The true meaning behind the Chosen One, the Prophecy, and bringing Balance to the Force

"With all due respect, Master, is he not the Chosen One? Is he not to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force?"

"So the prophecy says."

"A prophecy that misread, could have been."


I've had this theory for a couple years, and I've mentioned it in the Literature forum, but I don't think I've mentioned it in this forum yet.

A lot of people have questioned how exactly Anakin is the Chosen One prophecized to bring balance to the Force. George Lucas has said that he redeems himself and fulfills his destiny when he throws the Emperor down the pit, doing away with that Sith, and in the process sacrificing himself to save his son. Let's go over a couple things before I state my theory.

We know that Anakin definitely was the Chosen One, and that he fulfilled the Prophecy WHEN he threw Sidious down the pit.

We don't know HOW that action fulfilled the Prophecy. Some have suggested it meant the destruction of all Sith, forever, but others disagree.



My own theory:

Since Anakin was conceived by the will of the Force, he had more connection and influence over it that anyone else. The Force is in conflict between its light side and dark side, kind of like an inner conflict on the cosmic scale. When it created Anakin, the will of the Force basically thought something like "this sentient is the closest anyone could ever be to me, and is my own creation, his choice will be my choice."

If Anakin's ultimate choice was the Light Side, the Force would choose its good side, and over a long period of time eventually conquer its darkness.

If Anakin's ultimate choice was the Dark Side, the Force would choose its evil side, and eventually evil would win in the end.

So the way Anakin goes is the way eventually the Force would follow, and all life would probably go too. That's why Palpatine wanted to turn Anakin to the Dark Side instead of just having him killed, and why having Luke kill him as Darth Vader would just cement the victory of the dark side. But Anakin redeemed himself and died on the good side.

So even though the dark side and evil still exist (and the Sith in the EU), their influence over the Force is diminishing, and one day the Force will rid itself of its dark side once and for all. It wasn't Anakin killing Palpatine that brought balance to the Force, it was his choice of self-sacrifice and return to the good side.

His choice says that Evil may win some more battles, as you would expect the GFFA to go realistically, but Good *will* win the war in the end, just as it won back over the Chosen One in the end.










Your thoughts? Post your own theories too, I'm not intending this thread just to be about my theory!

 

Regarding that segment from the film, I kind of like the idea that the prophecy was in fact misread and that the "chosen one" was actually Luke (or that Luke & Leia were the "chosen ones"). That just seems to make more sense given what we see of Anakin/Vader in Episodes II thru VI, especially when you contrast his deeds with Luke's.

It seems to me that Lucas is at least giving the viewer a hint that this might be the case--otherwise why include such a pointed line? The whole "prophecy" side-plot went so unexplored in the PT (to say nothing of the OT where it isn't even mentioned) that GL is practically begging the audience to draw their own conclusions.

 

I used to think that Anakin messed up by turning to the Dark Side and so the mantle of Chosen One fell from him to Luke, who ended up destroying Vader who destroyed Sidious.

Now, however, I think Anakin was the Chosen One but, that he took an unnecessary detour on the way. Padme then gave birth to the Son of the Suns who was destined to save the soul of his father and the galaxy. Luke still could have fallen, and then it would have fallen to Leia to redeem Luke and her father.

 

I like your terming of "inner-struggle." This is fairly accurate. I think the Jedi Council was confident that by "chosen one" and "restore balance" this meant that Anakin would dismantle the Sith and restore their full powers. The true path to balance however, was by destroying both the Jedi and the Sith. In the prequels, the Jedi become aware of their growing marginalization by Palpatine (as he grows in power with each film, they become more aware of their weakness.) The Jedi Order which had stood for thousands of years was in need of reform. It needed change. Qui-Gon Jinn was an individual who wanted to implement changes and he challenged the rigid structures and hierarchies within the organization. Yet the order would not change. This helped Palpatine sway young Anakin (away from an organization which always feared Skywalker's latent power.)

