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The way I see it, there are a few possiblities:

A) Anakin Himself: After watching the prequels, we all know Anakin's had a tough life, and is admittedly pretty selfish to boot. He seems fairly predisposed to the Dark Side from his early slave years, the removal from and eventual loss of his mother, and other factors that have left him bitter. Certainly its not all his own fault, but the temptation for the Dark Side has been seeded within him.

B) Palpatine: The big man pulling all the strings. He takes Anakin under his wing very early, and undoubtedly manipulates him subtly from the very start. Add to that his promise of a way to save Padme, an offer which he probably wasnt going to keep anyways, and the fact that his Dark Side manipulation was on full blast when Anakin finally fell, you've got a convincing case.

C) Padme: This might work back into Anakin's own tendancies, but she certainly has a part of his downfall. If she had outright refused his advances in AOTC, then Anakin would likely not have fallen. Instead, she agreed, and they got married, against both their better judgements. To top it all off, Anakin finally fell under Sidious' sway because he wanted to save Padme from what he saw in the vision.

D) The Jedi Council: or more specifically, the rules of the Jedi Order itself. Their strict abolition of love and relationship out of the missguided notion that it would lead to the Dark Side (even though they encouraged attachement in Master/Padawan relationships) heavily contributed to Anakin's fall, considering he could not approach them about the possiblity of saving Padme. Another act that they contributed was their denial of Anakin's requested Mastership, a perhaps justifiable act, but it was nonetheless destructive (in the novelization, it hints at the fact that if Anakin became a master, he would have access to the more secert "forbidden" vaults in the Jedi archives, where he might have found a way to save Padme without turning to Palpatine.) Finally, when Mace and the others went to arrest Palpatine, Anakin was forced netween defending a man he long considered to be his friend and the upholder of Liberty and peace and the emotionally distant Jedi, who moved to act against him without using the proper chanels (ie informing the Senate. This would not have worked, and the Jedi were justified in their move against Palpy, but Anakin didnt see it that way.)

What do you think?

Anakin. He made the wrong choice.

Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the general gist.

Voted D. Mainly because Anakin would just be a slave on tatoine without the jedi.

And because, not having seen RotS yet, Kenobi is bloody condescening towards Annie through out AotC.

Padme and the Council weren't very good at keeping him from falling, and Palpatine was an enabler, but one must still walk the path themselves. Anakin still made the conscious choice, regardless of the influence of others.

I'd go with the Jedi-Council.

Sure, everybody is more or less responsible for himself, but what alternatives did the Jedi offer Anakin compared to Palpatine? Who - i'll have to add - tricked a lot of people more "mature" and experienced than Anakin?

Ummm...Palpatine?

I will go with the Jedi COuncil. I think that this Chosen One stuff that the Jedi pumped into Anakin made him into the power-seeking idiot that he was in AotC and RotS. and to a lesser extent Obi-Wan, who told him to obey the Jedi COde while having a love affair with another Jedi himself. And the fact that the Mace Windu said that the Jedi would have to take over the Senate and that Palpatine had to be killed now, that sounds a bit like a power grab doesn't it?

Anakin.

It was Anakin himself who decided to attact Mace Windu and who decided to pledge allegiance to Palpatine. He was dealt a rotten hand in life, others may have manipulated him or kicked him in the head, but the decicion was in the end his alone.

This is one of those basic questions. Who do you blame for someone's actions. The person himself or all the factors and events that led up to that decision?

I still say we blame the person. The mark of a hero is what he does in the face of all that he knows. Luke Skywalker chose to believe that there was still good in his father despite the fact that everyone including his own father told him that was not true.

Anakin chose to follow the dark side to save the woman he loved because he could not bear to deal with her death. Putting aside Palpatine's seductive whispers, the Jedi's stagnanation, his own arrogance, and Padme's helplessness Anakin Skywalker was given a choice. Palpatine didn't force him, the Jedi didn't hold him back and Padme didn't beg him to do anything. Anakin Skywalker stood on that precipice all alone and fell all on his own. His choice alone in the dark. His consequences afterwards. Darth Vader chose to believe that depsite the lies and everything he knew about the Sith that they were the better choice at saving the woman he loved.

EDIT: This juxtaposition just occurred to me.

Luke made his choice out of love. Love for his father depsite the fact that his father maimed him and was responsible for the death of friends and loved ones. Luke acted out of selfless love, willing to lay his life down for his father.

