The irony of Padme's fate was it ended up being a self fulfilling prophecy. No wonder Vader hated himself.

your passion for the prequels is unmatched

"Anakin had so many flaws, that's why I didn't like the prequels." Uh... yeah. That is literally the entire point of a tragedy: the protagonist is flawed.

Padme was the one person who understood Anakin. The one person who knew him like no other person did, inside and out. Besides his Mother, who died in his own arms, out of all of those in the galaxy including his closest friends, none of them showed him as much love, support, and affection as Padme did despite his many flaws and mistakes. And with all the years upon years of nothing but pain and trauma just building up, it should surprise nobody how that would make him realize that she was the only one who truly mattered to him, and as such had to do everything he could to keep her alive. He loved her so much that he would’ve sold his own soul to the devil to save her, and he did just that. And yet she dies anyway... And he is made to think that it was his own fault. If that wouldn’t create a monster out of you, then nothing would.

Anakin: goes through shit The Jedi order: Emotions are not for sharing

Star Wars Phantom Menace: Anakin had FEAR. In attack of the clones: Anakin had ANGER. In Revenge of the Sith: Anakin had HATE. After he became Vader, Anakin had SUFFERING. The prequels geniusly depicted the fall of Anakin and thats why i love the prequles more than anything else. Like yoda said in episdoe 1 to anakin, " Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." It shows how much planning and love the prequels have unlike the sequels

This is why watching him turn hurt so much. You know from the beginning how things will end, but you come to love Anakin and almost wish the outcome were different, but inevitably he becomes Darth Vader. Just leaves you feeling like you can’t accept there wasn’t a happy ending for him. But it’s also an outstanding ability Lucas has to make the audience feel connected to a character and then feel all these emotions from things like this. Hayden was also amazing. They couldn’t have chosen a better Anakin.

Palpatine to Anakin regarding Dooku: "He's too dangerous to be left alive." Mace Windu to Anakin regarding Palpatine: "He's too dangerous to be left alive." Well done Mr. Lucas

I’ve always empathized with Anakin. Honestly, I look at Star Wars as a whole as HIS story. That’s what pissed me off about Disney undoing his redeeming deed in The Rise of Skywalker. Anakin is the chosen one, not Rey. And she’s not a Skywalker.

When the guy on the left said “yeah”, I really felt that

Clone wars adds a lot of depth to his turn as well. The constant discouraging of "having attachments" he had the biggest heart and cared so deeply for everyone and the jedi around him are constantly saying "eh, if they die they die. We must be ready to let go of our attachments. Do not have attachments" etc. Too blinded by their ways to see the damage they were causing.

I remember when I told people Anakin was my favorite, they would just brush it off as an edgy character. He wasn't angsty for the sake of being angsty, he was like that because of years frustrations. I also really like his style and confidence in fighting, flying, and leading. He doesn't talk like a politician, he talks like a human with dreams and aspirations, not tied down by policy.

“From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!”

“Anakin, you’re breaking my heart!” “Don’t be silly, Padmé. It’s pronounced ‘neck.’”

i also wanted to point out that there's a line both Palpatine and Mace said at different times of this movie. "He's too dangerous to be kept alive" So to Anakin, there's no difference in being a jedi or sith. They both wanted to kill their enemies and do whatever it takes to gain the open hand. But only too Anakin, one side is shutting him down while the other insisted to help him with his dilemna.

Anakin's turn was always entirely comprehensible to me, but that never kept it from being sad. I think that was because as a 7 year old boy, Anakin Skywalker was my role model, hero, and even idol. I was obsessed with Star Wars as a kid, and I wanted to be a Jedi so badly (I think there's probably others who can relate to varying degrees). But because I saw so much of myself in Anakin, or as Anakin, I used him to inform my ideal version of myself, attaching whatever his fate was to mine. When Anakin served the light side, I felt like I could triumph, like I could crush my enemies with the force, powerful, revered. When Anakin fell, I was afraid that I would become like that, that I would be hopeless and abandoned and villainized. And, by and large, it became a self fulfilling prophesy. I'm thankful that as an adult, I can examine the effects this had on me as a child, and have a deeper appreciation of the wonderful and truly legendary work performed by Hayden Christensen.

