The Holy Trinity in "Return of the Jedi"

There is one scene in Star Wars where one can say 'That makes me think of the Holy Trinity (The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirt)'. That scene is where you see the ghosts of Anakin Skywalker, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Return of the Jedi. Now, some people, when looking at religion, see the Holy Trinity as one person and that person is God himself. Other people people that the Holy Trinity is indeed three seperate individuals, but that those individuals all have a bit of God in them. Here is a diagram from Wikipedia to explain:

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Shield-Trinity-Scutum-Fidei-English.png]

Now, that can be related to this:

[image=http://www.aintitcool.com/image/HaydenJedi.jpg]

or, depending upon how you like to view it, this:

[image=http://www.nistea.com/the_three_ghosts.jpg]

Now, you can look at the Holy Trinity in Star Wars two of the following ways.

1) Anakin Skywalker is all three: The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. He is the father of Luke Skywalker and, in a way, the new Jedi Order. He is the son of life itself and, in a way, the son of Obi-Wan Kenobi. And, he is the Holy Spirit who will watch over Luke and the New Jedi Order as long as life exists.

2) Obi-Wan is "The Father" by being a father to Anakin Skywalker, Anakin is "The Son" for being the son of life itself and, in a way, the son of Obi-Wan, and Yoda is the Holy Spirit who has always watched over Obi-Wan and Anakin, comforting them when they needed to be comforted. And, all three of them have a large amount of God, in this case the Force, within them.

Personally, I think it could work either way but I would like to know what you all think.

 

Anybody?

 

Not bad, jedimasterbac.

 

Nice, I have not thought about this before. I would say that Obe-wan is more like The Holy Spirit because he leds us and guides from within. He did this with luke in the OT. Anakin basically died a death to himself and in some sense rose again to a new life before he died. Yoda is the mack daddy of all wisdom and knowledge and is older than Greorge Burns at 900 years. So he is the father.

 

The only thing I don't quite like in it is the absence of any females in that "trinity view".

Regarding Star Wars, this could be a major fault/mistake in storytelling.

 

I view the 'Star Wars' Trinity as viewpoint #2 in your post. They are all different beings, but all come from the same place; The Force.

It's definitely a huge religious symbolism of Star Wars.

 

Bac...not used to seeing you in these parts.

Interesting idea. I agree with the above poster in that there's was probably religious symbolism intended.

 

There's a definite religious/mythological symbolism related to the number three. It's those types of symbolism that writers aim for, and anything in groups of three is a clear sign of divinity when it comes to literature. This is the reason we see three Force Spirits in ROTJ, not four or five. That's why Luke, Han and Leia were the heroes in the original trilogy, same as Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme were the heroes in the prequel trilogy.

 

I will say that you are a first at this part. Most refer is to psychic, and mindtricks, and yoga.

 

What if Lucas adds the ghost of Qui-Gon to the saga box set version of ROTJ?

 

Well, the only place a female would fit would be as the Holy Ghost since a woman obviously cannot be a father or a son. But, as it is now, there's no way for a female to be put into that "trinity view".

Woohoo! I'm original!

1) It would screw up the Trinity

2) I doubt Qui-Gon would be added in at this stage of the game.

 

So, how do the tiny ninjas fit in?

 

Ah, I had a version of Hayden as the Anakin ghost at the end of ROTJ but I guess it doesn't work anymore...

 

Maybe that is trying to tell you something! Nice to see the proper Trinity.

 

MANDALORIAN, do not turn this thread into something it is not.

 

The only one that doesn't have a predetermined sex is the Holy Ghost. I guess it's possible that the Holy Ghost is a spirit, unbound by the limitations of sex. Are you suggesting though that Padme be the Holy Ghost?

He didn't add Qui-Gon into Episode III. So to add Qui-Gon to the end scene in RotJ is out of no where.

 

Lighten up.

 

Yeah

Mandalorian can help you with that.

He's an engineer.

Carnage

 

It's interesting, if not completely off topic, that up until ROTS, Yoda had been a staunch devotee of the rule of two (two signifying dualty, of course):

"An apprentice you already have, Qui-Gon. IMPOSSIBLE to take another."

Yet, at the end of ROTS, he and Obi-Wan are BOTH apprenticed to the new Master: Qui-Gon Jinn (forming a trinity of sorts).

Meanwhile, the Sith are all mired in the old Jedi vs. Sith thing; even though the Jedi Order, against which they once held a 1,000 year vendetta no longer existed, trying to keep the rule of two alive, even if it kills them.

Which, eventually, it does.

"It's ironic..." - Palps

 

BUT WAIT!! THERE ARE NO BLACKS ARE MEXICANS OR ASIANS OR PACIFIC ISLANDERS OR WOOKIEES OR MONKEYFLABBERGASTERS!!!!!



But seriously, this Politically Correct garbage needs to take a back seat while the advocates get over themselves.

 

Carnage is apparantly unemployed (unemployable?)

 

Stick to the subject please.

 

Well, the only place a female would fit would be as the Holy Ghost since a woman obviously cannot be a father or a son. But, as it is now, there's no way for a female to be put into that "trinity view".

Which is probably why Judeo-Christianity is considered paternalistic or masculine.

 

I think a trinity can be any three regardless of gender, as it is the number that is archetypal not necessarily the gender pattern.

Now, if you are talking about symbolism of The Trinity, your number 1, jedimasterbac, I find interesting insofar as he has three roles and the drama of Anakin is very much the six movies we have thus far. Of course, for most of the time we see him he is much more antichrist than Christ because of his sin (to include his dedication to self over all else).

As for number 2, Lucas meant for Obi-Wan to be more of the Holy Spirit type, but then reneged on committing to this imagery before ANH came out. I see what you are talking about in the sense that Obi-Wan is very much seen as the Father figure (sidenote: why do we never see Anakin looking for his 'true Dad' the Midi-Chlorians?) of Anakin, albeit surrogate at best. That would leave Yoda with the only open spot playing the Holy Spirit, which Jesus refers to as the Holy Counselor, who Yoda very much is to both of them. Still, they are a rather disfunctional trinity with Yoda talking all kinds of nonsense in ROTS, Obi-Wan not sensing, acknowledging or exploring Anakin's feelings for his mother and his continual hounding him. Then Anakin's sin speaks for itself.

So trinity, small t, I'd agree. Holy Trinity, not so much.

Slightly off-topic note: I think there can be seen a metaphorical trinity in Star Wars that explains a lot with regards to the Force, which is often related to God. I read a book recently called Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers. She likened human-kind's being made in God's image to the creative trinity of Idea, Energy and Power. The Star Wars translation would be the Force is the Idea - it exists whether it is used by the Jedi or not. Energy is how the Force is experienced and learned about in the universe - as in a Jedi learns of the existence of the Force through the teaching of a master and perhaps comes to understand that there were things he experienced before he knew of the Force that he now identifies as having been the Force. Then a Jedi uses the Power and knows it through his own experiences. Relating it to God, Idea is the Father, Energy is the Son and Power is the Holy Spirit. I know it may sound a little random, but it certainly explains how one using the Force could possess it independently of the Force, which is to say use it poorly or badly or for evil and be a naughty Jedi or become a Sith.

 

Interesting, but I'll stick to worshiping Jesus, not Anakin.