I love this comic a lot and oh my god I love this analysis of Anakin’s conflicted decision to leave the order. I always felt like Anakin clung to the idea of being a Jedi so hard because for him anything was better than life as a slave. This scene kinda struck me as Anakin vaguely admitting that he traded on cage for another. Even though he was free he wasn’t truly free. He’s never really had a life that was completely in his hands, which from my perspective is all he really wanted.

When Ahsoka left the order I believe he wasn’t just sad that she left but he was also slightly envious of her. He wanted the freedom that Ahsoka had gained by deciding her own fate. All he wanted was to live a his best life and even though he was happier than he’d ever been as a Jedi he wanted more out of life than to have his future decided for him.

Dear Infantry,

First of all, there is nothing for you to be ashamed of at all. You’re discussing Star Wars in a online community full of fanatical nerd teens. You’re not in a Bachelor of Literature forum, nor in a university, nor even studying deep and complex authors like Cervantes, Goethe or Dostoyevsky.

Secondly, I believe you’re making a big deal out of this. You don’t need to find a definitive conclusion or an ultimate interpretation on the character of Anakin Skywalker, since your perspective about him will probably change throughout the years following your intellectual maturation. Each person on this fandom has their own hermeneutic on Anakin, some with an excellent argumentation, others with an absurd perspective, in which said opinions might match with each other or not. Therefore, don’t feel shy nor be afraid on sharing yours here.

In addition, I’d recommend to make a deeper analysis or just to check out other Charles Soule’s works on the comic field to be more acquainted with his narrative style, tone and language. He’s one of those authors who use to let some things open to interpretation, something that I enjoy a lot, since it helps to develop the critical thinking. His works have this in common, and once you acknowledge better his language, you start to comprehend everything he said, but specially what he didn’t display, or the things that are between the lines. The level of profundity of his Vader series is much more complex than this one. Not in a Franz Kafka level, but still.

My short interpretation about this is quite simple: “the galaxy calling for him” was just his implicit excuse to say, “I want to make the galaxy a better place, but in my way.” Remember that in this same comic, in a previous situation to the mission they were at, Sheev invites Anakin to hang out with him through the lower levels, to show him “the other side of the coin” the Jedi don’t use to show, and from the society in general. Ani, who was instigated indirectly by Sheev, uses the Force to screw up with someone’s luck that day, and although nobody got hurt nor nothing, that act in itself wasn’t a licit thing to do. That’s why both young and old men kept that to themselves. Through that strategy, Sidious was gradually but effectively tutoring Skywalker that, as long as you have good intentions in the long term, it doesn’t matter the ways on how you do good, as long as it is beneficial or positive in some way. In other words - the ends justify the means. And that idea flirts in a grey area the Jedi were not used to, since the means matter for them, and a lot.

Concluding, Skywalker leaving the Order could be interpreted as a public statement of, “I love the Jedi and their principles of balance and greater good, I just do not agree with the methodology and dogmas”. So Anakin would be finally free to go to, for example, Tatooine, free his mother or just get along with the Lars (I believe Shmi was already with them in that time), then killing Jabba The Hutt, liberating the slaves and making himself the new planet ruler, with his own laws and whatnot. Remember that in The Phantom Menace he said something like that to Qui-Gon, that he had a dream he was a Jedi and was liberating slaves, and that kind of stuff. So basically Anakin would become some kind of SW Superman/Captain America, saving people, fighting evil and even circumventing some rules if necessary with the end to reach his goal - the welfare of all beings, truth, justice and a better tomorrow.

Obviously the Jedi are also aligned with those ideals, but their way to act comes more from a spiritual perspective than a secular one. And obviously, their social/political submission to the Galactic Senate kind of impeded them to do more and beyond, something that Anakin never truly understood, and something that Palpatine brilliantly used to manipulate Skywalker’s feelings toward the Republic and raise his frustration with the system. Not being attached to the Jedi nor the Republic, Anakin would be free to create his own system without needing to justify himself to anyone. The great detail on all this would be Kenobi, since he compromised himself to Qui-Gon that he would train Anakin no matter what, even if that meant he had to leave the Order too (which it could turn in a good thing, because then he finally would be able to be with Satine, lol!), after all, Anakin was still a teen and he had a lot to learn yet. Besides, Sidious could get that opportunity to finally reach him as a Sith Lord and take him as his apprentice. Anyway, the possibilities and different turns are super interesting and thought provoking.

Keep up with your studies on this matter, please. You’re doing great, and I’m glad for you,

Affectionately yours,

Ajj.

Thank you, Aj. I think I’ve reached a conclusion on it, and yes, perhaps I was getting worked up about something that is relatively insignificant, but there was just something about it, and especially with everything leading up to it, that made it feel so impactful.

I sincerely appreciate your help and kindness. It means more to me than you will ever know.

First I'd want to ask if there's any function like subscribing here in Fandom, cuz' I'm a prequel fan, I love Anakin and Ahsoka best and I'm really impressed by someone like you analyzing the characters in SW, which I would be love to do if I had enough time. I'm now following your post, and if there's anything new I'm gonna check it out.

And I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the topic.

First I have to admit that, the characteristics of Ani surely changed a lot both in the film and during the process of Lucas Film making it. For in the prequels we know that Hayden...somehow people think the Anakin part messed up, and I did feel a little bit strange while watching the prequel films cuz' some of the lines were just... well, strange. What I didn't understand like, why did Anakin just follow Palp's teachings like that? How could he just turned his back on the entire Republic and Jedi Order and became a Sith with like, a couple of words from Palp? Well I actually learned something from TCW, from which I noticed Anakin and Ahsoka being pressured by the council, and what the Jedi and their teachings were actually like. And back to the movie, things seemed to be more sensible and smoother. Maybe it's because I missed a lot of details while watching EP3, or maybe I think, is that the prequels just did the job in a too rapid way and didn't give fans the time to understand what Anakin'd been through, for basically the prequels just skipped the Clone Wars, you know. And that's exactly why I love TCW so much, it brings the character of Anakin Skywalker to life, we see more aspects of his personalities, and we are able to see things in a more complete way. This proves that Anakin's characters have been evolving ever since the character was created, and sometimes it's just natural to have paradoxes, and when fans don't accept that, well...unpleasant things might happen. As for me, I don't quite agree with the prequel trilogy which once made me consider Anakin as a quite simple person, but I do agree with how he's like in TCW. And I think that could explain something, and this theory might be helpful to your analysis which might justify some of the paradoxes in Anakin's personalities.

Hope to be helpful, and I'd be happy to discuss with you about characters in SW and also its philosophies. Oh, since I define myself as a Jedi, I would support the ideals of the Order though I don't quite agree with some of its dogmas, lol.

MT4BWU!