So, Anakin all but destroys the Jedi (with only Yoda, Obi-Wan and his children left.) He joins Palpatine and helps in the construction of the galactic empire. The empire was founded on promises of peace and justice. This attracted the young boy who bought into the rhetoric. When it became evident that the Empire was built by, for, and of Palpatine and that it only suited for own needs--Anakin/Vader began to reject it. By now he is also a Sith lord and consumed with the quest of his own power. This prompts him to pitch the idea of his own empire to Luke in Cloud City. Finally, Anakin/Vader upon realizing that his son will never be turned and as a result will be killed--becomes human yet again. He throws off the yoke of his own oppression and kills his master. He thus effectively destroys the Sith (by killing Palpatine to save his son, he both destroys the master and rejects the very notion of the Sith.) The result is that the children of Skywalker can build a new organization which will be be riddled with corruption, hierarchy, or power lust. A new purified group of force-users will emerge. The Jedi can be rebuilt. Balance is restored through chaos.

That is my take.

-Seldon

 

if the force has consciousness, it's of the all-pervading kind, thus making opportunism (the creation of an agent who's will it depends upon) very unlikely.


anakin is meant to journey into his own darkness, just like luke does, but unlike luke, he has no one to support him.
the prophecy is a thing... cultures have that sort of thing but a culture like the jedi, who are far from enlightened, will only seek their own advantage in the power struggle, just like palpatine, thus interpreting the prophecy to mean what obi-wan gives us.

 

Well the Chosen One itself is sort of a reference to Christ, conceived by midichlorians/Holy Spirit. So I kind of based my theory on extending that metaphor. We know the Force has a good side and bad side, and the prequels tell us it has a will. It probably has some kind of inner-struggle going on, the fight over which side dominates the Force. So the Force decided to incarnate itself as a sentient, specifically a human male born to Shmi Skywalker, to be able to see how it would react to life and the galaxy if it was a person. If Anakin reacts by going dark, the Force will go dark, if Anakin reacts by being true to the light, so will the Force. I made up the theory in the Literature forum because in the EU the Sith rise again and the Empire rises again, there are still devastating galactic-scale wars, and I just wanted to come up with an explanation on why the story of the movies and Anakin Skywalker is the central one to their entire universe. Even without the EU, it is realistic to say that the Empire was still around at the end of the movies, and that there would be a power vacuum, and that there will still be enemies and wars for a long time to come. It's the turning point, where no matter what evil may do in the present, will certainly be extinguished in the future, and the bad guys may win battles but are fighting in a war destined to be lost because of Anakin Skywalker's choice.

Just to explain the reasoning behind my theory, anyways.

 

Hasn't this question been discussed in many other threads on this forum?

 

well, as i tried to say earlier, i cannot imagine a force being shaky and susceptible to the moods and desires of a single human being.

i guess your application of light and dark goes back to an external representation of 'evil' and i have problems with that, with a literal interpretation anyway. it seems too simple a phenomenon, to boil the absence of light down to 'the empire'.

i can understand how the jedi would feel out of touch with the force and find it shaky, but i'm at a loss to see how the force in and by itself is actually affected by all the shenanigans of the people.

 

I don't know, given that life creates and makes the Force grow I think it's reasonable that they could have an affect on it, especially those who tap into the Force as their source of power.

 

It's interesting how many STAR WARS fans tend to view the Force as something that can be marginalized. Good or evil. Light or dark. It's just the Force. That's it. All this Light Side and Dark Side seems like nothing more than extreme labeling . . . or an indication of a lack of balance. Many people also seem unable to consider the possibility that each individual has his or her own moral compass. What might be viewed as evil by some, is viewed differently by others. Even murder.


The result is that the children of Skywalker can build a new organization which will be be riddled with corruption, hierarchy, or power lust. A new purified group of force-users will emerge. The Jedi can be rebuilt. Balance is restored through chaos.

I wouldn?t be surprised if something like this will actually happen. Good and evil never seems to win a final battle or war. Both seemed to appear in the universe in cycles. Well . . . at least to me.