Anakin: *has a problem* Anakin: hey jedi, I need help Jedi: no Anakin: *changes team* Jedi: *surprised pikachu face*

bunch of people: *says anakin's fall was done too quickly* me: *looks at when anakin slaughtered the tusken raiders and his dark moments in the clone wars show*

I like Dave Filoni's take that Darth Maul killing Qui-gon Jin was the turning point that sets Anakin's fall in motion. Anakin trained by Qui-gon doesn't fall to the dark side, Anakin trained by Obi-wan does fall to the dark side. The music during the battle is called "Duel of the Fates" and it's literally a duel for the fate of Anakin. It just takes the next 12+ years to get to the place where he turns to the dark side for the reasons SWT lays out in the video.

Imagine if Anakin found an outside the orders Grey, or a Je'daii. A natural Grey Sentinel Master. Someone who would have at least tried to help with his questions and goals. Someone who would have helped him find the fine balance between Anakin and Vader. A true home within himself. To me, the Jedi and Sith are both a problem that needs solving.

I always thought this even as a kid I didn't even realize people thought any other way about Anakin until two years ago

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” is not an empty saying...

And that`s why in Obi-Wan Kenobi he said "I am what you made me." That was so chilling and true.

Anakin's story is actually a great philosophical commentary on how rigid societal and political systems inevitably fall while turning even the best in society into enemies. Modern western society is exhibiting that pattern exactly.

“WHAT HAVE I DONE???” I believe those were the last words of Anakin before he became Vader and fully devoted himself to the dark side to save Padme

I never knew that the Master title would've given him access to the restricted teachings. Now I understand that it wasn't just pride that he was expressing when he was denied the title.

I think it’s primarily due to the council actually fearing what he could become, so they try to hold him back. Just like in every scenario where you try to prevent something from happening, you end up ensuring that it happens.

Stuff like what Anakin suffered through only make turning to the Dark Side more and more relatable. It's hard not to be upset and frustrated when you go through so much and get nothing paid off for it.

If Qui-gon had survived, Anakin would have never turned to the dark side.

You are strong and wise, Theory. And I am very proud of you.

Man I've never heard anyone defend our Anakin so impeccably. Things you said were always in my mind but never knew how to talk about it. He was a slave, was taken away from his mother, the master who promised to train him died even before it starts, everyone says he's the chosen one but still restraining from reaching his full ability telling him that he is dangerous, was literally questioned for everything he did even though it resulted in the well being of the republic and the Jedi , risk his life several times to fight battles that even the most powerful could not , after doing all this still was insulted by taking him to the council but not giving the rank of Master telling that he's reckless and young even thought he has his own padawan,asked help for his visions/dreams about for his mother and wife twice but got neglected by even Master Yoda telling him to let go the one true love of his life, and finally when someone told him a way to save his love's live , he was still conflicted by his inner sense of good and bad. After all this he still requested Master Windu for the trail of Palpatine but was again disregarded. Then he had no other way. Had to do things that he would never wanted to (His tear falling from his eyes at Mustafar shows his remorse). Padme could've brought him back to light but then Obi-Wan appeared out of nowhere(not blaming Kenobi but still..).He lost all of his limbs and was literally burnt alive only to know , all that he had done was in vain. Then after many years he learns the truth about his children and sacrificed himself to save his son telling that Padme was right, there's still good in him . That's why he's my favorite character ever and always will be.

OT guy here. I remember the excitement when the prequels came out and I was one of those critical of them, but not as much as the haters. I loved the podracing scenes the amazing light saber choreographies and while I thought the CG landscapes and such were maybe a bit too overdone, they still looked beautiful. I hated the "midichlorians" that dulled the sense of mysticism of the force, and thought episode 2 was a bit boring overall, but I never believed that Anakin's turn was "fast" and saw all the hardships he went through and episode 3 is actually one of my favorites as it perfectly captures the final push into Darth Vader! Thanks for encapsulating Anakin's journey so well. Over time I've been able to even backtrack on some of my superficial criticisms of the prequels and appreciate the storytelling in them more, but even back then and especially now, Revenge of the Sith is still on par with the OT movies for me!

