Darth Vader and slavery

One of the things Ankain wanted to do was free his Mother from slavery. He, himself, was a slave. He wanted to destroy slavery. So why did Ankain, turned Darth Vader, allow slavery in his new Galactic Empire?


-Jason
Fire Fighter/EMT-Basic
Jackson 105 Fire Department
Coraggio. Honor. Orgoglio. Dovere.

 

The way I see it is Vader and Anakin are two different people. Anakin is the good person, the one who wants to help people, save people, support the Republic. Vader is the result of the greed Anakin had within himself. Anakin's good, which is to help and save people, turns into attachment, (i.e., Padmé). Anakin was so greedy to save her life that he did everything at Palpatine's request.

Eventually that led him down the Darkside. And eventually that made Anakin believe that everyone was against him. Once that Anger and Rage consumed Anakin, the good person died ... or was buried deep until RotJ. So now that Vader is the anger and rage that's left in Anakin, he is an evil person and once again Anakin is a slave in his own body.

 

The boy you trained gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader. Anakin didn't care after ROTS because he was so twisted as Vader. Even though it contradicts his ideals from his youth. He went along with Palpatine and Palpatine advocated the concept of slavery.

 

So...contradictory he turned out to be.

from , to to

 

You're all wrong!

Actually I look at it this way. When Anakin was a kid he said "I came back and freed all the slaves". Note the word "came back". Anakin came back to the good side, and as a Jedi saved his son Luke from the clutches of the Emperor. Not only did he save Luke, he also saved himself "you already have, Luke". Luke said it himself "Im a Jedi, like my father before me".

With the destruction of the Emperor the Galaxy [which was under slavery so to speak] was freed. Including Vader.

 

First: Vader was the slave of Palpy during the OT.

Second: He was so bittered and so corrupted he didnt care for slaves or human lives anymore. It was meaningless to him. He was only thinking about power. Power he could reach by gaining strenght in the force. If slavery, or supporting slavery would bring him closer to his goal, he'd use slavery for it.

 

It's the running theme of Anakin in the entire saga. He wants power and finds a noble way to justify the pursuit of it; only when he gets the power, he forgets about why he claims to have wanted it in the first place and only wants another fix. He never came back to free the slaves; he didn't even come back to visit his mother.

Regarding slavery and allowing it, I haven't caught any references in the OT to slavery at all so there's no evidence that it still exists. In fact, one could almost argue that in the OT Tatooine is better off under the Empire -- there is no evidence of slavery, only poverty, and the planet now is connected to the inner territories and seems to have a thriving trade.

In the PT Tatooine was unincorporated GFFA. Nobody cared about it. The Republic was blind to it and didn't reach out to it (probably why Anakin was stashed there by whoever created him, my interpretation and backed by removed references to tinkering by the Sith). There were no Jedi there, they didn't care about the planet, the money was not interchangable. To the Republic, Tatooine didn't matter. In the OT, the Empire had a presence there and it was linked to the rest of the galaxy.

 

Like when one would say....

*WHAT ABOUT ME?!
Those slaves can do well, but nobody can understand ME!!! I want to turn the tables, I want to be the master of my master, I WANT TO RULE!*

 

I agree with the fact that he was a slave himself. First on Tatooine then to Palpatine. The only reason he embraced slavery in ANH was for fear of the Emperor. That did sent his ideals in a downward spiral until the end of ROTJ.

 

Great observation. That makes more sense than any other explanation of that quote I have heard. All of Anakin's dreams are prophetic. Notice he says "I came back", and freed all the slaves. He does come back, Vader turns back into Anakin. And he was a slave, just like the rest of the galaxy. Anakin is the Jedi who comes back to free the slaves.
And this movie was the first made after ROTJ, many parts of the movie show that ROTJ was still heavily on Lucas's mind when he wrote TPM. In a way, it is ROTJ's sequel.

 

"In fact, one could almost argue that in the OT Tatooine is better off under the Empire -- there is no evidence of slavery, only poverty, and the planet now is connected to the inner territories and seems to have a thriving trade. "

No slavery on Tatooine in the OT? Mmmm,Oola the dancing girl had all the hallmarks of a slave: chain around her neck and can die at the whim of her 'master'

And also,isn't Leia's turn in that role commonly referred to as 'Slave Leia'?

 

And another thing, IDK , let's also not forget what Obi Wan tells Yoda "Qui Gon believed in him" referring to Anakin. This is important (IMO)- Qui Gon truly believes this kid is meant for great things. QG was there when he heard Anakin say exactly what he wanted to do. Not exactly the way QG envisioned, but nonetheless Anakin does fulfill his wish to free all slaves.

 

Including himself.

 

Yes, but, Jabba the Hutt ran a criminal organization that opperated outside of the law. I can not recall seeing slavery used at all by the Empire in the OT. I think the Empire probably kept the Republics anti-slavery laws on the books, after all, Palpatine wanted to be precieved as a benevolant authoritarian in the eyes of the public.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^

"In fact, one could almost argue that in the OT Tatooine is better off under the Empire -- there is no evidence of slavery, only poverty, and the planet now is connected to the inner territories and seems to have a thriving trade."


Who cares if it's the empire or any other "organisation"?

If Tatooine was under Imperial control by the OT then slavery was at the very least still being tolerated by the corrupt Governors of that Region.

The comment was that there's no reference to slavery on Tatooine under the Empire and my point is not my opinion but actual parts of ROTJ - Slave trade still existed on Tatooine as it had when Anakin was there as a child.

 

I think just the mere fact that there is a dictatorship among the Galaxy should be enough to represent Slavery. Taken control of the Galaxy, essentially taking away most freedoms.

 

He didn't like being a slave because he hated being controlled.However,he loved being in control of others.

I see the galatic empire only enslaved people to keep justice, and to profit off it, helping the Empire stay as long as possible. They believed their system worked, and they loved being in control of everyone.

Anakin wanted to free slaves because at the time,he was a lightsider, all he knew was what it was like to be controlled,he felt power but knew that Jedi's mustn't abuse their power. When he fell to the darkside he didn't care anymore,he was too caught up in himself and how powerful he had become. He knew what it was like to be able to control others and make them the way he wanted it, so he liked keeping slaves.

 

You're right. Anakin's greed began with trying to control Padme's destiny. Once everything fell apart he wanted control of everything to settle his hatred, greed and anger.

He became the result of the very thing he tried his whole life to stop.