What do you think about the «Anakin doesn’t really cares about the clones or their safety» discourse that has been going around lately?

padawanlost:

Tbh, I haven’t
seen a lot of that discourse recently so I can’t go on about specifics. But, as
we recently discussed here, Anakin did care about the clones (and I showed the receipts).
No, he wasn’t perfect and he did fail to do anything to help or even recognize
the clone army was a slave army. HOWEVER, unless this discourse also involves “Plo
Koon doesn’t really cares about the clones or their safety”, “Mace Windu
doesn’t really cares about the clones or their safety”, “Obi-wan doesn’t really
cares about the clones or their safety”, “Luminara doesn’t really cares about
the clones or their safety” or every single Jedi who also used the clones and
were even more emotionally detached than Anakin (and Ahsoka) then this
discourse is not really about analyzing the narrative, it’s about expression
theories not supported by the narrative (canon and EU). Because, as I demonstrated
on a previous post, Anakin, despite his MANY mistakes, showed more concerned
for the lives of clones than most Jedi, Senators or civilians.

Wasn’t Anakin
the only Jedi who sacrificed a bunch of politicians to save clones lives? Wasn’t
he the one who encouraged clones to pick names for themselves instead of using
numbers? Wasn’t he the one who felt personally responsible for the death of
every clone under his command? Who was willing to disobey military order to go
back and help his men?

It’s not
darkness. I’m not dark. This isn’t anger— It was okay; they’d always told him
so. He was fighting to save his men, and if he did terrible things out of compassion, out of love, then he wasn’t
turning to the dark side. That was the Jedi way. For my mother. For my men. For Padmé. [The Clone Wars
by Karen Traviss]

Impatience.
Concern. Relief. Loneliness.
Weariness. And grief, not yet healed. Such a muddle of emotions. Such a weight
on [Anakin]’s shoulders. Months of brutal battle had left [Ahsoka] drained and
nearly numb, but it was worse for Anakin. He
was a Jedi general with countless lives entrusted to his care, and every life
damaged or lost he counted as a personal failure. For other people he found
forgiveness; for himself there was none. For himself there was only anger
at not meeting his own exacting standards. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone
Wars Gambit: Stealth]

Under [Anakin]’s careless confidence, she
sensed a hint of that unhealed grief. The loss of greenies Vere and Ince during
the Jan-Fathal mission … the loss of other Torrent Company clones
since then … his pain was like a kiplin-burr, burrowed deep in his
flesh. Anakin had a
bad habit of nursing those wounds, and no matter what she said, tactfully, no
matter what Master Kenobi said without any tact at all, nothing made a
difference. He hurt for them, and always
would. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]

[Anakin]
looked at Ahsoka. “Fine. You can go. But
I want to be kept informed of Torrent Company’s status. Don’t make me chase you
for updates, is that clear?” She managed to smile. “Yes, Master. Thank
you.” “And Ahsoka …” He felt his
heart thud. “Tell Rex—tell all of them—that anything less than a full recovery
is unacceptable. Tell Rex I—” He had to stop. Obi-Wan was in earshot, and they
were not supposed to care so much. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone Wars
Gambit: Stealth]

[Anakin]
hit the cockpit canopy switch, fast. “Obi-Wan’s fine, more or less,” he told
the anxious droid, firing their fighter’s thrusters. “Ahsoka’s pretty banged
up, though. So are Rex and Coric. They’re
on their way to Kaliida Shoals.” R2’s
mournful whistle said everything Anakin couldn’t … or didn’t want to.
[Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth]

Rex. Coric. Ahsoka. And fourteen dead pilots. Scores
more dead and wounded ground troopers. Why can’t we stop this? Why can’t we catch Grievous?
Dooku’s only one man. How can he defy the entire Jedi Order? Who is his Sith
Master? Why can’t we find him? Day and
night the questions ate at him. They ate at Obi-Wan, too, but somehow his former
Master seemed able to live without knowing the answers. Or else he was just
better at hiding his dismay. His fear. [Karen Miller’s Star Wars: Clone
Wars Gambit: Stealth]

All this
stuff are part of the narrative. it’s not an opinion, an interpretation or a
theory it is a fact. It’s in the movies, tv shows, comics and novels. Look,
Anakin was not a saint who never did anything wrong ever but people are taking
this bias against him too far. He fucked up A LOT and we all know it but that doesn’t mean we can stick every
negative adjective we know on him, especially when these attributes are not supported by
the narrative. Let’s blame Anakin for the stuff that was actually his fault.

Is Anakin
guilty of not recognizing the clone army as a slave army? YES!

Is Anakin
guilty of not caring about the lives of the men he was responsible for, having
malicious intent and jeopardizing their safety on purpose? NO!