Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Novelization Review
The novelization of Revenge is the adds an incredible amount of depth and detail to the story. The depth and detail that the story deserves. Storylines are fully fleshed out. Every point of view is broken down.
First, and most brief, is Count Dooku. We’re brought into the secret that he knows Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is Darth Sidious. He knows that Sidious plans to turn Anakin over to the dark side. Adding so much more to the below shot from the movie. Dooku realizes he’s been used as a pawn this whole time. He was always going to be the bait for the murder that would begin Anakin’s turn.
After Anakin and Obi-Wan save Chancellor Palpatine we get a glimpse of something Star Wars offers very little of — public perception. HoloNet portrayals to the public of the war describe Anakin and Obi-Wan as heroes. Their duo is bouncing around the outer rim saving the galaxy from separatist threats left and right. Anakin loves it all. He’s very aware of how others view him — and his destiny. This only elevates his yearning for power and to be the one to single handedly end the war. He wants to build on the fame he’s amassed.
If Dooku was Palpatine’s pawn, Anakin is everyone’s pawn. And he knows it.
As the Supreme Chancellor’s power grows, the Jedi want Anakin to let the Council know his every move. The Jedis’ suspicions of someone in his inner circle being a Sith Lord have made Palpatine and his power a threat to the Republic. Anakin and Palpatine’s relationship is similar to a father/son relationship. Anakin goes to him for advice; especially when he the usual Jedi “trust the force to guide you” isn’t enough. This “spying” on Palpatine doesn’t sit well with him.
And the flip side of the coin… Palpatine gets Anakin a seat on the Jedi Council solely to act as his voice and ears within the Jedi Temple. Anakin doesn’t have a vote within the Council but he does represent the Supreme Chancellor’s interests. In turn, he gives Palpatine details on what the Jedi are planning for the war.
Even Padmé asks Anakin to push Palpatine towards a diplomatic end to the war. This felt like Anakin’s last straw. “Everyone is only asking. Everyone wants something from me. And I’m the bad guy if they don’t get it!” is what his response to Padmé is. He’s not comfortable with the backstabbing; especially when it comes to those he can trust, the people he loves.
Nothing in the book quite portrays how much Anakin felt like an outcast among the Jedi quite like the morning Anakin goes to Yoda for advice. This is a big step for him. “Yoda had never made any attempt to conceal what had always seemed to Anakin to be gruff disapproval of Anakin’s very existence.” Anakin’s not comfortable here. In what began as a hopeful morning for Anakin quickly turned into the same Jedi nonsense he was already tired of. Being told to “let go of fear and loss cannot hurt you”.
Without droving on too long about the detail, we all know where this leads. Anakin slowly begins to realize that Palpatine to give him what he wants. Something the Jedi could never do. He can leave the Jedi Order and ensure Padmé doesn’t die.
Obi-Wan, Padmé, Mace Windu and Yoda can all see the struggle within Anakin. They all know too much is being asked of him. Mace and Yoda believe everything will work out because he’s the Chosen One. Padmé believes Anakin will always do the right thing because she still sees the little boy from Tatooine in him.
And Obi-Wan. Poor Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan tries to play both sides of this coin. He continues to have Anakin’s back all while having too much loyalty to the Jedi Order. In a scene we don’t get in the movie he goes to Padmé before Anakin has turned to the Dark Side. While everything is still very much hanging in the balance. He asks Padmé to look out for Anakin. He knows of their relationship and he’l kept it to himself. He plays a very dangerous game. On his way out Padmé noted that “he looked very alone”. It’s almost like he knows that no matter what happens, things will not end well. Things are going to change.
When Anakin makes his turn is when we have everyone slowly coming to their own realization.
Mace Windu keeping Anakin in the Jedi Temple when they go to arrest Palpatine. He knows Palpatine is the Sith Lord they’ve been looking for but the tells the Chosen One to stay? Anakin hasn’t truly become Darth Vader yet but he already knows that Sidious is the only one that can help him save Padmé. The shatterpoint in the force that Mace has been searching for eventually leads back to Anakin but he realizes it too late.
Padmé imploring Anakin to “come back for [her]” as if he’s already gone. She knows he’s different; that he’s already no longer a Jedi.
No pill is tougher to swallow than R2-D2 talking with C-3PO. C-3PO is asking R2-D2 what’s going on and R2-D2 replies with, “I don’t know. Anakin doesn’t talk to me anymore.”
The Clone Wars were the Revenge of the Sith all along. Early on in the book we get Dooku detailing a Jedi trap and how to lure a Jedi in. Towards the end, we get the explanation that the ten year war was always just to take down the Jedi. How they were made to trust the clones. All just for the clones to to better understand the Jedi and kill them when the time was right.
The entire story of the Clone Wars and the Revenge of the Sith can be summed up well in Yoda’s understanding once he knows he cannot defeat Sidious. The Sith had evolved while the Jedi stayed the same. The Sith were learning while the Jedi were training the same way for a millennium.
Yoda describes his going to fight Sidious as light versus dark while Obi-Wan fighting Anakin is personal. Obi-Wan and Anakin were fighting for “the damage they’d done to each other”.
“The brighter Yoda’s light, the darker the shadow.”
Rating:
