‘Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,
great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds—‘

              It’s obvious from Anakin’s immaculate birth that he’s meant to be perceived as somewhat messianic, guided by prophecy the same so many have been before him. However I find myself more interested in the fallible divinity of older pantheons, such as the Greek gods, && their half-divine children who shaped classical mythos.

              One such example is Achilles, the titled hero of the Trojan War even though he never saw its end, destined to usher Greek victory with his death. This has clear parallels with the concept of the Chosen One bringing balance to the Force. Often referred to with certain epithets such as godlike, shining, or bright, “&& all around the bronze on him flashed like the gleam of blazing fire or of the Sun as he ariseth” (22, 558), references no doubt to the strange inner luminosity of gods that he himself possesses. This is a quality I often associate with Anakin before his fall. This blazing sun of a boy who glows so brightly he can be no one but the hero the galaxy needs.

              But what they have most is common is their obliterating rage. Which is markedly inhuman in its effect. Like Achilles, Anakin’s anger can break men && battlefronts, && was often the source both of his triumphs && woes.

              Padmé’s death, like Patroclus’, drove Anakin to despair. He allowed his grief to twist him into something cruel && immensely powerful. Towards the end of the Iliad Achilles has begun to shed his mortal empathies, his mind bent on the same mass destruction the Greeks associated with the divine. He kills without mercy, without restraint, driven by vengeance && fear. “But unto him with grim gaze spake Achilles fleet of foot: “Entreat me not, dog, by knees or parents. Would that my heart’s desire could so bid me myself to carve and eat raw thy flesh” (22, 574). The more divine he becomes the less and less mercy he has to offer, until finally Achilles is faced with the choice to honor Hector’s burial rights or refuse them, && he decides to drag the man’s corpse through the streets by chariot. “Fool, prate not to me about covenants. There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out and through” (22, 232).

              The more powerful Anakin became the less control he had over himself && his emotions. Towards the end of ROTS he seems to exist almost completely in a dissociated state, blind to every instinct but survival. Like Achilles, Anakin’s despair is the source of his cruelty, && any threat to what he perceives as his own is met with comfortless rage. It’s the conduit for both his success && his undoing.