![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owlI've come across a few people refering to Anakin as a 'fallen Messiah'. Quite apart from the juxtaposition of 'fallen' and 'Messiah' making me vaguely uneasy as a Christian, I can see their point. 'Chosen One' and 'Annointed One' are a close enough analogue.
But it got me thinking.
Before the PT, if you had asked me 'who is the Christ-analogue in SW'? the answer would have been, definitely, 'Luke'.
Luke in ANH is the ordinary Hero with a Thousand Faces, but in ESB and especially RotJ, his role changes subtlely. He's still on his Journey, but he's doing something else too.
We have the first Anakin, who falls from grace and becomes Vader. Then we have his son, the last Anakin. (I'm refering to St Paul's first/last Adam terminology here. Someone once pointed out that Anakin/Luke are really two avatars of the same person, and they complete their respective heroes' journeys at the same time--the point where Luke says 'I am a Jedi, like my father before me.' I firmly believe that's when Anakin comes back.)
But anyhow, the last Anakin sets out to redeem the first. The order's a little out, but like Christ, he descends into hell (the DS scenes were originally going to be set on a planet called Had Abbadon--that's a term for hell), is tempted, does not fall--and here we diverge. Instead of the last Anakin (Luke) dying to save the first, the first dies to save the last. But you could argue that Luke 'dies' under the lightening and is resurrected--and he does redeem his father. He's as close a 'type' than most of those in the Old Testament.
Then we have the PT, and Anakin's virgin birth and long-prophesied destiny. Anakin will bring balance, as Lyke will redeem his father--but unlike Luke, Anakin takes a massive detour en-route. But perhaps it was neccessary for Anakin to fall in order to destroy the Sith?The distinction between Anakin-as-fallen-but-redeemed-sinner and Anakin-as-sacrficial-lamb becomes blurred.
But I believe that if Anakin had not fallen to the Dark Side, he still would have fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One. Causing himself and the GFFA a lot less suffering in the process, but then, it would be a rather short story, wouldn't it?
