Reasons to Become a Jedi

I have encountered a good number of Internet posts and essays that question Anakin's reason for wanting to be a Jedi. Has anyone ever questioned Luke's reason for wanting the same?

CREATURE*: Not far. Yoda not far. Patience. Soon you will be with him.
(tasting food from the pot) Rootleaf, I cook. Why wish you become
Jedi? Hm?

LUKE: Mostly because of my father, I guess.

I think at least at first Luke was wanting to live up to the great man he thought his father was. Once he learns the truth it's because Luke wants to help defeat the Empire and being a Jedi is the best way for him to do it.


*Yoda is called creature until his revelation in the script.

So, Luke's initial reason for wanting to become a Jedi is as questionable as Anakin's. Yet, he is not criticized for this. Talk about double standard!

Yoda did critize his reasons: "Adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things. You are wreckless!" Luke longed for adventure. When he learned who his father was (not Vader, I mean, when he learned his father was a Jedi), and his guardens were killed, he wanted to seize the opportunity to have a grand adventure, and carry on his father's legacy.

I've never heard Anakin's initial reason for wanting to be a Jedi criticized. Wanting to come back and free the slaves is incredibly admirable.

Edit: And as Stryphe said, Yoda bluntly tells Luke that being a Jedi isn't about adventure or excitement.

Agreed...from watching the movies, the way i've always seen it is that he wanted to become a Jedi because of his father.

I've also never seen Anakin's reasons for becoming a Jedi criticized before ... ppl question his actions as a jedi though, but that's not the same thing.

I think Ben's influence is the strongest factor.

With Luke, as the variety of responses and examples from the films show, the answer clearly cannot be reduced to a simple, succinct phrase or idea. The youthful call to adventure, the naturally human longing for excitement, the wish to live up to or exceed the achievements of one's father, the attraction to a worldwide movement that claims to serve justice and may improve the lot of all people, the destruction of one's home and foster parents, the guidance of a powerful and wise new mentor: All of these must be taken into consideration when examining the reasons for Luke's desire, or compulsion, to become a Jedi.

With Anakin, matters are a bit more simple -- which perhaps is the reason the Old Jedi Council chose their learners young. Anakin is a child; for him Jedi are awesome, powerful beings. He also has talents, special powers which no one else he knows (as far as we are given to understand) possesses, and which the Jedi promise to nurture and develop. There is also a strong streak of goodness in him -- selflessness, caring for others, e.g. he wants to free the slaves and is driven to help strangers. He is therefore attracted to those who dispense justice. The Jedi also promise a better life for him, albeit one without his mother.

Thus, the reasons both characters, father and son, have chosen their paths appear to be pretty thoroughly established in the body of the films themselves. I would invite the poster of this thread, RamRed, to supply more specific criticisms if this discussion is going to progress.

After discovering Owen and Beru's bodies, Luke made this final decision to Obi-Wan:

"I want to come with you to Alderaan. There's nothing here for me now. I want to learn the ways
of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

As for Anakin, I believe it was the combination of his dreams of being a Jedi Knight, his acquaintance of Qui-Gon and his mother's expressed desire that Qui-Gon find a way to free Anakin from slavery and away from Tatooine that led him to joining the Jedi Order.


Looking at the roads that led both Anakin and Luke to becoming a Jedi, I cannot honestly say that I believe their decisions were made for the right reasons.