This is why I could never understand the argument that the prequels “ruined” Vader. 1, 2 and 3 made Vader. They turned him into a person. They explained the tragedies that forged him into a monster he didn’t want to be. And they turned him into my, and many others’ most compelling villain in fiction. I love this story, and Vader even more because of it. I understand that some people don’t like the origin story he was given. But its course is a very, very believable one.

“I have failed you Anakin. I have failed you.” Saddest moment in all of Star Wars.

I’m actually really glad that in the Obi-Wan series he actually apologizes to Anakin…for everything. The reality is the Jedi council failed this boy/man time and time again, from his adolescence to his adulthood. I could never understand how in gods name, no had the common sense to offer to train Anakin instead of leaving it Obi-wan who was just a padawan not long before. When I look at the prequels I’m more filled with frustration and anger at how they handled him.

If you don't understand anakin's turn to the dark side then clearly you've never lost someone close to you and you've never been in love.. the road to hell is paved with good intention

A guy can only get called "Ani" so many times before he flips

I think Ahsoka saying the “Jedi order failed her” rubbed off on him too! He saw the whole situation with here being blamed instead of offee and was like “does no one else see that this is unfair”

If the Jedi had actually helped Anakin he would’ve been less vulnerable to the dark side. But he was the chosen one, he did bring balance to the force. He destroyed the Jedi, and The Sith.

I love this. Anakin has turned into one of my favorite characters in the last few years. I used to hate him because he was whiney in the 2nd and 3rd episodes. But as time grew, and as I watched the clone wars. His story is even more tragic. Even throughout the war, the council literally just said, “Eff you” on several occasions. Like tricking Anakin that Obi-Wan was dead, Ahsoka’s trial, and among many other things. I have a lot of successes in my life, and I have a LOT of failures as well. But I STRONGLY relate to Anakin, and sympathize with him greatly. People keep holding me back, and it’s infuriating. Every time I’ve done something in life, it’s always because someone previously held me back, and I told the world, fuck you I’m going to do it anyway. So as a kid, I never really understood what anakin went through. Now as an adult, who’s had lots of ups and downs, and I can relate, making him one of my favorite characters to date.

"All it takes is one bad day" -The Joker

And after his arms and legs are severed and he gets burnt alive the first thing he asks is “where is padme is she safe, is she alright”

Sequels: Can’t give Rey good development with the use of 3 movies. Prequels: Uses all 3 movies and a 7 Season Series for development and it works perfectly.

I have said the same thing about Anakin. But there's a point where he tells Obi-Wan before leaving how he's been impatience, etc... and it's definitely a turning point towards staying a Jedi. He even when finding out about Sidious leaves and says the council will decide his fate. The catalyst is Mace. Mace had never liked Anakin. All he had to do was show Anakin trust in him and take him to capture Palaptine. Instead Mace again doesn't trust him and leaves him behind. The reality is Mace Windu is the main catalyst of Anakin's turn. All Mace had to do was bring Palaptine in but he didn't.

Theory: *explains* Josh: “yeah”

Wow remember when Star Wars had actual character development like this?

The one thing I've noticed about the prequals is that they're very subtle. You have to be an active observer to understand them. They're way more deep than people realize. Palpatine manipulating things is a perfect example. We can see his subtle influence and on everyone from Ep1 if you're paying attention. How he uses and discards them once they've taken his plan to the next step. In Ep3 he stops trying to be so subtle as he knows he can get away with it at that point in order to execute his plan.

Most ppl don't realize but the irony is if he never turned to the dark side padme wouldn't have died, it was because of anakin why she died & that makes it even more unfortunate & sad

".. and Palpatine siezed the moment and killed Mace Windou" *Allegedly*

The fact that so many of you never realised any of this disturbs me.