Anakin made his choice out of fear. He would like to think it was love but it was fear of losing love. Anakin acted out of selfish love, willing to destroy everything and anything to preserve what he did not want to lose.

A huge difference in motivation and obvious consequences afterwards.

We can probably blame the Jedi Council, as they are the ones who bear the brunt of the responsibility for getting Anakin where he is.

1) When Qui-Gon presents him before the Council they Yoda could've told him "On crack you are, back to Tatooine you'll take him. Argue you shall not."

2) When Qui-Gon gets killed by Maul and Obi Wan offers to train the boy himself, the Council could've sent him back home, instead of doing the equivalent of "Ehh, what the heck. What a cute kid. What's the worst he could do?"

3) The Jedi seem to spend much of their time being condescending towards Anakin, fueling his paranoid teen-angst "The world's against me" fantasies.

4) When Anakin asked Yoda for advice, it almost seemed like Yoda gave him a chance to come clean, and then let it drop when he didn't. Instead, he should've said: "Lying you are. Padme you are fucking. The sex tape I saw."

5) The Jedi Council asks Anakin to spy on Palpatine, even though they suspect he's firmly in the old man's clutches.

6) Even after Anakin rats out Palpatine, Windu continues to rub Anakin's nose in the fact that he's not to be trusted.

So, really, it's the Jedi, more than anyone else apart from Palpatine, who guides him inexorably towards becoming Vader.

GrandMasterTerwynn wrote:4) When Anakin asked Yoda for advice, it almost seemed like Yoda gave him a chance to come clean, and then let it drop when he didn't. Instead, he should've said: "Lying you are. Padme you are fucking. The sex tape I saw."

Speaking of FUQing, you win this round.

Chairman Rofl Mao says, "This is a funny-ass post."

That anaysis was awesome Stravo; Bravo. I agree wholeheartedly. I know this qualifies as a me too, but dammit you deserve some applause for that insight.

Anakin, through being a self-centred whiney twat.

I voted for Anakin himself. Nobody forced him to do the evil or even merely questionable things he did, and he could have refused to do any or all of them. While the Jedi were foolish to tell him about the prophecy, Anakin chose to act arrogant and disobedient in response to it. While Palpatine was scum to maneuver him into helping him do evil, Anakin chose to be governed by fear and guilt, which made him a tool. While Padme was wrong not to be more level-headed about the idea of them marrying and covering it up, Anakin chose to do it, knowing it was against the rules.

3 Way tie: Jedi Council/Palpatine/Anakin, in that order.
We all know the facts with Palpatine and Anakin, so, my view as to why the Jedi Council is responsible

Look at the facts from Episode 1 onward.

1)- The Jedi Council, first says 'no training', and then says 'oh well, someone that just was a Padawan, is barely ouf of his teens, can raise and teach a former slave'

Right, that will work.

To the Jedi Council: Hey, dumbasses, you don't have a 20 year old raising a 10 - 12 year old.

Quite frankly, since there was evidence this kid was the Chosen One, he should have been given to a experience Jedi Master, or even trained by the entire Jedi Council.

2)- They left his mother back on Tattooine.
Stupid, Stupid, STUPID.
Anakin had a very hard life to start, his only comfort was his mother, and you leave her in that hell hole?
Sure, Jedi are expected to be able to 'divorce' himself from that sort of thing, but that's only if they are 'taken' early.
Case in point, Corellion children are not taken from there parents totally, and are allowed to have contact with there family. Hell, Corellion Jedi, because Corellia is so big on families, marry, have kids, and often train there own kids.

The Jedi that know there families therefore know there family is safe.

They should have at least had someone watching Shimi to make sure she was, even if it was just monthly com-calls. The second she wasn't, you don't want her suffering for fear it could affect him.

#3)- A polition started taking an active interest in him. Isn't that interfering with his training? WHo gives a monkey's ass if he's the Chanceller. Send Obi-Wan and Anakin to the outer rim most of the time. If Anakin wonders why 'hard life you have lived, need to see and experience the galaxy you should'

Then you have the later treatment (i.e Mace not trusting him, and saying so to his face)

Anakin outright says that Palpatine befriended him shortly after he came to Coruscant and has been a mentor to him.

