Star Words: Episode III, Part 4

[matril]

It seems reasonable to assume that the fight with Dooku did not go quite as Obi-Wan planned -- ending with Obi-Wan knocked unconscious, pinned in place by a broken railing. Then he wakes up only to find himself hanging upside-down on Anakin's shoulder. His reaction is unsurprising.

"Did I miss something?"

Yup. Let's see, Obi-Wan, what happened while you were sleeping? Well, Dooku's dead now, thanks to Anakin. Chancellor Palpatine has been freed, and Anakin has been trying to get him safely off the ship, all while carrying Obi-Wan on his back. Oh, and then there was the disabling of the ship's stabilizers, leading to everything turning sideways. That's why everyone is dangling in an elevator shaft.

So it's a funny moment, especially paired with Anakin's wry understatement of "We're in a bit of a situation here." But will I now go ahead and overthink this one-liner? Of course I will.

Obi-Wan missed the end of the fight with Dooku. He missed the moment when Anakin succumbed to his darker impulses. Goaded by Paplatine, he killed Dooku in a flash of anger and vengeance. Obi-Wan missed that. And it's going to happen again, on a much larger, more tragic scale. Obi-Wan will be conveniently away on Utapau when Palpatine makes a bid for Anakin's permanent allegiance. Everything will change. And when Obi-Wan returns at last, he could easily make the same bewildered statement. "Did I miss something?"

The Jedi massacred, entombed in a burning Temple. And the culprit...his former apprentice, his dearest friend. Last time they spoke, Anakin spoke his gratitude, opened up about his struggles, and seemed on the way to finding peace. They parted on good terms. Now they are enemies. How could this have happened? How could everything have turned upside-down so suddenly? How could Obi-Wan have missed this?

Ah, look at that. I've made a funny line into a tragedy. Well, that's Episode III for you. Next time, we'll finally be moving on from the opening battle to a quieter moment....

Comments

[krpalmer]

In wondering where we'd get from last week's line (which I did contemplate, but couldn't quite seem to find the time to get my thoughts together and written down), I did consider one thing Obi-Wan missed, namely Palpatine trying to convince Anakin to leave his master... Not that long ago, I did see a few people seeming to find sudden glee in pointing out that after Anakin said "His fate will be the same as ours," Obi-Wan was struck down on the first Death Star while the Emperor and Darth Vader both died on the second. I suppose, though, I'm more inclined to try and tie the moment in with something I've admitted to several times already and say this seems one of the best pieces of evidence towards an interpretation of Palpatine as not equipped with the diabolical foresight to manipulate every other character at every instant along a path set from the very first moment; Anakin may have been shaken by killing Count Dooku, but not to the point of obeying every command yet. On the other hand, as soon as I'd thought that I started contemplating more elaborate theories about this somehow trying to build up a greater sense of impending betrayal...

[matril]

True, Palpatine is a consummate opportunist, but he doesn't foresee or control every contingency; he's just very good at using the circumstances placed before him. He was certainly strongly motivated to separate Anakin from Obi-Wan's influence as much as possible.