The Jedi Civil War and the Prophecy of the Chosen One
The life of Anakin Skywalker was painted on the canvas of a Jedi Civil War. Anakin's fall is the culmination of the Sith's revenge against the Jedi who cast them out a millennium ago. Jedi and Sith, what are they but two opposite factions of the same religion?
Who are this Sith? Star Wars lore--- beyond the movies is filled with information about them. Combined with truths in the movies, the Sith is a belief. They believe that the Jedi way is limiting their understanding of the Force. In many ways this is true, and the path of the Sith to enlightenment is depicted in such a way that they rush into this understanding through twisted means.
There is truth in Palpatine's words that the Sith and Jedi are the same--- they are students, users, masters, believers in the Force. Each side taints their understanding of the Force, marking both light and dark sides. There is one Force, both sides have not realized. This is the one aspect that wasn't resolved at the end of Return of the Jedi.
The Chosen One, I believe should not have meant the destruction of the Sith with the death of the Lords of the Sith, it should have meant a transformation of the Jedi Way to encompass a little of the Sith knowledge. The Jedi were flawed in their teachings--- they were too passive at times. The Sith were flawed in their teachings--- they had too much passion. Anakin was in the perfect position, he walked both paths and should have understood the Force more. But as other Star Wars information would tell us, it will be Luke charged by Yoda who would walk this path and that the Destiny of the Chosen One would really be to rid the galaxy of the Sith.
We come finally to Yoda. Throughout the prequels, we have seen the Master in action. He was not the hermit of Empire nor the sickly old man of Return. He was The Master. He had the greatest understanding of the Force. He was perhaps the greatest lightsaber master of his time. In Sith he could have taken down Palpatine at the Senate Chamber. He had that power. Yet Yoda walked away.
Yoda saw that to destroy Palaptine then, would force the Jedi to take power. The people were already blinded by Palpatine, who had engineered everything. With his death, it would not stop the destruction of both Democracy and Jedi. It would take much more than Jedi killing Sith to bring freedom back into the galaxy. The battle was lost and Yoda accepted it, moved on to the next level--- a galaxy and Jedi Order to redeem.
Throughout the prequels, we see the Master meditating. The wiseman had been able to communicate with Qui-Gon Jin, long after that master had passed. The look on his face when he left the Senate chambers was one with a plan or an understanding of the future. Just as he had in Episode 1, during Anakin's presentation to the council and as he, Windu and Kenobi were discussing Skywalker prior to his departure for the
Wookie homeworld.
Yoda perhaps understood the end of things, that the Jedi needed a rejuvenation of sorts. He was the Last of the Old Jedi to pass away and his charge to Luke was to teach what he had learned. Luke is an incomplete Jedi compared to such Jedi as Kenobi or any of the Masters who had sat on the council. He did not have the benefit of years of training in the Jedi Way. He was perhaps the oldest of the Jedi to be trainied, older than his own father. Yet, Yoda had given him his approval, he was going to be Jedi only after he had faced his Father a second time. I suppose, what else would a Jedi need to know if he was padawan, knight or master than, "Confer to you the title of Jedi Knight, the council has"?
To the Jedi of the Old Republic, a threat had to be faced with equal yet passive fury, a paradox to say the least given Jedi belief. Luke in fact expected to fight his father head on--- to kill him. He was hesitant in this, who in his right mind would kill one's own father? Just as Obi-Wan faced his doubts of killing Anakin in Sith, so too Luke faced the same in Jedi. Both Obi-Wan and Yoda insisted he would have to confront Vader and to kill him. They were trained in such absolutes. Luke chose the middle ground, he became a better Jedi when he chose to redeem his father, rather than face him in open combat.
Yoda had accepted all this change with great hesitation. But accept it he did. He did not instruct Luke with all the ancient Jedi had learned, as he could have and should have. He gave him the basics--- “you have that which, you will need”. Obi-Wan had instructed him in the basics of Lightsaber duels. Luke was a clean slate, as Yoda perhaps intended from the very beginning.
Return of the Jedi was an apt title--- a culmination of things. Anakin's coup against his Master paved the way for the death of the Sith but the prophecy, as Yoda perhaps had glimmerings of in Sith did not mean the killing per se of teachings of Sith and rise of the Jedi Way, it meant a new way--- one with equal balance of passivity and passion.
Luke was the beginning of the balance, both tainted and untainted by millenia of teachings from both Jedi and Sith. In later writings, contrary to Jedi of the Old Republic he would create a family and raise them in the Ways of the Force.
The Jedi of the Old Republic chose to be an elite warrior caste in the same (real world example) tradition of such organizations as the Knights Templar and the Samurai (they were in fact destroyed in similar fashion as well). They were forbidden to love, to feel to create attachments. It meant that the people did not know them.
The New Jedi Order is one that takes the being into account. They should be fighter pilots, and medics as much as they are diplomats, traders as much as they study the ways of the Force and be better for it. They should have families, and the Jedi Way though symbolized by the Lightsaber should not mean, one should carry it at all. Luke Skywalker and by choice, his sister, Leia may not have set that in stone but through their example, made such balance possible. Balance of the Force was indeed made and it was through Anakin that such balance was achieved.
