The fact that there can be debate about who the Chosen One is actually makes this prophecy interesting. There's no clear-cut conclusion one way or the other.
Prophecies are lame
- Thread starter RoJoHen
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The fact that there can be debate about who the Chosen One is actually makes this prophecy interesting. There's no clear-cut conclusion one way or the other.
Of course, Anakin couldn't have done it without Palpatine either, so maybe he was the chosen one. And don't forget Jar Jar Binks.
It always made far more sense to me that Anakin was The Chosen One. The Prequels pretty much confirm this, what with him being born from the Force and all. Luke may have had special parents, but they were still human.
IIRC Lucas has gone on record that it is about Anakin, and, as the third prequel states, it's about him destroying the dark side.
Therefore he's not bringing balance by destroying the Jedi Order (which is what I used to think it meant, and it was a very popular theory after TPM came out), but the prophecy is specifically talking about that time he cast the Emperor down a shaft in ROTJ.
So it is straightforwardly about Good and Evil, it just doesn't mention the guy who gets around to doing this makes a mountain of innocent bodies along the way.
And took 30 years to get around to it, during which a massive Evil Empire arose and was responsible for the deaths of massive numbers of people on its own. No, he certainly couldn't have fulfilled that particular prophecy while Palpatine was still a senator and saved everyone a lot of trouble, could he? No, sir.
And it's good to hear that there is NO dark side after Palpatine died, since he was apparently responsible for all the evil of the galaxy since time immemorial.
Good lord, what was Lucas smoking when he said that??? This time???
I'm sticking with the theory that bringing balance meant destroying both the Jedi AND the Sith, and therefore leveling the playing field. It's the only way the prophecy makes sense and has some significance in the long run.
That is the irony of it, isn't it though? It's a nice touch, a chosen one who isn't at all what is expected and yet still does in the end that one thing he's prophesised to do.
Let me see if I can do this by breaking down a story.
The Matrix: in which we are introduced to the quest for the Chosen One who will - do something and be really bad ass.
Firstly, we know there is a Chosen One. We don't know why. That is, there are no mythologies, world views or religious beliefs in which this is embedded - though a little bit of something does emerge as the movies go on, sadly what emerges is largely incoherent, which is why the trilogy ultimately fails.
Secondly, we are introduced to Neo, who is apparently the Chosen One. He has some sort of inherent skill at manipulating the matrix which Morpehus identified by watching him. What Morpheus saw in him is never explained. Why this particular person should possess these charactertistics is also never explained. We don't see anything particularly special about Neo except that he advances quickly in his training to control things in the matrix, which we are told is exactly what we can expect the Chosen One to do. There is no indication why this person should have these powers - we must assume they are "in born". While this is traditional hero fare, it's weak in today's storytelling because it lacks a psychological element or a character arc - that is the hero has very little changing to do. Basically the only way Neo changes is to go from being sure he's not the Chosen One to believing he is.
Neo goes to see the Oracle who messes with his head by saying he is not the Chosen One, but we the audience know quite clearly that he is and she's just being cryptic. We know this because we have Trinity saying she loves him and she is to love the Chosen One, blah, blah. We also know this because if he wasn't the Chosen One, the movie would be over when we find out it's not him because the whole movie has moved forward purely on the crux of finding the Chosen One and there is no movement in the story towards trying to identify another Chosen One besides Neo.
Surprise, surprise, Neo turns out to indeed be the Chosen One (the Oracle's false prophecy to him serving only to provide a little second act angst for Neo and to give him the platform from which to make his one character change). He becomes bad ass, which apparently is the fulfillment of the prophecy.
So there's a prophecy and a Chosen One, but we cannot decipher the mystic-religious setting from which the Prophecy emerges (at first it's just there's a psychic who can see the future, then it's that the psychic is a program in the matrix who argued with another program, free will, dying Ones, rebooted matrixes, death to Zion - huh?) While the woman playing the Oracle sells it well, the Matrix is essentially a fairy tale, a classic hero cycle - Hero is born from ambiguous circumstances, Hero is called (by Morpheus in this case), Hero faces challenges and enters the darkness to emerge triumphant and able to bring boons back to his community.
Now, given the right innovative setting, such as the Matrix, such a simple story can still work - because a lot of your attention is busy being impressed at the world presented - I suppose Avatar falls into this category as well, because I could break it down essentially the same way. So it all falls to the world-building if you're going to rely on such a basic story form. The problem in general with prophecies is that the world-building of the story isn't strong enough to make up for the bare bones storyform.
This is why using prophecy as a springboard for a lot of psychological struggle and change in your characters can be good. Using it as an in-depth way of seeing into someone's struggle with destiny can sometimes be good, and there's something to be said for watching a well-thought out transformation from zero to hero - these are things Dune does well. Using prophecy to explore the differing philosophies of the characters, to explore your fictional universe's different points of view about reality, etc - these can also be good uses. BSG tried to do this, but it actually got bogged down in too much psychological angst and could have used a little bit more of the basic storyform.
There's something really satisfying for all of us in seeing that basic hero cycle play out (thus why Star Wars OT is pleasing - and it is strong on the Chosen One scale because we really follow Luke's transformation), but it needs plenty of window dressing to work these days.
