SPOILER How Important is the Prophecy Really?

My personal take has always been that the prophecy really only existed for practical purposes - so Lucas could underscore where his saga began and where it ended. The details were left intentionally ambiguous because they weren’t as important as its function. “Balance” could mean whatever you want it to.

From an in-universe perspective though, my impression of ‘balance’ relates to the overall experience of the galaxy’s population. The Force is created by all living things. The darkside feeds off of despair while the lightside feeds on hope. The more living things in the galaxy exist in a state of despair, the more the Force they produce will be colored with that darkness. That’s why ‘hope’ is such a mainstay of the franchise. It’s the only way to combat despair.

Despair, like the darkside, is a natural thing. You can’t not have it. It will always exist. But for it to be the prevailing attitude isn’t natural. The Sith created the Empire. The Empire brought a level of despair to the galaxy that had never been seen before. They altered the equilibrium and, because of that, needed to be removed to restore balance. The Empire couldn’t maintain without its Emperor and the machine would ultimately collapse because of Anakin’s actions - prophecy fulfilled.

Unfortunately, that outlook doesn’t jive very well with what the ST is giving us now. That dark force has been reborn and threatens to bring just as much, if not more, despair. So, was the prophecy misinterpreted? Maybe. Or maybe it’s just not something LFL wants to touch since it was so ingrained with George’s story. I think that’s mostly where I’m falling on this. Out of all the new canon material produced, how much has referenced the “prophecy” or “chosen one”? That plot aspect may have been put to bed.

 

When I read "We Will See a Twist or New Interpretation of the Prophecy in Ep9" this "twist" came to mind:

From a certain point of view, I suppose some could try to propose Snoke, oddly enough, "brought balance" to the Sequel Trilogy by Force-linking Ben and Rey together.

"Darkness rises, and the Light to meet it."

Not that I consider that "balance" by any stretch, but that could constitute a rather twisted twist on the infamous Prophecy.

Until I have sufficient information and reason to think otherwise, I believe Anakin was "the Chosen One."

Always in the back my mind, during any conversation of The One and the Prophecy, are Yoda's words about the possibility of "a prophecy misread."

 

They do always have that ‘out’. But I put it up there with the old “there is another” line from Yoda. He’s talking about Leia, but it’s vague enough to claim he was talking about someone else if the new guard decided to go that way. I just doubt they’d want to tool around with that part of canon. That could get sticky.

With the current interpretation, Yoda isn’t wrong though. The prophecy actually was misread. They believed the chosen one would only restore balance. They hadn’t considered he’d also play a role in creating that imbalance to begin with.

 

I feel like the opinion on the Prophecy and Chosen One concept is very generational. Painting in broad strokes, the 1st generation of fans (for lack of a better term) who were young during the time of the OT generally tend to scoff at or disregard the Chosen One and Prophecy concepts. This generation, now in their 40s and 50s, are now the ones making the films (JJ Abrams, RJ etc.) and illustrating that first generation view into their new movies.

People who were young in the 90s and 00s who came in with the prequels, as well as those coming in today, tend to give more credit and weight to the Prophecy and Chosen One concept. In the early 00s, during the hey day of prequel bashing, this generation was still a minority in the fandom. Now it's more even and as times go on it will become the majority within fandom. It wouldn't surprise me if in 20 years we have directors who were born in the 90s and 00s (now in their 40s and 50s) making the movies that reinforce prequel concepts and that are in general much more prequel friendly than what we see today.

 

For the record....

According to the canon novel "Master and Apprentice", this is the prophesy of the chosen one:

"A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored."


My take on this is that the prophesy is completely worthless. It's too vague to be of any use. The only things that could possibly be of use to determine who the chosen one actually is, is the "born of no father" part and the use of the pronoun "him", indicating a male. With Anakin we do have the benefit of Shmi stating that there was no father. But, there are circumstances where it could be impossible to know if someone had a father or not. A child is left at the steps of the Jedi temple, no info about parents included. It's a boy? Well, could be the chosen one. It doesn't even require that this person have the ability to use the force. Given the right circumstances, Lando could be the chosen one.

The goal of the chosen one is too vague. Ultimate balance in the Force being restored is open to interpretation, as indicated by this and many other forums.

The prophesy also doesn't help anyone know for sure A) who the chosen one is and B) if he has accomplished his destiny either before or after it has happened. It reminds me of the Saturday Nigh Live skit where Christopher Walken is a psychic but he can only predict things that don't really matter. The existence of the prophesy doesn't seem to have had any bearing on the events of its fulfillment. Had the prophesy never been spoken or written down, it seems like events would have unfolded the same. The possible exception to this is Anakin being trained to begin with, because of Qui Gon's belief in the prophesy. There's no way to know for sure, but I think, had Qui Gon found Anakin, sensed the force in him, done the mediclorian test, learned that there was no father but had never heard of the prophesy, I think he would have sensed that something was up and insisted that he be trained as a Jedi.

Finally, had the prophesy been spoken by a Sith instead of a Jedi, it could be considered just as valid. If Vader didn't have cybernetic parts he could have survived Sith tossing Palpatine and ruled the galaxy alone. Ultimate balance has been restored, from a Sith perspective.

 

I do think it's at least partially a contrivance for Anakin to be taken in by the Jedi. It also makes him "special". Interesting is great but special is better. Before TPM he was just a Jedi who turned to the dark side. Now, wow! He's the chosen one! And, since this was done post ROTJ, we the audience know that he ultimately does fulfill the prophesy. It adds continuity to the whole thing. Vader didn't just make a decision to save his son, he also fulfilled the prophesy. But that's kind of only a cool thing for those watching them in order from 1-6 for the first time. For those of us who saw 4-6 then waited 16 years, we see it as Vader saving his son more than fulfilling a prophesy. At least, I do.

It also solves the problem of having to deal with his biological father. If there isn't one, then you don't have to tell his story. Was he a Jedi? A Sith? A nobody?

Lucas didn't seem to like the idea of "nobodies" coming into prominence, he liked connections:

Anakin was conceived by the Force
Luke was Vader's son.
Boba Fett was a clone of Jango Fett.
Leia was Vader's daughter.
C-3PO was built by Anakin
Yoda taught Obiwan (at least according to Obiwan in TESB)
Dooku taught Qui Gon Jinn.
There were thousands of Jedi who could have been the main characters' teachers but they all taught the other main characters.

I think it was just to make the story more interesting, but it wasn't necessary either in universe or out. But.... Looking at the reaction of fans to Rey potentially being a nobody, maybe it was the right call. Perhaps fans don't like nobodies just like Lucas didn't.

 

Very!!

 

I don't know how receiving a prophesy works, but how did the originator of the prophesy get the details that a male would be born without a father and bring ultimate balance to the force but not see anything else of value? Did he see Vader kill the emperor and just not write that down? Did he see all the suffering caused by Vader and the emperor and not write that down?

Maybe he just heard a voice that proclaimed the prophesy and wrote it down.

 

Like I mentioned in my older post up there, it functions as a convenient narrative framing device. At the beginning of the story, we’re told our hero is destined to do a particular thing. At the end of the story, our hero does that thing. Character journey complete. Tada!

Just like the ‘rule of two’. How do we know all the evil space wizards are gone? Well, there was a convenient rule: there can only be two at a time. Since they both died, the good guys won. Tada! . . . . . . the end.

Qui-Gon: Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us telling us the will of the Force.

Somethin’ like that probably.