The book really addresses this well (I really wish it had been more fleshed out in the movie).

 

By the time he was watching Mace and Palpatine, he was exhausted, desperate to save Padme, completely confused about who the bad guys were, and had just been given full permission to become the powerful man he wanted to be.

 

He attacked Mace on instinct, but once it was done, he knew there was no turning back. His actions left him with two paths: He could be consumed with guilt over that action for the rest of his life, or he could embrace what he'd done and give himself permission to think that evil act was the right thing to do.

 

He chose the latter.

 

As for the Younglings, he was told by Palpatine that he would only be strong enough to save Padme if he let himself become consumed by the dark side, and killing the Younglings was the one act that would do it.

 

And saving Padme wasn't just about his love for her. It was about power. He didn't want to save her because he loved her. Saving her was the key to him becoming so powerful that he was the master of life and death itself, and that was his obsession since his mother had died. That power was more important than his love of Padme.

 

Ultimately, his love for Padme was the excuse to turn to the darkside, not the reason. The reason was his lust to become the most powerful being in the galaxy, which is something Palpatine gave him permission to do.

Edited January 20, 2012 by Vecke

Well, I'm glad there is a decent explanation in the book.

 

In the movie it's like, "hey, I've been fighting this war for years and have become a hero, and there's all these people here I love... BUT, I gotta save Padme, who will obviously hate me (hmmm, along with everyone else I've been fighting alongside) anyway once she finds out I killed a bunch of kids that looked up to me."

 

Just completely implausible.

 

Hell, even the comic adaptation was better.

Edited January 20, 2012 by Obadaya

So on an unrelated note...

 

Why is it that Mace pretty much facerolled Sidious with very little effort, but Master Yoda fought him to a stalemate?

 

I always kind of assumed that it was a gamble Sidious made to look helpless in front of Anakin so that he would have to go over to the dark side to save him, but Sidious was pretty much beaten before Anakin even got there.

Well, I'm glad there is a decent explanation in the book.

 

In the movie it's like, "hey, I've been fighting this war far years and have become a hero, and there's all these people here I love... BUT, I gotta save Padme, who will obviously hate me (hmmm, along with everyone else I've been fighting alongside) anyway once she finds out I killed a bunch of kids that looked up to me."

 

Just completely implausible.

 

Hell, even the comic adaptation was better.

 

Yeah. It kind of makes me wish I had read the books instead of watching the movie.

The book really addresses this well (I really wish it had been more fleshed out in the movie).

 

By the time he was watching Mace and Palpatine, he was exhausted, desperate to save Padme, completely confused about who the bad guys were, and had just been given full permission to become the powerful man he wanted to be.

 

He attacked Mace on instinct, but once it was done, he knew there was no turning back. His actions left him with two paths: He could be consumed with guilt over that action for the rest of his life, or he could embrace what he'd done and give himself permission to think that evil act was the right thing to do.

 

He chose the latter.

 

As for the Younglings, he was told by Palpatine that he would only be strong enough to save Padme if he let himself become consumed by the dark side, and killing the Younglings was the one act that would do it.

 

And saving Padme wasn't just about his love for her. It was about power. He didn't want to save her because he loved her. Saving her was the key to him becoming so powerful that he was the master of life and death itself, and that was his obsession since his mother had died. That power was more important than his love of Padme.

 

Ultimately, his love for Padme was the excuse to turn to the darkside, not the reason. The reason was his lust to become the most powerful being in the galaxy, which is something Palpatine gave him permission to do.

 

 

Cool man, ty, so the movie is very badly done, and we need the book now...as usual book>movie

the question is:

 

Would you BUTCHER INFANTS to save your wife for something you dont really know is going to happen?

and if so, would you be able to keep your wife if she knows that you did BUTCHER INFANTS.

You must be really psychotic imho.

 

if said INFANT has a lightsabre i wouldn't think twice, cant remember if they did or not ?

