A Tiny Change To Revenge Of The Sith's Script Drove Home Anakin's Downfall Scene
"Star Wars" lore has a history that spans over four decades. It's had its ups ("Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," "Andor") and its downs ("The Book of Boba Fett," "The Star Wars Holiday Special") over the years, and the prequels released between 1999 and 2005 often end up in the latter category. They are a bit of a mess to some, though to others, they providedepth and context to the original trilogy.
No matter what side of the prequel debate you land on, one scene is hard to watch without being moved. It's the "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" scene where Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) battles Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) on Mustafar, losing limbs, burning to a crisp, leading to the final part of his transformation into Darth Vader.
There may be some pretty stilted acting in the prequels (I'm sorry, but it really is), but this scene always gets me, even when I'm rolling my eyes at other things. It's just heartbreaking when you know what's coming for Anakin and the redemption he finds at the end of "Return of the Jedi." This "Revenge of the Sith" scene, according to "The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" book by J.W. Rinzler had slightly different lines in the final product than what was written in the original script. That tiny change made a big difference to the scene's impact on audiences.
'You were our only hope'
In the book, Rinzler tells us that McGregor took the scene seriously from the outset, asking everyone there to "be still" because, "It's a very important moment." George Lucas gave him some direction, saying, "As you watch Anakin slide down, how about if you take one step forward. For a moment, you think about it. Your first impulse is to save him — but then you realize you can't."
That moment, when we see Obi-Wan make the decision to leave Anakin there is just heartbreaking. This is where Obi-Wan realizes there's nothing he can do for Anakin to help him, and it rips him apart knowing that he had to make the decision to walk away. The lines Obi-Wan says after Anakin yells, "I hate you!" were then changed to reflect that. Originally Obi-Wan says, "I love you. But I will not help you," and Lucas explained that what he's really saying here is, "You were our only hope-and you blew it. Now we don't have any hope."
Lucas' direction was to make it all softer and change the tense. The book explains:
"After Anakin implores Obi-Wan to save him, George asks Ewan to say 'I will not...' softer, almost to himself ... 'After he bursts into flames,' Lucas directs, 'it's as if you're talking to a dead person. To a piece of toast.' He suggests, to drive home this point, that McGregor change the words in the script to the past tense, 'I loved you.' The actor acquiesces, but points out that his subsequent line would have to change to, 'But I could not help you.' Lucas agrees, and [Jayne-Ann] Tenggren [script supervisor] alters the script accordingly."
'You were my brother, Anakin'
Though Christensen joked that it was, "Just another day playing in the dirt," it really wasn't. That moment totally redeemed the prequels for a lot of us. The past tense reading of the line about Obi-Wan's love for Anakin as his brother is what got me when I first saw the film. This man, this friend, and the longed-for chosen one is still alive, but this is the moment that Obi-Wan gives up on him. Of course, he doesn't think Anakin could possibly survive his injuries (and he wouldn't have if Ian McDiarmid's Emperor Palpatine didn't show up), but that isn't it. It's that Obi-Wan has given up.
One could look at this and wonder if anything could have been different if Obi-Wan had saved Anakin at the end instead of the Emperor. Probably not, but it's less about that than the fact that something profound has shifted in Obi-Wan. Perhaps I'm reading into this, but to me, the past tense reading of that line is the moment when a big part of his hope for the galaxy dies. Life is never going to be the same. He ages here. In a way, he becomes the hermit he is in "A New Hope," even before he goes to Tatooine to watch over Anakin's son. Whatever prequel complaints I had died in this moment when Obi-Wan's hope disappears. And it's still a gut punch all these years later.
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