Saga What is the Origin of the Prophecy of the Chosen One?

Ever since TPM we've been hearing about the prophecy of the chosen one who will bring balance to the Force, but details are sorely lacking. How old is this prophecy? Who is it attributed to? What does it say? What exactly is meant by balance? This thread is for any, and all, chosen one prophecy questions/discussions.

 

According to canon lore, the originator of the prophecy was an ancient Jedi mystic. More details on that haven't been revealed, as far as I know. The prophecy itself, however, can be found in a book released a little while ago.

These quotes will provide a bit of insight into GL's thoughts on balance:


"The overriding philosophy in Episode I—and in all the Star Wars movies, for that matter—is the balance between good and evil."

-George Lucas, quoted in L. Bouzereau, Star Wars: The Making of Episode I, 1999


"In each of us we have to balance these emotions, and in the Star Wars saga the most important point is balance, balance between everything."

-George Lucas, Time Magazine article, 2002


"The idea of positive and negative, that there are two sides to an entity, a push and a pull, a yin and a yang, and the struggle between the two sides are issues of nature that I wanted to include in the film."

-George Lucas, quoted in L. Bouzereau, Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays


"The Force has two sides. It is not a malevolent or a benevolent thing. It has a bad side to it, involving hate and fear, and it has a good side, involving love, charity, fairness and hope."

-George Lucas, Times Magazine, 1980


"I wanted to have this mythological footing because I was basing the films on the idea that the Force has two sides, the good side, the evil side, and they both need to be there. Most religions are built on that, whether it's called yin and yang, God and the devil—everything is built on the push-pull tension created by two sides of the equation. Right from the very beginning, that was the key issue in 'Star Wars.'"

-George Lucas, Times Magazine, 2002

 

Not sure if you meant where GL originated the idea or not but the Master and Apprentice book by Claudia Gray had 5 prophecies in the story. This one included;

"Only through sacrifice of many Jedi will the Order cleanse the sin done to the nameless. The danger of the past is not past, but sleeps in an egg. When the egg cracks, it will threaten the galaxy entire. When the Force itself sickens, past and future must split and combine. A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored.”

 

I think its vagueness is intentional from a storytelling standpoint, as to question whether or not people should take stock in it, just like with real world religious prophecies.

 

I agree with you, but for something that was an theme throughout the prequels, it was left too vague.

The vagueness creates a problem with Qui-Gon claiming Anakin to be the chosen one. At the time of discovering Anakin, the Jedi believed the Sith to be extinct. The prophecy claimed the chosen one would bring balance to the force. Would that mean Qui-Gon believed the Force to be out of balance at the time of finding Anakin? Did the Jedi believe the force to be in balance with the Sith believed to be out of the picture? If Qui-Gon was right, then it would mean the only course would be for Anakin to turn to the dark side. If the Jedi were right, the prophecy was wrong, as there was already balance, and Anakin was not the chosen one because there was no balance to be attained.

On the flip side of this, if destroying the Sith was to bring balance, finding Anakin as the chosen one would signal the return of the Sith because there would have to be something for Anakin to bring back into balance. Which then makes the Jedi appear rather inept that they didn't see the reappearance of the Sith coming. Either way, it paints the Jedi in a poor light.

 

The Jedi, like all other characters, are not perfect beings. There is no crime in that. As for the Chosen One . . . it turned out to be Anakin after all. He simply did not fulfill the prophecy in a way that many - the Jedi and the franchise's fans - had assumed he would or should.

 

Who said anything about wanting the Jedi to be perfect? Like the meme says, there is a whole lot of middle ground here.

 

I made no mention of the Jedi being perfect, nor of expecting them to be. My point was the intentional vagueness of the prophecy, which was a pretty significant theme, ended up painting the Jedi in a poor light.

To your other comment, Anakin was not the chosen one. At no point did he ever balance the force. To have balance, is to be equal. Like a see-saw. If there is not equal weight on each side, it will always fall to the heavier side. When Anakin turned, he destroyed the Jedi, which put the Sith as the dominant power within the force. And when he killed Palpatine, he threw it back the other way, putting the Jedi as the dominant power within the force. Again, no balance. The prophecy, by some Jedi, was believed to be balance was achieved by destroying the Sith. In that case, the prophecy was misread. Back to the see-saw reference. If you take all the kids on the playground and put them on one end of a see-saw, it's not going to go anywhere, because no balance. So you have to spread them out until it's equal. In this case by weight. In the case of the Jedi and Sith, it would be by power. The Jedi grew in power linearly, while the Sith grew in power exponentially. Which is why two Sith could equal hundreds if not thousands of Jedi. So back to the misread prophecy. At the time of discovering Anakin, the Force was already in balance. But because the Jedi thought the Sith were extinct, they believed there to be balance, and once the Sith revealed themselves, believed it was to be achieved by continuing to rid the galaxy of the Sith. They failed to realize that if the Sith had just revealed themselves, this had to be years in the making. They failed to realize, that is why there was balance in the Force. Because there had already been equal power on both sides of the coin, not because the Sith were extinct.

 

Anakin was the Chosen One and this was confirmed by George Lucas. He may not have played out his role as the Chosen One in a manner which the Jedi and many fans wanted him to do, but he was it.

