The Chosen One: Who exactly is the subject of the prophecy?

i think its luke. he made a lot of decisions and also is resembled, like inkswamp said

 

Yeah, Anakin brings the balance to the Force, but Palpatine helped him out a bit

 

As was mentioned in this thread, the imbalance in the force was Palpatine. Darth Plagious made him out of nothing and he was so strong in the dark side that the force had to balance it out by willing the creation of Anakin who later destroyed him. Balance doesn't refer to there being a certain number or anything like that, just getting rid of Sidious, whose creation was a disturbance in the natural abilities of the force.

 

This is my take on it.

By balance, there means that there are two contesting sides that are equilibriam with each other.

The Jedi Order and the Sith have, for ages, counter-balanced each other. Thus, there was balance in the Force.

But as the Jedi Order began to lose touch with the Living Force, and began to, shall we say, create emotionless drones of warriors, they in their own way - while not really falling to the Dark Side - no longer countered the Sith, because they were not entirely Good.

Thus, the galaxy fell more and more to the Dark Side, and became out of balance. The death of Palpatine at this time would not have singularly brought balance to the Force, because the Jedi were corrupt in their own little way.

By killing off the Jedi, killing Palpatine, and then by DYING, Anakin fulfilled the prophecy and brought balance to the Force.

Because Luke was not a Jedi Knight in the old sense of the word. He was started down the path late in life and had a lot of emotion - he was still "alive", unlike the "dead" drones of the old Jedi Order. Despite (or because of) the fact that he did not get complete training, Luke was still in touch with the Force as a whole and was, conventionally, neutral in the eyes of the Force.

So thus, the Force was in balance at the time of Anakin Skywalker's death.

 

here's a little fat to chew on......"And in the time of greatest despair there shall come a savior and he shall be known as: THE SON OF THE SUN" Journal of the Whills 3:127.....now that's the prophecy, taken from The Annotated Screenplays, word for word.....and yes sun is supposed to be singular........now on to my point......it was said in episode I that Anakin had more midichlorians that even Yoda.....so it could be said that he burned bright with the force, from a certain point of view, like a sun......and who would be the son of that sun?......aren't prophecies mistaken when taken to literally?......Yoda "A prophecy . . . that misread could have been."


But that's just what I think.

 

I think the Savior is Luke. After all, in ROTJ, Luke says that he wants to _save_ Anakin, but Anakin says, "you already have". So, Vader himself admits that Luke was the one who was the savior.

I have great respect for Luke, who faced two Dark Lords alone, and made the best possible decision at the critical time, judging correctly that his father could be turned.

If Luke hadn't faced Vader, then Vader would still be kneeling before the Emperor. The catalyst was Luke, he was the real Savior.

 

If Anakin is the Chosen One, then wouldn't "A New Hope" be refering to the beginning of the process of re-awakening Anakin, rather than to Luke himself?

 

I have always believed that the title "A New Hope" refered to Luke and it can even be argued that the prophecy didn't exactly point at one specific person because the last words of Yoda as he died were "There is another Sky....Sky....walker".....keeping that in mind the prophecy might have vaguely pointed to the one who would bring the balance but in a way that pointed at anyone in particular.......if it wasn't Anakin or Luke then maybe Leia

 

Anakin is the chosen one.
The Old Jedi Order was the Imbalance in the force.
Anakin was the only Jedi who had not been brain washed by Jedi Dogma all his life.
This is why Mace and the rest never trusted him.
They new they could never have total control over him like they had over--ALL--other Jedi.
He wiped out the Jedi=A real good thing.
He wiped out the Sith=A very good thing.
And because of him his son Luke would go on to make a New Jedi Order.
One that would be......Balanced

 

Anakin is the Chosen One... from a certain point of view. Anakin succeeds in bringing balance to the force in three major ways, one very obvious yet easily overlooked. Think: balance, equal ammounts. Anakin helped Palpatine purge the Jedi, leaving four force users: Palpatine, Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Anakin. Anakin sides with the Sith, leaving two force users for both light and dark sides... Balance. Another point of view is that by fathering Luke, Anakin insured that he would be redeemed and fulfill the prophecy. Also, Luke represents a new form of Jedi, trained late in life, and with the ability to care for loved ones like Luke does for his sister and friends, yet not succumb to the dark side. In this way, Anakin brings Luke into the world, who balances the force by having attachments yet remaining a light side user. The other more believed proof of Anakin's status as Chosen One is that he himself destroyed Palpatine, ending the sith and balancing the force, albeit too little too late for the other Jedi.