Anakin's shift to the dark side was never done well at all. Whoever wrote the stories tried too hard to make it "Surprise! Dark side! See he was good y'all then he was bad so it's SHOCKING" and then realized that there needed to be some evil stuff in there on which to base it, and sends him off to nonsensical events like the tuskin slaughter.

 

Okay, so he killed them all... why? Because his mom got ***** and killed by a bunch of sand people? That doesn't inspire a still-developing character to go destroy people. Not a well written character, anyway, because it ends up feeling exactly as it did in these movies - flat and forced (haha pune~). He had a mom who loved him and teachers who busted *** to do right by him and he was smarter than Steven Hawking on Mentats. So he abruptly loses his shiat one day with absolutely no lead in, and from this and events like it are based his supposed Yin/Yang relationship with the force.

 

If you took Anakin's behavior and matched it against the PCL-R Factor 1 Items for Psychopathty, Adult Anakin re: Darth Vader takes a hit on literally every single bucket item for Aggressive Narcissism, yet Little Annie demonstrates absolutely no indication for that transition. Maybe if he took a head wound or something, or he had an actual father pre-disposed to a psychotic mental disorder per the DSM then I could see that, but apparently he was made form Jesus Juice so that doesn't fly either.

 

So it's not a realistic transition from a personality position of the character, it's not well written or presented, and as much as I think the actor didn't do the part justice I think he did about as best he could with what he had.

 

I have two hours before I can leave this office and no work to do. ;(

How do you go from doing mostly good to just saying "okay, sure, I'll go kill some Jedi kids at the temple"? That's the part that really just didn't seem to make sense to me?

 

I could understand if he just said "Okay, I helped kill Mace, I might as well throw in with Sidious", but to go from a borderline hero to killing children? That needed much more of a build-up. He didn't even balk at the order or cringe. It was like he was a puppet with no mind of his own.

 

I always think of The Force as a compelling sentient entity. When one gets too close to either side, it begins to draw you in. That is why some "fall" to the dark side, while some light sided Jedi cannot be moved... such as Obi Wan.

So on an unrelated note...

 

Why is it that Mace pretty much facerolled Sidious with very little effort, but Master Yoda fought him to a stalemate?

 

I always kind of assumed that it was a gamble Sidious made to look helpless in front of Anakin so that he would have to go over to the dark side to save him, but Sidious was pretty much beaten before Anakin even got there.

 

This is explained in the novels but more importantly in the novel shatterpoint. Windu rivaled Yoda when it came to swordplay. In fact, in many cases, he was able to fight Yoda to a draw. This means Windu rivaled Yoda and Yoda wasn't far more powerful than him. It's also been explained in shatterpoint that he's never fully gave himself over to his own form, Vaapad in fear of what would happen if he allowed it.

 

In that duel with Sidious he gave himself fully to his aggressive form. He pushed harder than ever before and came the closest he's ever had to the dark side in his entire life. In that moment, in that duel, it's possible he was as powerful if not more so than Master Yoda. Even so, without Anakin's interference, he was going to die anyway and allow me to explain that.

 

It's confirmed by Lucas in the commentary of the movies that Sidious legitimately won the lightsaber duel but that's all that's said on the matter. In the novel it pretty much agree's on the same thing. Sidious was bested in lightsaber combat. The novel, however, sheds light on something else. After sidious is bested Sidious uses force lightning. Windu is deflecting the lightning back to Sidious and pushing it towards him. During this, he comes close to losing his grip on his lightsaber and when he can't hold onto it any longer. Sidious suddenly stops and proclaims he's too weak to continue.

 

My estimation along with many other fans (considering he goes UNLIMITED POWER and blasts him out the window proving he wasn't too weak). Sidious lost the lightsaber duel. Sidious was just about to win the force duel until he decided playing helpless would win Anakin over.

 

As for the duel with Yoda.. this is what the novel has to say about it..

 

"There came a turning point in the clash of the light against the dark.

 

It did not come from a flash of lightning or slash of energy blade, though there were these in plenty; it did not come from a flying kick or a surgically precise punch, though these were traded, too.

