Unpopular Opinions

There are religions, including certain sects of Christianity, which posit that deathbed conversions are completely valid. If it’s good enough for them, why not Vader? Why can’t one single act represent an honest and valid conversion?

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I’m not saying it couldn’t, I’m just questioning if this one counts, because it’s really only good by a technicality. Had Vader saved anybody else, I wouldn’t have questions, but in saving his own son, and only at the last moment, and that he was already intending to someday betray the Emperor for his own reasons anyway, does this count as Vader turning good? I don’t believe it does. It’s a good thing he did, yes, he performed a good act, but if the intent behind it isn’t also genuinely good, then it’s no more meaningful than doing a good deed by accident, just as being good on the inside but not acting on it is equally as empty. Saving Luke, while a good thing to do, was motivated purely by selfish reasons as I described in the first post. It was the fact that it was his son that made Vader act; he didn’t care in the abstract, it was only because it personally affected him that he did anything. I don’t think that’s enough to declare Vader as being back to good again.

If that wasn’t enough to establish that Vader abandoned the dark side, then him cutting off Mace’s arm and kneeling shouldn’t have been enough to establish that he’d turned to the dark side in the first place. In Revenge of the Sith, Anakin became Vader by kneeling in front of Palpatine after cutting Mace Windu’s arm off. The whole thing with the younglings and the temple and later the slaughter of the Trade Federation was after he became Darth Vader. The only thing that was really required for Anakin to become Vader was for him to acknowledge that he’d turned dark. Similarly, the only requirement for Vader to re-become Anakin was for him to personally acknowledge it. He did that at the end of Return of the Jedi.

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Ok, there’s the argument I was looking for. That has a logic to it that allows the whole thing to work, at least from one point of view. I can go with that.

The other thing to consider is what has been added with the TV shows. During the Clone Wars, while on Mortis, the Father wanted Anakin to succeed him in his place to control the Daughter (light side) and the Son (dark side). In Ashoka, he transitions between light and dark when Ashoka encounters Anakin in the World Between Worlds.

I view Anakin has become an embodiment of both sides of the Force in balance, referencing the prophecy he represented in life. Through Luke, he was able to achieve that balance of good and evil at the end and become one with the Force.

From a certain point of view, what Obi-wan Kenobi (and Maul) said in Rebels was true. Luke was the Chosen One to achieve balance in the Force, through the physical manifestation of the Force in Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

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I been itching to be part of this discussion, however work, family life, workout and sleep got in the way of me engaging in this conversation. However the little one is a sleep, the mother is hanging out with friends and now Norseman got time on his hands.

From my point of view, this doesn’t really disqualify Vader’s turn towards the light side. The thing that drove him into embracing the dark side of the force on multiple occasions was the fear of losing loved ones. The slaughter of the Tusken Raiders in EP.2 wasn’t due to them imprisoning her, but his inability to save her life.

Ep.3 Ankain grown closer to Sheev Palpatine, even seeing him in a fatherly light after years grooming and manipulation. Palpatine knows that Anakin fears for the future and his inability to save those he loves. Anakin confined in Palpatine regarding the Tusken massacre. Which is where Palpatine tells him about Darth Plagugies the wise, a Sith lord of knowledgeable about the force he could save people from death. A secret that the jedi have yet to unveil.

Later in the film Palpatine drops the act and “begs” him to use his knowledge to save Padme. Anakin goes straightaway to the Jedi Council and confines in Mace Windu. Palpatine knows that Anakin will try and do what is right, being the Jedi he wises to be. Palpatine knows that Anakin can’t truly open up about his fear of losing his wife, he tried. But was told to let go of his fear and embrace those who becomes one with the force. Not something you want to hear, when your wife is carrying your children.

Anakin also grown recentful of the Jedi council through out the fears, be denied the Rank of Master, while being on the council. Ask to spy on a friend, a mentor off the books. A treasonous act in war time.

So when he decides to finally confine in Mace Windu, second only to Yoda. Mace tries to assassinate the Chancellor of the Republic. Showing Anakin that his fears, that the Jedi aren’t as honourable as they claim. Mace gains the upper hand and is close to killing Paplatine in cold blood. All while Palpatine plays on Anakins greif and fear for the future. Anakin decides to disarm Mace as a last resort to save Palpatine, so he can gain the ability to save Padme.

From this point Anakin is so lost and desperate, that he’s willing to fully embrace the Dark side to save what little of his life he got left. Later on Padme dies, Obi-wan left him for dead, the jedi order is gone. Anakin was a jedi, a failure, there is nothing in his old life that is worth anything. There is only a desire for power to fill the vacuum left. The ability to save Padme, was a fleeting moment, like rain in the sun. Only more power and more corrupting darkness is left.

