RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2006-02-27 10:42 pm
ratcreature) wrote2006-02-27 10:42 pm
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Star Wars babble: the whole balance/prophecy thing...
I'd like to preface this post with the disclaimer that Star Wars isn't my primary fandom, and seeing how I don't rewatch/reread sources often or intensely even in fandoms that I'm into more, it's been ages since I last saw the original trilogy, I have seen the prequels each only once or twice, and I am not familiar with any EU material first hand either, if I don't count seeing the occasional comic scan or book quote illustrating fan discussion. Also I suspect I should have gotten a beta reader for this post. (Do people even get beta readers for this kind of thing? It shows how rarely I post meta, I have no clue.)
The whole subject of the prophecy in the prequels left me confused. Not to slight the movies (I enjoyed them a lot, I do count myself as a SW fan after all), but it did seem to me that this prophecy, its actual meaning, and how it relates to Anakin's/Vader's actions in both trilogies wasn't that fully thought through, though perhaps extra material somewhere outside the cinema-versions of the movies, i.e. novelizations, DVD extras, whatever, might make things clearer. The thing is, after having read some significant amount of SW fanfic and the occasional SW-related LJ post, I fully expected to have picked up either prominent theories existing in the extended canon or brilliant, and thus widely accepted, fan wank that makes sense of it all, kind of like I pick up details from JKR interviews in HP fandom, even though I never read the interviews, just plenty of fanfic and sometimes, though less often, discussion posts. But so far I haven't. Or rather what I have seen proposed in fanfic and the (admittedly few) meta posts I've read doesn't make it much clearer, not so that the prophecy and its impact would "click" for me.
So I'm trying to muddle through this...
I recall seeing four main readings of the issue, which from memory I'd summarize thus:
(Sorry that I don't link to sources or examples for these, but I haven't bookmarked relevant posts and discussions I've seen.)
When I tried to decide which understanding I thought fit the events best however, it turned out that I have some problems with each of these interpretations, though with some more than with others.
All of this of course ties into the question of the nature of the Force and its aspects, and the meaning of the term "Will of the Force". My assumption about this is that the Light Side is associated with order and the Jedi advocate following their perception of its (i.e. the Light Side's) "Will", thus the Light Side exerts this Will on the Jedi who choose to act as its agents to counter and balance the chaos aspects associated with the Dark Side, which probably will be sufficiently furthered by merely empowering all the Dark Side disciples to follow their individual passions, which will result in chaos and strife in a natural progression, so that there is no need for it to exert a will beyond being seductive with promises of licentious indulgence in their passions. Kind of like the Vorlon vs Shadow philosophical conflict in Babylon 5. Hence following "the Will of the Force" seems to be used synonymously with "following the Will of the Light Side".
Anyway, I know that lots of people don't have a great opinion of the Old Republic Jedi. Common accusations seem to be that they weren't flexible enough, too mired in dogma and/or removed from the people and realities in the Republic, too complacent because of long peace, in general wrong for encouraging emotional equilibrium and lack of attachments over passions, and worst of all the "omg!!1! they steal babies!!11!" thing, where they deprive the poor infants of the glorious mother love and destroy the happy, loving nuclear family units, which are of course much better for children than their heartless communal upbringing.
As you might have guessed, I don't exactly share most of those criticisms, but whether or not the Jedi Order was in dire need of reform, they had been quite effective over long periods of time, had long experience and training with the Force in general, with dealing with Dark Side Force users, as well as records of times when there were still actual Sith, so I tend to assume these Jedi weren't morons or otherwise incapable, and that their Force-perceptions were accurate, and that most of them did their best to serve the (Light Side of the) Force as they understood and perceived it.
So how do the Jedi see this prophecy? Looking at the movies, in the prequels we learn that (at least a number of) the Old Republic Jedi believed a prophecy of a "Chosen One" who will "bring Balance to the Force". In TPM, if I recall the council scenes correctly, only Qui-Gon Jinn is a fervent "obvious believer", but Mace Windu an Yoda both recognize what Qui-Gon is talking about, and don't discount the notion, even if they're less eager about the prophecy. At least some of those Jedi also believe that this prophecy refers to Anakin, Qui-Gon being the most prominent example right from the start, but Obi-Wan clearly comes to believe that also, since by the time ROTS comes around, he feels not just personal betrayal, but also that Anakin failed the expectations he had of the prophecy.
In fact I got the impression that there seems to have been a "standard interpretation" of the prophecy that over the years after TPM came to include the understanding that Anakin was its subject. In TPM Yoda acknowledges that the prophecy may refer to Anakin, but he isn't sure ("The Chosen One the boy may be, nevertheless grave danger I fear in his training!"). Then in AOTC I vaguely recall that though Obi-Wan was concerned, the Council in particular Mace were impressed with Anakin's skill, and seemed to believe that Anakin was indeed the Chosen One, and though Yoda was still concerned, IIRC he didn't doubt anymore that Anakin could achieve this, but only if he would stay on the right path. By the time ROTS comes around, the roles are somewhat reversed. Obi-Wan once again talks with Yoda and Mace and now stresses the faith he has in Anakin, and mentions his understanding of the prophecy, which he takes to mean that Anakin will destroy the Sith. Mace understands the prophecy to refer to the destruction of the Sith as well, but isn't sure anymore that Anakin will be able to do it, and doesn't trust him anymore, Yoda however says that they could have "misread" the prophecy.
