Anakin's turn to the dark side is a GOOD THING

A Theory I've thought up which I find quite interesting. It's a bit of a different take on things:

What would have happened if Anakin Skywalker had never been born? Up until now Anakin has not been at all instrumental in the distruction of the republic and it does not seem that he will be in Episode III.
So Palpatine's plans of conquest would have continued on schedule and the Republic would have turned into the Galactic Empire. With nothing to stop him, Palpatine would have continued to reign supreme and the Galaxy would have forever remained in his clutch.

Enter "the force". The force, "sensing" that a great imbalance to the dark side is about to take place, decides to take action to change this unwanted outcome. And so the force creates a person whose destiny it is to bring the force back into balance- Anakin Skywalker.

Now, if Anakin never turned to the dark side of the force. Well, he'd probably be destroyed with the rest of the Jedi, or perhaps gone into hiding with Obi Wan. At any rate he would have never gotten a chance to kill the emperor.
Basically, Anakin must commit the crime of falling in love with Padme, he must become Darth Vader. He must betray the Jedi, he must help destroy Alderaan and he must try to convert his son to the dark side. Because only when he is at the emperor's side does he have the chance to destroy him and restore the balance. And his son must be there to, to make him realize, if only sub-consciously, his true destiny, and to make him act on this realization.

So when you're thinking to yourself how sad and tragic it is that Obi Wan was not ready for the burden, that Anakin betrays all who care for him and turns to the dark side. The he becomes the most evil, vile, horrible person in the galaxy (second only to the emperor)...think too of the fact that his turn to evil will be perhaps the best thing to happen to the GFFA. Sort of. He is the hitch in Palpatine's Master plan, he is the bug planted by the force to insure the return of balance in the end. He just doesn't know it yet.

 

Yes indeed. Nothing new here.

 

Because only when he is at the emperor's side does he have the chance to destroy him and restore the balance.

There is no reason to believe that. It would have been much better for him to stay on the light side and help the Jedi kill Palpatine before the Empire formed.

 

Well actually I know this isn't very new but usually people say: Well he redeemed himself and put the force back into balance, but too bad he had to turn to the dark side.

Well, I'm saying that it was necessary.

 

I agree completely. This is why I disagree with those who say "Qui-Gon did the wrong thing". Qui-Gon's actions were directed by the Will of the Force, and by finding Anakin, he was able to bring the Chosen One to a place where he could do his thing.

There is no reason to believe that. It would have been much better for him to stay on the light side and help the Jedi kill Palpatine before the Empire formed.

Would he have succeeded had he stayed on the Light Side? I doubt it. Palpatine was incredibly powerful, and I don't think any outside attack could roust him. Palpatine's blind spot, however, was created by his overconfidence - with his plans succeeding, he thinks he has no reason to watch his back, and focuses all his attention on outside threats. (Incidentally, this is a consistent flaw of Palpatine; he doesn't seem to know what Dooku's up to either) Vader, however, being a member of Palpatine's inner circle, goes unwatched, and as a result he is able to take advantage of Palpatine's distraction and kill him. In fact, I think this is the only way that the Prophecy could be fulfilled. A man so close to him that Palpatine wouldn't even consider the possibility of betrayal: that was the role Anakin had to fill, before he could be turned back and do what he was prophesized to do.

 

There is no reason to believe that. It would have been much better for him to stay on the light side and help the Jedi kill Palpatine before the Empire formed.

Well, I'll say that the Sith being destroyed might only be a part of the will of the Force.

Its entirely possible that the Force wanted many Jedi to fall as well...perhaps they were getting too arrogant....too far from what they were intended to be.

Hard to guess the will of the Force.

 

So your saying, the will of the force was to have Anakin become a murderer. I can't believe that would be the will of the force.
I think it is alot simpler, like free will.
Anakin was given a choice (like his son Luke) and chose the dark side. Had Anakin stayed the course, and not fell into the dark side, it could be argued that he would have brought about balance sooner. I believe that Anakin's choice prolonged the prophecy, and was the reason the galaxy suffered.

