The Jedi rule against attachments may be one of the most well-known concepts inStar Wars, butMaster Yodawas actually fine with romantic relationships for Jedi—just not the way Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala were doing it. Padmé and Anakin’s secret marriage became one of the biggest issues in the prequels, not only because of its impact onAnakin’sStar Warstimeline, but also because it effectively doomed the galaxy. Yet, as forbidden as that relationship was, theHigh Republicseries revealed thatJedi Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann had a romantic relationship, and Yoda shockingly approved.
Yoda’s approval of Avar and Elzar’s relationship, when most viewers believe he would have had big problems withAnakin and Padmé’s, isn’t a continuity issue;it’s a reflection on what the rule against attachments really means, at its core.ScreenRant’s Tom Bacon asked writer Charles Soule why he’d be okay with this, when it felt as though he’d come down like a ton of bricks on Anakin. As Soule explained:
“I think one thing that’s worth remembering, and this is conveyed in the way that Yoda talks to Avar and Elzar about their romance, and the way that it’s portrayed within the stories, is that it’s love, without question, it’s romantic, it’s physical, it’s, it’s definitely love, but there are also two sides to that coin. And with Anakin and Padmé, it was deeply attached. Love and attachment create fear, because it creates fear of loss, and this fear of loss is all the things that you understand, suffering and so forth, just like Yoda says in Episode One. That is what the Jedi really, really, really are worried about. Because if you have people who have been trained to be as powerful and potentially dangerous and destructive as the Jedi are, as masters of the Force,the idea that they could become corrupted and start using that power for selfish reasons is something the Jedi are afraid of.
Love is something that needs to be handled very delicately within that construct, because it is one of the things that we as human beings, or in the Star Wars galaxy, just as thinking beings, living beings, it’s definitely something that can lead to attachment, can lead to fear, and fear of loss in particular. So with Avar and Elzar…I don’t want to get into it too much, because there’s elements of this that are that are obviously explored in Trials of the Jedi, as they should be.”
Soule also spoke about how the era in which these two distinct relationships took place had a bearing on the Jedi Order’s viewpoint:
“But we were very, very conscious of making the Avar and Elzar love story distinct from other love stories that we have seen within Star Wars. It doesn’t feel like Han and Leia. Doesn’t feel like Anakin and Padmé. It feels like two grown-ups who areapproaching this feeling that they have for each other with the gravity that it deserves and understanding what it means with respect to their own vows for the Jedi Orderand the choices they may or may not be able to make going forward. Which, you know, you just do it really carefully. You really think about it. You think about the things that have been said about love and Star Wars in the past, and then you try to be very thoughtful. And I have not heard any pushback, basically, on the idea that these two Jedi could find each other and be this way and could be accepted in this way. And I think part of that, too, is the High Republic is, just generally speaking, a less anxious time for the Jedi, even with all of the things that are going on within the Nameless crisis and the Nihil, the Jedi maybe have a little more room to be open to new ideas, new concepts, things like that.
Whereas in the prequel era, even if they don’t necessarily know it, they’re directly under the influence of the Sith. And so, they are being more cautious. They are more anxious, whether they consciously know the reason or not. So, I think looking at it through the lens of the time that it’s happening is important too.”
This brilliant explanation sheds so much more light upon what the Jedi were truly concerned about, and it beautifully captures what really went wrong with Anakin and Padmé.
There’s A Selfishness Behind Anakin & Padmé - & It’s What The Jedi Really Feared
The Issue Wasn’t Anakin And Padmé’s Romantic Love
What strikes me the most about Charles Soule’s comments separating love and attachment is the sense in whichStar Warshas always put forth this idea; the message has at times just gotten lost along the way. In part, the issue is the use of the word attachment in the prequels, which is treated as a synonym for love, when that couldn’t be further from the case. As Soule identified,the problem with Anakin and Padmé was not that they loved each other but rather that the nature of their love was selfish.
