Lit FOTJ Apocalypse: So who really is the Chosen One?

So if you've read Apocalypse, you know that Anakin never really brought balance to the force, despite his Chose One label. He refused to take the Father's place, and since then the Force has been trending toward darkness. Since there really isn't an answer (unless it's in the comics, none of which I have read), I guess we can only speculate. The easy answer seems to be Allana, since she is the supposed Jedi Queen who is to sit on the throne of balance. There's also Ben Skywalker. I don't think it could be Like because he is an old fart now and I don't know how believable it would be to elevate his power any higher than it already is. But then Krayt is supposed to come to power...and I know enough about the comics to know that it was Cade Skywalker that killed him, so where did Ben and Alanna go?

I guess what I'm trying to say is: wtf star wars? Was the idea of the Chosen One abandoned after Apocalypse? I guess I can understand not having a Chosen One though, since if there was one, there would be nothing to write more books about. What do you guys think? Oh and hi.

 

I like to think that Chance Calrissian is going to end up force sensitive and become the new hero to restore whatzit to the galaxy after Ben and Allana screw everything up.

The whole Abeloth-Mortis connection was pretty hilarious in how the authors busted the thematic focal point of the franchise (as much as it annoys me) just by inserting a half-hearted multimedia tie in. That's not dropping the ball so much as chucking it down a mine shaft.

 

Anakin is the Chosen One per Lucas; anything in the EU that says otherwise is full of crap. I love the petty war between the film&TV camp and the rest of the EU, each diminishing and retconning the other's works.

 

This is more based on the Mortis Trilogy over FOTJ (the balance of the Force prophecy explanation). GL was involved in that.

Not saying Anakin isn't the chosen one, but I understand the confusion. Mortis tells us that Father was killed and Anakin needed to take up that mantle to balance the Forse...which he doesn't. I'd even say he left it unbalanced by killing the Emperor and leaving Luke alive, tipping everything to the Light Side (Daughter).

 

The Father told Anakin he had to take his place in order to keep balance between his Daughter and his Son, because the Son was growing too powerful. As it happened, the Father, Son, and Daughter all died, so there was no one left on Mortis to create imbalance. Hence Anakin was no longer needed there (if he even ever was). Nothing in the Mortis Trilogy itself questioned Anakin's status as the Chosen One.

And the old canard that destroying the Sith while leaving the Jedi alive somehow leaves the Force out of balance in favor of the light was discredited a long time ago.

 

He was the chosen One and he did restore balance to the force

 

Exactly.

 

That said, there's plenty of room for people "in-universe" to be skeptical- as in The Essential Guide to the Force, well before FoTJ: Apocalypse.

 

I'm fine with skepticism, but both the essential guide and Apocalypse treats it as the prevailing idea.

 

Possibly because, if the Force really had been "balanced" per Lucas's "getting rid of evil in the universe" phrase, the sheer amount of disaster, Sith wreaking havoc, etc, post-RoTJ, doesn't make sense.

 

Lucasverse - Anakin fulfilled the prophecy by tossing Palps into the reactor
EU - Anakin failed to fulfill the prophecy because he didn't take Father's place

 

The way I see it, the Force was unbalanced once, so there's absolutely no reason it can't happen again, which could account for the Sith still causing chaos as far after ROTJ as Krayt's era.

 

It's the "getting rid of evil in the universe" bit (plus other Sith being alive at the moment Anakin "destroyed the Sith") that's problematic.

 

Clearly that part ( getting rid of evil in the universe ) can't be taken entirely literally. The sapient capacity for evil is something that doesn't just go away after ROTJ, if the SW universe is anything like what it seems to be. So what does it mean? I think it can easily be taken as Lucas shorthand for the prevailing evil of the Sith and the Empire.

 

Exactly. Are we supposed to believe that every evil act in the universe would end just because balance was restored to the Force? I mean, if there was some random thug about to murder a couple for their credits would he just change his mind once balance was restored and decide to go home and bake cookies forever? I think that logically it really isn't possible for their to be no evil anywhere in the universe.

 

I always just interpreted it as the Sith being wiped out once and for all. Once the EU brought the Sith back in a major way, I had to revise that to Palpaine just being a huge singular evil unrivaled in the history of the universe. You kind of have to fall back on the Dark Empire version of his ultimate plan to justify that view, though.

 

Even the events of ROTJ was enough of a massive setback that it gave more time for elements of his defeat EG Leia getting preggers as exhibit A

 

Kyp Durron was the Chosen One because he was like the mostest powerful force sensitive ever! (Thanks KJA, not).

 

Getting rid of evil in the universe is what the Jedi, living in a time of triumph and multiple generations of peace, thought bringing balance to the Force would mean. Turns out, there perceptions were skewed. The Force actually was pretty balanced circa Phantom Menace (though the dark side was gaining strength). Anakin Skywalker brought balance to the Force in 4 ABY, a point in time at which the dark side was supremely ascendant and on the march to total, absolute victory.

Anakin's actions rebalanced things to the point that the dark side would not make a major play for control of the bulk of the galaxy for the better part of a century (I'm going with Darth Krayt and the One Sith as the next big push, I refuse to dignify Jacen Solo as have ever really in serious command of the galaxy rather having conducted a longform version of a failed coup). Following Anakin's sacrifice Palpatine's followers, including the resurrected Emperor himself, suffered tremendous setbacks and almost continuous reversals for decades, despite massive material advantages, many of these are such improbable coincidences: like the Eclipse II hitting the Galaxy Gun and causing Byss to blow up, the only guy who knows the location of the Valley of the Jedi turning out to be a righteous Jedi bad-ass, etc., they can only be attributed to the Force aligning with the side of good once again.

The EU does not, in any significant way, diminish Anakin's actions in killing Palpatine, it just makes the reverberations more detailed. The only real exception here is the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong. However, because they stand outside the Force it can be argued that is was their actions, not any Mortis philosophical BS, that cut short a lengthy era of peace and prosperity that should have come to pass, without violating the prophecy of the Chosen One.

 

This sums it up very well.

Anakin is the chosen one.

 

The whole Chosen One thing is pretty much pointless, Qui-Gon is outright guessing when he brings it up and the other Jedi don’t take it all that seriously anyway, especially just like any “good” prophecy it will be self fulfilling just by adjusting your interpretation of it.

 

The Chosen One prophecy is a very prominent example of some of Lucas' inherent shortcomings as a writer. Obviously, those kind of prophecies are very common among myths, legends and fantasies, which is what Star Wars takes influence from in many ways more than science fiction, and they can be done very well in modern storytelling. As it's done in the Star Wars movies, however, it never becomes anything more than a cliche. The concept of "bringing balance to the Force" is never defined, never explored, in the same way that Anakin's responsibilities are never explored. It's a shallow justification for Anakin's status as the special child without having to bother to show it. It ultimately adds nothing to the tapestry of the story, especially over the course of the movies we learn next to nothing about the prophecy itself, other than it exists.

Even with all of that said... Apocalypse's assertion that Anakin is not the Chosen One is stupid beyond comprehension.

 

really?

 

Yes, really. It was the point of no return. Had Palpatine won at Endor, that would have been it for the galaxy. Palpatine would have never been ousted and gone on to reign eternally.