Slave Chips + Anakin Angst time
(who tf had this convo? whoever it was, all your body parts are going on the wall. kneecaps = TAKEN for making me fuckin cry)
The conversation started w/ a Anakin has chronic pain because of a very Loud force presence + all the fun stuff that comes from a childhood in slavery and formative years spent as a general in a war, and then talking about high vs low pain perception
And then Yui hops in with this:
- what if Slave masters have technology in the slave chips where they can control their slaves pain perception–Low perception for when they work and high for when they get punished.
- The jedi didn’t know about it, Qui-gon forgot to mention the chip to the Council
- and Watto “ forgot ” to turn it the high pain perception off as a way of getting back at the Jedi for “stealing” his investment
Oh my God what if anakin thinks they know and choose not to turn it off
- WHAT IF HE THINKS THAT THEY’RE PUNISHING HIM FOR QUI-GON BEING QUI GON AND FOR THEM BEING FORCED TO TAKE HIM IN SO OLD
- AND THAT FEEDS HIS BITTERNESS OF THEM
- AND ALSO STOMPS HIS SELF ESTEEM
- Because the pain NEVER stops.
So Anakin never says anything
- It makes him think that he definitely cannot tell them about any injuries he has unless they make him unfit to work
And Obi-Wan constantly lectures him too and like he’s already being punished he doesn’t need to be verbally beaten down too
- (note that it’s from Anakin perspective, the unreliable narrator of the year–Obi-wan actually has no idea about the chip)
And when he lashes out because it just HURTS and he can’t contain it anymore, he’s berated AGAIN
- Also, if the pain perception is controlled, that means the slave chip is still there, which makes the thought process he has about being punished for being taken so old even worse
And then, what if Kix one day finds a chip in Anakin’s nervous system, he removes it, and Anakin begins crying with relief
- And Kix goes “Sir Why WAS THIS TORTURE DEVICE IN YOU?”
He gets injured enough for emergency surgery and Kix finds the chip that way, meanwhile, Anakin can’t have anesthesia for medical reasons, so he’s dealing with the surgery awake and feels the moment the chip is detached.
- WHAT IF ANAKIN IS FAKE NONCHALANT ABOUT IT BECAUSE ANGST
- “Ah? Oh they didn’t tell you? I thought it’d be in the brief. That’s my slave chip. It’s supposed to be there. It means they own me.” And kix…kix is aghast.
the Jedi are all crying in a corner at the fact they let a CHILD be tortured for YEARS
- Because Anakin admitted to a slave chip. Of being owned. And he calls obi-wan Master
Obi-Wan is absolutely devastated because he tortured the child who he was responsible for and he never wanted to do that and oh force, he’s a monster (it’s obi wan so like. infinite sadness to the max)
The clones basically become Anakin’s mother hens
- WHAT IF THIS IS HOW THEY FIND THE CLONE CHIPS TOO
- BC KIX GOES “IF THEIR JETII HAS A CHIP…ONE OF THEIR OWN… WHAT ABOUT US CLONES?”
Also the fact so if this is during the Clone Wars: they’ve sent Anakin in as a soldier without him even knowing he had a right to not fight
- The Council decides immediately to take Anakin off the front and get to seeing a mind healer, before collectively drinking an entire bar under the table
Oh God did anyone ever explain to anakin. In depth. That just because they are called “Master” does not mean they own him?
- AS A SLAVE, HE WAS ALLOWED HIS THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS. HIS MASTERS BEFORE DID NOT OWN HIS MIND. BUT THAT’S NOT THE CASE WITH THE JEDI, IN HIS PERSPECTIVE
- (again, Anakin’s perspective, the Jedi didn’t actually know. This somehow becomes an eventual fix it lol.)
- Like LOGICALLY Anakin knows that Master to them means teacher but he thinks it doesn’t apply to him because they won him and he is still a slave
What if that’s the reason he kept his marriage to Padme a secret, not because he was afraid of being kicked out of the Order, but because he would be punished for loving a free person?
- YEAH BC SLAVES DON’T GET MARRIED AND PADME WAS NOT ONLY A FREEBORN, BUT SHE IS ALSO, IN HIS EYES, SO FAR ABOVE HIS STATION ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY
Oh, with the removal of the chip and the pain, Anakin gets high from the huge levels of pain-relieving chemicals his body has been producing for years to compensate.
Anakin living in constant fear of punishments, and that’s why he always seems so high strung and on a hair trigger
Like!! This whole thing is a web of miscommunication and assumptions
- Anakin assumes that the Jedi and whatever know about the chip and chose to keep it in.
- He assumes he is still a slave if not in name, then in status
- He assumes the council is constantly punishing him for Qui-Gon essentially forcing them to take him in and for his failure to adhere to their code.
- He assumes Obi-Wan feels the same, or perhaps he cannot risk going against the council bc they’re his elders and he still loves Obi-Wan, bc he sees that Obi-Wan does care for him
- (but not enough to free you, a voice whispers in his head that grows louder every day)
Him talking about things with Palpy, thinking the man would be nice enough to free him…
the entire temple is just full of people drinking and crying over Anakin and Anakin himself is currently the most functional person around, trying to convince everyone it wasn’t that bad
- He doesn’t realize that that makes it so much worse. He’s all “Really, compared to my other masters. And to masters I could have gone to… you all were kind. I was lucky.”
- And they despair.
- Because how could they still be given that earnest smile, of beautiful blue eyes, shining still with trust and love, when they tormented him, albeit unknowingly, for over a decade?
- Anakin is just very relieved to be pain free, and that they didn’t know so it wasn’t on purpose.
Anakin: You all treated me so well! I had food and water every day, shelter and good quality clothing. You never beat me and my punishments, while sometimes painful, were done with no tricks without cruelty.
- “You’re the best masters I’ve had.”
- Mace, upon being told this by a very earnest and 100% honest Anakin, knowing full well how he made life difficult for Anakin and didn’t like him much, cleared a whole bar of alcohol on his own
While the Jedi are crying, the 501st is willing to go on a murder spree. The Hutts are DEAD.
- Everyone say bye bye Gardulla and Jabba
Anakin is just happy and relieved.
- Yes there will be talking. He will have to establish boundaries, the order will need to regain its footing.
- But Anakin is free, and he has so much love to give.
- And now he knows that they never meant for him to suffer.
- And maybe he’s still high on being free of pain, but now he knows they genuinely cared for him and none of their kindness was because they wanted him to perform well. They were genuine.
Obi-Wan at one point just breaking down and holding Anakin to his chest and sobbing because how did he fail him so badly
- meanwhile Anakin’s just like “Master, it’s fine, I’m fine. Hey crying wastes water, if you’re going to cry over something it’s gotta be something more major than this. I mean everything’s fine, everything’s better than fine now, I’m free.”
- Anakin not quite processing why everything he says makes Obi-Wan cry harder.
Quinlan must be very glad that he never tried to touch Anakin directly.
Anakin’s self-flagellation issues are through the ROOF
kiwi-smug-silvalina