How the narrative framed Mace Windu, back in 2002
So there's this 2002 book written by Marcus Hearn, edited by J.W. Rinzler, titled Attack of the Clones - The Illustrated Companion. It was released a month before Episode II was released.
AKA, before EU material and anti-Jedi fanon could publicly reframe the meanings of the film... and before more recent narratives could reinterpret the character of Mace as a robotic, protocol-worshipping stickler who never bends the rules (when evidence shows he's anything but).
So how does Marcus Hearn - "untainted" by all the above factors, armed only with the Prequel films and their screenplays - frame the character of Mace Windu?
MACE & ANAKIN
Fandom: "Mace hated Anakin from Day #1 and never trusted him. Mace was probably jealous as he always thought he was the Chosen One, not Anakin!"
Attack of the Clones' - The Illustrated Companion:
"Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu lead the High Council in rejecting Qui-Gon's application to train Anakin, 'He is too old,' concludes Mace Windu. 'There is already too much anger in him.'
Hearn explains that the problem with Anakin wasn't that he was just too old, it's that because of that age he had become too filled with fear and anger to a point where taking on the Jedi training would be twice as hard for him as it already was for everyone else.
Hearn doesn't chastise Mace for this initial decision. On the contrary, he adds more context to it by using a line from the screenplay to explain where Mace is coming from.
He also goes further into Mace's view of Anakin throughout the book:
"[Mace] over-estimates Anakin Skywalker, paying little credence to Obi-Wan's protestations that the boy is too confused and disturbed to be dispatched on a solo mission."
"The Jedi Council is aware of Anakin's exceptional skills, and Mace
Windu believes Anakin may fulfill the prophecy that says a being will one day bring balance to the Force. But Anakin still has a lot to learn…"
He's basically stating that Mace believes in Anakin, but that doing so is a mistake. Which, to be fair, considering how things turn out for Mace and the Jedi... is kinda true!
Mace's problem with Anakin is almost the opposite of what most of the fandom projects onto him.
It's not that he dislikes Anakin, on the contrary, he holds Anakin in too high of an esteem and is overlooking Anakin's glaring flaws because "hey, Anakin's the Chosen One. He's got this!"
That's not the only flaw Mace has, according to Hearn.
MACE'S (and the Jedi's) ONLY REAL FLAW
Fandom: "Mace and the Jedi had become too emotionally detached, they had lost touch with the common folk by spending too much time in their ivory tower. They focused so much on being selfless that they forgot how to care, they've become a bunch of elitist, righteous sticklers for protocol who care more about upholding laws than actually helping the people those laws are meant to protect!"
Attack of the Clones' - The Illustrated Companion:
"Although he is a senior member of the Jedi Council, little in Mace Windu's experience has prepared him for the looming threats of the dark side of the Force and Count Dooku's Separatists."
"Mace Windu's faith in the Jedi to protect the Republic is admirable, but it also blinds him to the true scale of the growing menace. He is aware that the dark side is growing, but still allows himself to be too easily reassured about the Separatists' ambitions. [...] Mace fatally misjudges Count Dooku, refusing to believe he could be behind any attempt on Senator Amidala's life. 'Dooku was once a ledi, he tells Padmé. 'He couldn't assassinate anyone. It's not in his character.'"
"Mace Windu's strengths are, in many ways, qualities shared by the Jedi Order as a whole - he is an accomplished diplomat and a fine swordsman. Such skills have served the Jedi well in their role as the galaxy's peacekeepers for a thousand generations. But such skills are not enough to save the Jedi from their own complacency, and the tumultuous changes that threaten to wipe them out forever."
Hearn perfectly grasps what the Jedi's only real flaw is, in George Lucas' intended narrative: they were unprepared, complacent, they were blind... and now they're stuck playing catch-up.
But when he's saying that, he's not blaming them for it. Because this flaw doesn't derive from some sense of elitism or superiority... it is an inevitable consequence of their qualities.
They've managed to stay out of politics as neutral diplomats...
... but that makes them vulnerable to the Sith's plot, which primarily takes place within the political arena, where they have no control or experience.
They are painfully aware of the corruption in the Senate...
... but as a result, they're too quick to trust the Separatist's talking points as well-meaning and genuine, instead of seeing the movement for what it really is: greedy big business trying to become the government.
They trust and agree with Dooku, believe in what he publicly stands for (after all this man used to be one of the wisest and kindest members of the Jedi Order, Mace's friend, Yoda's Padawan, etc)...
... but as such, they are blind to his true nature, that of a treacherous Sith who'd stoop to orchestrating assassinations.
The Jedi have their guard up, knowing that there's another Sith Lord still out there, orchestrating in the shadows...
... but they can't really find him, because the Dark Side has clouded everything, so only darksiders are able to sense the possibilities of the future! Them serving the good side is screwing them over, in this situation.