I don't remember that the prophecy is actually recited with its full text or that a further clear explanation of itself or this "Balance" is given. The way it's been presented in the discussion between Obi-Wan, Yoda and Mace throughout the prequels, it seemed to me at least that the prophecy wasn't very explicit, but that the Council had come to a kind of widely accepted/sanctioned interpretation, that at least Obi-Wan had a lot of faith in, as his reactions on Mustafar make clear, when Obi-Wan yells at Anakin, "You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! You were supposed to bring Balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!" (according to the Wikiquote SW page).
Apparently the Old Republic Jedi want this "Balance" to happen, and they hope it will be achieved either because of or at least together with the destruction of the Sith. So I assume by the time of TPM there is something "wrong" with the Force (from the Jedi perspective at least) that needs to be fixed so that the natural order is restored. That is my problem with the first pure "numerical" interpretation, it would mean that Jedi completely misread one of their central(?) prophecies, misunderstood the meaning of Balance, and that either a "numerical" interpretation never occurred to them at all, as IIRC we never see a Jedi suggest that Balance could be undesirable for the Order and the Light Side, or that they so thoroughly silenced any heretic interpretations that despite their apprehension towards Anakin nobody dared to voice this concern. None of which are conclusions I'd like to draw about the Old Republic Jedi Order.
The pure numerical explanation has some appeal of course, it makes sense that symmetry is a goal of the Force, that with a division of (nearly) exclusive Light and Dark Side users by dogma, it is unacceptable that there are several thousand Jedi but only only two Sith, that this can't be maintained longterm, and the Force as a whole not merely the Dark Side furthers the Sith agenda until the two Sith are mirrored by only two remaining Jedi, Yoda and Obi-Wan (ignoring minor Jedi in hiding and Dark Side users in the Emperor's employ who both, I think, are only significant groups in the EU and perhaps may balance each other on a lower level of Force users).
My problem with this suggested interpretation is actually two-fold: I don't quite see how the "Balance" of a mystical energy field could be merely about a numerical balance of Dark vs. Light Side users, I find that not fully satisfying, not to mention that I find it highly problematic that a mystical energy field connecting all life would favor mass-murder a first choice to remedy the problem of an imbalance, though the latter is minor. I can go with a Force that is not "compassionate" towards individual life nor cares for it's preservation.
However, the numerical reading also makes the Jedi seem rather incompetent and/or corrupted, because for all their millenia of Force study they then not only had misinterpreted the meaning of "Balance" wholly, but also fall to Sidious' machinations despite that the numerical imbalance this interpretation proposes is in their favor, with the Force seemingly abandoning them, which would imply that their "service" to it (or rather to the Light Side that imposes its Will) was somehow flawed, and not in fact furthering its agenda. I mean, despite their strength in numbers the Light Side doesn't seem to have an advantageous position during the prequels, but rather the contrary. I think it is Yoda who said that the Dark Side clouds everything, so obviously Sidious can hide very effectively from all Jedi, even the strongest among them. Yet if we believe what Yoda tells Luke in the OT we also know that the Dark Side powers as such shouldn't be stronger than the Light Side ones, only easier and quicker.
So I assume that at least in part it is the imbalance in the Force that put the Jedi at disadvantage and prevents them from recognizing Palpatine as Sith or seeing through this machinations, not Palpatine's Machiavellian genius alone. (Of course you could always postulate the aforementioned moron!Jedi, but I don't like that explanation).
I have been thinking about how it could work that Palpatine can use the Dark Side so effectively. My first thought was that because there are only two Sith it may be more "concentrated" on just the two, giving the individual somehow more "Force Power" to work with whereas the Light Side is "spread thin" among many users, but that doesn't really make sense for some mystical energy field, as I can't really imagine it to be limited in that way, as if there was a finite amount of it.
My next idea centered around the phenomenon of those blue Force ghosts. It seems to me that for Jedi at least prior to Qui-Gon the ghost thing wasn't common or encouraged. They weren't supposed to have attachments, and I think that includes their individuality and clinging to a personal identity rather than dispersing into the Force as energy, which is also the reason why I assume that they vanished at the end of ROTJ (at least IIRC, it has been quite some time since I last saw ROTJ). However as Obi-Wan tells Vader these Force manifestations are powerful, and I can see Sith clinging to their individual identity far more tenaciously. So in the last big Jedi-Sith war the Jedi presumably killed many, many Sith, who will want revenge against the Jedi, and a number of them may have managed the Force ghost thing, a Dark Side equivalent to the Force ghost manifestation, or some other way to preserve their spirit (I vaguely remember hearing about EU stories were they possess objects or places or something?). Then those can lend their power and knowledge to other Sith, or support them. Which probably wasn't a problem back when there were plenty of Sith, obviously they wouldn't all back the same, also there probably would have been backstabbing and power struggles, so with many Sith the Force ghosts wouldn't make a huge difference, but with the introduction of the two Sith rule, there are no such limitations, they can only lend their power to either the Master or the Apprentice if they want to take their revenge against the Jedi.
That would explain why the imbalance is in favor of the Sith, even if there are just two, yet thousands of Jedi opposing them. The Light Side itself isn't weaker as such during the prequels, but less focused, and the Jedi didn't favor practices that focused individual life energy rather than dispersing it back into the Force. The energy of the dead Jedi of past conflicts was of course conserved but they didn't fight entropy like the Sith did, so it wasn't conserved in a way useful/available to current living Jedi. Now Qui-Gon broke with that tradition and retained his individuality, thus keeping his Force energy accessible, at least enabling him to pass on the knowledge, and perhaps communicate and interfere in other ways.
