I want fics that feature Anakin “there is nothing behind these eyes except racing, droids, and thematic Wii Music” Skywalker being impossible for Palpatine to manipulate because Anakin’s response to “nobody is going to beat or kill or starve you for minor disrespect here” was to just… zone the fuck out, indefinitely.
He zones in for fights! And engineering! And Obi-Wan, because that’s his dad!
It’s just that, if you opened up a little door into his head, the lights would be on! Technically! But is anyone home? No.
It’s just the Wii music and a Pokemon SM player character empty smile.
Anakin checked out ten years ago and hasn’t checked back in since. Inner peace is achieved via No Thoughts, Head Empty.
He’s much less violent for a while! Very chill! Of course, then the war hits and someone gives him AN ENTIRE CHILD and he ZONES IN to be the most protective motherfucker alive… but, you know, until then he’s mostly not paying attention unless it’s Obi-Wan, Droids, or ‘oh hey, we’re getting shot at.’
One time, Ventress taunts him literally while she’s got him tied up and ready for torture, but he’s just staring at a crack in the wall behind her and absentmindedly humming.
The Tusken massacre doesn’t happen because Anakin was so zoned out that Palps threw up his hands around the time Anakin was 13. Never bothered to set up the Shmi situation because apparently Anakin’s useless anyway. It’s fine! One more Jedi he has to kill! How hard can it be???
(Palpatine is very disappointed to learn that Anakin is actually really good at war, but the window for influencing him has passed at this point.)
Padme: Oh, Ani, you’ve grown! Anakin: :D Padme: Er… alright, then.
-later-
Padme: Is Anakin feeling well? I know it’s been ten years, but he seems very different from the boy I remember. He’s a little… Obi-Wan: Inattentive? Quite. Padme: What happened? Obi-Wan: He was given permission to not be on full alert at every waking moment, and proceeded to take full advantage. For the past decade. You would not believe how often I’ve turned around to find that he’s wandered off while I wasn’t looking. Padme: You mean he’s just not interested in what’s going on? Obi-Wan: He will protect you with his life, and I assure you he’s competent at the work… but as his friend Aayla once put it, “there’s not a thought going on in that pretty little head of his, is there,” Senator.
I really love this idea! It’s really cool… but also quite sad, it sort of sounds like what happens to trauma survivors when they don’t do what Anakin did in the movies. They zone out, dissociating or depersonalising and pay attention to very little. This almost sounds worse for Anakin’s mental health than what actually happened to him…
I have so many AUs where I take Anakin’s trauma seriously but please… let me have a Wii Music Brain AU…
I would imagine that the issue isn’t “No thoughts” but “Too many thoughts”. (It’s kinda how I go through my day to day).
Anakin is just constantly thinking about whatever project he has going on at the time. Not much to do with the Force, or his training, but the droid he’s making out of the better scrap found around Coruscant, or making sneaky “upgrades” to the speeder he and Obi-Wan use.
The only time you can get him to really break out of this shell is when he is either actively tinkering or fighting. Beyond that, he is outwardly the most serene Jedi, but inwardly waiting for the meeting to end so he can get back to increasing the power of his lightsaber to see if the blade gets longer. (The secret is that’s how he is so effective at fighting, he is doing his best to get it over with quicker so he can get back to tinkering).
However, the other Jedi don’t understand this obsession, so they kinda just assume that he’s not thinking of much. Obi-Wan knows, but only because he has to deal with it. Ahsoka helps keep him focused more often, because now he has to be responsible for someone else. And, she helps him with his projects, so it’s even better.
I’ll take it!
As long as there’s Wii Music.
(And “not a whole lot going on behind those eyes” jokes that Anakin is 100% willing to let happen.)