There are also other uses of prophecy - but they have largely fallen by the wayside. As Kegg mentions, they were originally used to explore the idea of inescapable destiny (and not in a good way). See The Mists of Avalon for a great exploration of this more ancient use of prophecy in a story.
It would be more ironic if it was clearer what that one thing was.
Assuming Anakin is the Chosen One, there seem to be four popular theories on what he was supposed to accomplish to "bring balance to the Force."
1) Wipe out the Jedi, thus getting rid of a top-heavy light side that has grown intractable and counterproductive.
2) Wipe out the Sith, thus getting rid of a major aberration in the dark side.
3) Wipe out all but two Jedi and two Sith, thus bringing literal numerical balance.
4) Wipe out both sides, thus getting rid of both sets of extreme and polarized views of the Force, BOTH of which are unnatural. Let the Force-wielders start over from scratch.
With 1), I'd like to know how wiping
With 2), along with eliminating the Sith, we got a pile of dead younglings (not to mention a pile of dead sandpeople and a pile of dead Imperial officers) that Anakin personally dispatched. Also the entire Jedi order, the population of an entire planet, and the victims of who knows how many Imperial atrocities. All of which could have been avoided if he had acted sooner. In that case the prophecy sounds so myopic that it doesn't really predict much at all. It's pointless.
Sorry, please ignore and read below instead.
Assuming Anakin is the Chosen One, there seem to be four popular theories on what he was supposed to accomplish to "bring balance to the Force."
1) Wipe out the Jedi, thus getting rid of a top-heavy light side that has grown intractable and counterproductive.
2) Wipe out the Sith, thus getting rid of a major aberration in the dark side.
3) Wipe out all but two Jedi and two Sith, thus bringing literal numerical balance.
4) Wipe out both sides, thus getting rid of both sets of extreme and polarized views of the Force, BOTH of which are unnatural. Let the Force-wielders start over from scratch.
With 1), I'd like to know how wiping
With 2), along with eliminating the Sith, we got a pile of dead younglings (not to mention a pile of dead sandpeople and a pile of dead Imperial officers) that Anakin personally dispatched. Also the entire Jedi order, the population of an entire planet, and the victims of who knows how many Imperial atrocities. All of which could have been avoided if he had acted sooner. In that case the prophecy sounds so myopic that it doesn't really predict much at all. It's pointless.
Sorry, please ignore and read below instead.
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Yep. Hence Obi-Wan's palpable disappointment, decrying that Anakin should have been the Chosen One.
Only, he still is. And he'll still do what he's prophesised to do, and yet in spite of that, he's no knight in shining armour.
You know just in concept it's miles better than any other iteration of the Chosen One I've seen for some time sci-fi TV/movies.
It would be more ironic if it was clearer what that one thing was.
Assuming Anakin is the Chosen One, there seem to be four popular theories on what he was supposed to accomplish to "bring balance to the Force."
1) Wipe out the Jedi, thus getting rid of a top-heavy light side that has grown intractable and counterproductive.
2) Wipe out the Sith, thus getting rid of a major aberration in the dark side.
3) Wipe out all but two Jedi and two Sith, thus bringing literal numerical balance.
4) Wipe out both sides, thus getting rid of both sets of extreme and polarized views of the Force, both of which are unnatural. Let the Force-wielders start over from scratch.
With 1), I'd like to know how specifically wiping out the Jedi brings balance to ANYTHING. The argument has been made that it gives the Sith ascendance for a while, allowing the tables to be turned and allowing the dark side to be dominant. The problem with this is that it doesn't last. The Sith were eliminated, what, thirty years later? That doesn't give them much time to be ascendant compared to thousands and thousands of years of Jedi dominance. In that case the prophecy doesn't predict anything of significance. It becomes meaningless in the larger picture.
With 2), along with eliminating the Sith, we got a pile of dead younglings (not to mention a pile of dead sandpeople and a pile of dead Imperial officers and dead Rebels) that Anakin personally dispatched. Also the entire Jedi order, the population of an entire planet, and the victims of who knows how many Imperial atrocities. All of which he is not personally responsible for, but which could have been avoided if he had acted sooner. In that case, again, the prophecy doesn't predict much of significance-- or more accurately, it myopically focuses on one small facet of the events and ignores the rest. Again, it becomes meaningless.
3) has the same problem as 1). "Two Jedi and two Sith" may count as balanced if you're just counting noses. But since the Sith are in power the whole time, it's not much of a balance any other way. And it's only true for about twenty years or so, until Luke starts his training. Again, the prophecy doesn't predict anything of significance, because the situation doesn't last.
(And this ignores the EU stuff that says other Jedi are still alive out there, in which case the numerical thing isn't even true!)
4), however, postulates that both the Jedi and the Sith are imbalances in the Force that need to be removed. The Jedi are a bunch of idiots who corrupt the young into their stratified thinking and keep them from developing naturally. The Sith, well, we know about them. If you eliminate both of them, you get rid of the "old guard" mentality. Luke and any Force-wielders that come after him can develop along new lines and stop making old mistakes. A situation which (hopefully) will last and grow for generations. That is worthy of a prophecy.
After my screwed-up post, let me just throw in a quick reply to yours:
Sure, it makes Anakin an interesting Chosen One. But it also makes for a piss-poor prophecy, and that's the real problem.
Sure, it makes Anakin an interesting Chosen One. But it also makes for a piss-poor prophecy, and that's the real problem.