So if I take the theory that life energy of Force users can be channeled in different ways upon their death a step further, maybe Qui-Gon learned more techniques in the years between his death and ROTS, maybe total dispersal into the Force and the Force ghost thing are not the only options. What if the energy could loose their individuality but still be channeled, reincarnated along a guided path, facilitated by a Force adept, rather than dispersing uncontrolled into the general "pool"? Maybe after his death Qui-Gon's skills with the Living Force enabled him upon seeing Anakin's fall to sort of channel the life energies of the Jedi dying in the Jedi Purges into the unborn Luke and Leia Skywalker. The Jedi hadn't learned the Force ghost technique, so they wouldn't be around as individuals to help, but controlling how the energy is released back into the Force must be easier than maintaining individuality, so maybe with Qui-Gon's help a number of them managed that, making Luke even stronger than he would have been otherwise, and in a way a direct reincarnation of the lost Jedi, like his New Jedi Order is a rebirth and renewal of the old.
I'm still wavering though, how trying to understand this Balance in terms of a kind of energy balance that is connected, but not identical with the kind and number of Force users, could help to decide which of the last three options is the most likely interpretation of the prophecy. I think to some extent, if I go with the assumption that Anakin, not Luke, is the subject of the prophecy, the Chosen One, the question whether his actions as Vader were part of his predetermined destiny to bring Balance or a fall from his destined part could be irrelevant, in that the Balance would be achieved regardless of his moral choices, and his destiny didn't prescribe his morality in either way.
Making his moral choices part of his destiny either assumes the Force as a whole has a kind of morality (if we assume his fall went against his destiny and delayed it), rather than to assume that different moralities conceptualize and perceive the Force in different ways (thus "creating" the Light and Dark Side as perceptive qualities, that while true aspects of the Force are also tools of understanding imposed by Force users, and not absolute properties of the Force wholly outside of sentients' perceptions of the Force), or exempts Anakin from any moral responsibility (by claiming that was only fulfilling the prophecy and serving the Force when he fell to the Dark Side).
If the Force as a whole seeks Balance, then both following the Light Side as well as succumbing to the Dark Side should ultimately lead to this Balance, because it is the "natural" state, just like a system in thermodynamics will seek equilibrium. So the Balance is unavoidable, but different paths to it allow for moral choices even within the framework of a predetermined individual destiny for Anakin (i.e. that he will be the one to bring Balance). If killing the Jedi made Luke stronger, that would balance the short term advantage for the Sith, just like in the previous cycle the death of many Sith may have made the remaining two ultimately stronger, though the Jedi had a short term advantage.
If I make the assumption that Anakin's moral choices were to be open to him, even within the framework of his destiny, the question remains what the Balance could have been like if Anakin had chosen to remain with the Light Side and destroy the Sith right away. It seems that a new kind of Jedi Order is integral to the state of Balance as it was (presumably) achieved by the end of ROTJ (well at that point it's still more the promise of of a New Order, but still...). With the Sith gone completely, but no "clean slate" for the Jedi Order, the Force presences of the Sith wouldn't disperse, but would have no Sith whom they could aid, whereas the Jedi would presumably continue to disperse into the Force for the most part, except for those Qui-Gon might still teach the Force ghost technique.
I guess there could be a slow reformation of the Jedi Order, or internal schisms brought about by Anakin's breaking of the Code, and Qui-Gon's teachings of Force techniques not in line with Jedi Orthodoxy. I've seen a couple of AUs exploring those scenarios of "What if Anakin hadn't turned?" though often their main focus seems to be that this way it's much easier to write the popular ships of Anakin/Padmé and Anakin/Obi-Wan, not necessarily a bad thing, but at the same time from a drama perspective the whole story has much more impact with Anakin becoming Vader. Still regardless of dramatic (meta-)concerns I'd like to have an extrapolation what Anakin not turning would have meant for the Balance within the confines of the fictional universe in such AUs.
So it is conceivable that a similar state of Balance (though with more force users surviving) could have been achieved through slow reform as well as through violent revolution as it happened in canon, making the way the prophecy was realized subject to Anakin's moral choices without changing its basic meaning for the Force. That would mean that while he followed his "destiny" in both ROTS and ROTJ as the third interpretation above suggests, he wasn't predetermined to be a mass-murderer and the Jedi were not completely wrong in their interpretation of the prophecy or their hope for the Balance, because there might have been a way to reach Balance without the violent end of their order had Anakin tried to realize the Prophecy through a (mostly) Light Side path.
The whole subject of the prophecy in the prequels left me confused. Not to slight the movies (I enjoyed them a lot, I do count myself as a SW fan after all), but it did seem to me that this prophecy, its actual meaning, and how it relates to Anakin's/Vader's actions in both trilogies wasn't that fully thought through, though perhaps extra material somewhere outside the cinema-versions of the movies, i.e. novelizations, DVD extras, whatever, might make things clearer. The thing is, after having read some significant amount of SW fanfic and the occasional SW-related LJ post, I fully expected to have picked up either prominent theories existing in the extended canon or brilliant, and thus widely accepted, fan wank that makes sense of it all, kind of like I pick up details from JKR interviews in HP fandom, even though I never read the interviews, just plenty of fanfic and sometimes, though less often, discussion posts. But so far I haven't. Or rather what I have seen proposed in fanfic and the (admittedly few) meta posts I've read doesn't make it much clearer, not so that the prophecy and its impact would "click" for me.
