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.