 

Its entirely possible that the Force wanted many Jedi to fall as well...perhaps they were getting too arrogant....too far from what they were intended to be. Hard to guess the will of the Force.

Not when we have Lucas to explain it, which he has: it's not wiping out the Jedi, it's wiping out the Sith. The only thing stopping Luke from killing Palpatine was Vader, so Vader could easily have done the job himself, much earlier.

 

The only thing stopping Luke from killing Palpatine was Vader, so Vader could easily have done the job himself, much earlier.

Yes, but why would he? He only had reason to kill his master BECAUSE of Luke.

 

If Anakin had truly become a Jedi for the right reasons and stuck with them--that he is supposed to help others--he would have realized that Palpatine was just stroking his ego, and when it became apparent that Palpatine was the bad guy, he could have done the job then and saved the galaxy a lot of grief.

 

I'm going to agree that Anakin's turn was a god thing, and indeed the will of the force.

I dont know how many here know the Old Testament of the Christian bible, but there are a great many parallels here. The prime example, I think, is the way God used other nations to punish Israel for its sin. Now, the pagan nation who attacked Israel was still wrong, but it was God's will that they did it, they were used by God to inflict his judgement, and it was for a good purpouse, for God only wanted to keep the Israelites on the straight and narrow.

Now, the council was too set in its ways in the PT, I think, and though they were an honorable and good bunch of people, they Jedi Order had outlived its usefulness in is then-current form. SO, in much the same way as in the Bible, the Force used Anakin to not only "do the deed", if you will, but also to make the way for a NEW Jedi Order, one that was fresh and free of the legalism and stubborness of the PT Jedi Order. Anakin/Vader was still WRONG for killing the Jedi, enslaving the Galaxy, torture, genocide, etc. But good came from his actions, and the Galaxy was made stronger because of them.

Make sense?

 

I made a thread discussing how Anakin and even Palpatine's actions were for the greater good, yet had they not turned to the darkside they still would have been able to achieve this good without causing so much suffering to themselves and others.

http://boards.theforce.net/The_Star_Wars_Saga/b10456/15356936/?7

 

Its entirely possible that the Force wanted many Jedi to fall as well...perhaps they were getting too arrogant....too far from what they were intended to be.

Well, I thought that the destruction of the Jedi Order was also part of bringing balance to the Force - perhaps even the main part of it - partly because of what Dagsy here said and partly also because there is too much "light" in the universe at this moment (as represented by the Jedi).

On the side, I think that Anakin's fall is almost a relief to the JedI Order. The people have clearly gotten used to the Jedi and are pretty much piling everything - whether they, themselves, can do it or not - on the Order. (For example, in AOTC, Amidala says that she doesn't want more bodyguards, she wants answers. Why in the galaxy can't she hire a dozen professional detectives to go find out who was trying to assassinate her?)

Depa Billaba

 

I agree with your theory, Rogue_Pilot.

Here is an essay to support/explain it:

http://anakinskywalker1.homestead.com/balancingtheforce.html

If I can find any more I'll post them.

 

Anakin's turn to the dark side was only a good thing because of the end result - he kills Palpatine and redeems himself.

I understand your theory - for a while, I thought that maybe the Prophecy hinted that a Jedi would have to turn to the Dark Side to "truly destroy evil" or something like that.

So I had this theory that Dooku was aware of the Prophecy and thought he could be the one to restore balance - so he turns to the Dark Side, but finds when he gets there that he MUST obey his master.

In some ways, it seems one would have to go Dark Side because otherwise, how are you going to get close to Darth Sidious/Palpatine? He can hide himself so well, plus, he'd be on the defensive as soon as he sensed your presence.

Anyway, despite all that, for Episode III, I really hope that Lucas gives Anakin a chance to kill Palpatine - but Anakin gets seduced.

I agree that it is all about free will, but Anakin shouldn't be coerced into the DS because of pain or torture or something else; he should CHOOSE to go there b/c of the power that is offered.