So I'm trying to muddle through this...
I recall seeing four main readings of the issue, which from memory I'd summarize thus:
(Sorry that I don't link to sources or examples for these, but I haven't bookmarked relevant posts and discussions I've seen.)
- Anakin is the prophesied Chosen One and fulfills the prophecy with his actions in ROTS, when he turns to the Dark Side and destroys the Jedi Order. The Jedi where right when they recognized Anakin as the subject of the prophecy, but misinterpreted it when they expected it to mean the destruction of the Sith. The "balance" the prophecy speaks of refers in fact to actual number of Jedi vs. Sith, so when Anakin turns and he and Palpatine slaughter all the Jedi with the exception of Yoda and Obi-Wan (for this purpose occasional minor other Jedi who might have survive in the EU are ignored), there are two Jedi to mirror the two Sith, and balance is achieved.
- Anakin is the prophesied Chosen One and fulfills the prophecy with his actions in ROTJ, when he renounces the Dark Side and finally kills the Emperor. The Jedi interpreted the prophecy correctly in that Anakin is its subject and at its core "balance" means the destruction of the Sith, because somehow their Dark Side use disrupted the natural order, as indicated for example by the fact that during the prequels the Dark Side was so strong that it even impeded the Jedi's connection to the Force ("the Dark Side clouds everything"), which is a symptom of this imbalance that the Force seeks to remedy. There were just more trials along Anakin's path to fulfill his destiny than the Jedi had expected, however Anakin's turning and the slaughter of the Jedi was a fall from his destined path, that he had to overcome to be redeemed, not part of the Force's will.
- Anakin is the prophesied Chosen One and fulfills the prophecy with his actions in both ROTS and ROTJ, he was following his true destiny in all his actions. In this interpretation both the Old Jedi Order and the Sith are obstacles to the "balance" the Force seeks, and Anakin is its chosen tool for destroying them. This "balance" can only achieved through a completely new way the Force is conceptualized and served by the beings in the GFFA, overcoming both classic Jedi as well as Sith doctrine, finally resulting in a renewal through a holistic "balanced" view of the Force in the coming of the New Jedi Order. For that, destruction of the Jedi was the first necessary step on the destined path, the destruction of the remaining Sith the second. Once both are gone there is a "clean slate" for the necessary renewal, as the new servants of the Force aren't constrained by either doctrine, leaving them free to follow its will without being obstructed by those corrupted teachings the Force sought to eliminate, a kind of reset button or the Force's version of The Flood to start over.
- Anakin is not the prophesied Chosen One, his son Luke is and he fulfills the prophecy when he redeems his father, causing the destruction of the Sith, and then founds the New Jedi Order. The Jedi misinterpreted the prophecy, when they believed Anakin to be its subject, but were right to assume it meant the destruction of the Sith. Anakin's turning is not part of the will of the Force, but another symptom of the imbalance and darkness that is ultimately overcome by Luke, and his reformed understanding of the Force. Anakin's fall in particular also shows the flaws of the classic Jedi doctrine of discouraging attachment and strong emotions, as having to hide those aids his fall and unwittingly increases the imbalance in the Dark Side's favor, whereas Luke openly embracing attachment and emotions is what redeems Anakin. The correction of that "flawed" classic Jedi doctrine in the New Jedi Order is as essential to the prophesied "balance" as the removal of the Sith.
When I tried to decide which understanding I thought fit the events best however, it turned out that I have some problems with each of these interpretations, though with some more than with others.
All of this of course ties into the question of the nature of the Force and its aspects, and the meaning of the term "Will of the Force". My assumption about this is that the Light Side is associated with order and the Jedi advocate following their perception of its (i.e. the Light Side's) "Will", thus the Light Side exerts this Will on the Jedi who choose to act as its agents to counter and balance the chaos aspects associated with the Dark Side, which probably will be sufficiently furthered by merely empowering all the Dark Side disciples to follow their individual passions, which will result in chaos and strife in a natural progression, so that there is no need for it to exert a will beyond being seductive with promises of licentious indulgence in their passions. Kind of like the Vorlon vs Shadow philosophical conflict in Babylon 5. Hence following "the Will of the Force" seems to be used synonymously with "following the Will of the Light Side".
Anyway, I know that lots of people don't have a great opinion of the Old Republic Jedi. Common accusations seem to be that they weren't flexible enough, too mired in dogma and/or removed from the people and realities in the Republic, too complacent because of long peace, in general wrong for encouraging emotional equilibrium and lack of attachments over passions, and worst of all the "omg!!1! they steal babies!!11!" thing, where they deprive the poor infants of the glorious mother love and destroy the happy, loving nuclear family units, which are of course much better for children than their heartless communal upbringing.
As you might have guessed, I don't exactly share most of those criticisms, but whether or not the Jedi Order was in dire need of reform, they had been quite effective over long periods of time, had long experience and training with the Force in general, with dealing with Dark Side Force users, as well as records of times when there were still actual Sith, so I tend to assume these Jedi weren't morons or otherwise incapable, and that their Force-perceptions were accurate, and that most of them did their best to serve the (Light Side of the) Force as they understood and perceived it.
So how do the Jedi see this prophecy? Looking at the movies, in the prequels we learn that (at least a number of) the Old Republic Jedi believed a prophecy of a "Chosen One" who will "bring Balance to the Force". In TPM, if I recall the council scenes correctly, only Qui-Gon Jinn is a fervent "obvious believer", but Mace Windu an Yoda both recognize what Qui-Gon is talking about, and don't discount the notion, even if they're less eager about the prophecy. At least some of those Jedi also believe that this prophecy refers to Anakin, Qui-Gon being the most prominent example right from the start, but Obi-Wan clearly comes to believe that also, since by the time ROTS comes around, he feels not just personal betrayal, but also that Anakin failed the expectations he had of the prophecy.
