How do you interpret the prophecy of the chosen one

You are pretty good. *Bows*

 

Maybe the ‘balance’ is fine. Perhaps it’s the ‘fade’ that’s off.

Stereo humor: something that should probably never happen.

 

Balance of the Force...in a nutshell.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 20, 2016, Original Post Date: Feb 20, 2016 ---

Yup, that's pretty much the issue with the whole "Chosen One would bring balance" stuff. I'd say there was balance for a good 20-25 years. Apparently, Lukes Jedi were wiped out between 5-10 years prior to TFA, so there was balance for a while. I still hold the opinion that Anakin was supposed to bring balance at the end of the Clone Wars, but his fall to the dark side prevented that....postponing the prophecy if you will. Luke had to bring Anakin Skywalker back (which isn't part of the prophecy) for Anakin to fulfill it. So we got a good 20 years of peace. That galaxy needed it!

Now, we need to just say the prophecy and the Chosen One were OVERRATED by the Jedi because "misread" it was. That misread part was when and to what extent the prophecy would bring balance.

--- Double Post Merged, Feb 20, 2016 ---

Just thinking here, but Luke and Leia really FAILED to maintain the balance that was brought by their father. Luke didn't stop his nephew and he allowed Snoke to come into power. Leia didn't do enough either. BOTH are accountable since they were the offspring of the Chosen One and the only ones powerful enough and in-tune with the force enough to maintain balance.

Nice work twins!

 

I think what we have learned here is that the balance of the force is always being balanced by the concept of what balance truly means.

 

Not wishing to stir up the hornets nest but in this short clip from The Clone Wars it strikes me that Savage Oppress and Maul confirm that the balance is disrupted by conflict in the galaxy - not just by Sith existing (after all, the Sith existed before TPM and there wasn't imbalance).

 

Hornets! Hornets! Everywhere, HORNETS!!!!

This is sort of what was being expressed earlier in the thread anyway, right? Whether war feeds the Dark Side (more or less). So long as war is gripping the galaxy, there can’t be true balance. But, still, what does a ‘balanced’ Force and (thereby) galaxy look like? Is it what we saw in Ep.1? Is it a general state of peace or, rather, a lot less war? If there’s still conflict that’s independent of any Sith tampering, does that distort the Force too?

 

For me, it was to do with the inhabitants of the galaxy - the people and all other life.
I thought it was that non sentient life creates the neutral energy of the Force and the sentient beings create the dark, light and neutral.
When there is galactic wide conflict, more beings are adversely impacted and so they would create more dark energy than light.
This means that the energy that is being created by people which in turn creates the Force leans towards the dark rather than the light.
Thus the balance is disrupted. The Force will consist of far more dark energy than light.

The thing that makes me doubt this is the suggestion that the Dark Side itself is a corruption of the Force and balance is when the powers of the Dark Side are defeated - for instance, there isn't conflict in the galaxy.

Either way, both notions require the destruction of the Sith/Dark Siders to bring balance as it is these beings who have the power and will to cause galactic wide conflict and cause imbalance.

I think the new ST could take either direction.
The balance of good and evil in the universe or the dominance of light and the lack of the dark side - so balance = something more along the lines of the balanced bank account analogy.

 

Are you sure about that? Is that the canon btw?
Because Windu says ,,You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the force"
I think this sentence rather means that there was already an imbalance going on during TPM.

 

I think WIndu is just referring to the greater prophesy - that spoke of the Force going out of balance.
Or it could've started to slip in TPM but not by much. The Clone Wars tip the scales big time.

 

It certainly makes sense in that context. However, you have to wonder just how much conflict there was following the immediate rise of the Empire. The Clone Wars had ended, the Separatists had been wrangled, and ‘order’ was reestablished. The insidious nature of the Empire certainly wouldn’t have been an overnight presence. It would have taken time. The galaxy was at peace (in a way). Was the Force balanced then? Was Palpatine and his goon squad simply hatching devious ploys enough to keep things out of whack in that era?

Well, it’s a prophecy, so it refers to things that are ‘yet to be’. The Force may have been out of balance this whole time OR it may have been fine and would just become unbalanced at some point in the future. Who's to say.

 

There was peace, but not a peace that would create a balance in the Force. What I mean by that is, whatever your interpretation of how the Dark Side unbalances the Force (equality of good and evil or the complete lack of Dark Side use) when the Empire reigned, it did so with fear, oppression and aggression. People who weren't corrupt and worked for the empire, lived in perpetual fear. It impacted everyone across the galaxy. Just look how the citizens of Bespin react to the Empire taking over. I think the Clone Wars was what pushes the Force out of balance and thus empowered the Sith and then their Empire consolidated that power and ensured the Force remained in darkness until Luke came along...

I also think that if it was out of balance in TPM, it would've been ever so slightly - to the point that it is negligible. Certainly the Jedi would've been unaware of it as they didn't believe anyone could challenge their dominance. Yet when the Sith emerge, they do feel the change. And come AOTC "their ability to use the Force has diminished" and "the Dark Side clouded everything".

 

The Jedi weren't the smartest bunch and i think people put too much stock in their " Chosen one" prophecies.

 

As far as I'm concerned, Anakin was the Chosen One. Just because he didn't achieve this prophecy the way many had assumed he would, doesn't negate this. Following that, Disney should leave the "Chosen One" prophecy alone. We don't need it to be revised in order to adhere to some ridiculous black-and-white morality.

 

Maybe Luke went to Ach-too to force pray for another "Chosen one" to help him with Snoke/Kylo.

 

I don't know if this was posted before. It's 25 pages in now.

 

This is very true, but the numbers don't bear out in the end. At the end of ROTJ, there were no Sith and one Jedi due to the actions of the Chosen One. Not equal. George Lucas meant something else by "balance," which was the total elimination of the Sith. If you buy George's interpretation, then Anakin fulfilled the prophecy. Since he's the creator and all, I tend to side with him.

Of course, the Clone Wars series brought some things up that contradict this (Mortis arc) and that were also brought forward by George. So the debate continues!

 

I'm not following. How exactly did the Mortis arc contradict the prophecy? I just watched it again the other day, and I didn't notice any contradictions.

 

I haven't watched it in ages, so I don't remember the details. But others who have watched it more recently constantly say it's a contradiction. So I'm just repeating what I hear, honestly.

 

The Mortis storyline implies Anakin's role as the chosen one was to balance both the Dark and Light sides of the Force. We literally see him stand at the center of a giant Yin Yang while he subjugates the embodiments of these sides into two equal portions.

IF the Dark Side = the Sith and Anakin’s job is to eliminate the Sith, then that removes half the basis and is no longer a balance.

However, the Sith aren’t all there is to the Dark Side just as the Jedi aren’t all there is to the Light Side. So, it’s ambiguous enough for the two ideas to coexist. But that's where the disconnect is coming from if I understand correctly.