 

I would make a new topic, but since it is currently disabled, here are some parallels between Anakin and Luke Skywalker:

Both grew up on Tatooine
Both became involved in galactic events after meeting a Jedi Master
Both had visions of bad things happening in the future
Both lost limbs against Sith lords
Palpatine tried to turn both to the Dark Side
Palpatine urged both to kill a Sith lord
Both ignited a lightsaber against Palpatine
Both soothed a wild beast
Both had their lives spared after losing a lightsaber duel
Both were lured to the Dark Side using their protective feelings for a woman (Padme/Leia)
Both witnessed the death of the people who raised them (Shmi/Beru-Lars)
Both were given advice by both Obi-Wan and Yoda
Both disobeyed the advice of Obi-Wan and Yoda
Both were excellent pilots
Both had R2D2 as their personal astromech droid

 

I totally disagree with the comment above. If Anakin had truely brought balance to the force, then surely there would have meant that no Sith survived? However, in several books, we know of there being an apprentice of Vader's called Lord Flint, who was killed by Luke's new order.
With regard to the actual prophecy, I believe it was merely a fable passed down by the Jedi, in the same way that the 'tradgedy of Darth Plagueis' was by the Sith. However, I do accept that in the end, Luke did bring balance to the force, therefore completeing the prophecy bin a way.

 

Lord Flint was not Sith.

There can only be TWO and those two were Palpatine and Vader. Just as Asajj Ventress was not Sith, niether was Vader's apprentice.

 

Killing Palpatine puts the Force out of balance. After Vader double-crosses him, he kills the only adept of the dark side, leaving a light side monopoly, thus putting the Force out of balance. Why am I wrong?

<[-]> Saber

 

I don't think that Luke belongs to the light side exclusively. Luke represents a new kind of Force adept, who may be technically a Jedi, but he is quite different from the Jedi of old. Luke faced the darkness and overcame it, he did not try to kill it like the Jedi of old times. Luke brings balance to the Force, he represents the new balance.

 

OK I'm going to throw out a couple thoughts and come back later to discuss further as my time at the moment is limited.

Alot of people seem to be thinking way to linear. (+2 + -2=0), balance means equally represented portions, and Anakin killed the Emperor therefore... What poeople are missing is that what we are infact discussing in an amalgamation of world mythology and religions. And not one of them is clearly delinieated to this day, dispite generations of schollars and philosophers.

This is the gem of the Star Wars Universe, an unsolveable puzzle of beleifs with no absolute.

1. we do not know what infact the prophesy actually said.
2. even with the "Son of the Suns" quote that is like trying to unravel the untire book of Revelations (or the entire new testament for that matter)through John 3:16
3.What if the prophesy said "THROUGH the chosen one, balance would be acheived" big wide open door there for Luke and Leia to factor in heavily. And that would be a pretty easy misinterpretation.
4. perhaps balance is like night and day, you must have a cycle of each. (The destiny of the Skywalker legacy, for generations to bring cycles of light and dark, ooooh that would be funky.)
5. Mythology and religion often has a period where the saviour or hero must dwell in evil. Even certain Catholic beliefs had Christ in Hell until the resurection. And again a theme in Greek mythology with spending time in Hades.
6. Anakin and Quigon's discussion of the stars in TPM looks a lot more intriguing if viewed in the light of the "Son of the Suns" snippet.

