"Know do you, Obi-Wan, why reluctant I was for Skywalker to become your apprentice?" (Yoda in Wild Space)
Attachment. How much is too much?
Then tell you I will. Reluctant I was because the same flaw you share, Obi-Wan. The flaw of attachment. (Wild Space by Karen Miller)
No doubt about that, although Anakin took his attachment to extremes. Killing the Tuskens, for example. And his attachment to Padme was downright creepy. Ten years he held on to a childhood crush?
It occurred to him then, with a clarity that was startling, given the dark side hurricane howling through him, that Yoda was wrong about the dangers of attachment. Or at least that he wasn't altogether right.
It was true that attachment could weaken a Jedi's resolve. But it could also strengthen it... as he was strengthened now by his love for Qui-Gon, and Anakin. Without them he would have failed long before this moment. (Wild Space)
So in this case attachment was good. But where do you draw the line, or more importantly, where does a Jedi draw the line?
Obi-Wan's attachment to Qui-Gon and to Anakin gave him the strength to survive on Zigoola, and possibly times and places as well.
Anakin's attachment to Padme led to the destruction of the Jedi Order and the fall of the Republic.
Hmmmm, I wonder who was right and who was wrong? Obi-Wan and Bail were doomed to die if Obi-Wan hadn't called upon his inner strength to survive the Sith Temple and find a way to "phone home". He had nothing to lose, and used his attachments for good.
Anakin killed for his attachment, killed younglings, cut down fellow Jedi and led the troopers into killing even more. He traded the lives of every Jedi in the order, thousands of lives, for one life: Padme.
But he doesn't even do it for her, he does it for himself: "I can't live without her!"
It doesn't surprise me that he can live with his decision, but I wonder why he though Padme could. I can't believe that she'd want to save her own life at the expense of so many others. That's not the Padme we see on Naboo or Geonosis.
**SIGH** Attachments... can't live with 'em, can't just throw out with the bathwater...
6 comments:
Master Ki-Aaron-Mundi
I was a Teenage Jedi
date Posted: Sep 02, 2009 10:07 PM
Man, Gidrea, you keep writing blogs with references to some of the top books on my reading list! And you keep getting me even more fired up about reading these books! I'll definitely have to pick up Clone Wars: Wild Space sometime in the near future. :)
(Captain) Jack Sparrow
date Posted: Sep 03, 2009 8:23 AM
Attachment. How much is too much?
When you start getting nightmares about the person you're attached to dying, and you go on some obsessive quest to quah anything and everything that you could possibly perceive to be in your way in order to stop this death -- including, but not limited to, the slaughter of countless innocent and very adorable kids, the destruction of a monument that has stood for generations at the exlempification of peace and justice, the murder of one of the greatest Jedi Masters in the history of the galaxy, and a pledge to the darkest Lord of the Sith...not to mention an attempted murder of the one you set out to save to begin with.
That's too much. ;)
But he doesn't even do it for her, he does it for himself: "I can't live without her!"
I think that was because his attachment was a form of self-enslavement. Anakin was always a slave, and didn't know how to live any other way. I don't even believe he really knew how to love. Love is a responsiblity; you can think of it almost as a contract wherein each party promises to make the necessary sacrifices in order to honor the other person.
The act of Anakin and Padme getting married was not wrong. The fact that they let it get in the way of their sworn duties -- which they promised it would not do -- was definately wrong. Their attachment really, really got out of hand.
ewanandhaydenfan5
I Have You Now!
date Posted: Sep 03, 2009 9:19 AM
Anakin's attachment to Padme led to the destruction of the Jedi Order and the fall of the Republic.
It was more Anakin's fear. He could live without Padme, he was just afraid to face that pain.
I can't believe that she'd want to save her own life at the expense of so many others.
Right - remember on Mustafar, she said, "But at what cost?...You're a good perosn, don't do this". She never even asked him to help save her life.
Interesting thoughts, Gidrea!
Jedi Master Mina
Another Galaxy, another time
date Posted: Sep 03, 2009 5:22 PM
He traded the lives of every Jedi in the order, thousands of lives, for one life: Padme.
Hmmmmm...Two lives, there were to be saved. Future of the Jedi, rest on one. Not born yet, was he. A leader to the New Republic, the other shall be. Not born yet, was she.
Damn I love writing in Yoda tongue. :^O
Speaking of Wild Space...I'm still trying to push through the last four chapters. Can you believe it's come down to the last four or so chapters? Yet, I find my lack of interest to finish it, disturbing...LMAO. Maybe I should just read the last chapter and mail it back to you...LOL
alanaelliott
Braving The Star Wars Expanded Universe
date Posted: Sep 04, 2009 1:35 PM
My mind keeps going back to what Yoda says to Anakin in Episode III: "Learn to let go of what you fear to lose".
The key difference here is that Obi-Wan was able to do this, Anakin couldn't. Obi-Wan proved his mastery of this particular practice on Geonosis, when he scolded Anakin for endangering the mission:
"What would Padme do if she were in your position?"
It seems to me that a huge part of letting go is learning how to right BY someone, not necesarilly FOR them. I.E. Obi did right by Qui-Gon not by following his rebellious path against the Order, but simply by honoring his mastery of the living force and a larger perspective.
Hope this makes sense.
(Captain) Jack Sparrow
date Posted: Sep 06, 2009 1:38 PM
Obi did right by Qui-Gon not by following his rebellious path against the Order, but simply by honoring his mastery of the living force and a larger perspective.
Qui-Gon may have been rebellious, but his path was never "against" the Order. Qui-Gon saw the Jedi Order for what it was at the time -- corrupt, complacent, out of touch, and blinded. Now, that isn't to say that it was the Jedi's fault that this was so...The dark side, as has been said, clouded everything.
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