 

Anyone up for a textual analysis of Claudia Grey's Chose One narrative? Like, what does sleeping in an egg really mean? Literal meaning? Symbolic meaning?

 

Personally, I was a bit annoyed at how little information we're given versus how much importance was placed on it, and I don't normally even like prophecies in stories to begin with.
I just want to headcanon the whole thing as a hoax of some sort. Maybe the Sith (not necessarily Sidious, it could be generations before him) made up some random gibberish to distract the Jedi from noticing what the Sith were actually doing. And the Jedi somehow "interpreted" the gibberish to mean something that didn't actually exist at all.

 

Then what of Obi-Wan’s words in the ROTS?

“You were The Chosen One! It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring Balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!”

Master Kenob’s words indicate destroying the Sith is is part of the Chosen One’s duty, ironically that is also the Sith Messiah, The Sith’ari’s duty:
“The Sith'ari will lead the Sith and destroy them.” (Third Line of the Sith’ari Prophecy).

 

I just assumed the midi-chlorians, which relate the will of the Force, told the Jedi the prophecy. The prophecy says that an individual will be born of the midi-chlorians, and that he will bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. The Sith are the ones causing the imbalance.

Qui-Gon sensed a disturbance in the Force (Maul) when they landed on Tatooine. And the discovery of Anakin did also herald the return of the Sith. So Qui-Gon believes that the Sith are back (because he witnessed Maul) and that there is a need for a Chosen One to balance the Force. The other Jedi don't believe the Sith could have returned, and thus don't seem to see much utility in the Chosen One.

 

I am confused by your question. I read the last line of the book version of the prophecy as matching up with Obi Wan's statement of the Chosen One bringing balance to the force by destroying the Sith.

Sometimes I hesitate to read any books, even if I enjoy Claudia Gray, because they are just throwing more questions into the already highly debated topics.

 

Maul was still on Coruscant when Qui Gon already went inside Anakin's house. I've always thought the disturbance is Anakin.

 

I think because he says "Don't let them send any transmissions," the disturbance relates to the Sith threat. It could also mean Anakin. Or both.

 

Hm, I think I saw it as Anakin because because of the two separate instances they felt something.
Shortly after they arrived at Naboo the first time, Obi Wan (and not Qui Gon) had a "bad feeling" that was "something elsewhere, elusive," and Qui Gon told him to focus on the moment. I interpreted this one as the looming Sith threat.
Then immediately after landing on Tatooine, both of them clearly sensed a disturbance in the Force. Because the two instances were described differently (and Obi Wan didn't seem to make any connection between the two), I interpreted this one as something separate, something more immediate and specific to Tatooine.

 

Well the inference from Claudia Grey prophecies, Mortis, and etc is Balance or Bendu of the Force is where the Light and Dark Sides are in balance, i.e. plenty of Jedi and Sith; while Kenobi is saying the balance of the Chosen One is the annihilation of the Sith. This works if the Sith and dark side are painted as a perversion, and pollution of the Force, that they aren’t using The Force in its natural state (“pathway to abilities some consider unnatural.”) But does canon declare this about the dark side?

 

The Mortis arc explicitly shows for there to be balance, both light and dark must exist. I do believe it also shows that while the Force is inherently good, or towards the light, there are bad or dark elements that cannot be ignored and must be there to have balance. We see this in the Father maintaining order between the Son and the Daughter, and how things get out of control when one dominates over the other.

Although no longer canon, the story of the Je'daii Order speaks of the Force being three elements, the Bendu (balance), the Ashla (light), and Bogan (dark), and of an individuals responsibility of maintaining balance between the two sides to maintain Bendu. If one falls too far to one side or the other, they are sent to one of the two corresponding moons until they achieved their balance again. There is a good read about them on the Wook if interested.

As to the OP, my head canon is that the Chosen One prophecy was born from the Ones. We see in the Mortis arc that the Father deems Anakin to be the Chosen One. According to the Father, only the Chosen One could maintain the balance between the Son and the Daughter. And I believe that is the truest meaning behind the prophecy. The Jedi and Sith both misread it because they applied it to fit their views and their beliefs, which of course are driven by their biases.

 

I'd say that the dark side itself is not a perversion or pollution of the Force, but devoting oneself to it, the way the Sith do, is.
The light is serene and passive, while the dark is passionate and active. Passion and action are required for life - for the universe - to function, but letting them dominate one's being causes imbalance.
We have to acknowledge our dark side and let it do what it's supposed to do, for the sake of self-preservation, but we also have to keep it under control; to let go of the urge to let the dark side do more than it should and get destructive.
That's where the light side comes in - and it's a constant struggle. You don't lock the dark side up and throw away the key. It's always there, always active, so we have to actively maintain control in order to stay balanced.

That's why the Jedi are right - and why people like them need to drive back (or, preferably, convert) the forces of darkness.

 

Well said! Amazing analysis and exegesis.

I love how you made a distinction between the dark side and the Sith devotio, and teachings. That we all indeed “have a dark side,” and must come to terms with it if we are to grow.

 

Why, thank you! That's much appreciated!