Anything Anakin wanted to do was always out of the love for others, its why I loved Jake Lloyds portrayal of him because you just saw in the innocence and love and they Hayden Christensen showed how conflicted and confused he had grown to be under the Jedi. He had 3 people, Qui-Gon, Shmi & Padme and lost the first two and was certainly going to do everything he could to save all he had left.

The novels are criminally underrated. The entire prequel series is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING through the lens of the novels.

Anakin is perhaps one of the most misunderstood characters in movie history. When you look at the whole story, Christian Hayden played it perfectly

I already felt this way... It’s really hard to blame Anakin for the choices he made. I watched Revenge of The Sith recently and my sister and I cried watching him struggle with his choices. He was trying. He was trying SO hard to do the right thing. He told Mace Windu as soon as he found out Palpatine was a sith. If you watch Attack of the Clones, Anakin is rebellious and arrogant, but watching the Clone Wars and the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, you realize he HAS changed. BUT because of his power, Mace Windu and the council didn’t trust him, they were afraid. They didn’t give him Master because they were afraid of him. Although while keeping him held down, they put a ton of pressure on him, telling him to betray and spy on the chancellor etc. He was under so much pressure from both sides his whole life. The dark side and the light side weighed on him his whole life. He didn’t have someone like Qui Gon to teach him balance and why he shouldn’t be ashamed for wanting to save more people. Overall, I think the Jedi are right in saying attachments and emotions can lead to the dark side, but I think suppression of all emotions and attachments can be equally dangerous, and in the end that’s why Anakin turned.

Disney: Let's remove the meaning of that. Let's add force healing that is so easy to perform that no one would ever die!

Damn, you did it. Well, you didn't actually change my view but you sure as hell clarified it. The line "From my point of view the Jedi are evil!" makes a lot more sense now.

“You’re the chosen one, but nah we ain’t gonna teach you how to use these powers you have”

He also mentions in the Clone Wars that he doesn't agree with all the Jedi's beliefs

The story was always about Anakin. Something the sequels forgot without a second thought.

This is basically what I’ve been telling people for years all wrapped into 3 minutes.

Literally felt this way for years. The tragedy of Anakin Skywalker. Every time I watch Revenge of the Sith , inside I'm wishing he would change his mind and not go dark. Breaks my heart every time I watch his turn. He'll forever be my favorite character in all of Star wars.

Anakin: *literally burns alive and survives for the wife * Padme: *dies of sadness *

The fact so many people miss this from the movies is honestly sad

it's like I'm watching myself talking about Anakin to my friends. THANK YOU FOR THIS

SWT is like an English teacher: _he always reads between the lines_

Anakin turns to the dark side out of love... Returns to the light side out of love... "It's like poetry... It rhymes."

There’s a really neat sort of heart felt interview with Natalie Portman. I think it was in a VHS, maybe early DVD release of Episode 2. She describes how she agreed with the idea that evil is often born of something good, at its core. And that Anakin’s care and love and frustration in thought of losing that is what lead to his evil. The love for his mother, his wife. And that she truly believed that one is born of the other, when it comes to good and evil. I tried hard to find this interview. She is so intelligent and it was more mind blowing to listen to than the movie. And something we don’t consider.

Wtf, was that 3 minutes, got so Into your story i just floated away, a real eyeopener!!!

I absolutely love the fact that Anakin spent approximately half his life on the light side and half on the dark side, in the end, dieing on the light.

You can't even imagine how satisfying it feels to hear someone defend Anakin's turn to the dark side. And it's done on pure FACTS

I really like how you spelled this out. Makes it way more understandable. One thing though: I think its a bit like Heisenberg/Mr. White (breaking bad). He convinced himself he was doing everything for his family, but in the end it was really for the power and vanity. That's why Anakin is always boasting about being the most powerful. Sure he wanted to save his wife, but he also kept feeding his lust for power. Sidious knew this, and used the lie of his wife to get him to come closer to the alluring and dangerous dark side. Kind of reminds me of how Satan uses half truths to get us to do wrong things.