In fact I got the impression that there seems to have been a "standard interpretation" of the prophecy that over the years after TPM came to include the understanding that Anakin was its subject. In TPM Yoda acknowledges that the prophecy may refer to Anakin, but he isn't sure ("The Chosen One the boy may be, nevertheless grave danger I fear in his training!"). Then in AOTC I vaguely recall that though Obi-Wan was concerned, the Council in particular Mace were impressed with Anakin's skill, and seemed to believe that Anakin was indeed the Chosen One, and though Yoda was still concerned, IIRC he didn't doubt anymore that Anakin could achieve this, but only if he would stay on the right path. By the time ROTS comes around, the roles are somewhat reversed. Obi-Wan once again talks with Yoda and Mace and now stresses the faith he has in Anakin, and mentions his understanding of the prophecy, which he takes to mean that Anakin will destroy the Sith. Mace understands the prophecy to refer to the destruction of the Sith as well, but isn't sure anymore that Anakin will be able to do it, and doesn't trust him anymore, Yoda however says that they could have "misread" the prophecy.
I don't remember that the prophecy is actually recited with its full text or that a further clear explanation of itself or this "Balance" is given. The way it's been presented in the discussion between Obi-Wan, Yoda and Mace throughout the prequels, it seemed to me at least that the prophecy wasn't very explicit, but that the Council had come to a kind of widely accepted/sanctioned interpretation, that at least Obi-Wan had a lot of faith in, as his reactions on Mustafar make clear, when Obi-Wan yells at Anakin, "You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! You were supposed to bring Balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!" (according to the Wikiquote SW page).
Apparently the Old Republic Jedi want this "Balance" to happen, and they hope it will be achieved either because of or at least together with the destruction of the Sith. So I assume by the time of TPM there is something "wrong" with the Force (from the Jedi perspective at least) that needs to be fixed so that the natural order is restored. That is my problem with the first pure "numerical" interpretation, it would mean that Jedi completely misread one of their central(?) prophecies, misunderstood the meaning of Balance, and that either a "numerical" interpretation never occurred to them at all, as IIRC we never see a Jedi suggest that Balance could be undesirable for the Order and the Light Side, or that they so thoroughly silenced any heretic interpretations that despite their apprehension towards Anakin nobody dared to voice this concern. None of which are conclusions I'd like to draw about the Old Republic Jedi Order.
The pure numerical explanation has some appeal of course, it makes sense that symmetry is a goal of the Force, that with a division of (nearly) exclusive Light and Dark Side users by dogma, it is unacceptable that there are several thousand Jedi but only only two Sith, that this can't be maintained longterm, and the Force as a whole not merely the Dark Side furthers the Sith agenda until the two Sith are mirrored by only two remaining Jedi, Yoda and Obi-Wan (ignoring minor Jedi in hiding and Dark Side users in the Emperor's employ who both, I think, are only significant groups in the EU and perhaps may balance each other on a lower level of Force users).
My problem with this suggested interpretation is actually two-fold: I don't quite see how the "Balance" of a mystical energy field could be merely about a numerical balance of Dark vs. Light Side users, I find that not fully satisfying, not to mention that I find it highly problematic that a mystical energy field connecting all life would favor mass-murder a first choice to remedy the problem of an imbalance, though the latter is minor. I can go with a Force that is not "compassionate" towards individual life nor cares for it's preservation.
However, the numerical reading also makes the Jedi seem rather incompetent and/or corrupted, because for all their millenia of Force study they then not only had misinterpreted the meaning of "Balance" wholly, but also fall to Sidious' machinations despite that the numerical imbalance this interpretation proposes is in their favor, with the Force seemingly abandoning them, which would imply that their "service" to it (or rather to the Light Side that imposes its Will) was somehow flawed, and not in fact furthering its agenda. I mean, despite their strength in numbers the Light Side doesn't seem to have an advantageous position during the prequels, but rather the contrary. I think it is Yoda who said that the Dark Side clouds everything, so obviously Sidious can hide very effectively from all Jedi, even the strongest among them. Yet if we believe what Yoda tells Luke in the OT we also know that the Dark Side powers as such shouldn't be stronger than the Light Side ones, only easier and quicker.
So I assume that at least in part it is the imbalance in the Force that put the Jedi at disadvantage and prevents them from recognizing Palpatine as Sith or seeing through this machinations, not Palpatine's Machiavellian genius alone. (Of course you could always postulate the aforementioned moron!Jedi, but I don't like that explanation).
I have been thinking about how it could work that Palpatine can use the Dark Side so effectively. My first thought was that because there are only two Sith it may be more "concentrated" on just the two, giving the individual somehow more "Force Power" to work with whereas the Light Side is "spread thin" among many users, but that doesn't really make sense for some mystical energy field, as I can't really imagine it to be limited in that way, as if there was a finite amount of it.