 

It came as the battle shifted from the holding office to the great Chancellor's Podium; it came as the hydraulic lift beneath the Podium raised it on its tower of durasteel a hundred meters and more, so that it became a laserpoint of battle flaring at the focus of the vast emptiness of the Senate Arena; it came as the Force and the podium's controls ripped delegation pods free of the curving walls and made of them hammers, battering rams, catapult stones crashing and crushing against each other in a rolling thunder-roar that echoed the Senate's cheers for the galaxy's new Emperor.

 

It came when the avatar of light resolved into the lineage of the Jedi; when the lineage of the Jedi refined into one single Jedi.

 

It came when Yoda found himself alone against the dark.

 

In that lightning-speared tornado of feet and fists and blades and bashing machines, his vision finally pierced the darkness that had clouded the Force.

 

Finally, he saw the truth.

 

This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness had ever known...

 

just--

 

didn't--

 

have it.

 

He'd never had it. He had lost before he started.

 

He had lost before he was born.

 

The Sith had changed. The Sith had grown, had adapted, had invested a thousand years' intensive study into every aspect of not only the Force but Jedi lore itself, in preparation for exactly this day. The Sith had remade themselves.

 

They had become new.

 

While the Jedi--

 

The Jedi had spent that same millennium training to refight the last war.

 

The new Sith could not be destroyed with a lightsaber; they could not be burned away by any torch of the Force. The brighter the light, the darker their shadow. How could one win a war against the dark, when the war itself had become the dark's own weapon?

 

He knew, at that instant, that this insight held the hope of the galaxy. But if he fell here, that hope would die with him."

 

Pretty much. Yoda couldn't beat Sidious. Sidious had been playing with them all along. They had played to his tune and already lost.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Rhyltran

Anakin let his emotions control him... he saw the dark side as a way to save his loved one's, he wasn't strong enough to save his mother and the light side to him just felt weak... and the only way to become stronger (in his eyes) was to go dark side, to gain enough power

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=episode3

...

As for the duel with Yoda.. this is what the novel has to say about it..

...

Hmm... so now I want to get this book.

I don't blame Hayden for the portrayal of Anakin's character. I blame Lucas. Hayden's not a bad actor. He just spoke the lines he was given. Lucas turned the character into a whiny emo *****.

 

I think that Hayden was a horrible actor to play Anakin. In all of the books he portrayed in such a better light, plus they show him growing up under the teachings of Obi. Even then he had dark side tendencies.

 

There was one point during the book the Rogue Planet that when trying to defend himself with a mind trick from a guy who was trying to kill him, he ended up dominating the guys mind completely and cause him to die with out even meaning to.

 

There are multiple times throughout Anakins life that he made decisions that some one who grew up in the temple would not have done. He was "tainted" with emotion to start with.

So playing SWTOR kind of infected me with the Star Wars virus and I decided to watch the prequels again.

 

No matter how many times I watch them, I just don't see the transition from Jedi to Dark side as believable for Anakin. I get that he was worried about Padme and he was always kind of an emo, whiny ***** (as portrayed in the prequels), but it just seems like at some point he went "EFF it, I'm going evil" without a lot of probably cause. Sidius admitted that he didn't have the power to save Padme yet. He said they could "discover it".

 

One minute Anakin is threatening to turn in the Senator as a Sith Lord, someone who had been a supporter and friend for some time, the next he is lopping off Mace's hand and agreeing to go kill children at the Jedi Temple.

 

I'm not saying it's not plausible. I blame Lucas for the lack of build-up to that point.

 

On a different note, I have been watching the Clone Wars series and it is awesome. Anakin is portrayed in a much better light in that series, as are the other characters and the action is great.

 

I don't think you realize the relationship he had for Palps. It was really significant. And he thanks to TCW many times where he was at the border of the Dark Side. And when he witnessed Windu about to kill Palpatine that was the final straw, plus the whole love for Padme.

