

 

Herman Snerd--Funny, I was thinking that it might enhance something--to have Anakin be fundamentally human was the idea, but to also isolate him somewhat--Anakin as Outsider, so you identify with him not just because of his basic humanity, but also because of his removal from it--because who hasn't felt like an outsider sometimes? I can feel myself warming up to this--it seems controversial enough. Not quite self-promoting excerpt from said story:

He remembered Qui-Gon?s words to him: unpredictable by the standard laws of reason. For the first time, that terrified him. What was sitting on the bed in front of him wasn?t a human and he wasn?t any various other alien species. He was Anakin, and there was only one of him, and he couldn?t easily be compared to anything or anyone else. He was? a hybrid of two things meant to collide only once?mortal and Force.

later on, when Obi-Wan is mentally submerged in his apprentice's mind:

Impetuousness, impulse, darkness, stubbornness, and love were mixed in an emotional grab-bag. There was no order, no categorization. Everything Anakin loved, he also hated; everything he hated, he also loved. There was no control or difference, no inner attempt to separate the good from the bad or the helpful from the deterrent. Anakin was whole and complete and he felt everything with every inch of him. Obi-Wan recoiled from it?the much-ness of it, the size, the scope?being inside Anakin was like being hooked up to the living emotions of a thousand other normal men.

No wonder his Padawan could never stay still.

And through Anakin, like a wide white ribbon, ran a river of Force.

It was life defined, given form and breath and molded into the shape of a ten-year-old boy. It was what he had seen in the otherworld?that definition, the purity of unfiltered shape and thought and sound.

So. Um. That's my view on it, so far--or Obi-Wan's view, at least. I love a good discussion.

JDH3--No, feel free to explore the idea! Themes aren't in any way restrictive. And I'd love to hear your viewpoint on it, so please, keep posting!

 

Funny, I was thinking that it might enhance something--to have Anakin be fundamentally human was the idea, but to also isolate him somewhat--Anakin as Outsider


True, but his identity as the Chosen One effectively does that, IMO. He's human, but the oddity of his birth combined with his role in prophecy sets him apart from Obi-Wan and the other Jedi, who in their own was are set apart from the population at large. In effect, Anakin is an outsider in a group of outsiders.

That would allow him reason to adopt his own, more flexible moral code, different from the rigid code of the other Jedi. Knowing that he's different and special would allow hime to believe that the normal rules don't apply to him.

 

Could this have a kind of feed-back ?

Someone actually believing he or she is a special person (in this case "Chosen One") also has influences upon the character itself.

Just think about the heads of our worlds largest religions. They say they are speacial petsons, in some cases even god-like or almost god-like (Japan until the second world-war, for example, if I'm correct), and the sheer power implied by this way of looking at themselves might or might not corrupt the heart of the person - I mean, there is a saying "power corrupts sooner or later", and there is always a danger for that.

Or just take a look at the anciant roman emperors : They had power, and that often led them to the though "I can do everything I want". Nero is the worst example I know of.

How is a person supposed to resist this ?

To be given a titel of a "Chosen One" ?

I don't know.

And maybe that's part of the actuall Fall of Anakin Skywalker.

Skywalker ... Icarus ...