Fast forward to Ep.6. Luke, his son. throws down his weapon in defiance of Palpatine, choosing not to act on his dark impulse and forfeiting his life. It takes his son to make to ultimate sacrifice to remind Vader why he tried to make a barging with the devil to begin with. It takes Luke to show him that, he doesn’t need to live in the shadow of the Dark side anymore.

This is not a ego thing. Anakin’s ego was tied to his natural affinity with the force, being so inherently powerful that he even at a young age could potential rival several of the Jedi Masters on the Council. Anakin is a scared kid, that was taken away from his mother in a young age, that constantly seeked love and approval. As Vader, he buried the unconfident, scared, emotionally and lonely man that was Anakin. Luke reminded him, that there was no reason to stay in the servitude of the Dark Side, after it brining him nothing of real value for the majority of his life. That what he feared to lose, was still out there. Finally being able to give up the fears that dominated his life as Anakin. Becoming hole.

The Force is a energy system, it’s both darkness and light. It’s not a moral system, the light side is serenity and peace. It takes the light side to fully become one with the force. Vader deeds are not erased, he’s just not held accountable by the force. What made him worthy of eternal life is his embracement of the light side and finally learning the lesson he never could as a Jedi.

This is the design of the Sith, the rule of two. One to hold the power and one to crave it. A hierarchy that serves to make sure only the strongest survives. A Sith Apprentice is only worthy if they can take the power for themselves. They rarely are, they rely on cheap tactics. Vader fears Palpatine. Palpatine despises Vader, he is a failure. A shadow of the man he was. Vader/Ankain’s constant need to prove himself out shadows his resolve to act. Vader knows he ain’t as powerful as he once was, that his suit is his coffin and he will never alone kill his Master.

But it’s not the desire for power that leads Vader to finally do what other Sith Apprentices have done out through the ages. It was fear of failure that held Vader back, but the fear of losing Luke that set him free.

Again, the force doesn’t judge. It’s just there.

It does, to become one with the force. One has to let go. They need to embrace light side of the force, serenity and peace.

It’s not a club, you can’t be invited in. Becoming one with the force is an ability that Qui-Gon Jinn learned from the force priestesses (cosmic beings). Qui-Gon taught Yoda, Yoda taught Obi-wan and somewhere in the void between time and space, Anakin was allowed to learn it as well.

One doesn’t have to be a Jedi to be a lighside user.

That Force Does Not Belong To The Jedi. To Say That If The Jedi Die, The Light Dies, Is Vanity

Ashoka is a light side user and isn’t a jedi. Asajj Ventress ultimately embraces the light, she isn’t a jedi either.

A force ghost can choose how they want to appear. In the Ashoka tv-series, when Ashoka visits the world between worlds. Anakin appears, in several familiar ways. Both in Jedi Clone Wars Armor, Jedi Robes and as Vader. Choosing the appearance that serves the goal.

Anakin had the potential when he was alive to become the embodiment of both side of the force. Being the balance between light and dark. I take it he managed to get there in the end. The Dark side is not evil in itself, like the light isn’t inherently good.

If this becomes a more drawn out debate, it might take me days to return. Now i’ll watch some more Mandalorian on 4K Blu-ray.

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the moon is overrated. sun is far more pretty.

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The sun can blind you and kill you; the moon can turn you into a wolf. No comparison. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Cant see the moon without the sun. The moon is a diet variant.

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And the sun sacrifices its hydrogen to make other material look pretty. That’s really nice of it.

The sun sacrifices its hydrogen to stay alive, its actions are completely self-serving. That it benefits other materials is an unintentional byproduct which the sun is not the least concerned with. Its kind of an asshole.

The self driven intention isn’t harmful, wouldn’t call it an asshole for that. But at some point fusion ends, the death process starts and eventually devours/vaporizes these all. Now that’s an asshole factor.

Nothing beats twin suns.

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Three suns.

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The Sun… Both beneficial and potentially deadly. Of course, we, or this planet need it to revolve around and not be adrift into space, and we benefit from the radiant energy it gives. But one too-strong solar flare or CME… it won’t be a fun time. So until then, have fun playing games like Hitman. :wink:

Not to mention that, eventually, no matter what else happens, it’s going to increase in brightness until it evaporates all our oceans and cast our atmosphere into space, then further still it’ll expand to the point it will either fling the earth out of orbit, shred it into a new asteroid belt from the increased presence of its gravity, or incinerate it to a crisp. The damned thing is destined to destroy our world no matter what. The moon isn’t ever going to harm us, and might possibly even survive us.

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Well it is from europe

Lmao from Australia, Boris

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where did white people in australia come from again…? :thinking:

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