You didn’t change my opinion but you did make my opinion even more valid to me

His turn to the Dark Side was just one bad thing after another. Let down after let down. Disappointment after disappointment. Frustration after frustration and eventually the Jedi turned their own "saviour" against them

Also to add to your evaluation; they always said Aniken would bring balance to the force in which he did by helping to kill the Jedi to bring the numbers down to an even amount with the with the Sith. So you see he did bring balance to the force “from a certain point of view.”

I didn't need to be convinces becaude I'm lucky enough to be easy going, but yet I'm convinced. This is a nice way to put this character into perspective.

“Extremely dark in the force” *Anakin Younglings Scene shows*

I remember a comment someone left that put it well: "The Jedi got their Chosen One and they failed him." It's the emotional detachment thing that keeps me wanting to either see a better Force tradition or a rejection of the Force for corrupting normal emotions into the Dark Side. I think the Jedi's biggest sin was apathy. They left Anakin's mom enslaved, and had no apparent plans to do anything about slavery in general. Without connections to the people of the galaxy, those problems become abstracted to nothing.

Perfect video as always

I never had anything against anakin for turning. I understood his frustration with the jedi council for treating him like they did, but most of all to save his wife, that is true love right there. He was willing to do what ever it took to save the love of his life. Anakins story is actually quite heartbreaking.

“Yeah” That guy on the left, couldn’t have done it without him. “

I took note that the core of his being was fear. The root cause of "evil" is fear. Instead of the Jedi accepting his fear and working through it to help him achieve peace, they denounced it and forced him to bottle it up. It's like being depressed and your friends tell you" "Just be more positive."

I think in all honesty when looking at the whole story he was right in the beginning but by the end lost control due to those around him and instead of figuring it out he ended up trying to use his strength to control people. And even as Vader he has a controlling personality common in those who grow up being controlled.

What an incredible video. 3 minutes of talking about everything we already know.

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

This is about the first time I've ever heard someone summarize Anakin's fall this quickly. Thank God this was recorded

I gotta say i was skeptical on the title but you make some really good points

Also, Anakin was brought up in such a strict adherence to the Jedi Code in his teachings, that it was causing a great struggle in him between following the Jedi and saving Padme with Dark Side power. So Mace Windu was a Jedi Master who didn't grant Anakin the rank of Master which meant to Anakin that he was not as faithful to the Jedi Code and strong with the Lightside as Mace was. He runs into the chancellors office and finds Mace willing to sacrifice the code to kill Palpatine. This action is the true catalyst for his fall because it is the moment that Anakin has concrete proof that the council are not the paradigms of light that they would have you believe and cannot be trusted as such.

This is more important than my final exams prep

I still hope he doesn’t turn every time I watch ROS lmao

I think his turn was perfect. The general idea was perfect. He looked like he had borderline personality disorder too. The problem was everything in between - direction, dialogues etc

Thanks for explaining exactly what happened in the movie, I didn’t understand when I watched it. My brain couldn’t comprehend the story until you worded it in the exact same way. Thank you Star Wars Theory.

I truly believe everything would’ve been different if qui-gon had lived past the fight with maul.

When you send a huge text message and all you get is “yeah” in response 😂

Man I just recently watched everything again and I was pretty much crying when he turned

Very nicely said! I also believe that with Qui-gon he would have never turned to the dark side.

Theory: Explains theory Guy on left: I heard emotions aren't for sharing, so "yeah".

"They see your future. They know your power will be too strong to control." -Palpatine to Anakin These words might've been pure manipulation, but he was right. The Jedi were afraid of Anakin's power. They were afraid of what he might become if they allowed him to achieve his full potential. I imagine the Jedi never forgot Revan's turn to the Dark Side and the carnage he wrought as a result. They likely feared a repeat of what happened back then. In their refusal to allow him to become who he was born to be, always denying him the credit he deserved and requiring more from him than any other Jedi, all the while not allowing him to work through his emotions by refusing to acknowledge them, they created a self-fulfilling prophecy that ultimately led to their own destruction.

The best analysis. Thank you so much

I wish Disney would never made any sequels bro... It ended perfectly in ROTJ. Anakin fulfilled his destiny of destroying the sith by killing Darth Sidius...

The world does to people, what the jedi order did to Anakin.