 

Come on. It's anakin. If it were Luke, Obi-wan or Yoda would say something. Plus, bringing balance doesn't mean, a balance between two equal forces. It's meant to mean taking the balance in the favor of one side over the other. They thought anakin was meant to destroy the sith, he destoyed the jedi (basically), and they thought they misred the story. But they in fact were right, because anakin destroys the emperor. Luke may have help his father realize the evils of the dark side, but anakin was the one who realized it, and destroyed the emperor.

 

I don't understand why there's such a controversy about this, really. I was surprised that no one has posted this (I don't think) so here it goes:

From The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

"Anakin is very different in the end. The thing of it is: The prophecy was right. Anakin was the chosen one, and he does bring balance to the Force. He takes the ounce fo good still left in him and destroys the Emperor out of compassion for his son."- George Lucas

Now I know quoting Lucas all the time can get a bit annoying in these sorts of discussions, but come on. In this case, I just feel GL is describing what I thought was pretty clear from the films as a whole. I fail to see room for argument here.



-sj loves kevin spacey

 

I agree that Anakin was clearly the chosen one. But it is equally flawed, if not moreso, to downplay Lukes importance in the prophesy as it is to say he was the chosen one. If Luke's roll was simply in assisting him to realise his destiny, what makes him and/or Leia "the last hope". By default as his offspring alone are equally intricate and important parts of the fulfilment of the prophesy which obviously Ben and Yoda acknowledged. Their birthright is vitally important to the fulfillment of the prophesy, and can't be trivialised by stating he was just the conduit to which it became possible.

The problem is we are stuck debating the symantics of a prophesy we no very little about, and one acknowledged by Yoda as possibly being misinterpreted.

What we know and/or can assume was that it did not specifically state anything about offspring of the chosen one, but if Yoda and Ben and Sidious believed the offspring would be key to fulfilling the prophesy (and the downfall of the Sith), then it must have been ambiguous enough to allow for this, or to have become clear in retrospect. Which goes back to my conjecture about Balance being restored through the chosen one. Thus not necessarily solely by the actions of the chosen one.

 

i think ure forgetting that luke was the one not to choose the dark side path and since that he might become the chosen one ! its true that anakin was the one to kill the sith but the thing is if it wasnt for Luke maybe the jedi would no longer exist and only the sith so in that way he does bring balance to the force .. i think skywalker brought balance to the force (both ihhi)

hard to say, the chosen one is lolololol DDDDD

 

I would just like to weigh in by saying that I think the Force was out of balance due to the old Jedi order. There were many things the Jedi did in TPM and AotC that struck me at the time as needlessly arrogant, obnoxious and often just plain dumb. After RotS, I began to understand that these were the very traits that indicated the Jedi were out of balance with the Force. It was why Anakin found the Jedi ultimately unworthy. As another here said, Qui-Gon wouldn't have been considered a maverick if the living Force was still revered.

Go back to ESB, when Luke is learning from Yoda. Yoda's understanding of the Force, or at least his explanation of it, is very different from how the OJO presents it to Anakin. Yoda speaks of how the Force comes from and flows through all living things. What he says is similar to Qui-Gon's attitude rather than the mechanistic "this is how we've always done it" way the OJO was teaching.

I think the "balance" of the Force is allowing in the value of emotion. In the PT, it is clear the Jedi avoid all feelings and emotions that really define a person as human. Padme tells Anakin, "But to be angry is human" (or something similar). It's true. The OJO had no way of handling real emotion, strong emotion. They overcame this by raising members from infancy and removing them from all sources of attachment. I think this is as unnatural as anything the Sith proposed.

I read in Time magazine about Anakin: "Even his threads have turned to the Dark Side." Hilarious, but also thought-provoking. Artists often use wardrobe and clothing, colors to represent various ideas. GL is no different. He dressed Anakin in dark clothing, deliberately similar to Darth Vader's eventual outfit. Obi-Wan was outfitted in white during the last fight (and much of RotS). Qui-Gon wore grey, because he was balanced.