Flaws such as being too trusting or being unprepared, letting your guard down because you've established a 1000-year-peace, are flaws that kind, noble characters such as the Jedi are bound to have.
They may be flaws, but they aren't faults. And considering the way he describes Mace and the Jedi, it's clear Hearn grasps the nuance.
MACE'S RELUCTANCE TO JOIN THE WAR
Fandom: The Jedi joined the war out of arrogance, they thought they could swashbuckle their way through the problem and win, instead they didn't realize that they lost the very moment they joined.
Attack of the Clones' - The Illustrated Companion:
"Mace Windu believes in the Jedi as keepers of the peace - not as soldiers - but there comes a point when he reluctantly realizes that it is time to take affairs out of the realm of diplomacy."
Mace and the Jedi didn't want to start a war. If you read the script for Attack of the Clones, Mace and Bail keep grasping at straws to not engage with the Separatists up til the very end.
But when you consider that...
the Geonosians are about to execute Obi-Wan without a trial,
and the Separatists leaders have been unmasked as a coalition of unscrupulous corporate assholes who are willing to plunge the galaxy in chaos just to make more money.
... at some point, the Jedi have to come to terms with the fact that Separatist leadership (and Sidious) won't accept diplomacy because they want a conflict. A conflict will make them all richer. And the Republic, well, they're just dying to go to war too.
So the Jedi go save Obi-Wan and capture Dooku, hoping that in doing so, the conflict ends before it begins. They succeed in the former goal... but fail the latter one.
The Clone War has begun.
From there on, the Jedi are drafted to lead the war. Which is why - as Hearn points out - Mace was so reluctant to take action in the first place. The Jedi are ambassadors, they are not built for war... and now they've been forced into one.
Mace is by no means a perfect character... but he's someone doing his best. Just like Obi-Wan, just like Yoda, and all the other Jedi.
Overtime, Windu's character has been dumbed down to either "that one angry black man" or "the dogmatic emotionless dick who hated Anakin"... and I really think that that's not what we were meant to see him as.
The way Marcus Hearn (who also wrote The Cinema of George Lucas) refers to him is a much more charitable interpretation of how others (ahem Filoni ahem) do, nowadays.
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Had someone recently respond to my defense of Windu (and the Jedi more broadly) with well “there may be many examples of Mace being heroic, but there aren’t really any of him being compassionate”. Any thoughts or counterpoints to this?
Depends on what continuity they're working with, cause if it's Legends they're talking about I'd have to question how much Legends content they've even watched/read/played lmaooo (off the top of my head, there's the story of how Mace got his hurrikaine crystal, which he is given after saving an injured man who'd previously tried to kill him, there's his interactions with various characters in Shatterpoint, from guiding them through their problems to mercy-kills, and there's even that suuuuper duper Jedi hating comic Children of the Force that still has him giving back a child the parents regretted giving away. And that's just me listing things off the top of my head, there's a LOT more.)
If it's straight up canon they're talking about... what's even the difference between being heroic and compassionate when your heroism manifests by selflessly putting yourself in arms' way for the sake of others? Cause he does that OFTEN. (Throwing the two troopers on the energy bridge to safety even as the bridge vanishes from under him on Ryloth, trying to go save Boba and Aurra Sing's hostages while he's still injured in the Revenge arc, getting his troops to evacuate while he deals with a giant bomb in season 7... again, just off the top of my head.) He's consistently valuing other people's lives above his own, he's just not particularly cuddly about it.
But if it's unquestionable compassion they want...
Cmon.
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So I don't know why people (outside the anti-Jedi's even) think Mace Windu was behaving so wrongfully when he want to arrest Palpatine and attempted to kill him.
First off, he really did try to arrest Palpatine initially. It's only after he proved both extremely powerful on top of his political influence that he decided he was too dangerous to keep alive. So he wasn't some bloodthirsty lunatic blindly attacking him.
I've seen some videos that suggest Mace would've been acting out of hatred on account of Palpatine killing the other Jedi Masters. But while it would certainly be understandable for someone in Mace's position to be thinking like that, his dialogue indicates otherwise.
"The oppression of the Sith will never return! You have lost."
"He controls the Senate and the courts, he's too dangerous to keep alive!"
We see from this that Mace is still thinking both altruistically, acting to prevent the oppression of the Sith from returning to the Galaxy, and not out of vengeance. Furthermore he's able to rationalize why Palpatine needed to die and it was because he could likely worm his way out of justice with his power and influence. Mace doesn't seem like he was acting out of anger or hatred.
As for it "not being the Jedi way" I'm sure it's true that the Jedi prefer to take people alive and not kill them, which is why Mace tried to arrest Palpatine in the first place. But I also don't think such a one in a million situation is something the Jedi would object too. Not when it concerned a Sith who'd orchestrated a war that killed millions just to get himself elected emergency powers.
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