Anakin's arm

Forgive me if this has been asked before, but....

When Anakin lost his arm on Geonosis, why didn't they just re-attach it?

It wasn't like it was lost or mangled beyond repair. Wasn't it just lying there where the duel had taken place?

I understand for dramatic effect why, but surely with technology as advanced as theirs they could have done it. If they could make a prosthetic that advanced, putting the real one back on shouldn't have been that hard for them.

But, couldn't this also be said of his lost limbs on Mustafar? Even though he was badly burned, they were able to attach prosthetic limbs that were still able to work with his damaged severed nerves. Nerves severed by the lightsaber, & burned by the fire. & the prosthetics still worked. So why not his natural limbs. Unless they had fallen into the lava.

 

I asked this in the quick and random questions thread,there are some responses on the last page.
I have a problem in AOTC it looks like to me he gets his arm chopped off right below the shoulder and in ROTS it looks like its only to the elbow..i could be off there..but that's how i see it.

 

Lightsabers instantly cauterize wounds, thus making it probably impossible for SW technology to reattach it.

 

Problem is the cut is not clean as with a sword.

A lightsaber blade is almost an inch in diameter or maybe a bit less, that inch or so worth of energy blade removes all matter that comes in contact with it.

If you cut off a limb with a saber, that limb, even if it could be reattached, would be shorter by the thickness of the blade.

Losing that much material between a stump and the severed limb means that vital nerves and small blood vessels wont line up when reattached.

A saber amputation is permanent.

Rebuilding electronic nerves from a stump should be much easier than trying to bridge the near 1 inch gap of missing and misaligning nerves and blood vessels.

 

Even with their advanced technology they would not have been able to successfully reconnect the arm (including the veins, tendons, nerves, etc.). Remember, the skin/arm on both ends was seared and charred (from Dooku's lightsaber) making it impossible to reattach. Only a mechanical arm would suffice.

 

GFFA medical technology is weird. Its seems its easier for them to deal with attaching mechanical medical devices than it is for them to deal with biological processes, ie Padme dying. On the otherhand, if Anakin had gone to a Gungan doctor, Im sure his arm would have been regrown.

 

i think it's just much more poetic and fetishizable that way

 

[image=http://www.runleiarun.com/choppedoffhands/anakin.jpg]

Theres the picture from AOTC of where his arm was severed

[image=http://www.thepensieve.net/moigallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_aniep3promo23.jpg]

Theres the still of where his arm is in ROTS. I see what you mean, theres a few inches give or take. But it all depends on how you see it, plus keep in mind Anakin has been bulking up during the war. Probably didn't stretch his arm, but made it bigger.

 

As mentioned above, the cauterization (sp) of the wound prevents limb reattachment as it's handled in the real world. Thus just about everyone who loses a limb in Star Wars due to Lightsaber attacks, wind up having a cybernetic replacement.

 

Plus It just looks alot cooler than a limp tattered arm.

I mean, a cybernetic limb is intimidating, flesh is weak.

 

Would cloning a new full length arm have been an option?

I mean if you can clone a whole human being, an army of them, why not an arm?

Reminds me of an Enterprise episode where something like that occured. Make an Anakin clone just to harvest the arm. Gruesome. But, then you wouldn't need a complete Anakin clone. just the arm. Surely they can do that.

Now that also leads to an interesting,but unrelated subj.: What if someone did get his lost arm and made a clone of him from it? An un-altered clone like Boba was. Just a thought.

 

You mean from a certain point of view? yeah bulking up could of made a difference.im just a nickpicker by nature.

 

It's already been said that it is nearly impossible to reattatch a flesh limb, whether it be the severed or cloned one. The lightsaber seals the skin with its searing heat.

For your second question, are you telling me you've never read the Timothy Zahn Heir to the Empire series? Its EU but explores your thought. Luke's hand from the Bespin duel is found and cloned by Joruus, a cloned jedi master. He's turned into his lackey to fight Luke and I believe Palpataine is also cloned. Little far fetched, but a beaut none the less.

 

Maybe on the ROTS version, there is some sort of synthetic flesh that covers the top portion of his prosthetic arm...

 

... we can clone things... but we cannot reattach cauterized limbs.

 

Indeed. Once a wound of any type is cauterized, that kinda thing's not reversable.

 

Hmm..clone the entire arm, cut the damaged one off through surgery, attach new limb, a lot of hassle yes, but this is the Chosen One we're talking about, he NEEDS his body in tact!

 

That's what I had in mind too. Although it has to be said...


[image=http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/1253/bin01oe7.jpg]
Mechanical/Cybernetic precision replacement = badass

[image=http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1158/bin02lh1.jpg]
Biological attempt = mere prankster

Oh, and anyone not familiar with UK television may not get that
Just google jeremy beadle hand...

 

From the "Injuries to Vader" TFN site, posted by Dr. Curtis Saxton, we see this enhanced 'negative image' photo of Vader snipped from ROTJ as he hangs over the railing and gasps for air, his body luminescent after suffering the extreme effects of Palpatine's force lightning while tossing the surprised Emperor into the reactor shaf on DSIIt:

[image=http://theforce.net/swtc/Pix/chron/bones2.gif]

Dr. Curtis comments: "The lower right arm contains artificial structures, without excluding the possibility of natural bone in the upper arm."

So this post-mortem is unclear in its conclusion. Yet the images displayed earlier in this thread indicate Dooku severed Anakin's arm 'above the elbow' while the AOTC image shows a severing 'below the elbow.' Plot hole? The 'eyes' have it, IMO!

 

They could have, but maybe Anakin just decided to build his own. Especially, when he and Padme hastily left and got married, and so therefore he had rushed to make a replacement instead. Notice the difference in quality in ROTS compared to the one in AOTC?

And answering the second question, I think anakin eventually decided to have a bionic arm, but instead just opted to have a skin grafted elbow replacement with the forearm exposed as a reminder of what he lost, and who he was to get even with, when the time came.

 

Mechanical limbs can be covered with a synthetic skin. That's what Luke did, after all.

 

Oh, but in some cases(more than thought possible)it is,Ive something that was cauterized,reversed and it was a lot smaller than an arm.

 

Who says that they can just grow a spare limb to attach? They'd have to clone a whole Anakin and cut off the arm, just to attach another limb. Kinda pointless.

 

Learn your terminology. This is not a plot hole, as it does not affect the plot. This would be referred to as a continuity error.