Anakin's Redemption Arc

[Agent Z]

This is an argument I see pop up frequently in discussing the prequels - that Anakin killing children in Revenge of the Sith makes it impossible to believe that he can be redeemed in Return of the Jedi. Thing is we've seen Anakin as Vader commit several deplorable acts during the original movies so why does seeing him kill kids in the prequels seem too far?

[Darkseid Is]

For the same reason people feel Identity Crisis went too far with the rape of Sue Dibny. We're desensitized to adult dudes being killed so when a woman is raped or a kid is killed in a movie or comic it makes people feel weird.

[SuperiorIronman]

A thing to make note of is that he isn't redeemed by law in ROTJ, he's only redeemed in the eyes of the force for saving Luke and killing Palpatine. Luke is the only one at Vader's funeral BTW. He may have died on the lightside of the force but he's still committed awful acts throughout the films and nobody but Luke cares about what alignment he had.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, and Leia gets largely booted from the Republic senate and starts forming the resistance after that fact goes public in the "Bloodlines" novel. Although not really stated that much in the films, it's stated in Bloodlines that she never told Ben either until things went public; it's possible this helped lead to at least part of his dark path.

The post-ROTJ EU Republic seemed to be more forgiving, although some still had reservations which caused Luke and Leia some trouble. The revelation of Leia's parentage to the Noghri helped take down Thrawn though, so that was a big plus.


There's also the weird alternate timeline "Infinities" which has the redeemed Vader surviving ROTJ and getting his armor painted white. Weird stuff.


I recall seeing there was kind of a backlash to Anakin killing the Tuskens too. I think that might've worked better if Anakin had perhaps kept it a secret and not told Padme at all. She seems pretty horrified by the events in ROTS, but in AOTC she just gives him a shoulder to cry on pretty much.

[sirmarkus]

I agree with what's been said. Even though he was redeemed in the eyes of the Force, Vader will always be viewed as a villain across the galaxy. He just did too much evil to come back from in the eyes of the people.

[Soubhagya]

Killing kids is considered a most vicious act. More then even adults. People are kind of wired like that. Kids signify innocence. And they require protection. So, killing children feels more cruel then adults to most people at any rate.