[Darth Player]

I know that its been made mention that Anakin gets a pretty sweet deal in the end of the events of ROTJ when Luke sees him as the younger self next to Yoda and an Old Obi Wan Kenobi circa the events of A New Hope.

I know there's been mention of the problem and the true nit pick as to how Luke would recognize Anakin's younger self as opposed to the more logical and rewarding older rendition which would signify that Anakin was redeemed and rewarded for his pivotal actions, that the older form that was "more machine than man" managed to have the human self overcome the machine and this was what he went into the Force continuom with.

But Obi SWan did get bamboozled, in that onboard the Tantive IV, he gets special instructions fromYoda as to the new training he's undertaking with him thanks to Qui Gon's mastery of preserving one's essence in the Force, so its safe to say at that point, post Vader defeat, he's at his highest pinnacle as a Jedi, and its downhill from, there, as he trains to retain his form and runs interference through the Force with Yoda to throw off any hints at Luke and Leia's whereabouts.

So why then at the end is he given the shaft and made to be older? And at a state when his abilities are downhill "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing...."

It would have made more sense to turn the whole gang younger, Anakin, Obi Wan, and Yoda looking younger as well than a mix and match which upsets the balance and could presuppose that Luke had a puzzled look on his face as if to suggest "I guess dad didn't make it...."

I lmow he'd recognize him through his Force signature, but its an annoying addition to the DVD set that throws off the established cannon for nothing.

[StarWarsIsUs]

A young Yoda would have looked nice.

Good essay, Darth Player

[KurganX]

Clearly he only did this for three reasons:

1) because Hayden Christiansen begged him to.

2) to remind classic trilogy fans that the prequels exist

3) because he can!

There's no other contextual logic to doing this!

Lucas has ONE LAST CHANCE to sell me on this, and that's the ROTS DVD commentary. If he fails to do that (I have my doubts) then I'll continue to maintain that it was a stupid, silly decision that further taints an otherwise excellent scene.

This post has been edited by KurganX: 17 September 2005 - 11:22 AM

[DarthTherion]

There's no other contextual logic to doing this!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I here quote from a post I made quite some time ago on this subject:


A force ghost seems to be some part of the psyche that endures, therefore its appearance is probably based on the self-image that the deceased had when he was still alive. Obi-wan and Yoda grew old, and they accepted their aged bodies as their appearance long before death. Anakin never really had this, because he was mangled and deformed at a young age. His last real self-image as a Jedi was of his young body.

Why would the force ghost suddenly look like his body *as it would have appeared* at that age without deformity? Anakin never saw what his aged body would have looked like; he had no self-image of himself older without the mutilations.

...

Why wouldn't Luke understand that Hayden is his father? Who else would appear next to Yoda and Obi-wan? I know Luke is slow, but c'mon....

Luke never knew what his father looked like. It's not immediately obvious that the older man standing there is the same actor who was under the Vader helmet in the death scene (well, not to me anyway). I always thought Luke makes the very logical assumption (as the audience does) that the man standing there is Vader.

Does anyone notice that by the end of the six movies, we have three Sith who have been completely destroyed (Maul, Tyrannous, and Sideous) and three Jedi who endure? Balance.

[StarWarsIsUs]

"Does anyone notice that by the end of the six movies, we have three Sith who have been completely destroyed (Maul, Tyrannous, and Sideous) and three Jedi who endure? Balance."

Yes, I have noticed this. There was balance even before ep. IV started: two sith, two jedi.

[darth gimp]

I think anakin should have appeared wearing the vader suit, but without the helmet - like was right before he died. He'd accepted everything and turned good at that point.

Plus it would have made the scene look even stupider, and thats really what lucas is going for in the end, isn't it?

[StarWarsIsUs]

A ghost of someone wearing a Vader-suit wouldn't look that scary.