Scott109 said:
etcThe secret relationship and forever alone Jedi thing were unnecessary features of the PT, anyway. I don’t know why we need so much emphasis on these aspects to be restored. There is never external pressure from Obiwan or the council acting on Anakin, regarding these rules (I think). It’s unbelievable enough that, watching the Clone Wars TV show, I always find myself defaulting to the assumption that it’s an open secret. Obiwan is obviously not surprised in RoTS.
We still have the ‘unconditional love’ scene showing us that clearly the Jedi have a nuanced view on what would be considered appropriate behavior and relationships. Anakin sidesteps the mentioned rules with a half-assed response, and then they never seek Jedi approval for their relationship.
The dialogue you have left in that scene is still painfully bad. Of much lower quality than anything Hal has left in, IMO. And it doesn’t do anything to further explain these strange Jedi rules. It’s just a bunch of, “We couldn’t!” “We mustn’t!” sludge.
Anakin and Padmé’s relationship was not an open secret. If that was the case, Anakin would have been expelled from the Jedi Order.
Anakin and Padmé never sought the Jedi Council’s approval for the relationship because they knew in advance that the Jedi Council would have forbidden it.
Obi-Wan was not all that surprised in The Revenge of the Sith because their secret marriage seemed obvious in hindsight. Nevertheless, he was not aware of it at the time.
I disagree with your notion that the Jedi Code forbidding romance was a ‘strange rule.’ It was a perfectly rational rule. Romantic love is an emotional vulnerability which an enemy could easily exploit.
The primary reason Anakin turned to the dark side was his disagreement with the stoic Jedi Code which forbade love, passion, fear, sadness, hatred, and most other natural emotions. The threat of Padmé dying was merely the straw which broke the camel’s back.
Watch this video on the thematic significance of the Jedi Code: