The Force Balances Itself

Driving home from my third viewing of ATOC, some idiot cut me off and I gave in to my anger. While flirting with the dark side of The Force, I realized 'Hey, it's no big deal, The Force balances itself… at least it did in Star Wars: first it got rid of the Jedi, and then is destroyed the Sith from within.'

So what's wrong with the Jedi that they have to be eliminated? Well, they've been sitting around meditating for 1000 years, and despite their professed detachment, they meddle in local politics & border disputes. Put simply, they've gone soft and allowed the Sith to resurface right under their noses. The Force is not happy, and decides to fix everything. It conceives Anakin Skywalker, who's predisposed to be one of the most powerful Jedi ever. The catch is that he's got some emotional baggage that eventually leads him to the dark side. He ends up as the Master Sith's apprentice, and together they all but eliminate the Jedi. The Republic becomes the Empire, and the rest is revisionist history.

The Jedi are not extinct however, because the Force, in its infinite micro biotic wisdom, has decided to keep a couple of Jedi around. The first, a Jedi master who's the best of the lot, and the second, a certain Obi-Wan Kenobi, who's got this major dark-side karma to get rid of (remember, once you start down the dark side, forever it dominates your destiny). Not only does old Ben have to train and mentor the chosen one, but he also has to do the same with the chosen one's boy, Luke Skywalker. Worse yet, poor Obiwan has to hang around as a spook to make sure Luke get's to train under Yoda and gain the skills necessary for killing his own dad. I bet the thought behind that smug look on Ben's face just before he vanishes is 'finally, I can die and be at peace.' But I digress...

Despite their wisdom and their plotting, the Jedi have it all wrong. Why? Because Daddy Skywalker, *not* Luke, is the chosen one. Luke is just the catalyst for what's left of Anakin's hot head. In a fit of anger, most likely from seeing his grown Jedi boy get zapped by Palpatine, Anakin switches sides, yet again, and chucks his master down an endless, howling shaft, conveniently placed in all pivotal Jedi fight scenes. And whaddayaknow? Balance is restored. No more meddling, self- important Jedi council, no more Sith, and no more Empire. Just Luke, his sister, and a galaxy with too many inhabited planets to stand a chance at democracy. You can imagine Obi-Wan's relief when the whole thing is over, 'Thank The Force we didn't have to go through that all over again with Leia!' Thank The Force indeed, Obiwan, because Episodes 7-9 will not made.

That's a very interesting theory and certainly makes some sense. Yoda did mention how arrogant some of the Jedi are. Even if they don't turn to the dark side, perhaps they are abusing the Force and the Force creates Anakin to set that straight. Hmmm... food for thought.

the force is out of balance. Thjere is only good after ROTJ and no bad. It is unbalanced.

So wait a minute... is there ANY point at which the force is balanced? I would have assumed that since Anakin is supposedly meant to bring balance to the force, and he kills of all the jedi, as well as the empire - he manages to do so. Aha - but then what about Luke? He does complete his Jedi training by ROTJ...

Darth Ofek

says...

My take on the whole 'balance' issue is that, in Lucas' mythology, the light & dark side are at balance naturally, but once Jedi/Sith *use* the dark side, things go out of whack. Take for example, the 'dark tree' in Dagobah. It was strong with the dark side, but Yoda didn't care because the dark side is a natural aspect of The Force. The Sith are 'bad' because they believe the true nature of the force *is* the dark side, whereas the Jedi are 'good' because they believe the dark side is to be *avoided*. I'm beginning to believe that the dark side is there in all Jedi, albeit latently: they all get pissed off at one point or another, in the fight scenes anyway; the key for a Jedi is to not give in to anger, hate, blah blah blah. So balance, I would say, is when 'light side' of The Force dominates over the dark side, i.e. no Sith, all Jedi.

This isn't The Wheel of Time where the Aes Sedai hunt down all males that can channel and still them. Nor are they Nazis. Nor Brown shirts,, Nor the Spanish Inquistion. Please reframe from all controled substances when posting to usenet. Thank yous

Do the Grey's visit you at night? I heard a blue light keeps them away... The black helicopters and MIB's you'll have get a shotgun for.... I can't believe you think Jedi are reall..

Yoda;

Fear leads to anger Anger leads to hate Hate leads to suffering

Yoda was wrong.

Fear is a health responce to danager, fear can trigger an adrenalen rush that can give a person the power to escape.

Anger of a good and just person at the sight of a wrong can lead to positive action.

Hate is the natural reaction of a good and just person tward evil.

And what Yoda totally left off is Suffer leads to repetence.

Where true darkness lies is in the illreational fear, to fear those who look different; to grow angery at trivial little things, and to hate someone because of something their ancestor did to your ancestor. True balance is knowing how to hate sin; but, still love the sinner.

I don't think either side believes the Force is innately good or evil. The Force is created by all living things, but it, in of itself, is not alive.

The Force is neither good nor bad. It just is. It is in balance until it is used by someone. That is why I don't understand the whole 'Balance of the Force' theme. As long as no one uses the Force it is in balance. When someone uses it for good or evil purposes it puts it out of balance. If it were literally out of balance then that would mean there is always supposed to be Good Jedi and Bad Jedi using the Force to balance each other out. I don't think this is the case, though. Which begs the question, 'What the hell is Lucas thinking?'