Conviction+Compassion=?

fluffycakesistainted:

a-crack-in-the-universe:

wingletblackbird:

This is just something I got to thinking about as I was writing my PadMay Day 2 Post. Why is it you rarely, it seems to me anyway, hear people complain about Luke going to redeem his father–and throwing away his lightsaber rather than kill him and compromise his principles–but you hear people complain that Padme didn’t draw a weapon on Anakin and betray her principles? Surely, people do realise that what Luke did and what Padme did are the same thing, right? Actually, what Luke did was arguable “stupider”.

What Luke Knew About Darth Vader 

• He’s a mass murderer
• Has committed genocide
• Is a Sith
• Cut of His Hand
• Is Loyal to the Empire
• Has Killed Many of His Friends and Comrades
• Was, allegedly, a Good Man Once
• Threatened to Turn his Sister to the Dark Side
• Dueled him to protect the Emperor

What Padme Knew About Darth Vader

• He was a good man
• He was a sweet and kind-hearted boy
• He loved her
• He loved their child
• He loved Ahsoka
• He loved Obi-Wan
• He loved his mother
• He loved people
• He wanted to help people
• He had a lot of compassion in his heart
• He’d been lost and confused lately.
• He’d been friends with the Chancellor since he was a boy
• Obi-Wan said he’d turned to the Dark Side
• He’d even killed younglings
• He has the potential to be quite Dark
• Maybe he did go Dark…But Why?

From the above we can observe that Padme had far more reason to believe in her husband than her son did to believe in his father. He has been her beloved husband of three years. She’s seen him do lots of good things. When Padme goes to Mustafar, Anakin hugs and kisses her. He clearly still has some kind of caring for her. She’s horrified by what she discovers, but is trying to get through to him when Obi-Wan interferes and Vader turns on her. She is strangled by a Sith while she is weaponless. 

Luke, on the other hand, has nothing much to go on, but the vague impression that Vader doesn’t really want to kill him, and might have been a good man once. He knows for certain, Vader has already cut of his hand, and indirectly killed his family, and has committed numerous other atrocities when he goes to face Vader. Nevertheless, after all that has happened, and Vader defends the Emperor, and Luke uses his rage to win a duel, Luke throws away his lightsaber, when the Emperor is right there, rather than betray his ideals. He does not want to become someone who will kill, his own father no less, in anger. He gets electrocuted by a Sith for it while he is weaponless. 

Why is it then that Padme is the naive, “weak,” delusional one? Whose reactions were more reasonable and understandable in which situation? Why the double standard? Both Luke and Padme were coming from the same place. Whether you admire or disdain their choices, they were both making the same fundamental choice.

It’s because Padme is a woman. There’s always that double-standard where a female character is criticised for doing something while a male character who does the same thing isn’t criticised and might even be praised. People are obsessed with the idea of a strong female character and whenever any female character does something that could be seen as cliched/stereotyped they criticise them mercilessly. They see Padme’s actions but they seemingly don’t understand or choose to ignore her motivations and reasons. Yes Padme confronting Anakin/Vader on Mustafar was reckless and unwise and ended in her death. If she’d lived maybe people wouldn’t be so harsh on her, but she didn’t.

And not only did she die, she died because she ‘lost the will to live’. Most people assume that it’s a cliche feminine stereotype. However, they fail or refuse to understand that Padme had understandable reasons for ‘losing the will to live’. She lost everything that she cared about. She literally saw everything she’d worked so hard for go down in flames. It sent her into acute depression. She lost her drive and before she could get it back again she went into labour and she died having ‘lost the will to live’.

Now Luke, on the other hand, is a male character and by throwing away his lightsaber he’s going against male cliches/stereotypes. People like that.

(Feel free to tell me if I’ve gotten something wrong. Meta discussions are not my forte. I really don’t want to be jumped on for anything.)

Naw, you got it right.