Reallll, Anakin Should Have Accountability For His Major (MAJOR) Life Fuck Ups But Like If It Took A

reallll, anakin should have accountability for his major (MAJOR) life fuck ups but like if it took a while for mace and kenobi to clock something was suspicious .... how the fuck do you expect anyone else to (least of all, a CHILD!!!!!)

I know it’s super popular in SW fandom to clown on Anakin for ever trusting Palpatine in ROTS, and I’ll never defend it as a reasonable decision, but I think a lot of the criticisms of Anakin during this moment miss some crucial points.

The first is that when Anakin started meeting with Palpatine, he was twelve. It was with the Jedi’s full knowledge and permission. Of course, Palpatine is out to manipulate Anakin, but Anakin has no reason to think he can’t trust Palpatine. After all, the Jedi are his guardians, and they’re responsible for keeping him safe. Why wouldn’t Anakin trust Palpatine when Palpatine starts positioning himself as more sympathetic and understanding of Anakin’s differences than the rest of the Jedi? As far as Anakin knows, Palpatine is a trustworthy person who the Jedi approve of, and he has no reason to be on his guard in this situation. Which is exactly what Palpatine wants Anakin to believe, and then he has a decade to sink his claws into Anakin.

The second is by the time the Jedi are asking Anakin to spy on Palpatine, Anakin has already lost several important people in his life. The Jedi Council has already driven Ahsoka away by choosing politics over standing with her, and Shmi is dead in part because Anakin couldn’t go to her when he was having nightmares about her dying in agony every night. Now he’s having the same nightmares about Padme, who he’s not even supposed to be married to, and he’s also expected to spy on Palpatine, the dude who as far as he knows, has always been nice to him. Anakin has lost two out of the five people he loves the most because of the Jedi, and he’s at risk of losing two more. I don’t think this justifies his later actions, but I can see where he’s coming from. And so does Palpatine, and he’s able to use his knowledge of Anakin’s fears against both him and the Jedi.

Finally, I see a lot of fans acting as though Jedi were constantly warning Anakin for years that he couldn’t trust Palpatine, and Anakin ignored them. That’s not actually what happened. Mace Windu trusted Palpatine completely at the beginning of the war, so much so that he agreed with Palpatine to allow Padawans on the battlefield. At the beginning of Matthew Stover’s ROTS, it’s outright stated that multiple Jedi have come to Obi-Wan throughout the years with concerns about Anakin’s relationship with Palpatine, but Obi-Wan doesn’t take them seriously. Later, when Mace tells Obi-Wan that they need to start spying on Palpatine to monitor his accumulation of power, Obi-Wan is stunned, because he’s always seen Palpatine as their ally, and not someone to be wary of.

Blame Anakin for his bad decisions all you want. But don’t blame him for hanging out with a guy who the Jedi allowed to have access to him since he was a kid.