Anakin Skywalker’s fall is, as my former colleague Joe Toly noted in the November 24th edition of Chimes, one of the “most haunting scenes in cinema.” I agree. Anakin’s screams of hatred at Obi-Wan — whom he once loved as a brother — as he burns in agony on the fiery shores of Mustafar still makes me cry years after my first watch of Revenge of the Sith. In fact, the older I get, the more this scene seems to resonate with me. 

Anakin is a character who has, in many ways, been betrayed by the very Order he grew up serving. Although Anakin is rash, headstrong, and impulsive, he has a strong heart and a fierce love for those he cares about. The most obvious of these loves is Padmé Amidala, whom he married in secret at the start of the Clone Wars, but he also loves his friends, his troops, and his mentors. He also has a strong sense of right and wrong, calling out injustice and defending those who are weak — especially because he grew up in slavery. 

But, as is hinted at in Attack of the Clones and is slowly revealed through his development in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Anakin has a dark side. The Clone Wars (an animated series which ran from 2008 to 2020) shows Anakin’s uncontrollable anger at the injustice around him. This lack of control is what turns him towards the dark side. He slaughters a village of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine after they kill his mother. He uses force choking as an interrogation tactic, especially on opponents who are particularly bigoted or cruel. He kills his enemies without remorse. 

Anakin becomes angrier and angrier leading up to and throughout Revenge of the Sith, not only at the cruelties of war, but also at the actions of the Jedi Order. He does so with good reason: the Jedi Order improperly accuses his apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, of terrorism, regularly disregards or opposes Anakin’s opinions and insights, and forces him to spy on his long-time mentor, Emperor Palpatine, without a good reason why. Even their initial treatment of Anakin’s induction to the Order was mishandled and cruel: they took him from his home at age 9 (most Jedi are found and taken to the temple in infancy), separating him from his mother and leaving her in slavery, and forcing him to abandon the attachments and emotions he had grown up with — labeling these natural feelings as evil and dark rather than teaching him how to handle them. The Jedi Council fears Anakin’s power and mistrusts him rather than guiding him and shaping him.

Of course, Anakin is not entirely without support. He has his Jedi Master — the diplomatic and kind-hearted Obi-Wan Kenobi. There is a reason the Obi-Wan and Anakin fight is the climax of Episode III, rather than Order 66 or the Yoda/Sidious duel. Their relationship is at the heart of the prequel trilogy, and the contrast between the two men offers deep insight into both of their characters. Obi-Wan represents the control and poise that Anakin lacks. Obi-Wan is built on principle. We see through The Clone Wars that Obi-Wan was in love with the Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore — an obvious parallel to Anakin and Padmé’s relationship — but he did not act on his feelings, although it’s clear he sometimes wishes he had. He’s known for his wit and negotiation abilities. Obi-Wan recognizes the shortcomings of the Jedi Order, but he still operates within its faulty systems and tries to make things better through his presence on the Council, his investigation of the Clone army, and his patient mentoring of Anakin through times of frustration. Obi-Wan issues the warning to surviving Jedi after Order 66 not to return to the Jedi Temple. He hides Anakin’s children from him, working to keep Luke Skywalker safe and mentoring him when the time comes.

Obi-Wan’s resistance to the dark side of the force reveals his inner strength — strength that Anakin lacks. He balances his own misgivings and struggles with the Jedi Order with his connection to the light side of the force, his patience and humility, and his own quiet resistance to its dogmatic nature. Anakin, on the other hand, allows his anger to consume him. Anakin’s desire for freedom is not what drives him from the Jedi Order — it is his anger, planted in him by the failings of the Jedi Order and the evil of the galaxy, fueled by Palpatine and the Jedi Council. Anakin has, over and over again, been failed by the systems he grew up in. By allowing this anger to fester, Anakin turns into a hateful, spiteful man, which allows Palpatine to manipulate him into thinking the Dark Side can give him more power. 

The exchange between Anakin and Obi-Wan before their fight on Mustafar demonstrates Anakin’s relationship with anger and power:

Anakin: You turned her against me!

Obi-Wan: You have done that yourself.

Anakin: You will not take her from me!

Obi-Wan: Your anger and your lust for power have already done that. You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind, until now… until now, you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.

Anakin: Don’t lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the Dark Side as you do. I have brought peace, freedom, justice and security to my new Empire.

Star Wars analysis aside, Toly claims that Anakin’s desire for freedom is what leads him to darkness. It makes sense that someone who sees the Jedi Order and its (conventionalized and arbitrary) rules as law and as absolutely correct would see an act of turning away from those rules as evil. It is clear to me that, at least with Anakin, this is not the case. If the Christian church — sorry, the Jedi Order — represents something absolutely capital-g Good, and has Good rules and Good teachings, it would follow that falling away from it because of personal reasons related to love or desire or lust or power or whatever else is Bad. 

But, surprise! The Jedi Order is not perfect. Sure, you can argue that Palpatine/Darth Sidious misled the Republic and deceived the Jedi and tempted Anakin. Of course, Palpatine/Darth Sidious is an evil man. Anakin is manipulated by him and tempted by his offers of power — that is very clear. However, Anakin’s passionate character and Sidious’s connection to the dark side is not what leads to his fall — it is the consistent moral failings of the Jedi Order. Over the course of the prequels, the Order morphs from a group of peacekeepers who protect the galaxy and fight for justice to generals and soldiers who serve a corrupt government. It was not Palpatine who initially commissioned the creation of the Clone Army. It was not Palpatine who enlisted child soldiers. Palpatine needed to manipulate Anakin in order to get a leg up on the Jedi. He needed to convince the Jedi that they were doing the right thing when, in fact, they were doing the opposite, so that he could maintain his political authority and military power.

The Jedi Order is corrupted by militarism, hypocrisy, and pride. It turned away from its original intent and purpose. The Order and Anakin fall at the same time — and are both restored, decades later, through Luke Skywalker’s act of grace towards his fallen father. Anakin still brings balance to the force; he is still the Chosen One. He is ultimately recognized as a hero who overcomes evil with good. 

Let it be so with us — may our anger not consume us or lead us astray. Let us not be blinded by pride in our man-made institutions to the point that we do not acknowledge their failings. Let us sit in our shared fallen nature. Let us acknowledge nuance. And, above all, let us lead and love (and forgive!) with grace.