Picture courtesy of 20th Century Fox

My journey in the Star Wars realm has come to a bittersweet end.

The happiest day of my life is, now, also the saddest. I've come to the end of the Star Wars saga. Back in the unknown, scary, dark days of pre-millenia – where we all thought we wouldn't survive the millenium bug – where a computer bug was supposed to herald the end of days – a spectacular apocalyptic end to 2,000 years of human progress, wiped out in a single day from an electronic flu.

Back in those prehistoric days, I thought I wouldn't get to see the end of the Star Wars saga. I cried for days. Not watching the end of Lucas' tale of the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker's was the end of my days.

Jan 1, 2000, I had hope again. The world hasn't ended and the prospect of Lucas completing his space soap loomed.

And today, five years after, I've seen the last of the saga – Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith. A dark tale of innocence lost and evil strengthened. A tear-jerker of space epic proportions.

[Potential spoilers]
I finally understand what pushed Anakin Skywalker – the cute boy who wouldn't leave his mother in slavery; got so enraged when his mother was killed by the Sand People that he wiped out an entire village of the vile beings; the die-hard romantic, whose visions of his secret wife dying on the delivery table, so incensed him, he was torn emotionally between his duty as a Jedi Knight and loving husband and father – to the Dark Side. Here was a innocent man, born in slavery, torn from his mother when he was not more than a toddler, pushed into gruelling Jedi training, and then treated with suspicion and put down by idiots on the Jedi Council.

Faced with the prospect of losing the love of his life, and given no solution by the Jedi, but presented with a way out in the Dark side, Anakin had to search the inner depths of his tortured soul for the solution that will save his love and make sense of his destiny. As if that's not enough, he was witness to his esteemed Jedi Master, Mace Windu (whom I've a new-found hatred for) malicious intent to kill the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious.

Before you guys throw rotten tomatoes at me, let me explain…

Anakin's always been taught to bring perpetrators to the courts for a fair trial. Jedi Knights are not supposed to be ruled by emotions and had to be objective in their endeavours. He had to learn the Jedi way even though it contradicted with his emotions (even as he executed Count Dooku, he was plagued with uncertainty – "This is not the Jedi Way"). And, now, despite his appeals for Mace Windu to bring the Sith Lord to justice and to be tried, he was ignored – like the many times he's been ignored by the same Jedi Master. Infuriating, to say the least, I can see how Anakin would be disillusioned with the Jedi way and see the Dark side to be a safe haven for him to be. And for him – for his beloved Padme to be saved from certain death – he had to turn from good and embrace the dark side.

Sad.

What was more tragic than that, perhaps, was the story of betrayal. The betrayal of the Jedi Knights by someone whom they thought would be their Messiah. The chosen one to bring balance to the Force. The one who was to destroy the Sith. The one who'd bring peace in their torn galaxy.

The look on the faces of the Jedi Knights, as they fell to the guns of the Clone Troopers they've led against the separatists, spoke volumes. The loss and confusion on their faces when their armies turned on them like wild dogs brought tears to my eyes. Here were steadfast generals, single in their purpose to bring peace to the galaxy and close to victory, when the very republic they've served with loyalty turned on them and shot them all down – in their backs. Backstabbing of the worst kind.

Truly tragic.

And this is where you see the genius that is Lucas. The script may be wooden and cringeworthy but the story unravels delicately. Revealing the many plots and strategies that men, in their greed for power, will devise in order to be the strongest. Manipulation and brain-washing is not beyond them – even murder and genocide – is justified as long as one gains supreme power. Such is our human nature. Our bloodlust and our greed.

That, perhaps, is the saddest tale of all.