Star Words: Episode III, Part 33

[matril]

This scene sure is a doozy. I might get as many as half a dozen entries out of it. But this line is possibly my favorite. And it hits me in the gut every time.

Anakin/Vader tells Padmé of his new powers, how he's done it all for her. But she ignores all of that and reaches out to him with a simple plea.

"Come away with me."


Ohhh. Can you imagine Vader hearing almost the same words from the mouth of his son? Come with me.


It would be like hearing the voice of his long-dead wife. Help me raise our child; leave everything else behind while we still can. Ohhhhh. It's too perfect, too heartbreaking.

But this first time, Anakin is unmoved. Don't you see? We don't to run away anymore. He's still flushed with the thrill of the Dark Side, of unfettered power. He still thinks they're on the verge of victory.

Years of emptiness and despair will change that. Luke will finish the mission his mother set out to do.

Next, more poetic symmetry as Anakin's arrogance reveals itself....

Comments

[krpalmer]

I had been wondering just what upcoming line would resonate with Return of the Jedi, and have to admit I hadn't thought of this one. Now that it's been pointed out to me, I can also admit to remembering having seen the resonance pointed out before. In any case, a part of me does want to imagine a line of Vader's in RotJ transformed to "Your mother once thought as you do," although I believe that when I first saw that brought up I saw a bit of further theorizing along the lines of "he still can't bring himself to mention her, so 'Obi-Wan' just sort of drops into place as a replacement."

[matril]

I could easily imagine the line being altered to "someone else once thought as you do." Of course when ROTJ was made, we only knew Obi-Wan, with just a single passing mention of the unnamed mother.

[krpalmer]

I guess this gets into "what did Lucas know and when?", which too often seems to take on overtones of "I'm offended my personal theories weren't correct." Had more been made of "Mrs. Skywalker" in 1983, I'm sure speculation would have bloomed over the years of waiting. (The Return of the Jedi novelization, though, did go so far as to say "Anakin didn't know his wife was pregnant when he left her"; I admit I'd supposed right after Attack of the Clones he and Padme would be separated during "Episode III"... although after enduring the nasty spin put on things by others, I'll also admit to feeling pleased at the first reports that wouldn't be the case.)

[matril]

I can appreciate the idea of an evolving backstory in Lucas's mind over the years. I'm also very glad that he ultimately decided to have Anakin know about the pregnancy.