This is explained in the novels but more importantly in the novel shatterpoint. Windu rivaled Yoda when it came to swordplay. In fact, in many cases, he was able to fight Yoda to a draw. This means Windu rivaled Yoda and Yoda wasn't far more powerful than him. It's also been explained in shatterpoint that he's never fully gave himself over to his own form, Vaapad in fear of what would happen if he allowed it.

 

In that duel with Sidious he gave himself fully to his aggressive form. He pushed harder than ever before and came the closest he's ever had to the dark side in his entire life. In that moment, in that duel, it's possible he was as powerful if not more so than Master Yoda. Even so, without Anakin's interference, he was going to die anyway and allow me to explain that.

 

It's confirmed by Lucas in the commentary of the movies that Mace legitimately won the lightsaber duel but that's all that's said on the matter. In the novel it pretty much agree's on the same thing. Sidious was bested in lightsaber combat. The novel, however, sheds light on something else. After sidious is bested Sidious uses force lightning. Windu is deflecting the lightning back to Sidious and pushing it towards him. During this, he comes close to losing his grip on his lightsaber and when he can't hold onto it any longer. Sidious suddenly stops and proclaims he's too weak to continue.

 

My estimation along with many other fans (considering he goes UNLIMITED POWER and blasts him out the window proving he wasn't too weak). Sidious lost the lightsaber duel. Sidious was just about to win the force duel until he decided playing helpless would win Anakin over.

.

 

Also, he came to a draw with Yoda and he couldn't even use Vapaad at its best against Light Side Users. Which is why I think and repeat, he is 2nd to Luke in lightsaber skill.

My theory is that it had been itching at him for years, and Palpatine furthered it.

 

The moment with Mace was a spur of the moment, instantaneous decision that I THINK he regretted, but he knew he couldn't go back, and left into the Dark-Side entirely.

 

Really, I would think that if the rules weren't in place forbidding love, he would have stayed on the Light-Side with the Jedi, but he had to go to the Dark-Side to try and save what he loved. At the same time, it might be interpreted that the rules were in place to prevent the love, thus preventing the need to go to the Dark-Side, but they wouldn't need to go to the Dark-Side to love if the rules weren't in place, on the other hand.

 

Really, I think the Jedis are just total arses.

There's some extra foreshadowing in 1 and 2 that is easily missed.

 

I think sometimes the scenes are so dynamic and breathtaking its easy to get caught up in it rather than focus on the dialogue.

 

I know I have to pay extra attention to catch the details of the nuanced dialogue vs most othet movies.

 

In Phantom Menace, a young Anakin tells Yoda and the council he misses and worries about his mom. Yoda goes on to foreshadow everything by explains how this fear of loss can lead to the dark side.

 

In Clone Wars, a disturbed Anakin tells I think Obi-Wan or Palpatine how he's been having bad dreams about losing his mother, hence like Yoda previously said, his mind is open to corruption by the dark side.

 

Most importantly, going to the dark side isn't like you or I making a decision to do a single wrong action. We can be good and bad where the dark side is something much more dangerous, something you can't just tap into some of the time. Yoda in particular gives a number of warnings about it thought the 5 films he appears in.

Oh yeah, btw Anakin was a narcissist. In one comment in Clone Wars, he says something to the effect that he's more skilled at a light saber than Yoda. And of course says he's more advanced than Obi Wan in "many" ways. I just think these arrogant comments were few between or often missed. He describes well how he feels held back by the council including saying its "not fair". As anyone knows, someone who feels that way might often say to themselves "I'll show them one day.". And he does.

Cool man, ty, so the movie is very badly done, and we need the book now...as usual book>movie

 

Sadly, yeah, to get the full story, the book to Episode 3 is just better in most regards. Even the banter is spectacular. For example, in the book, when Grievous says, "Fool, I was trained in your Jedi arts by Lord Tyrannus himself!" Obi Wan (in the book) retorts: "You mean Dooku? What a coincidence. I trained the man who killed him."

 

Even the fight between Dooku, Anakin, and Obi Was was much, much better in the book. Very interesting reading what was going on in Dooku's mind during that fight.

 

All in all, for me personally, the Episode 3 novelization is the best Star Wars book I've read.