what are these "new powers" Anakin talks about?

**JediTricks** · 05-26-2005

Here's another one, when Padme goes to Mustafar to confront Anakin, he makes a claim about his new powers saving her, however, there's nothing in the film that seems to suggest to me that he actually HAS new powers, only that his new master promised to help him look into them. The movie makes it sound like Anakin already has these powers, not that he'll be working on getting them, and except for tapping into hate, I don't see how Anakin has anything new at all except a bad attitude and yellow eyes for no obvious reason.

My personal theory on this is that at some point in the writing process Lucas had Palpatine giving some of the knowledge to Anakin before sending him to Moosetoofar, and that not only is this the knowledge he refers to in the film, but considering not 1 but 2 different toys - the Mustafar playset and the Micro Vehicles Tantive IV/Mustafar Playset - seem to have Anakin's fate being a hand sticking out of lava rather than being burned to a crisp because... um... why exactly did Ani burst into flames? I still don't get that. Anyway, it had Anakin's hand sticking out of the lava, and for probably 30 years Lucas has been talking about Anakin going into the lava on the lava planet (see pre-ANH storyline and ROTJ pre-production stuff), so my theory is that in ROTS at some point during production Anakin is able to survive a bath in the lava because he used that partial life-saving knowledge which Palpatine had given him, but it was only partial knowledge so he was badly burned up in the process.

Anyway, so what powers is Anakin talking about to Padme, and could they be a key to a scene where Anakin went into the lava instead of quickly going from heat on his pants to engulfed in flame? For that matter, could this have been the knowledge that kept him from dying when he was burned up in the scene in the film, and if so, when did he get this knowledge?

**2-1B** · 05-26-2005

There are no new powers. It was a con.

Yoda says that Death is a natural part of life but Palpatine talks about the Dark Side as being a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. This tempts Anakin and he bites on it, swearing to follow Palpatine just so he can gain the power to save Padme.

Of course, Palpatine is the one who wins out here because he doesn't have to make good on this promise ! It's not like Anakin loses Padme and then gets ticked at Palps for not delivering the goods, instead he has to live with the idea that it was his own actions that killed Padme and in that sense she never had a chance to be saved by his "powers" . . . since it was he who killed her.

**JediTricks** · 05-26-2005

Ok, if it's a con, why is Anakin saying that with his new powers he can save her?

**2-1B** · 05-26-2005

Uhh, because he believed in the con . . . otherwise he wouldn't have fallen for it, would he ?

**Surge38** · 05-26-2005

Originally Posted by JediTricks

... um... why exactly did Ani burst into flames? I still don't get that.

Well, because he was lying on sand about a foot away from a river of Molten lava. Although, frankly, both he and obi-wan were close enough to the lava to burst into flames durning about 75% of the fight, but why nit-pick (I mean there shouldn't be sound in space either

)

**JimJamBonds** · 05-26-2005

I think Anakin is just getting a bit ahead of himself with his jibber jabber of new powers. Palps says to get crazy at the Jedi temple and then "take care of" Nute an the boys on Mustafar THEN he will be strong enough in the Dark Side that they can start with these new powers. He's just putting the cart infront of the horse.

Jim Jam

**Surge38** · 05-26-2005

Originally Posted by JimJamBonds

I think Anakin is just getting a bit ahead of himself with his jibber jabber of new powers. Palps says to get crazy at the Jedi temple and then "take care of" Nute an the boys on Mustafar THEN he will be strong enough in the Dark Side that they can start with these new powers. He's just putting the cart infront of the horse.

Jim Jam

Exactly. Keep in mind too that Anakin was already talking about Him and Padme overthrowing the Emperor...not even thinking about the fact that he hadn't learned how to save her yet! At this point Anakin is saying whatever he can to convince Padme to stay.

**DarthAngel** · 05-26-2005

Originally Posted by Surge38

Exactly. Keep in mind too that Anakin was already talking about Him and Padme overthrowing the Emperor...not even thinking about the fact that he hadn't learned how to save her yet! At this point Anakin is saying whatever he can to convince Padme to stay.

I agree with Surge. Anakin is getting so ahead of himself, because all he wants to do is save Padme, and when Padme confronts him about the things that Obi-Wan said, Anakin goes to great lengths to keep her on his side. Somewhere deep down inside of himself Anakin knows that he has played into Palpatine's con, but all he cares about is Padme, so he has no choice but to play off of Palpatine.

Furthermore, Anakin tells Padme that he can overthrow Palpatine because Palpatine has told Anakin on several occassions, that Anakin was going to be the most powerful Jedi, even more powerful that everyone's little green friend.

**vulcantouch** · 05-26-2005

that's good enuf 4 me

**JediTricks** · 05-27-2005

Originally Posted by Caesar

Uhh, because he believed in the con . . . otherwise he wouldn't have fallen for it, would he ?

I thought you meant Anakin was conning Padme, but now I think you're saying Palps was conning Anakin, yes?

Still, if Ani believed he had powers, where did he believe he got them from and what did he believe they were? It couldn't have been all con I suppose because he does get yellow eyes, but that's not explained nor does it really lead down a logical road to explain other powers, at least not how the film portrays it.

Originally Posted by Surge38

Well, because he was lying on sand about a foot away from a river of Molten lava. Although, frankly, both he and obi-wan were close enough to the lava to burst into flames durning about 75% of the fight, but why nit-pick (I mean there shouldn't be sound in space either

)

That's a cop-out though, Obi-Wan stood on that sand for just as long in the same area, and didn't even fidget with a hot-foot. As for the nit-pick and the sound-in-space thing, maybe it is, but the sound-in-space thing has been consistant in Star Wars (except possibly for the sonic charges that Jango has on Slave I in AOTC, but that itself is described as a sound black hole by its designer so it still could be construed as staying consistant to the rule) while Anakin bursting into flame isn't consistant with what we've seen before (nor is it consistant with how it'd work unless Anakin had been doused in lighter fluid in some cut-scene

).

Exactly. Keep in mind too that Anakin was already talking about Him and Padme overthrowing the Emperor...not even thinking about the fact that he hadn't learned how to save her yet! At this point Anakin is saying whatever he can to convince Padme to stay.

Slow up there, when Anakin is talking about overthrowing Palpatine, he is talking about future tense, something he'll do in the future, but when he's talking about his new powers, he's talking about them in the present tense, something he's already got.

I'm not trying to be rude, but does anybody have an actual answer to the question, rather than excuses that require the viewer doing Lucas's writing work for him?