Mirrored Mentors
Palpatine's mentorship of Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith closely mirrors Obi-Wan Kenobi's mentorship of Luke Skywalker in A New Hope.
Both Palpatine and Obi-Wan invite their mentees into a "larger" world that their current father figures do not want them to know about. The Jedi want Anakin to have nothing to do with the dark side, but Palpatine undermines their authority and tells Anakin he must take a "larger view" of the Force. Uncle Owen wants Luke to have nothing to do with the Force, the Jedi, or the fight against the Empire, but Obi-Wan undermines his authority by urging Luke to become a Jedi and join the Rebellion. When Luke begins to learn the ways of the Force, Obi-Wan commends him: "You've taken your first steps into a larger world."
Palpatine and Obi-Wan both capture their students' imagination by telling stories about a past that has been hidden by their previous teachers. Palpatine tells Anakin a "Sith legend," the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise ("It's not a story the Jedi would tell you"). Similarly, Obi-Wan tells Luke the true story about his father – that he was a great Jedi warrior, not a navigator on a spice freighter as Uncle Owen claimed – and then paints a legendary picture of the Jedi: "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic."
After telling them stories, Palpatine and Obi-Wan both offer to help their students embark on a quest to save the women they love. Anakin, haunted by visions of Padmé Amidala dying in childbirth, is enticed by Palpatine's claim that the dark side of the Force can be used to conquer death. Luke, who has received a vision of sorts (the hologram message) telling him that Princess Leia Organa is in peril, follows Obi-Wan in part so that he can rescue her.
The similarities between Obi-Wan and Palpatine lend unsettling credence to Palpatine's claim that "The Sith and the Jedi are similar in almost every way." When Anakin tries to defend the Jedi on the grounds that they "Use their power for good," Palpatine demurs, "Good is a point of view, Anakin." Obi-Wan is similarly evasive when Luke calls him on the way he concealed the truth about Anakin's downfall: "Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view." When the Jedi and the Sith are so similar, it is easy for one's point of view to become distorted, so that Anakin concludes, "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!"
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Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Luke Skywalker / Obi-Wan Kenobi / Palpatine
Films: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith / Episode IV: A New Hope
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Concepts: Jedi / Sith / teachers and students
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