Balance to the Force

Hello,

I'd like some help understanding Anakin's role as "the chosen one" with regard to bringing balance to the force.

First, Qui-Gon and others talk about Anakin being the chosen one who would bring balance to the force. My question is, how was the force out of balance? There are two Siths (Sidious/Maul), and a whole bunch of Jedi. Why are the Jedi feeling things are out of balance?

Second, if anything, Anakin's turning to the dark side DOES seem to bring balance. In Eps IV, V, VI, there are 2 Siths (Vader/Palpatine), and 2 Jedi (Yoda/Kenobi and then Yoda/Skywalker). In terms of body count, it seems to be balanced.

Finally, was ANakin really the chosen one, or were all the Jedi wrong?

Thanks. I've wondered about this ever since TPM and would like to get it straightened out before ROTS comes out.

--DarthFrozen

 

That's an odd way of explaining it... I think you've got it very wrong! It's not about numbers - there have always been more Jedi than Sith - at their peak, I think the Sith were numbered around thirty. And there were Jedi around long before any Sith, so using your explanation, how could there have been any balance to the Force before?

Nobody knows for sure what is meant by bringing balance to the Force - but we do know that Anakin brings balance by destroying the Emperor. We do know that the Jedi Order has hit their peak - but many Jedi have fallen to the Dark Side, or left the Order. We know that the Order itself is stagnant, ineffectual and in dire need of some change. Lucas deliberately got those shots of the Council sitting on their chairs with their hands clasped, to show how out of touch they are.

Again, nobody knows yet what is meant by balance to the Force. We might find out in Revenge Of The Sith, but then again we might not. Only Lucas knows for sure.

As for the prophecy, it's obviously one all Jedi know of, because there are no questions when Qui-Gon mentions it to the Council - Eeth Koth and another member of the Council look at each other as if thinking the same thing. Qui-Gon finds this remarkable boy on a backwater planet, and he has a midichlorian count higher than Yoda. Shmi informs him that there was no father - she can't explain what happened. Qui-Gon thinks of the prophecy, and draws his conclusions.

He is proven right when Anakin destroys the Emperor - but if you want to hear Yoda admitting the Council was wrong and Qui-Gon was right, watch the end of Phantom Menace...

"Qui-Gon believed in him."
*Yoda sighs*
"The Chosen One the boy may be. Nevertheless! Grave danger I fear, in his training!"

 

great explanation there Azhrei

 

Anakin bringing balance by destroying palpatine is the most plausible explanation I've heard.

The problem for me, I guess, is the use of the term "balance". To be balanced implies that somehow there are opposing but equal shares of some kind. Some entity exerts force/will in some direction, and it is opposed by exertion of force or will in an opposite direction, resulting in zero net change.

Thus, saying that the force is "in balance" when Sith are gone and light side jedi's roam around unimpeded seems to be an odd, nonstandard use of the term "balance". Hence my original post.

Maybe Palpantine is a super-sith that does throw things out of balance. Once he is destroyed, aggregate Sith powers once again roughly equal aggregate jedi powers, and so things are back in balance. That seems a bit of stretch, but maybe that's the way it is.

Personally, I think use of the term "balance" is a misnomer, of the same kind that had Amidala a "Queen" in TPM (A "Queen" general reaches her station through birth, marriage, or conquest and holds it until death; not through an election.) rather than the more fitting title of "President", "Prime Minister", "Secretary General", etc.

Thanks for the responses.

 

Maybe all of Yoda's refrences to the "shroud of the dark side" and how the dark side "clouds everything" is the unbalance in the Force. The Sith are causing the Force to be distorted and therefore not balanced. I don't think it has anything to do with numbers of Jedi and Sith. Who knows I've always struggled with this too.

 

Lucas has stated that Anakin brings balance to the Force by killing Palpatine and ending the Sith.

The balance referred to is not balance of equal numbers, but rather a more abstract sense of equilibrium.

The Jedi Code restrains Jedi's manipulation of the Force, and thus even large numebrs of Jedi do not significantly disturb the natural equilibrium state of the Force.

However, the Sith have place no restrictions on their manipulations of the Force, and thus a small number of Sith (or even just one, like Palpatine) can create a significant imbalance and disturbance in the Force. This is the imbalance that Anakin remedies when he kills Palpatine, thus restoring the balance.

 

Darth Nigel, that was very simple and very explanatory.

Frozen, the Sith unbalance the Force by their mere existence. It doesn't have to do with numbers.

The sith are like cancer. They take away and don't give back.

The Force is in balance when there's just Jedi because they let the Force flow freely and live in harmony with it.

The Sith abuse the Force and use it for power.

I use this analogy but it works:

The Force is like a river that flows freely. The Jedi may swim or float along on the river. They use it that way.

The Sith are like a dam. They hold in all this energy for their own power and use. Downstream, the river is now a mere trickle. The Force is diminished.

That's why the Jedi's ability to use the Force is diminishing: because the Sith are growing stronger and more powerful.

As the Force is reduced to a small stream, the Jedi can't see and hear the will of the Force like when it was a big, flowing river.

It is now unbalanced.

The Jedi follow the natural way. The Sith follow the "unatural". Their power grows as they alter the "flow" of the Force for their own ends.

 

It is to do with Luke's birth. Anakin 'brings balance to the force'.