Yes he's had a rough life but would he have ended up the way he did had Palpatine not been stroking Anakin's ego at every possible opportunity? Anakin may have been doomed to be arrogant from the start with this Chosen One stuff filling his head, however he may have been able to lead a somewhat normal life for a Jedi or at least not turned to the Dark Side had Palpatine not been in the picture. Palpatine spends every moment he is with Anakin in Episodes II and III telling him he is going to be or already is the greatest of all Jedi and that if the others don't see it, then they're jealous or delusional. He's been working to undermine Anakin's confidence in the Jedi order and their intentions towards him for years so that he was fertile ground for the dark side.

Palpatine took Anakin's existing problems with authority and particularly discipline and enhanced them by telling Anakin everything people want to hear from respected elders except the truth. Yes it can be blamed on Anakin being an idiot and believing him but remember, Palpatine didn't start working on Anakin a few weeks ago, this has been a long term project which according to Anakin's own comments about Palpatine befriending him after comming to Coruscant, has been going on for over a decade. I'd like to see the most skeptical and pious successfully resist 13 years of sweet nothings being whispered into your ear by the Star Wars equivalent of [insert name of your favorite, mostly beloved but very divisize leader here.]

Now try resisting these sweet nothings for 13 years while already having low self esteem. Having been raised as a poverty stricken slave who only got his freedom because of a wager and whose mother is still enslaved, languishing on a sandy hell hole only suitable for habitation by the refuse of society and subsistence farmers does not do good things for your outlook on life. Neither does having the most powerful man in the galaxy as your own personal sycophant.

Anakin is obviously. To blame others for your own decisions is by definiton not being responsible.

No one put a fucking gun to his head and made him chose to kill the younglings, to halp murder Mace, or to choke Padme. He did it of his own free will. And thus the responsibility for those acts is his.

Ultimately, man is responsible for his own failings. The odds may have been stacked heavily against him, but what he does or fails to do, is on him. The way I see it, and this is my personal opinion, the blame is distributed thusly:

Anakin himself (35%)
is responsible for his downfall, but ultimately, I see him as a tragic hero, and I do not believe that he fell from grace solely on his own.

Palpatine- (31%)
That son of a bitch is evil. According to some of Mike's research Palpatine is more evil than anyone else in the universe except for Martha Stewart.

Palpatine manipulates Anakin, and manipulates everyone around him. Manipulates them to give him more power, manipulate, manipulate, manipulate. He's the perfect politico. He'll manipulate himself to death to gain more power if you give him the opportunity. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he manipulated Anakin to have said premonitions of Padme's fate.

Padme Amidala- (innocent of charges)
She loved, supported, and cared for Anakin, and even bore his children. And to answer her love, he deals her a wound more grievous than any lightsaber could ever do, it just takes her longer to expire. Ironically this is done in Anakin's attempt to save her. But she had no part in Anakin's downfall.

The Jedi Council- (34%)

Secrets are a relationship killer, ask anyone who deals with marriage counselling. Now see that Anakin has to keep his relationship with Padme secret from the Jedi council, or they'll give him the boot. And unto this, Anakin by default cannot share his concerns with Yoda, or Mace Windu, because Mace is too busy being an asshole, and Yoda will I'm sure uphold the will of the council.
For all their wisdom it seems the Jedi have utterly no comprehension of the fact love and attachment are two of the most natural parts of anyone's life! This from those who claim to value nature oh so highly, to take young children away from their families and raise them in monastery setting and denying them love! Please tell me that is natural!! For god's sakes, those bastards are almost as evil as Palpatine (oops, I rated them as being more evil).
So what is a man to do?! He can't talk to the Jedi council, so they can't help him save Padme, so what's a man to do? His first instinct (remember, a Jedi is supposed to act on instinct) is to protect his wife! So what does he do? He goes to someone who will help her. He goes to Palpatine, to the dark side, and well, the rest is history.

Personally, I say the whole thing could have been avoided if Mace Windu had simply put his hand on Anakin's shoulder and calmly told him:
"Many billions (trillions?) of women give birth every year in the galaxy and aside from it being the most painful thing she's ever done, she survives. Padme is in good physical condition, she's got the best prenatal care there is, and the best medical care, and she'll have you at her side. She'll be fine, don't worry about her, it's the most natural part of the human existence! If you want to help her, just hold her hand during labor, she'll appreciate you being there for her. Oh, and by the way, congratulations, you pimp!"

Palpatine is there for Anakin when the Jedi are not. He is the only support Anakin has. Essentially, they cast him to the wolves and were suprised when he turned around and bit.

