So that whole interaction between Ahsoka and Huyang, where they talk about Sabine's choice to help the enemy find Thrawn (in hopes that she can then find Ezra) is clearly meant to be subtext for what happened with Anakin.
I mean change the pronoun from "she/her" to "he/him", tweak some of the names and...
The parallels were already clear in the previous episode, as pointed out in this post here, and it still holds true:
Sabine's struggle with attachment mirrors Anakin's.
We know Filoni's whole stance on why Anakin fell to the Dark Side: he'll usually acknowledge that Anakin was ruled by his attachments, got possessive of Padmé, but then adds:
- "HOWEVER is loving that way really that bad?"
- "HOWEVER he never stood a chance because Qui-Gon wasn't there to teach him properly and be the father Anakin needed."
I've already gone into both these reasonings don't track with Lucas' intended narrative here and here... but I just wanted to touch on this notion that "Anakin wasn't trained enough to make a better choice."
You know how we know? Because we saw him overcome his attachments before.
We saw him explain the theory of the non-attachment rule, before.
In fact, wee saw him pass down a lot of the Jedi lessons, in The Clone Wars, including being disciplined, following orders and not acting impulsively.
The issue is that - while Anakin knows the theory, even has a few minor successes applying it - he never builds the self-discipline needed to master it because... deep down... he doesn't want to.
This is partially because you got Palpatine telling him he doesn't need to, molding him into an arrogant, power-craving person... but the fact remains that Anakin made the choice himself.
Which Filoni acknowledges, sure... but not quite.
The difference between his thesis and George Lucas' is that the latter picks a stance and defends it.
"He started out as a very loving and compassionate person. And as he progressed, it was his inability to control his temper, his inability to let go of things, and his quest for power that were his undoing."
- George Lucas, E! Behind the Scenes - ROTS, 2005
Anakin fell because he was greedy, just like any one of us can be.
Cool. Filoni, on the other hand, doesn't seem to land anywhere.
He dances around the issue (as can be seen by the debate between Ahsoka and Huyang, with no clear winner) and merely questions whether it's as simple as that.
Clearly he wants to justify Anakin's actions to some degree... but y'know, the narrative considers those actions so reprehensible that Anakin gets friggin' burned alive for it.
"I felt it was important that we actually see that happen so that we could see the consequences of these bad things that he did. […] He forces his friends to turn against him. Which is heartbreaking."
- George Lucas, “The Chosen One” Featurette, 2005
Because Anakin's actions are not meant to be justified.
It's easy to see why Filoni likes Anakin. One of the earliest tasks he had when writing The Clone Wars was humanizing a character whose sole functional purpose was to carry out a narrative about how:
"Without self-discipline, greed [can] force a character off the path to freedom."
- Micael Hearn, The Cinema of George Lucas, 2005
And Anakin is also a very sympathetic character. His flaws are flaws that we all carry.
Q: Is it fair to assess Anakin is kind of cursed by his own goodness/good qualities?
"I wouldn't say that’s true. He’s cursed by the same flaws, and issues that he has to overcome, that all humans are cursed with. There's a lot going on there. [...] The whole point is—and the reason I started the story where I did—is that Anakin is a normal, good kid. And how does somebody who is normal and good turn bad? What are the qualities, what is it that we all have within us that will turn us bad?"
- George Lucas, Star Wars Insider #52, 2000
But narratively, Anakin is selfish. He doesn't want to save Padmé's life, he wants to save himself from the pain of losing Padmé.
And while you're supposed to sympathize with him, you're not meant to agree with him. He's Darth Vader, the space nazi. He messes up and consequentially "leaves the Force in darkness" for 20 years, instead of ushering it towards the light in the chancellor's office, when he has the chance.
So to shift the blame and say that...
- HOWEVER, Anakin didn't have the proper support system or training to make a better choice.
... when the whole point of the narrative is about taking personal responsibility and being selfless instead of selfish... well, it is missing that point.
