Anakin = Schizophrenic?

(Posted via Google because my ISP is being funky.)

Just got back from seeing AOTC a second time and I gave some thought to a little theory I had floating around in my head. This is horribly, horribly pointless, and probably unintentional - I seriously doubt Lucas made a concious effort to give Anakin a mental disorder - but I suppose this is sort of interesting.

Anyway, I think Anakin is schizophrenic. I'm not saying this because he's obviously crazy and 'schizo' is a typical thing to tack on to any crazy person, but here's my proof.

1. Delusions of grandeur. okay, well, they're hardly delusions. He has been raised knowing he'll bring balance to the Force and all that. But it's gone to his head and probably has some impact on the diagnosis, whether being a result of or a contributing factor to his disorder.

2. Irrational beliefs. I.e. 'It's all Obi-Wan's fault. He's holding me back.' True or not, he's dwelling on it and it's a key element of his motivations.

3.Hallucinations. So his nightmares about his mother are premonitions, but who's to say they were not brought on by the disorder itself? Meaning his hallucinations merely happen to be prophetic in nature, because he is so attuned to the Force.

4. Violent mood swings. Most noticeable in his slaughtering of the Tuskins, and again in his duel with Dooku. his unchecked temper flares up in lesser extremes at other times as well, most frequently when he speaks with Obi-Wan. This relates back to the irrational beliefs stated in item 2.

5. Emotional trauma. Anakin has been through quite a few hardships, from before he left his mother on Tatooine to the time he returned only in time to watch her die, and even beyond that. Emotional trauma and stress is a major cause of Schizophrenia.

I'm sure there's more, but these are what I remember off the top of my head. And for Gods' sakes don't take me seriously, I'm only doing this because it amuses me. ^^;

My God man! Do you know what you're saying! You'll have the damn Mental Illness folks lambasting our George along with all the other lunatic (oops) fronts!!!

Still., if they take him to court he'll win... Why?

Split Jury!!!

Ha ha ha I win!!!!

To some degree, you are probably right. If a Jedi makes a mistake and uses the dark side of the force (or uses the force in anger, vengeance, hate, etc) he begins down a dark path. To come back requires a great deal of meditation and undoing what you have done. The closer you are to being lost to the dark side, the more it speaks to you. It lies to you. It will tell you that you are more powerful than your adversary and will taunt you constantly until you give into your hate. It can deceive you and skew your judgements of the situation and others around you. This is, of course, all taken from novels and RPG sources, but nevertheless Lucas has endorsed it for it to find itself on the shelves.