#but im speaking here about writing analysis/meta on sw as opposed to sw fanfic

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i think discussion of the prequel trilogy is really hampered when you consider the pt a stand-alone piece. it’s not! it’s only half the story. anakin skywalker’s story doesn’t end on mustafar; neither does obi-wan’s, and padmé’s influence lives far beyond on her death. the original trilogy is fait accompli. the main characters' story arcs in the pt work so because it was directly reverse engineered from the ot.

most, if not all, of the questions the ot brings up both mechanical as well as thematic (what happened to the jedi order? what about the twins' mom? what was the galaxy like before the empire? what caused anakin's fall?) are answered in the pt. equally, all of what appear to be loose threads at the end of the pt (what is the future of the jedi order, who is the best of the jedi? luke. what is the cure to the dark side? love, connection, it's how luke saves anakin. will the galaxy ever get better? yes, luke and leia are leaving the galaxy better than their parents left it) are answered in the ot.

you can't divorce the prequel trilogy from the fact that it is a tragedy. nothing about rotj would be triumphant if there was nothing for luke to redeem anakin from or anything left to fix. it's also, by definition, a prequel, so the characters are never going to entirely succeed, and that's their tragedy and dramatically ironic end. padmé never gets to reform the republic (she's murdered by the republic's killer); obi-wan doesn't get to see anakin defeat the sith (anakin destroys the order and joins the sith); and anakin never gets to free the slaves (instead he becomes one, again). who's at fault, here, for the state of the galaxy at the end of rots? everyone and no one. there's more blame to be assigned to some than others (palpatine, for one; anakin, who's doing the murdering) but these characters are not real people actually on trial at the hague. all the pt characters all have to have made irreversible mistakes in someway, by demand of fate and plot, wherein every single character's decision––especially those made with the best intentions––will doom them in some horrific, completely unforeseeable manner.

and all of this would be an understandable end to a tragedy. but the last scenes of rots, like fortinbras arriving to find horatio, do provide hope and luke and leia's existence begin to transition the story to the classical hero's journey. the two trilogies are fundamentally intertwined, spiritual sisters and spiritual antitheses, and it's only the original trilogy that can provide answers and solutions to the pt's problems. parts of obi-wan, padmé, and anakin's characters fundamentally could not be resolved without the characters of the ot. and there's real beauty to it! the relief, the comfort, the hope you feel when binary sunset plays at the end of rots is what makes the ot's triumph so much more emotional in light of the pt's dark tragedy.

#sw #sw meta #star wars #anakin skywalker #luke skywalker #my stuff #darth anakin #swpt #swot #jedi order #empire #republic #i mean you could also resolve this with a determined fanfic writer #but im speaking here about writing analysis/meta on sw as opposed to sw fanfic #tldr: i LOVE star wars #obi-wan kenobi #padme amidala