Who are this Sith? Star Wars lore--- beyond the movies is filled with information about them. Combined with truths in the movies, the Sith is a belief. They believe that the Jedi way is limiting their understanding of the Force. In many ways this is true, and the path of the Sith to enlightenment is depicted in such a way that they rush into this understanding through twisted means.
There is truth in Palpatine's words that the Sith and Jedi are the same--- they are students, users, masters, believers in the Force. Each side taints their understanding of the Force, marking both light and dark sides. There is one Force, both sides have not realized. This is the one aspect that wasn't resolved at the end of Return of the Jedi.
The Chosen One, I believe should not have meant the destruction of the Sith with the death of the Lords of the Sith, it should have meant a transformation of the Jedi Way to encompass a little of the Sith knowledge. The Jedi were flawed in their teachings--- they were too passive at times. The Sith were flawed in their teachings--- they had too much passion. Anakin was in the perfect position, he walked both paths and should have understood the Force more. But as other Star Wars information would tell us, it will be Luke charged by Yoda who would walk this path and that the Destiny of the Chosen One would really be to rid the galaxy of the Sith.
We come finally to Yoda. Throughout the prequels, we have seen the Master in action. He was not the hermit of Empire nor the sickly old man of Return. He was The Master. He had the greatest understanding of the Force. He was perhaps the greatest lightsaber master of his time. In Sith he could have taken down Palpatine at the Senate Chamber. He had that power. Yet Yoda walked away.
Yoda saw that to destroy Palaptine then, would force the Jedi to take power. The people were already blinded by Palpatine, who had engineered everything. With his death, it would not stop the destruction of both Democracy and Jedi. It would take much more than Jedi killing Sith to bring freedom back into the galaxy. The battle was lost and Yoda accepted it, moved on to the next level--- a galaxy and Jedi Order to redeem.
Throughout the prequels, we see the Master meditating. The wiseman had been able to communicate with Qui-Gon Jin, long after that master had passed. The look on his face when he left the Senate chambers was one with a plan or an understanding of the future. Just as he had in Episode 1, during Anakin's presentation to the council and as he, Windu and Kenobi were discussing Skywalker prior to his departure for the
Wookie homeworld.
Yoda perhaps understood the end of things, that the Jedi needed a rejuvenation of sorts. He was the Last of the Old Jedi to pass away and his charge to Luke was to teach what he had learned. Luke is an incomplete Jedi compared to such Jedi as Kenobi or any of the Masters who had sat on the council. He did not have the benefit of years of training in the Jedi Way. He was perhaps the oldest of the Jedi to be trainied, older than his own father. Yet, Yoda had given him his approval, he was going to be Jedi only after he had faced his Father a second time. I suppose, what else would a Jedi need to know if he was padawan, knight or master than, "Confer to you the title of Jedi Knight, the council has"?
To the Jedi of the Old Republic, a threat had to be faced with equal yet passive fury, a paradox to say the least given Jedi belief. Luke in fact expected to fight his father head on--- to kill him. He was hesitant in this, who in his right mind would kill one's own father? Just as Obi-Wan faced his doubts of killing Anakin in Sith, so too Luke faced the same in Jedi. Both Obi-Wan and Yoda insisted he would have to confront Vader and to kill him. They were trained in such absolutes. Luke chose the middle ground, he became a better Jedi when he chose to redeem his father, rather than face him in open combat.
Yoda had accepted all this change with great hesitation. But accept it he did. He did not instruct Luke with all the ancient Jedi had learned, as he could have and should have. He gave him the basics--- “you have that which, you will need”. Obi-Wan had instructed him in the basics of Lightsaber duels. Luke was a clean slate, as Yoda perhaps intended from the very beginning.
Return of the Jedi was an apt title--- a culmination of things. Anakin's coup against his Master paved the way for the death of the Sith but the prophecy, as Yoda perhaps had glimmerings of in Sith did not mean the killing per se of teachings of Sith and rise of the Jedi Way, it meant a new way--- one with equal balance of passivity and passion.
Luke was the beginning of the balance, both tainted and untainted by millenia of teachings from both Jedi and Sith. In later writings, contrary to Jedi of the Old Republic he would create a family and raise them in the Ways of the Force.
The Jedi of the Old Republic chose to be an elite warrior caste in the same (real world example) tradition of such organizations as the Knights Templar and the Samurai (they were in fact destroyed in similar fashion as well). They were forbidden to love, to feel to create attachments. It meant that the people did not know them.
The New Jedi Order is one that takes the being into account. They should be fighter pilots, and medics as much as they are diplomats, traders as much as they study the ways of the Force and be better for it. They should have families, and the Jedi Way though symbolized by the Lightsaber should not mean, one should carry it at all. Luke Skywalker and by choice, his sister, Leia may not have set that in stone but through their example, made such balance possible. Balance of the Force was indeed made and it was through Anakin that such balance was achieved.
posted by Cocoy at
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
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