But the choice won't have as much impact if he doesn't have a chance to do away with Palps if he stays with the Light Side.

Especially for those of us that have watched the OT a million times - we're going to be sitting there in the theatre, thinking "no way, all the misery and suffering in the OT could have been avoided if Anakin had resisted temptation?!?"

That would be a powerful moment.

 

If the Dark Side of the Force is all about using the Force's power for personal ends (ie. ignoring the Will of the Force), then I can't see how it would make sense that it was the Will of the Force for Anakin to ignore the Will of the Force, and therefore he was carrying out the Will of the Force.

I guess I just don't like the idea of everything being preordained. I think every choice Anakin made was his alone, and him becoming Darth Vader wasn't the Will of the Force.

Also, I'll be very surprised if Episode III doesn't include a moment where Anakin has the opportunity to end it all and kill Palpatine/Sidious, but he chooses not to for selfish reasons.

 

When talking of "the will of the force", you run into all types of problems because technichally everything is the will of the force. This elimanates free choice as well the concept of good and evil (because it doesn't matter what you do its always "the will of the force". I think it was wrong for anakin to turn to the dark side but right for him to kill the emporor.
For those familiar with philosophy this works well to the teachings of Immanuel kant.
Kant said that we must act morally without taking into account what will happen in the future.
So anakin should not have turned to the dark side despite any prophesies. the fact that the prophecy came true and it all worked for the best is irrelavant. anakin should have stayed on the light side no matter what.

PS sorry about that philosophy lesson, its what I'm doing my school project on.

 

But it doesn't have to do away with free will, that's the whole point.

One can say: "The Will of the Force will be done in the end." That doesn't mean individual choice doesn't make a difference - it does.

In Anakin's case, and if 3Eyez and I are right and Ani DOES have a chance to kill Palpatine, his individual choice not to has a huge impact on the galaxy.

We have the rise of a galactic Empire, the downfall of the Republic, the nigh-extinction of the Jedi Order...

Ben and Yoda go into hiding, Padme dies in one way or another, the twins get split up, and the remaining 2 Jedi have to wait 20 years before Luke and Leia are old enough to make a difference. And then, the ONLY chance they have is that Anakin will repent and turn back to the Light Side, and choose again, this time to do away with Palpatine.

The Will of the Force does not "force" the actions and decisions of individuals, it works with and around these choices, always presenting new situations to decide how to live.

Example from the OT:

In ESB, Luke probably shouldn't have gone to Bespin - he wasn't ready and almost died...and got a mechanical hand for his troubles. Luke chose poorly, yet survived a minor setback and failed to save Han, etc.

Then in ROTJ, when Luke is going Dark Side, his blow lands on Vader's arm, showing his mechanical arm/hand..just like Luke's.

The Will of the Force? I'd like to think so.

At that point, Luke is again given another chance to choose again - this time, to throw away his saber and become a true Jedi Knight - like his father should have been, 20 years ago.

Which gives Ani/Vader another chance to choose again. Et cetera, and so on.

 

I suppose you're right about the free choice, but if so then the will of the force doesn't mean much because anybody can make a decision the changes history, despite what "the force" may want.

 

Lucas has been very clear that Anakin wasn't meant to turn to the Dark Side.

 

The ter "balance" means when two forces are equal. If the "Balance" of the Force is where the Sith are all destroyed but the Jedi are still powerful, that is not balance; in fact, that's the opposite.
Lucas has no clue what balance means. That's why I feel that the only way the Force could be balanced is if there are an equal number of Jedi to Sith.

EU Warning- I accept the EU. If you don't, don't bother reading any further than this paragraph.

Before Vader killed the Emperor, the Force wasn't balanced. There were only a handful of Jedi, while the Dark Side had the Emperor, Vader, the Dark Siders and Dark Jedi, etc. Now that all the Dark Side Users are gone, the Jedi have ascended, thus swinging the balance of power in the direction of the Light Side. There is no more Balance in the Force, and there cannot be until all Force users, Jedi and Sith, are destroyed.