My next idea centered around the phenomenon of those blue Force ghosts. It seems to me that for Jedi at least prior to Qui-Gon the ghost thing wasn't common or encouraged. They weren't supposed to have attachments, and I think that includes their individuality and clinging to a personal identity rather than dispersing into the Force as energy, which is also the reason why I assume that they vanished at the end of ROTJ (at least IIRC, it has been quite some time since I last saw ROTJ). However as Obi-Wan tells Vader these Force manifestations are powerful, and I can see Sith clinging to their individual identity far more tenaciously. So in the last big Jedi-Sith war the Jedi presumably killed many, many Sith, who will want revenge against the Jedi, and a number of them may have managed the Force ghost thing, a Dark Side equivalent to the Force ghost manifestation, or some other way to preserve their spirit (I vaguely remember hearing about EU stories were they possess objects or places or something?). Then those can lend their power and knowledge to other Sith, or support them. Which probably wasn't a problem back when there were plenty of Sith, obviously they wouldn't all back the same, also there probably would have been backstabbing and power struggles, so with many Sith the Force ghosts wouldn't make a huge difference, but with the introduction of the two Sith rule, there are no such limitations, they can only lend their power to either the Master or the Apprentice if they want to take their revenge against the Jedi.
That would explain why the imbalance is in favor of the Sith, even if there are just two, yet thousands of Jedi opposing them. The Light Side itself isn't weaker as such during the prequels, but less focused, and the Jedi didn't favor practices that focused individual life energy rather than dispersing it back into the Force. The energy of the dead Jedi of past conflicts was of course conserved but they didn't fight entropy like the Sith did, so it wasn't conserved in a way useful/available to current living Jedi. Now Qui-Gon broke with that tradition and retained his individuality, thus keeping his Force energy accessible, at least enabling him to pass on the knowledge, and perhaps communicate and interfere in other ways.
So if I take the theory that life energy of Force users can be channeled in different ways upon their death a step further, maybe Qui-Gon learned more techniques in the years between his death and ROTS, maybe total dispersal into the Force and the Force ghost thing are not the only options. What if the energy could loose their individuality but still be channeled, reincarnated along a guided path, facilitated by a Force adept, rather than dispersing uncontrolled into the general "pool"? Maybe after his death Qui-Gon's skills with the Living Force enabled him upon seeing Anakin's fall to sort of channel the life energies of the Jedi dying in the Jedi Purges into the unborn Luke and Leia Skywalker. The Jedi hadn't learned the Force ghost technique, so they wouldn't be around as individuals to help, but controlling how the energy is released back into the Force must be easier than maintaining individuality, so maybe with Qui-Gon's help a number of them managed that, making Luke even stronger than he would have been otherwise, and in a way a direct reincarnation of the lost Jedi, like his New Jedi Order is a rebirth and renewal of the old.
I'm still wavering though, how trying to understand this Balance in terms of a kind of energy balance that is connected, but not identical with the kind and number of Force users, could help to decide which of the last three options is the most likely interpretation of the prophecy. I think to some extent, if I go with the assumption that Anakin, not Luke, is the subject of the prophecy, the Chosen One, the question whether his actions as Vader were part of his predetermined destiny to bring Balance or a fall from his destined part could be irrelevant, in that the Balance would be achieved regardless of his moral choices, and his destiny didn't prescribe his morality in either way.
Making his moral choices part of his destiny either assumes the Force as a whole has a kind of morality (if we assume his fall went against his destiny and delayed it), rather than to assume that different moralities conceptualize and perceive the Force in different ways (thus "creating" the Light and Dark Side as perceptive qualities, that while true aspects of the Force are also tools of understanding imposed by Force users, and not absolute properties of the Force wholly outside of sentients' perceptions of the Force), or exempts Anakin from any moral responsibility (by claiming that was only fulfilling the prophecy and serving the Force when he fell to the Dark Side).
If the Force as a whole seeks Balance, then both following the Light Side as well as succumbing to the Dark Side should ultimately lead to this Balance, because it is the "natural" state, just like a system in thermodynamics will seek equilibrium. So the Balance is unavoidable, but different paths to it allow for moral choices even within the framework of a predetermined individual destiny for Anakin (i.e. that he will be the one to bring Balance). If killing the Jedi made Luke stronger, that would balance the short term advantage for the Sith, just like in the previous cycle the death of many Sith may have made the remaining two ultimately stronger, though the Jedi had a short term advantage.
If I make the assumption that Anakin's moral choices were to be open to him, even within the framework of his destiny, the question remains what the Balance could have been like if Anakin had chosen to remain with the Light Side and destroy the Sith right away. It seems that a new kind of Jedi Order is integral to the state of Balance as it was (presumably) achieved by the end of ROTJ (well at that point it's still more the promise of of a New Order, but still...). With the Sith gone completely, but no "clean slate" for the Jedi Order, the Force presences of the Sith wouldn't disperse, but would have no Sith whom they could aid, whereas the Jedi would presumably continue to disperse into the Force for the most part, except for those Qui-Gon might still teach the Force ghost technique.
I guess there could be a slow reformation of the Jedi Order, or internal schisms brought about by Anakin's breaking of the Code, and Qui-Gon's teachings of Force techniques not in line with Jedi Orthodoxy. I've seen a couple of AUs exploring those scenarios of "What if Anakin hadn't turned?" though often their main focus seems to be that this way it's much easier to write the popular ships of Anakin/Padmé and Anakin/Obi-Wan, not necessarily a bad thing, but at the same time from a drama perspective the whole story has much more impact with Anakin becoming Vader. Still regardless of dramatic (meta-)concerns I'd like to have an extrapolation what Anakin not turning would have meant for the Balance within the confines of the fictional universe in such AUs.
