#this reminds me of some of my thoughts on the perception of love in relation to the jedi. how it's often dismissed or devalued- #bc of attachment being misunderstood as love over and over again. how "love" looks like romance alone - like anakin & padmé's #despite how horribly it actually plays out. despite how peace-driven and selfless/egoless the jedi consistently are. ->
all this back-and-forth about love got me thinking that between the three of them, obi-wan canonically loves the most - his love is in his choices and conduct, it's not just an emotion, permissiveness, or impulse.[…] obi-wan is also the pillar who trains anakin, earns padmé's trust the most by the rots novel, becomes steward and mentor to their kids, and continues to guide loved ones past death, which he accepts by the hand of an old best friend. by actions and through duty (ie. the jedi teachings), obi-wan's love extends beyond one person, beyond two people, and is broad enough that his own ego is eventually not even a factor. he is not easy about it; he pushes his loved ones to be better when they stumble, to learn, even if the conflict isn't nice. someone else said it better, and i think it can apply to some of the other jedi, like yoda: he's kind, not nice. at least not all the time. he's willing to go through the ringer for the republic, and later the hope that a community like it will return.[…] his strength is tied to being a jedi - a choice, one he makes consistently[…]it just strikes as devastatingly ironic[…] how wrong that whole impression of the jedi is, when in application, obi-wan's love really is bigger, actually does more good, and in comparison, when padmé & anakin scoff at the jedi and the concept of duty, it feels so insular, smaller, more so when the language[…] continually touches on the direction they take risking death or devastation. and it's genuinely sad. anakin loves obi-wan and padmé grows closer to him[…] but neither of them in all their lives understood this important facet of him, and the jedi.[…] anakin's love is the type often described as this all-encompassing, limitless thing, but i think that description isn't wholly accurate. is love a feeling, or favor? is it romance, the compulsion that it's something someone needs, else they die? or can it be something more mindful, enacted even when unspoken? […]the negativity towards obi-wan and the jedi can so easily be bought outside the broader context and story, if someone turns a blind eye to everything he and the order actually does through the years they/he operate. it's love beyond permissiveness or individualism or compulsory romance. it's communal, non-nuclear, not mainstream. and people he loved never understood.
