Post by crystalcat on Jun 2, 2007 12:06:04 GMT -5
One theory about Anakin's dreams is that Palpatine sent them to him deliberately. I didn't use to subscribe to this theory, but I've since changed my mind and now think it's the most likely scenario. Here's why:
First, in order for Palpatine to send the dreams, he'd have to know in advance roughly what would happen to Padme if Anakin turned (he could have made it up, but it did in fact happen, so the presumption is that he know it would). Is this possible? Yes, Palpatine is at least as powerful as Yoda, and Yoda can see into the future. The difference between them is that Yoda would not do anything to influence one possible future over another and Palpatine would do everything he could to manipulate the outcome he wanted. As Anakin's turning or not would definitely influence Palpatine's future, it would be a future he'd want to be checking on, as well. So he has a definite motive.
Second, he has to have a means of delivery. He knows quite well that Anakin dreamt of his mother's death and how much that upset him, and, no doubt, that Anakin has vowed to never ignore his precognitive dreams again. So all Palpatine has to do is to get Anakin to believe the dreams he sends about Padme are precognitive dreams. The difficulty lies in sending the dreams in the first place. Essentially, this amounts to getting someone's subconscious mind to believe what you want it to believe - almost identical to the Jedi Mind Trick. Palpatine isn't standing in front of Anakin "telling" him what his dreams contain, so he must be doing so through a meditative trance. It's interesting to note that for the second "dream" we see, Anakin isn't asleep at all, he's in Padme's apartment alone during mid-afternoon, at a time when Palpatine knew he would be alone (Padme was at the Senate building and Anakin had just left Palpatine's office, I think). There is a more obvious meditative trance later in the movie when Palpatine convinces Anakin to leave the Jedi Temple and come to his aid against the Jedi - and even the audience isn't sure whether it's actually Palpatine or just Anakin's thoughts in Palpatine's voice.
But does he have the opportunity to deliver the dreams as he wants? The Jedi Mind Trick only works on the weak-minded; a Sith Mind Trick would be no different in technical delivery. Is Anakin weak-minded enough for it to work?
Yes. He's weak-minded enough where Padme is concerned; or, more specifically, where his fears are concerned. The Jedi kept focusing on him being "fearful" as a critical weakness. Fear tends to make anyone weak-minded, this is the key - weak-mindedness leads to being easily manipulated, as they demonstrate with their Jedi Mind Trick. So Palpatine has both the motive and the opportunity to overbalance the future in his favor. He's a Sith Lord. Therefore, it's unlikely he'd have passed up the opportunity.
But there is another key piece of evidence that supports this theory:
It has been said that Anakin "Started down the path to darkness" by killing Dooku. However, we can clearly see in the movie that Anakin ONLY chose the dark side as the result of his dreams. Up until Palpatine catches him by promising help with the outcome of the dreams, Anakin is all for the Sith Lord getting his due at the hands of the Jedi.
The thing is, the dreams themselves show Anakin his future IF HE TURNS TO THE DARK SIDE. In other words, he is apparently seeing his dark side future BEFORE he casts his lot with the dark side, because he didn't turn to the dark side path UNTIL he had at least the first dream. Therefore, he shouldn't have seen his future of turning to the dark side.
JMO, and assessment.
First, in order for Palpatine to send the dreams, he'd have to know in advance roughly what would happen to Padme if Anakin turned (he could have made it up, but it did in fact happen, so the presumption is that he know it would). Is this possible? Yes, Palpatine is at least as powerful as Yoda, and Yoda can see into the future. The difference between them is that Yoda would not do anything to influence one possible future over another and Palpatine would do everything he could to manipulate the outcome he wanted. As Anakin's turning or not would definitely influence Palpatine's future, it would be a future he'd want to be checking on, as well. So he has a definite motive.
Second, he has to have a means of delivery. He knows quite well that Anakin dreamt of his mother's death and how much that upset him, and, no doubt, that Anakin has vowed to never ignore his precognitive dreams again. So all Palpatine has to do is to get Anakin to believe the dreams he sends about Padme are precognitive dreams. The difficulty lies in sending the dreams in the first place. Essentially, this amounts to getting someone's subconscious mind to believe what you want it to believe - almost identical to the Jedi Mind Trick. Palpatine isn't standing in front of Anakin "telling" him what his dreams contain, so he must be doing so through a meditative trance. It's interesting to note that for the second "dream" we see, Anakin isn't asleep at all, he's in Padme's apartment alone during mid-afternoon, at a time when Palpatine knew he would be alone (Padme was at the Senate building and Anakin had just left Palpatine's office, I think). There is a more obvious meditative trance later in the movie when Palpatine convinces Anakin to leave the Jedi Temple and come to his aid against the Jedi - and even the audience isn't sure whether it's actually Palpatine or just Anakin's thoughts in Palpatine's voice.
But does he have the opportunity to deliver the dreams as he wants? The Jedi Mind Trick only works on the weak-minded; a Sith Mind Trick would be no different in technical delivery. Is Anakin weak-minded enough for it to work?
Yes. He's weak-minded enough where Padme is concerned; or, more specifically, where his fears are concerned. The Jedi kept focusing on him being "fearful" as a critical weakness. Fear tends to make anyone weak-minded, this is the key - weak-mindedness leads to being easily manipulated, as they demonstrate with their Jedi Mind Trick. So Palpatine has both the motive and the opportunity to overbalance the future in his favor. He's a Sith Lord. Therefore, it's unlikely he'd have passed up the opportunity.
But there is another key piece of evidence that supports this theory:
It has been said that Anakin "Started down the path to darkness" by killing Dooku. However, we can clearly see in the movie that Anakin ONLY chose the dark side as the result of his dreams. Up until Palpatine catches him by promising help with the outcome of the dreams, Anakin is all for the Sith Lord getting his due at the hands of the Jedi.
The thing is, the dreams themselves show Anakin his future IF HE TURNS TO THE DARK SIDE. In other words, he is apparently seeing his dark side future BEFORE he casts his lot with the dark side, because he didn't turn to the dark side path UNTIL he had at least the first dream. Therefore, he shouldn't have seen his future of turning to the dark side.
JMO, and assessment.