So it is conceivable that a similar state of Balance (though with more force users surviving) could have been achieved through slow reform as well as through violent revolution as it happened in canon, making the way the prophecy was realized subject to Anakin's moral choices without changing its basic meaning for the Force. That would mean that while he followed his "destiny" in both ROTS and ROTJ as the third interpretation above suggests, he wasn't predetermined to be a mass-murderer and the Jedi were not completely wrong in their interpretation of the prophecy or their hope for the Balance, because there might have been a way to reach Balance without the violent end of their order had Anakin tried to realize the Prophecy through a (mostly) Light Side path.
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Now, you make some really great points and explore a lot of possibilities (all plausible in their own ways). I tend to go with option #2 the most, for various reasons. One of which is that I am a diehard original trilogy fan, and I consider it better presented than the prequels. The other is because it just makes sense to me. And also, some things George Lucas has said on the DVDs and in interviews sways me in this direction. Not everyone takes what he says off-film as canon. I can understand why, but I like him for explanation. :D I do not bother much with the EU, especially post-RotJ, most of which was written prior to the release of the prequels and is inaccurate due to this.
A lot of things in the film are left intentionally vague, as Lucas wanted people to interpret it how they want, and to look at it as suited them. So, really, there's no true right answer. What i say is based off some extra sources and my own beliefs, so are NOT necessarily canon, just canon-compliant and my own views.
Here's my thinking: Lucas stated in the RotS DVD Chosen One feature that Anakin is the Chosen One and to remember he will always be the Chosen One, even he's Vader. He has to destroy the Sith, and one reason he died in RotJ, is because he was the last of the Sith and had to die. Which indicates that was his purpose, and how the Force is balanced by this act. This suggests the Sith were throwing the balance out. Which suggests that the Jedi are a neutral-good force. Yes, they are good, but also neutral, and by being neutral, they are good (as in harmonious, if that makes sense to you). Sort of a grayish-white in alignment. Certain bad things they allow (if not commit), because that is part of the balance. It's a soft take on it, but the Jedi were good guys, but not complete good guys.
Now, like you, I don't think the Jedi had that many problems. I see nothing wrong with their upbringing or way of life, and think it has a great foundation. It simply had become brittle and stagnant, too mired in their own ways and unable to see clearly what was going on. I don't agree with their lack of emotions or attachments, and think they should have preached control rather than denial, but really, their way of life was fine. However, in the RotS novel there's a wonderful explanation I like to use about how the Jedi had not changed in a thousand generations, though the Sith had, and Yoda believed the Jedi needed to change after Anakin's betrayal, believing they had failed him and the galaxy by being blind and unchanging. Which is anice bit of extrapolation on why he and Obi-Wan didn't train Luke and Leia and seemed different in philosophy by the original trilogy.
Now, as for the Force ghosties, deleted bits in the scripts reveal that Qui-Gon had learned this technique from a Shaman of the Whills, and he was the first Jedi to learn of it. It is found through compassion, so no Sith can master it. Otherwise, everyone fades into the Force. I assume that Qui-Gon learned this non-Jedi technique because he was the rebellious type.
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I've been wondering about that too. I mean, there is some meta, but nothing like in HP where there's two dozen theories for every scene, event or character. And it doesn't seem to matter much for the meta volume that people have favorite theories that are unlikely to be swayed, they're still posting about those. I always thought it was maybe the SW infrastructure that causes me to miss meta posts, like that SW was perhaps less LJ-centric and meta is posted on boards or somewhere else where I'm not.
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I came from HP, too, so the lack of meta and activity in SW always sort of depresses me. *sighs*
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As for the Sith, I do not believe they're more powerful, like Yoda said, but they are mroe free with their powers. Certain uses of the Force are not allowed by the Jedi, and by the time the Clone Wars rolled around, suggestions from George in some introductions he wrote for the Clone Wars are that the Jedi had let their combat powers slide, because they didn't need them, focusing instead on negotiations. Most Jedi were lax with their lightsaber, with few exceptions. The does explain why they went down so easy (relatively). It wasn't that the Sith wer emore powerful, just insidious and well-trained, prepared to fight, while the Jedi weren't ready, were blinded. Really, the Jedi didn't needed to go, but there were problems within their infrastructure, as with anything old, I suppose. Nothing bad, but there you go.
It is assumed that Luke will rebuild the Jedi and he was striving to be a Jedi. Luke imposes less of the denial and more of the control deal, they might not encounter as many problems as the Old Republic Jedi did. Just little changes, not a complete overhaul. I assume that is the direction Lucas wanted it to go, since he intended Luke to be a Jedi, but also approved Luke and Mara's marriage in the EU (approving births, deaths, and marriages of his characters are all he does), so I'm guessing the new Jedi lightened up a little. However, what Anakin did in RotS was not part of his destiny at all from what Lucas says. He screwed up. Big time. Which makes it all that more impactful to me. He delayed his destiny, almost forgot it, but Luke helped him realize it in RotJ.
So I guess this combines a few of your theories, but this is extra info I found in my DVDs and the script and in the movie novelizations that made sense to me, so I adopted them for myself. This is not purest canon, as in not presented on film. I think if you go strictly by the film, you have a lot of options to go with. Which is sort of the fun, I think.
Well, that's enough rambling from me. Nice post!
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I like heroes (and villains) to be free, responsible for their actions, and furthermore I dislike moral codes coming from an absolute, outside source, I'd rather have beings that are alone without a tangible higher power, damned to negotiate and justify their ethics among themselves, but also able to shape their world as they wish, than have a "natural order" imposed on them in a kind of feudal worldview. In a way universes with such an order are comforting to me on a gut-level precisely because their is no uncertainty (which is why I like LOTR for example), but I still have problems with them as soon as I think about them more.
