The current Databank entry says, "When Anakin died, his selfless sacrifice allowed his spirit to be preserved in the Force by his former mentors, Obi-Wan and Yoda." Combined with the information from the previous Databank entry that said Anakin's body disappeared into the Force and Luke merely burned his armor, it seems Anakin wasn't ever "trained" in anything.
But seriously speaking though, I'm fascinated by the Whills. I don't know that I ever want the mystery explained, but I do want to see more use of them. The Journal of the Whills and that old-timey, poetic mythical language-- I eat that stuff up. It's sad that it's so little used, and not at all in canon anymore (this being the biggest loss of the Novelizations imo). I do think that Yoda's TCW arc is the strongest hook into the Whills by far though, more so than the Chosen One stuff or Mortis. I would actually like the notion that these were perhaps competing prophecies, or even alternate interpretations. Much like they are for the fans. Missa ab iPhona mea est.
The databank corroborates what I said. Yoda helped his spirit be preserved. How he did it? He taught him, apparently.
For serious, though, when Mortis is seen as a massive Force Vision, I'm not sure those figures were even actual individuals, but personified symbols. But what was their instructive purpose from the Force? 'course, that's a WHOLE 'nother discussion. I think someone called The Father was present on Mortis just as much as The Inquisitor was present in the Temple on Lothal.
That's not really the simplest way to read what the Databank said, and it's not really in keeping with what Filoni says above - it seems Anakin's sacrifice allowed him to achieve by accident what Yoda's test allowed him to achieve intentionally.
I just want to know, in terms of Yoda, what this means: "He is to teach one that will save the universe from a great imbalance. For this, the great Gift will be his."
Even if Father is a symbol, he's either a symbol of balance or the Cosmic Force, which I'd suggest implies the path to ghosting.
It seems he's a symbol of the Cosmic Force, or the Unifying Force. I think you're right - I think it's highly significant that he ghosted and the Daughter didn't. I wonder why Obi-Wan and Anakin weren't more affected by seeing that occur.
What's said in the databank is what was always said. That Yoda (and Obi-Wan) were responsible for helping Anakin's spirit to retain his identity. in TCW, it was said that Yoda will teach the one who will bring balance. That has been established to be Anakin. Technically, he doesn't say anything.
Well I rarely understand you, but I'm only intermittently interested in this **** so I'm not the one to ask. But since you did ask I think you tend to get hung up on semantic differences that laymen (hi) don't even necessarily notice and it distracts you from the fact that people aren't actually disagreeing with you all that much. I think under normal circumstances they could, given that it was coming from Yoda himself, but as it happened they, Mace in particular, were too far up their own butts dealing with the CW. FWIW, having caught up, I'm mostly in Taalcon's HS/college camp--except I think it's more like Jedi Mastery is to ghosting as a PHD in poetry is to being, like, the Poet Laureate or something. It's a side distinction that requires mastery to some extent, but it's not just the next level up; it's a specialty. Or to take it further: if we assume that Luke has been off training Jedi in the ST, and one of those Jedi becomes a Master, will he ultimately ghost just by virtue of Luke training him? Is ghosting something that every Jedi would do under ideal circumstances, or was it a special thing necessitated by the events of the saga? For that matter, do we have any reason to think Luke himself would ghost? What purpose would it serve?
I'd be interested to see the idea explored (somewhere) of the ramifications of a society and, well, Force Council of those found worthy to be brought into that sphere. Those who are given a seat on this Council are involved in directly seeing to Big Effing Affairs, give out and direct prophesies and visions to guide, and are, as a body, the embodiment of The Will (Whill?) of the Force. They work within the realm of already established beliefs in the signs and symbols of those cultures and communities. Those who are brought into Force Ghosting become, perhaps not Whills, but the Wills. And maybe there's some Bad Stuff that happened with some of the Wills behind the scenes, which manifested in how things were going in the Material World, and the Council of the Wills needed to seriously be updated to help bring things back into balance. Of course, then we get into some serious Tolkien-esque stuff there.
So then a Shaman of the Whills under that conception is literally a Force Ghost? And if one-ness with the Force makes you a ghost, how is the mark of a ghost the retention of individuality? Missa ab iPhona mea est.
Hey, careful with the T-word; I'm still recovering. I think we're misunderstanding just what "individuality" means in this case; to outward appearances they're still who they always were, but in reality they are one with the Force. If there's a "gift" involved, that's it--the appearance of identity. That's why Anakin ghosted--in killing Palpatine he ceased to be himself and became a vessel with Hayden's face.
If Yoda's initiation is to be believed, the standard steps are, going back to the OP: 1. Meriting The Gift (An Invitation) 2. Comprehending the Principles 2a. Overcoming Hubris 2b. Resisting And Working Through Emotional Temptation (Confusion, Anger, Sadness, Joy, Serenity) 2c. Willingness to Sacrifice 3. Fulfillment of Training Mastering the Principles
Yeah. Remember that moment where you learned, oh by the way, Gandalf? Not just a dude who knows magic, but literally a full on demigod. Same type of essential being as that Balrog. Oh, and Sauron? Same. And he was a stooge of a higher evil! What if Mortis was Lucas toying with us to see if we could bear his newly-developing Silmarillion. Answer to that was a big NOPE.
