Chefelf.com Night Life: darth_paul - Viewing Profile

It occurred to me this morning that inconsistencies in the PT arise like this because Lucas had what was essentially a story about CHARACTER, but Lucas only worried about what should happen -- the PLOT -- and did not take the time to sit down and think about who the characters really were, where they came from, how they thought, how they reacted to problems or crises, or how they lived their lives. The PT story was supposed to be about the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker, a story that requires that the writer concentrate on the characters. I don't think Lucas did that. I have an idea (not even a hypothesis, more like a vague guess) that Lucas is much more comfortable with fleshing out a plot (e.g., enemy attacks planet, queen calls for help, heroes arrive, heroes plan counterattack, heroes destroy enemy, queen rewards heroes in award ceremony) than in fleshing out his characters. I suspect that Lucas ultimately had only the vaguest of ideas as to why a relatively decent if whiny kid might eventually develop into an apparently remorseless monster who probably killed dozens or hundreds of people in his career (before his final salvation in ROTJ). Losing your mother, your pregnant bride, your place in the Jedi order, and your limbs might make you yearn for death, but before you can become a monster, I think you have to become convinced that other people are evil or for some reason deserve whatever horrible things you want to do to them. I haven't seen ROTS yet, but from what I've heard so far, Lucas doesn't really show Anakin going through this change in thinking.

OK, I'm rambling. I'll stop.