#but Lucas was always too afraid to fully commit to portraying the old Jedi as deeply flawed

[gch1995]

I actually read a lot of really great Star Wars canon-divergent AUs and missing scene fanfics in which Anakin and Obi-Wan make amends with each other. I imagine they would have had to off screen for Anakin to be able to be on seemingly good terms by the end of ROTJ. I think it’s a pretty fitting theme in the line of the narrative for them to make up.

My problem is that George Lucas was too afraid to fully commit to portraying the Jedi Order as a well-meaning, but still seriously flawed organization that needed to really change for the better in a number of ways. If you ignore the sequels and other Disney Jedi/Sith content, then it’s easy to believe that Luke actually learned from his predecessors mistakes, and rebuilt a healthier and more balanced Jedi Order. If you just read the old EU, watch the OT films, and watch the prequels, then it’s easy to believe that the Jedi actually got to become the heroes they were often too afraid to be the first time around in the prequels when Luke’s father was growing up in it. That’s the logical direction Luke’s character seemed to be going in at the end of ROTJ from his background and character development.

Even then, though, there’s still the fact that Obi-Wan and Yoda never really get framed as wrong for deliberately deceiving, endangering, and manipulating Luke in order to use him as a weapon to kill his father “for the greater good” of the galaxy. I understand they believed they had pure intentions, but so did Anakin when he abused his power over Luke to try to lure him to the dark side to kill Palpatine and gain freedom to “rule the galaxy together” to “make it a better place.” I get that he was much scarier than Obi-Wan and Yoda in regards to his treatment of Luke and his friends in the OT films, but Anakin was still framed as wrong for using shitty and selfish methods that he knew were wrong in an attempt to secure freedom and power “for the greater good,” too. Luke didn’t grant him forgiveness until he could realize that he was being too cowardly and selfish to do the right things in the right ways for his son and admit he was wrong.

Obi-Wan and Yoda never really go through this sort of character development arc for growth in the OT films for their abuse of power over Luke. They never apologize, express remorse, or admit they were wrong to Luke. They never feel the need to make amends to him for mistreating him for their own ends.

George Lucas even verbally denied/retconned his own canon narrative on screen with a bullshit explanation to bend over backwards to try to absolve Yoda and Obi-Wan of their mistreatment of Luke in the OT films because he was so afraid of fully committing to making the old Jedi Order deeply flawed characters who needed to improve a lot.

Then, because Disney couldn’t keep their greedy and lazy hands off the franchise, they continued George Lucas’s exceedingly indecisive and lenient attitude in regards to the Jedi Order in the canon narrative that we saw shades of throughout the OT and PT films. Thus, the growth that Luke logically should have led the new Jedi Order with got undone.

In other words, I don’t mind fanfic stories of Anakin and Obi-Wan eventually making amends. Amends have to be made on both sides, though, not just Anakin’s and not just Obi-Wan’s. A full exploration of what went wrong on both their sides needs to be present, both characters need to be willing to fully admit they were wrong, eventually understand why they were wrong, and eventually grow from it in a positive way. Otherwise, a fanfic of them making amends doesn’t work for me.

I think what really irritates me is when people create a what if of au HC or fics to when Anakin is alive and Skywalker family lives happily but people make it so that Anakin spends most of his time with Pamde and the kids and almost no time with Obi as if he is still would resent Obi for what he did during the fall of the Jedi if people really portray Anakin like this then they really don't know him at all