In those kind of "natural order" universes the heroes typically can only restore the order through their quest, while only the villains are free to disrupt the order with a vision of how they want the world to be, because those universes are structurally conservative. And I guess it is possible to interpret SW and the Force in such a way. If however the Force was similar to other natural forces it would still act on the universe, and their might be "destinies" in the sense that certain things have to come about, but the people would still largely be free, rather than truly just subjects too a (sentient) higher power. That is also why I prefer Light and Dark as perceptions imposed on the Force by the Force users, which isn't to say that they're not "real" but it is a choice to see the Force this way and to then use the perceptions to be guided by the Force as the Jedi can be.
I guess I just like the idea that the Force could be "spiritual" without limiting freedom or judging morality in any way, beyond limits similar to those any other natural law imposes.
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I mean, it's like if there was a god I could follow either the rules or reject them, but in both cases I would be subject to the god's rules in the end (which comes with the existence of a god that I'd accepted when "rejecting" it), whereas if there was no god I can decide what the rules should be myself because there is nothing beyond what's here imposing anything, and my options and freedom is much greater.
I mean, like the fact that thermodynamic laws exist doesn't impede free will either, yet humans are subject to physical laws. To a Force like that it doesn't matter whether Balance is achieved my mass murder or by reform of the Jedi order, it's up to the sentients to decide on their paths, just depending on their choices the Force would exert different, well, pressures I guess, so that "Balance" is achieved, however what that balance looks like is up to the beings themselves, as long as the natural law is respected. Like it could be a balance between many force users with little death, or between a few with many deaths, or a balance between dogmatic "light" on one side and "dark" on the other or a balance of an amorphous "gray", because there's simply a lot of variables. Like a complicated thermodynamic system could be in equilibrium in many different ways if there's many different variables open to manipulation, yet thermodynamic laws always apply.
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but it did seem to me that this prophecy, its actual meaning, and how it relates to Anakin's/Vader's actions in both trilogies wasn't that fully thought through, though perhaps extra material somewhere outside the cinema-versions of the movies, i.e. novelizations, DVD extras, whatever, might make things clearer.
Heh, from what I can tell, the way the prophecy developed is a pretty funny thing. In one of the old versions of the Ep4 script (SW apocrypha) there is a mention of the "Sun of the Suns" (http://theforce.net/swenc/arclist.asp?search=S) -- most likely referring to either Annakin or Kane Starkiller. Tom Veitch picked up on this while writing the Dark Empire comics in 1991, repurposing the text of a prophecy (http://starwars.wikicities.com/wiki/Chosen_One) to be about Luke. Then Lucas decided he wanted to make the prequels and picked up the prophecy concept again as a good plot device to wedge Anakin into the Jedi Order while giving him enough emotional problems for him to turn Dark. So, really, there's a pretty good reason a lot of fans will say Luke is the Chosen One aside from hating the prequels.
I fully expected to have picked up either prominent theories existing in the extended canon or brilliant, and thus widely accepted, fan wank that makes sense of it all, kind of like I pick up details from JKR interviews in HP fandom, even though I never read the interviews, just plenty of fanfic and sometimes, though less often, discussion posts. But so far I haven't.
While I wouldn't say that there is a generally accepted base interpretation of the prophecy, there is a fundamental framework to discussion that hasn't really cropped up on LJ. A lot of SW discussion is still on boards like tf.n, and theories there (which definitely include your run down) also take into account the very briefly mentioned division in the Light Side of the Unifying and Living Forces. These are the sides of the Force which are to be balanced, rather than Light/Dark. The Dark Side is completely unnatural, and the appearance of the Sith is a symptom of the imbalance between Unifying and Living rather than the imbalance itself.
Which plays into my own take on all of it, actually. The whole Unifying/Living conflict is reminiscent of the classical Japanese conflict of giri and ninjo. Giri is duty, and the Unifying Force represents a focus on the larger picture: the future, the good of others. Ninjo is a person's connection to other people (also, bloodshed with different kanji, but let's not go there, okay?), and the Living Force represents the present and the good of the few. Given Lucas's tendency toward drawing inspiration from Japanese samurai flicks, I don't put it past him to base the central conflict around Japanese principles.
The whole thing is a sectarian problem. The Jedi don't exalt the Force by giving up so much, they reject what it has given them. They are supposed to balance the good of the galaxy with that of individuals around them, instead of trying to go for big bang good at the expense the few (see: not doing anything about slavery in the Outer Rim, or letting the Senate dictate what they're up to). By saving Luke's life, Anakin manages to do great good for the galaxy and save an individual at the same time. So, balance. And, of course, the Jedi Order Luke builds won't use any of the previous philosphies that messed the Jedi up.
Oddly enough, that still leads me to agree with your conclusion. Anakin fulfilled his destiny in both RotS and RotJ, because there were multiple routes he could take as well as two things he had to accomplish. He had to change the Jedi (although he didn't have to kill them) and he had to eliminate the Sith, since they were just exacerbating all the problems the Jedi had in interpreting the will of the Force. Except I disagree insofar as the Jedi's interpretation of the prophecy. They only got it half right. If they'd gotten it all the way, they would have been able to accommodate Anakin's emotional needs, thereby reforming and embracing the Living Force without Anakin taking an active hand in the matter.
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