Unlike Avar and Elzar, who put their commitment to the Jedi Order first, Padmé and Anakin directly defied the Jedi code, and they knew they were doing so—that’s why they went to such great lengths to hide it. That alone is a selfish act, as it meant that the Jedi Order was being kept in the dark about an issue that very much affected the Order and beyond. In fact, had Yoda known Anakin’s nightmares weren’t just about someone he cared about but were about his pregnant wife, that likely would have affected how he responded.
What’s more,Soule’s comments reinforce that the Jedi’s true concern was a Jedi potentially using the power they’d obtained in precisely the way Anakin eventually did. Love lends itself too easily to a fear of losing someone and a desperation to hold onto them (as is the case with Anakin), and that, combined with the immense power of many Jedi, makes them a particularly significant threat. Anakin is therefore the perfect example of this danger because, not only was he one ofStar Wars’most powerful Jediasthe Chosen One, but he was also obsessed with holding onto Padmé.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say it wasn’t even attachment that Anakin struggled with, it was possession. He expressed that at multiple points inStar Wars, though perhaps most obviously inStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, when he said,“You will not take her from me"to Obi-Wan. That wording alone reveals that Anakin saw Padmé as something that could be given or taken—essentially, a possession. This is a far cry from the mutual respect, maturity, and loyalty to the Jedi Order that Soule described in Avar and Elzar’s relationship.
Perhaps the greatest irony is thatit was Anakin who explained this rule the best inStar Warsmovies. InStar Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Anakin tells Padmé that possession and attachment are forbidden, but that, in a sense, the Jedi are encouraged to love. This could be read as Anakin bending the rules of the Jedi to work for him, which wouldn’t be out of character, but it’s actually a beautiful, accurate interpretation of the Jedi code. Love isn’t the problem; it’s the selfishness that comes about when love morphs into attachment, possession, and obsession.
It IS Possible To Be A Jedi In Love
Avar And Elzar Are Not Even The First Couple To Prove This
In addition to revealing why Padmé and Anakin’s relationship was so flawed,this explanation also confirms that Jedi absolutely can be in love inStar Wars. It just depends on how Jedi navigate that relationship. This shouldn’t be too surprising, as Elzar and Avar aren’t the onlyStar Warsrelationship involving a Jedi (that doesn’t end the way Anakin’s marriage does). As just one example, Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla have a romantic relationship throughoutStar Wars Rebels, and it doesn’t draw Kanan to the dark side whatsoever.
In fact, Kanan is arguably among the best representations of Jedi we get inStar Warsshows, and it’s clear he was truly in love with Hera. The difference is that Kanan wasn’t possessive of Hera. Rather than an obsessive attachment, such as the one Anakin exhibited with Padmé, Kanan was ready to let go of Hera. That was clear enough in their dynamic, which saw both of them going off, sometimes separately, and confronting danger head-on. Kanan is therefore some of the best proof that Jedi can be in love without it causing a problem.
Of course, this only makes someStar Warschoices all the more frustrating. One of the most prominent examples is the fact thatStar WarswroteLuke Skywalker’s wife Mara Jadeout of canon, instead doubling down on the prequel trilogy’s idea that romantic relationships are forbidden. It seems this idea will be perpetuated inStar Wars’upcoming movies, unfortunately, based on some of Rey actress Daisy Ridley’s comments about Rey’s upcomingStar Warsmovie,Star Wars: New Jedi Order.
Ultimately, Charles Soule’s comments have importance inStar Warsfar beyond just Elzar and Avar, and even beyond Anakin and Padmé. This really comes down to an understanding of one of the Jedi’s most important rules, and it’s one that seems to have been misinterpreted for quite some time. Yet, this also reveals thatMaster Yoda’sconcerns about Anakin’s attachments don’t reflect an outright rejection of romantic relationships for Jedi in general; rather, Yoda, and the Jedi more broadly, feared the selfishness that love can bring.