Stravo wrote:This is one of those basic questions. Who do you blame for someone's actions. The person himself or all the factors and events that led up to that decision?

I still say we blame the person. The mark of a hero is what he does in the face of all that he knows. Luke Skywalker chose to believe that there was still good in his father despite the fact that everyone including his own father told him that was not true.

Anakin chose to follow the dark side to save the woman he loved because he could not bear to deal with her death. Putting aside Palpatine's seductive whispers, the Jedi's stagnanation, his own arrogance, and Padme's helplessness Anakin Skywalker was given a choice. Palpatine didn't force him, the Jedi didn't hold him back and Padme didn't beg him to do anything. Anakin Skywalker stood on that precipice all alone and fell all on his own. His choice alone in the dark. His consequences afterwards. Darth Vader chose to believe that depsite the lies and everything he knew about the Sith that they were the better choice at saving the woman he loved.

EDIT: This juxtaposition just occurred to me.

Luke made his choice out of love. Love for his father depsite the fact that his father maimed him and was responsible for the death of friends and loved ones. Luke acted out of selfless love, willing to lay his life down for his father.

Anakin made his choice out of fear. He would like to think it was love but it was fear of losing love. Anakin acted out of selfish love, willing to destroy everything and anything to preserve what he did not want to lose.

A huge difference in motivation and obvious consequences afterwards.

Extending beyond that, look at TESB.

Here Luke has arguably had a FAR more wrenching revelation, that Darth Vader IS Anikin Skywalker. Luke arguably has far fewer options here. Anikin could have jumped in with Mace and helped take down Palpitine. He could have disabled Palpitine and stoped Mace from killing him, insisting that he needs to be tried in a court of law. He could have simply run away and left the Jedi order in the worst case.

But instead he chose to turn to the Dark Side.

Luke was sitting on a railing with realisticly, two choices. Die where he stood or join the Dark Side. He had the moral courage to simply step back off the rail and fall to his death rather then join with Darth Vader, even in the face of that revelation.

(X) Option E: All of the above.

While Anakin must and does hold ultimate responsibility, all of the others had significant roles in his decent. He was manipulated to a degree by all sides, directly and indirectly.

Anakin.

He was firstly retarded, he probably would beleive me if i told him my ass holds the secret to saving Padme so start kissin'; secondly he betrayed, abused and/or murdered all of the people who he ever knew except the ONE GUY who he should have killed, that murderous psychotic Palpatine. He screwed over and, probably, killed his own pregnant wife and almost his own children. He murdered hundreds of children and padawans, and tried to murder Obi Wan. All to get a secret and, oh yeah, he failed at that! He has NO ONE to blame but himself for what happened to him.

Anakin himself holds the crown, but I have to cast an angry glance at Qui-gon for blatting out "the boy is the chosen one!" right in front of everyone. That was monumentally stupid, and I sincerely believe it's what started Anakin on his "I'm not powerful enough yet!" head trip. A little kid never needs to know how powerful they're going to be when they grow up; that's how you get stupid spoiled whores like Paris Hilton.

A little kid never needs to know how powerful they're going to be when they grow up; that's how you get stupid spoiled whores like Paris Hilton.

Ouch, getting compared to Paris Hilton. A new low.
A bit over the top I think.

Ultimately it was Anakin himself. The guy had SO many opportunities to set things right but for some reason he made the wrong choice at every single turn.

First of all, he shouldnt have taken his dreams of Padme in the way he did. He should have done some serious Jedi meditation and inner searching through the force to better reveal the truth of the dreams, instead he did nothing and was so mislead by them.

Then, the instant he found out the truth of Palpatine, he should have instantly lost all trust that he may have had for him because like any normal person he should have started connecting the dots and realizing that Palpatine was responsible for all the bullshit that he and the Republic has been involved in up untill that point.

Also, the instant Palpatine took advantage of the situation and started frying Windu, Anakin should have neutralized Palpatine the same way he did Windu. (ie cut off palpy's hands) That way both parties would be forced to back down and Palpatine would could have been properly taken into custody by the Jedi and all his bullshit exposed.

Hell even AFTER Windu was shot off the balcony Anakin could have neutralized Palpatine.

Personally I'd give this one to Palpy. Anakin only half way made the choice; he disarmed Windu and for good reason. Mace had no right to just execute Palpy. So once Mace loses his saber, Palpy finishes him. Anakin now believes he's past the point of no return.