Anakin's life was eternal slavery

Of all the times I watched the movies it finally took until ROTS to realize that Anakin was a slave the whole time. He was a slave to Watto, forced to work in his shop and run podraces for him. Then Qui Gonn came along and "freed" him. He didn't do it because it was the right thing to do, he did it because Anakin exhibited force talents that led Qui Gonn to believe he'd found the chosen one of the Jedi Prophecy.

So Anakin was free, as long as he went with Qui Gonn and Obi-Wan to be trained as a Jedi. So Anakin became Qui Gonn's slave so to speak. Moving further along, after Qui Gonn dies, Anakin essentially gets passed onto a jedi knight who honestly had no interest in training him. Obi-Wan did it out of honor and promise to his master. So Anakin was slaved to Obi-Wan. The whole time he was in the jedi order Anakin was used as a weapon and constantly told how great he would be, if he would just shut up and listen to everyone else and do as he is told. Good enough to risk your life for us and kill for us, but be quiet slaveboy, you need to be seen not heard.

He was used as a spy by both Palpatine and the jedi council. Both of them used him to further their own interests without once thinking of the effects it would have on him personally. Treated like property wasn't he? He falls to the darkside and joins Palpatine so he can be free of the jedi and be free to love Padme openly. Bam! So now he's a slave to the darkside and his new master. AND he's a slave to his love for Padme, which drove him to make the wrong choices. So his old master goes after him to bring him back, and they fight. Anakin is a slave to his emotions and is blinded to reason. He suffers grievous injuries and to stay alive has to be encased in a life support suit.

So by the end of ROTS, Anakin is a slave to technology, his emotions, Palpatine, and the darkside. Only at the end of his life was he truly free. Why? Is it possible that every choice he made led him down a different path of indentured servitude? How many choices were his to really make? The force chose him (or some say Plagueis chose him), Watto chose him, the jedi chose him, Palpatine chose him. I say he made 2 choices that were entirely his own. One choice he made was to love Padme, and the other was to sacrifice himself for his son. Only one of the choices was not based in selfish desire. Guess which one? Every choice but his last caused him and the galaxy great sorrow.

He left his mother and joined the jedi for more power, he railed against the jedi and Obi-Wan because they would not give him more power, he joined the darkside to gain more power to save Padme, and he plotted against Palpatine for more power. His pathological need for more drove him to make the wrong choices. More everything. More skills, more love, more fame, more adoration. He never had a strong sense of himself and that stemmed from him being a slave. He was always searching for the piece that would make him whole outside of himself when all along all he had to do was find the courage within.

 

Perhaps you'll find something interesting on the slavery subject in here:
http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=20372274&start=21445603

 

I read your post Mandragora and you and I see eye to eye on this subject. Good post.

 

Loving Padme wasn't a selfish choice. And in my opinion lovign her was not what caused him great sorrow. What caused him great sorrow was chosing to put her before other people.

 

Perhaps you'll find something interesting on the slavery subject in here:
http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=20372274&start=21445603

These two threads are great. I never realized that his childhood of slavery was at the core of the events that lead Anakin to the Dark Side, but I totaly agree. And going from slavery to the world of the emotionless Jedi existance, I'm surprised that he could feel so deeply for Padme. Especially after he had not seen her for so long. She was so forbidden because of her position and his standing with the Jedi and being a former slave, one would think he would never give the notion of being with her second thought.

 

Thanks Luv. I think part of Anakin's problems were that he had problems not forming attachments with people. He had formed such a bond with his mother that when he was separated from her he had a hard time coping. So he replaced one attachment with another. Padme. He treats people as almost his possessions. So afraid to lose his possessions that he goes to the extreme to keep them. He's like the little kid that smothers his pets because he loves them so much, he never gives them room to breathe.

 

I don't know, the whole "he was a slave" idea doesn't hold alot of ground with me. Yes, that is surely a big part of his life, but he still has the power of choice. He did choose to go with Qui Gon. He did choose to become a Jedi. He did choose to love Padme and persue her. He did choose to turn on the Jedi and join the Dark side. Padme then tried to give him a chance to choose to give it all up and just get away with her. To me, it's like justifying murderers for murdering because of the way they were raised. Yeah, we can understand why they are the way they are, but that is no justification. The whole, poor Anakin idea just doesn't hold water with me. He had a lot of choices, he just made the wrong choices all too often.

 

You are very correct in Anakin being a slave but at that same time he could have said no to all of them and just left with Padme'. Politice are evil masters. The desire to do what is right for the greater good in all aspects of life can lead to desater. But it is better to try than to complain later in life what you might have done. Even though Vader was a serious baddy, I felt compassion for him and his family being ripped appart.

Blessings
Domnu Skywalker

 

Do you think Anakin/Vader continued to remain with Palpatine even after he lost everything because he felt he no longer had any choice?

 

There is always the "We'll discover the secret of stopping death" thing. Also, I think perhaps Vader maybe believed one day he would overthrow Palps and have the Empire for himself. If his is a slave, it's to his own lust for power.

 

But why bother to learn the secret when the one reason he wanted to know how to stop death was to save Padme? Now she's dead, what's the point?

 

I think that Vader just didn't know what else to do. There were two lives he had known, a Jedi and a slave to Watto, and he couldn't go back to either of them.

 

Perhaps he thought there was a way to bring her back from the dead? Or, if Qui Gon had made connection from beyond, then perhaps the sith could learn the same power? Maybe he was hoping to learn to communicate as Obi Wan did with Luke except the other way around. Not saying that is the case, it's just an idea. I think Vader stayed with the Emperor because of the POWER of the dark side. He liked that power, he wanted to expand that power. Even though the Empire controlled most of the universe, they didn't control it all. Vader & Palps were trying to expand an grow their power.

 

Good point. Also, I think Anakin was sustained by his sheer, absolute hatred of Obi-Wan for crippling him. He knew Obi-Wan wasn't dead and Anakin would not rest until he'd taken his revenge on his former master.

It's ironic though that the Sith desired power and eternal life but never achieved it beacuse they desired it so badly, while the Jedi did not desire these things yet were granted them because of that lack of desire.