Well the Chosen One itself is sort of a reference to Christ, conceived by midichlorians/Holy Spirit. So I kind of based my theory on extending that metaphor.

Just Christ? You mean to say that there are no other religious figures with a similar background?

 

Is that a quote, RamRed?

 

i think the force is atman, the world soul, and what the people do is offer their projections in relation to it. and they recognize responsibility in their relationship, but fail to see that it's an individual responsibility. and that a labelling doesn't free you from feeling yourself.

 

Since Anakin was conceived by the will of the Force

Good theory. The above statement isn't part of movie dialogue though. He might have been conceived by midichlorians, but no mention of the Force - unless you take Palpatine's dialogue about using the force to manipulate the midichlorians.

 

Right! At no point in any of the films is this theory advanced by any character!

It's a fan theory!

 

Well, according to the prophecy that came true in ROTJ, Anakin was conceived by the midichlorians -- which "communicate the will of the Force." So....

 

Did the prophecy come true when Darth Vader threw the Emperor down the shaft? If you answer, "yes" then you're opening up a whole different can of worms because it's an energy field created by ALL living things. So why does the death of 1 or even 2 of those living things automatically balance the Force?

The characters don't understand divinity in the movie, so how can they understand who or what really created Anakin?
If you think the characters are omniscient enough to understand the meaning of life then how come they're not omniscient enough to see a Sith Lord standing a few feet away from them?

The characters themselves tell the audience that they don't understand the prophecy and one of the characters even defines the meaning of life as the great mystery. So to draw a conclusion that the Force is truly divine and has a will of its own is a bit out of place especially since the characters themselves tell the audience that don't know the meaning of life. Wouldn't you agree?

 

Uh... because the author says so?

The characters don't understand who or what really created Anakin due to the fact that they don't know about the Sith ability to create life. Also, the Force may not be a divinity in the purest sense, but we do know that it is an energy field and that it has something the Jedi interpret as a "will".

 

Arawn, you really need relax a bit with the condescending attitude. I know I'm the king of condescending attitude but we just need to relax a little around here.

The author also says there's a lot to Star Wars that he has yet to divulge and he says that Star Wars is more deep than people have come to terms with. Now, that's a bold claim and some little story about a guy throwing some other guy to his death and then all of the sudden everything is wonderful is not deep in the least and is actually quite simple and silly.

The thing is: if you want to believe Anakin was created by the Sith then run with, but I won't because of obvious reasons.

I don't know what you mean by "purest sense" because divinity is just divinity. And in regard to mortal and divinity: It's really quite simple either the mortal believes in divinity or the mortal doesn't. It doesn't matter what a mortal calls divinity. Lucas just came up with a bunch of characters who believe in an energy that has a will of its own but they are just as oblivious to the mysteries of life as anyone here in the real world and that's the point Lucas is making. That's why Palpatine calls it the great mystery.

One of the biggest question you have to ask about Star Wars is if the Force has a will of its own then why does it allow itself to be manipulated by the characters? The answer is obvious: Because there is no will of the Force.

 

I definitely agree that there's no literal will with the "will of the Force" just being a phrase used by the Jedi do describe something they're ignorant of. Obi-Wan admits as much in the Revenge of the Sith novelization.

 

Who made you the king of condescending attitude?

I will not bow to this Ranger from the North!

 

Well, in my opinion, there is a will of something divine but it just isn't literally the Force.
The Jedi are speaking the metaphorical truth in saying there is a will of the Force just like the Gungans are literally correct in saying there is a will of the gods within Star Wars. Since the Gungans believe in gods then I would think they would believe there is a will of the gods. What I mean to say is they're both correct and they just define divinity with different words. I think that's what Lucas is saying within Star Wars because that's what he believes about us here in the real world and Star Wars is after all very personal to Lucas.

That's just my opinion of course.

 

Well, according to the prophecy that came true in ROTJ, Anakin was conceived by the midichlorians -- which "communicate the will of the Force." So....


Which also can be manipulated by a Sith Lord in order to create life. So....