Hey, loving your meta! Gotta question, I’m sure you’ve seen the mentally ill!Anakin headcanons floating around (usually bpd or bipolar disorder), so I’m wondering what is your thoughts on mentally ill!Ahsoka? And do you think either have any canonical validity? Thanks! :)

padawanlost:

Hi and
thanks 🙂

First of
all, I’m not a psychologist. I’ve studied a tiny bit of psychology and some
mental illnesses but only in terms of fiction. I know how to use them develop
characters and construct narratives but I’m not capable of looking at a
character and name an illness without any clues from the narrative. Anakin’s
famous BPD diagnosis has been supported by psychologists and psychiatrists. In his
case it’s easier to see this because we have tons of content explaining his
action, emotions and thought process. Anakin’s life has been explored from
early childhood to death so it’s much easier to see the whole picture and get
clearer view.

Unfortunately,
we don’t have that with Ahsoka. we don’t know a lot about her in terms of POV
and most of her development happened in TCW, a show known for brushing off the
emotional consequences of war.  

Personally,
I believe most Jedi were not emotionally healthy beings but that doesn’t necessarily
translate into mental illness. But if I had so say something about Ahsoka’s
health I’d say she struggles with PTSD. Being throw into a war at 14, enslaved,
hunted for sport, killing people, watching people close to you die on a daily basis,
getting people killed, watching children die in your arms, etc. These are all
traumatizing experiences but the consequences of these experiences were never
explored in the show so it’s hard to say Ahsoka was suffering from anything with
the same amount of certain we talk about Anakin.

Do I think
either have any canonical validity? Yes, neither Anakin or Ahsoka’s diagnoses
are canon but if they were made canon it would make complete sense. tbh, one of
my biggest issues with SW is how little they address these issues. Look at the
Padawan Lost arc. A 15 years old girl is missing in the middle of a war. Anakin
is portrayed as unhinged for freaking out because a 15 years old girl is
missing in the middle of a war! and the Council is oh so wise for basically saying
“if she is worth it she will figure it out”. That’s messed up and it drives me
crazy when they try to pass this sort of thing as morally correct and
emotionally healthy.

Look, this
is just my very personal opinion, but there’s wrong about creating a franchise
about wars and refusing to acknowledge the psychological consequences of them. So,
I believe in these sort of diagnosis because I cannot support the alternative. I
cannot support the idea that Anakin, Ahsoka, Obi-wan and everyone who has been through
some stuff is just fine because… reasons. It’s bad writing, you can’t put your
characters through hell and have them be just fine because you don’t want to
deal with consequences. It makes the characters unrelatable and it can send a dangerously wrong message.