Anakin's and Vader's Attributions

 

Welcome back everyone to my Blog! I hope everyone is doing alright and having a good time during this rough period of life. Today I am going to be talking about Attribution Theory and looking at Anakin and Vader through this lens. For those who do not know Attribution seeks to explain why people feel compelled to understand why things happen in their life. This occurs when someone attempts to determine the cause of an event, effect, or behavior. There are three factors for Attribution Theory: Locus of control, Controllability, and Stability. This is all focusing on Causes, so it is referred to as Causal Attribution Theory.

This is going to be tricky to do because in the Star Wars universe there is the concept of the Force. The basic gist of the Force is that is an energy field that binds the whole Universe together. There is the Living Force comprised of all the energies of every single lifeform in the galaxy and the Cosmic Force which is the binding power of everything throughout the galaxy that has a desire to create balance within the galaxy or universe. 

Yoda Learning the Truth about the Cosmic and Living Force

It is hard to study Anakin and Darth Vader because many characters in Star Wars attribute their actions, mostly their successes, to the will of the Force. That is why whenever you watch a Star Wars movie they say “may the force be with you” because they are hoping the Will of the Force is on your side. But nonetheless, I will try my best.

all of the "May the Force Be with you" in the Star Wars universe pre Episode 9

It is hard to judge Anakin’s Locus of Control because he was the Chosen One and was part of the will of the Force. His destiny was to set balance to the Force and therefore create peace throughout the Galaxy. His problem of course was deciphering what was his doing and what was the will of the Force. Most of the time he contributed his successes to his natural abilities and efforts. Whenever it was an event that was out of his control it was usually a failure or a betrayal. In one example Anakin was not let in on a plot by the Jedi Council to fake his old Master’s death, Obi-Wan Kenobi and he felt he was a pawn in their game and should have been let in on the plan. 

Anakin and Obi-Wan Arguing about the plan

Anakin was very much a confident person, but it is hard to judge what he attributed to himself and what he attributed to the Force since his power came from external power. What made him the Chosen One was his high Midi-Chlorian Count that acted as the strong connection to the Force he naturally had. Anakin usually had the emotional reaction to his successes as pride and gratitude. But his failures were of shame, anger, and fear. As we know from Yoda fear and anger are paths that lead to the dark side. Even though Anakin experienced success after success in the clone wars winning many battles these were expected of him, his failures on the other hand were not in battle but in his relationships with the people he trusted. His losses of Ahsoka, Padme, Obi-Wan, trust in the Jedi Order entirely led to him becoming fully enticed by the Dark Side and Darth Sidious. As we have seen before his attribution changed when he helped kill Mace Windu, from a moment of failure to a moment of success because Sidious told Anakin he is fulfilling his destiny.

Vader is a different story but sings a similar tune. As we have discussed Vader is still Anakin Skywalker but a corrupted, evil, and monstrous version of his former self. Vader mostly attributed his successes to his natural abilities alone. Him being one of the few force-users in the galaxy had an advantage most did not have. He believed he was more powerful than almost any other being in the galaxy.  He would attribute his failures to other individual's lack of knowledge, effort, or ability. Vader was not a very forgiving man, as we see in the clip down below.

Vader dealing out punishment for his admiral's failure

Vader through his training in the dark side, his emotions feeding his power became a power to be reckoned with in the galaxy. Even the other Imperial High Command feared him until the destruction of the Death Star. Vader believed he had more control of his destiny because he was only having to listen to one man in the whole galaxy as compared to an entire order and council. His stability fluctuated because he would put forth a lot of effort into what he was doing, but he would not succeed in everything he did, or not completely. Therefore, he attributed much to ability whether it be his success or his failure. Which his anger over his failures would drive him harder and make him stronger. One interesting moment and perspective to look at is when Vader kills Palpatine because his mind changed attributions again, when seeing his son being electrocuted to death, he realized that he failed long ago and must change and not let it happen again.

So, what we see is that Anakin and Vader mostly attributed their successes and failures to their ability to do so. This also ties with effort playing into how hard they tried or how well they did their task. Anakin on the other hand was also a fan of believing in luck, while Vader was not.  

Anakin's face Revealed behind Vader's Mask