Now take that idea and go watch RotJ. Luke wears black from start to finish. Watch ANH. Luke wears WHITE (well, other than the occasional orange pilot suit). Was Lucas trying to say something here? I think so. I'm not sure what though, because if we follow the color analogy then he's saying that Luke really is on the dark side. Is he? Well - maybe. I think Luke learns to harness and use emotion far better than Anakin ever did. Luke knows how to love - something Anakin never learned during the PT.

 

But I think it's pretty clear now what 'bringing balance' means. It's stated in RotS that it means destroying the Sith. Then in the quote I posted, GL says Anakin fulfills the prophecy by killing Palpatine, thus, destroying the Sith. It used to be all well and good to speculate about what 'bringing balance' meant, but I think it's more of a moot point now. I think it's clear what GL meant by it, the wording of it is just a bit ambiguous.

I wouldn't downplay Luke's role, either. The thing is, even though there was the prophecy, it still required Anakin chosing the right path. He didn't in RotS. In the OT, he needs Luke to guide him back to the path that leads to successful fulfillment of the prophecy. But it's still Anakin's choice and Anakin's ability alone to destroy the Sith.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

It is pretty clear from all six movies that balance of the Force meant destruction of the Sith order, which is what happens at the very end with the death of both Sith master and apprentice. Also, the person who brings that balance = Vader, who kills Sidious and in the process, kills himself.

The prophecy was misread by the Jedi and most of the audience, because it was assumed that the "Chosen One" had to be an all-out good guy, a Jedi, who would destroy the Sith. That's why Qui-Gon and later, the rest of the Jedi, were so eager to bring Anakin into their fold and train him. They all thought that balance would be achieved during the PT years.

In RotS, Yoda starts to realize that they may have been misreading the prophecy. The Force is far more unbalanced at the end of RotJ than in RotS. In RotJ, as Luke is about to die, it's truly the end of the Jedi order. That is the moment when balance is brought by a Sith, Vader.

At the end of RotS, Obi-Wan mistakenly feels that Anakin was supposed to be the Chosen One before he turned to the Dark Side. Actually, Anakin was supposed to be the Chosen One, AFTER he became a Sith. IMHO, Obi-Wan realizes this by the OT. That is why both he and Yoda repeatedly urge Luke to go and "confront" Vader. They are hoping that finally the Prophecy will be fulfilled, but ironically, by the enemy.

It's only a very strange set of circumstances, and Luke's involvement, that brought Vader to the point in RotJ, where he was able to grab the otherwise-occupied Emperor from the back and throw him down the reactor shaft. It didn't need Jedi skills, or any very special abilities. It was just an event that was probably foreseen by say, a Whill in the distant past, and recorded. It was an event that, in one stroke, killed the Sith order, and brought balance.

Chosen One = Vader. Not Anakin.
Luke = the one born out of love, who showed the Chosen One the path to redemption.

 

The Old Republic went through a great period of decay. This decadence was the cause of the imbalance of the Force, as people became more materialistic, and further removed from the ways of the Force.

It is clear that the way of the Force involves birth and death, so the lowest point of the decadence was the birth of a being who was not conceived naturally, an abomination conceived from the midi-chlorians, Anakin Skywalker.

This Anakin brought nothing but misery to the galaxy as his power swelled, and so began the Dark Times, the Empire, where almost all hope was lost. Sadly, the Jedi believed that he was the one to bring balance to the Force, but he turned out to bring it to greater unbalance. By the time they realized the prophecy had been misread, it was already almost too late.

Yet, there was a New Hope in the galaxy, Luke Skywalker, conceived naturally of a man and a woman, but strong in the Force as he was the son of Anakin Skywalker. This Luke conquered the evil Darth Vader by refusing to kill him, unlike the Jedi of old, who fought the Dark Lords of the Sith with the lightsaber, and like his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi who similarly refused to fight.

Luke's power of love conquered Darth's power of evil.