i see some Prequel Discourse and i'm just gonna chime in and say
the clone wars tv series (3d specifically, though the 2d one is also just basically art worth watching) does a whole lot of the explaining the prequels should have done.
it sets up things like:
-Anakin being driven to the dark side by being repeatedly let down by those around him and deeply traumatized by loss
-the Republic had it comin', made very clear by meditations on clone troopers as *actual people*
yeah it also is a show for kid's so it gets wacky but that's kinda star wars innit, you take the meditations on morality with the hijinx
srsly, there's an arc where obi-wan fakes his death, DOESN'T TELL ANAKIN, sets it up where ANAKIN SEES AND BLAMES HIMSELF, and like at no point does anyone step in at seeing anakin's grief and rage to go "maybe we should... tell him, you guys? maybe? i mean he's on a roaring rampage of revenge but... naaaah we don't need to tell him, it'll be fiiiiine!"
with that arc in mind, suddenly it makes a lot more sense that prequel anakin is there making choices like
"i have this terrible problem i am so worried about, who can i ask for help? ....WELL CLEARLY NOT OBI-WAN, THE MAN I CARE FOR DEEPLY AND CONSIDER A BROTHER, NOR ANY OF THE JEDI WHATSOEVER, LOL"
they kinda got there with yoda offering Fuckall Of Substance in the movies but it does answer that big plot hole of "why wouldn't anakin just ask obi-wan for help"
also i think the prequels make a lot more sense when it becomes clear that the republic, as a whole, jumped the shark in morality way before palpatine declared himself emperor
it's why so many people just accepted the empire so cheerfully, why it was able to actually *happen* so easily.
and it also i think set up WHY everyone was pretty okay with the jedi disappearing. the population had put the jedi in the same category as clone troopers: disposable not-quite-real-people.
