PT Legendary Allusions in the Prequel Films

Sorry if there are other threads on this already but they were not obvious to me so I am creating my own.

Here's a thought about one connection to legend. In some ways Anakin is like Aladdin. Qui-Gon JINN is the "genie" who enables him to go from being a slave to marrying a queen, with all sorts of unforseen consequences.

There is also the "self-fulfilling prophecy" element familiar from the Oedipus cycle, wherein Oedipus tries to evade the doom predicted by a prophecy, but his very actions in doing so cause the prophecy to come true. Of course in the Oedipus cycle this also happens with Laius, his father.

Any other allusive readings? Or does anyone want to expand upon either of these?

 

Certainly, Padme evokes all kinds of fairy tale Princess imagery and allusions. I mean, not just her sleeping/death, but the dual identities, etc.

 

It's not an ancient legend, but there is a "Tragedy of Dr. Faust" element to the prequels as well.

 

Yes, Lucas has stated as much, and in fact "The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise" seems to be a direct reference to it.

 

I always thought that Padme looks like Ophelia floating away, who also lost the will to live and was driven to do so by Hamlet's callousness and single-minded pursuit of revenge.

Though, I don't know if Lucas was influenced by Shakespeare or just the same Greek tragedies that also influenced Shakespeare.

 

This is kinda off topic but kinda similar but I apologize if it is.

Basically in ROTS right after the fight with Dooku Palpatine says to leave Obi-Wan behind and Anakin responds with,”his fate will be the same as ours”which is a reference to the fact that all three of them die on the Death Star sharing the same fate.

 

There are many, not least of which is the miraculous birth of Anakin.

There are a great many examples in mythology and religions, in addition to the obvious (Jesus). One virgin birth comparison to Anakin that I find interesting is Mithras, who was held in reverence for centuries by roman warriors. Mithras was said to be born when light came down from heaven and hit the rock. He was a god of unions, and was an intermediary between heaven and earth.

 

I used to tell people that Anakin's demigod-like origin didn't have to be taken as a reference to Jesus Christ, or not exclusively. In Greek legend a "hero" is defined as having half-human, half-divine parentage. Heracles, Theseus, Helen, Castor & Polydeuces, Perseus and many others had a human mother but no human father. Unusually, Achilles and Aeneas had a human father but a divine mother. In any case one narrative function of the midichorians is to give Anakin a "divine birth" without making the Force explicitly theistic. But it is still a heroic parallel. He is a rare hero.