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Star Words: Episode III, Part 15
Aug. 2nd, 2018 02:05 pmThat's right; I'm not done with this scene yet. There's just so much to look at here!
After Palpatine has set Anakin off balance with hints of moral relativism, he brings out the big guns. The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Note the careful wording. For Anakin, the Sith title "Darth" has always been associated with evil. But Palpatine softens that stigma with the surrounding terms. A wise person is admirable. Someone who suffers a tragedy elicits sympathy. He's shifting the script.
Lots of expanded material has explored how much of Plagueis's story is really true; that he was actually Sidious's master rather than a figure of ancient legend; that his experimentation was not the cause of Anakin's conception as Palpatine subtly implies, but that it set the Force off balance enough to spark the creation of a corrective agent -- look, that's all interesting stuff, but it doesn't really matter here. Palpatine could be making up this story from nothing, as long as it serves the purpose of drawing Anakin down forbidden paths.
Anakin must have always wondered about how he came to be. A miraculous conception is a pretty wild way to come into existence, after all, and his mother couldn't have offered a satisfying answer, not having any explanation herself. (Brief soapbox moment -- "immaculate conception" does not refer to a virgin birth and it drives me INSANE when people use the terms interchangeably. It's a Catholic term referring to the conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it has to do with original sin and various concepts unique to Christian and/or Catholic doctrine, so just stop using it in reference to Anakin, please, I'm begging you. Ahem.)
So naturally, he's already going to be intrigued by this tale of Darth Plagueis. But then, when Palpatine brings up the notion of saving people from dying -- well, you can see Anakin's brain pretty much exploding as he reacts with quiet intensity. Could he really, actually do this? And then Palpatine's slippery response:
"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be...unnatural."
What a great delivery from Ian McDiarmid. What a chilling, perfect moment of pinpointed ambiguity. Oh yes, many abilities....possibly even the one you're desperately seeking...but of course we can't speak of them openly because of that pesky notion of things being evil, wrong, unnatural.
He pulls back, offering the ostensible moral of the tale, which is the universal drive to seek and maintain power. The tragedy of Darth Plagueis was not that he delved into dark arts; no, the tragedy was that he wasn't wary enough of his treacherous apprentice. Trust no one; everyone will betray you, everyone wants power.
But we all know that's not the main lesson he's teaching Anakin here. The main lesson is that the Sith have powers that the Jedi would never teach. The power to prevent his worst nightmares.
Next, a heartfelt moment that's all the more poignant for echoing a scene from Episode I...
After Palpatine has set Anakin off balance with hints of moral relativism, he brings out the big guns. The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Note the careful wording. For Anakin, the Sith title "Darth" has always been associated with evil. But Palpatine softens that stigma with the surrounding terms. A wise person is admirable. Someone who suffers a tragedy elicits sympathy. He's shifting the script.
Lots of expanded material has explored how much of Plagueis's story is really true; that he was actually Sidious's master rather than a figure of ancient legend; that his experimentation was not the cause of Anakin's conception as Palpatine subtly implies, but that it set the Force off balance enough to spark the creation of a corrective agent -- look, that's all interesting stuff, but it doesn't really matter here. Palpatine could be making up this story from nothing, as long as it serves the purpose of drawing Anakin down forbidden paths.
Anakin must have always wondered about how he came to be. A miraculous conception is a pretty wild way to come into existence, after all, and his mother couldn't have offered a satisfying answer, not having any explanation herself. (Brief soapbox moment -- "immaculate conception" does not refer to a virgin birth and it drives me INSANE when people use the terms interchangeably. It's a Catholic term referring to the conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it has to do with original sin and various concepts unique to Christian and/or Catholic doctrine, so just stop using it in reference to Anakin, please, I'm begging you. Ahem.)
So naturally, he's already going to be intrigued by this tale of Darth Plagueis. But then, when Palpatine brings up the notion of saving people from dying -- well, you can see Anakin's brain pretty much exploding as he reacts with quiet intensity. Could he really, actually do this? And then Palpatine's slippery response:
"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be...unnatural."
What a great delivery from Ian McDiarmid. What a chilling, perfect moment of pinpointed ambiguity. Oh yes, many abilities....possibly even the one you're desperately seeking...but of course we can't speak of them openly because of that pesky notion of things being evil, wrong, unnatural.
He pulls back, offering the ostensible moral of the tale, which is the universal drive to seek and maintain power. The tragedy of Darth Plagueis was not that he delved into dark arts; no, the tragedy was that he wasn't wary enough of his treacherous apprentice. Trust no one; everyone will betray you, everyone wants power.
But we all know that's not the main lesson he's teaching Anakin here. The main lesson is that the Sith have powers that the Jedi would never teach. The power to prevent his worst nightmares.
Next, a heartfelt moment that's all the more poignant for echoing a scene from Episode I...
