"The prophecy of the one who would bring balance to the force"

In AOTC, Yoda, Mace, and Obi-Wan (three of everyone's all time favorite Jedi's) discuss Anakin and the prophecy of the one. The consensus is that prophecies are difficult to understand and often misinterpreted. Like the great masters, us fans often worry about the application of this prophecy, even now that the story is laid out before us completely. Some people have gone as far as saying that Luke is the one of whom the prophecy refers. (Which is obviously wrong since Leia could have done what he did had he failed and since he did not defeat the sith after all - see my blog on Yoda's epiphany during the fight with Sidious to understand this better)

The truth is the Sith were destined to fall along with most of the Jedi in a way that would bring balance to the force and that Anakin Skywalker on purpose or not was a tool of the force for this purpose. In a nutshell this is what the prophecy meant after all and without going off in a tangent to discuss why the force directed the galaxy in this way (this philosophical question goes beyond the scope of this blog) we can clearly and simply discuss why this is so.

Please not that the hardest point to argue in the prophecy of the one is what is meant by balance.
It is inevitably necessary to understand what the balance is meant in the prophecy prior to understanding if Anakin did bring it forth or not. But once understood what is meant by balance, it is inevitable to see that Anakin was the one. Whether he did it on purpose or not, Anakin was the catalyst of the major shatterpoint in the history of the Star Wars Galaxy. After Anakin everything changed in the conflict of light and dark. Anakin was responsible for it.

We've heard the prophecy over and over. But has an agreement been made as to what is meant by "balance"?

To understand it, lets briefly review the history of the galactic conflict between light and dark (without going into much detail, but focusing on the major aspects). Note that there will always be a dark and a light side of the force by definition, both in the universe and within all things. It is the choice or apparent prevalence of one side that is referred to when discussing FORCE BALANCE within a person, society, or period.

1) The Great Schism - Jedi vs. Dark Jedi (Jedi gone bad). Not really Jedi vs. Sith. Dark Jedi exiled from the Republic. (FORCE BALANCE: Many lightside jedi's vs. Many darkside jedi's. Conflict. Lightsiders wins but does not eradicate the darksiders)

2) Old Republic - Jedi as peacekeepers and advisors. Spread through the galaxy. No major or unified organization (except for conventions and a Jedi council very different from the one of TPM days). Dark Jedi eventually settle on the land of the sith were they are seen as Gods due to their force abilities. They also learn black magic from the Sith. They become rulers of the Sith. This remains so for generations. The ruler is the Dark Lord of the Sith. (FORCE BALANCE: Many lightside Jedi vs. Sporadic problems in the republic and co-existent separate Sith Empire. No direct conflict. Latent period when sides are both strong, but coexist without major conflict)

3) The Fall of the Sith Empire - Naga Sadow, a Dark Lord, attempts to conquer the republic. His failure leads to the destruction of the Sith Empire as well. Naga refugees on Yavin IV. (FORCE BALANCE: Direct conflict. Lightsiders win and eradicate darksiders, or at least, it is thought so. Essentially, it is true as Naga Sadow is force to hide and no true Dark Lords follow until Exar Kun).

4) Between the failure of Naga Sadow and Exar Kun - With the Sith Empire destroyed Dark Lords of the Sith lineage is broken. No true Dark Lords until Exar Kun. (FORCE BALANCE: Many lightside Jedi vs. Sporadic problem with dark side users such as Freedon Nadd. No Sith Empire or Dark Lords. Light seems to prevail without apparent presence darkside. Dark side is latent).

5) Exar Kun War: Exar Kun and Ulic revive the ways of the Sith but are ultimately defeated by the Jedi. However, the revival is enough to spread the seed of the Dark Side throughout the galaxy (FORCE BALANCE: Direct Conflict. Lightsiders prevail but darkside is reborn.)

6) Between Exar Kun War and the Sith War: Jedi vs. Sith. As the Sith spread throughout the galaxy more and more conflicts take place. Both groups grow in numbers and in organization. Several conflicts occur until it finally culminates in the Sith War. (FORCE BALANCE: Growing numbers with several conflicts arising. Both light side and darkside grow.

7) The Sith War: Open war between the many Jedi and the Sith. Ends with destruction of all Sith but Darth Bane and with the loss of many Jedi. (FORCE BALANCE: All out war between light and dark. Both coexist in ultimate conflict.)

8) Between the Sith War and TPM: The Sith go into hiding waiting for the right moment to destroy the Jedi. The Jedi reorganize and establish the council, the temple, and the methods taught and defended by Yoda.

9) From TPM to ROTJ: The Sith rise to power over the Jedi completely. The Jedi are essentially destroyed. Lightside seems latent for a bit in between the trilogies. But not extinct. It comes back from within the Sith leading to their destruction. However, this comes at the cost of all of the old Jedi. The New Jedi Order is born out of a new bread of force users based on Luke Skywalker.

From this point though the conflict will always continue, it is different from what was seen during the Sith War, and even before then. All-out conflict between the Jedi and Sith was not the same after Anakin. Anakin resolved the conflict by destroying both the Sith and the Jedi. There is no more true conflict, latent or expressed, between Jedi and Sith because there is no Jedi or Sith the way they were defined before Anakin.

From that point on, what was meant by followers of the light and dark would not be the same. The Jedi way changed and so did the way of the Sith. There was no longer a master and an apprentice. There was no longer the format of Dark Lords of the Sith in general. The Jedi code made no more sense. The Jedi Academy was reinvented with a different purpose and direction. The force through Anakin reinvented the conflict of light and dark. It settled the conflict that reached its critical point in the Sith War.

Before going into further detail it is important to say that I mentioned all history prior to Anakin to show the pattern of the conflict between light vs. dark. But the prophecy itself was made in relation to the Sith War. It referred only to the period following it. The conflict between the Jedi and the Sith was never as abrupt as it was during the Sith War. Thousdands of Jedi fought thousands of Sith. After it, many of the few remaining Jedi believed that the Sith had been eradicated. However, the darkside was still strong, arguably stronger than ever now that it was concentrated in just two: a master and an apprentice. Then there was a prophecy that balance would be restored somehow. The conflict between Jedi and Sith would be ultimately solved. (That is what I believe is meant by balance: the cessation of conflict, latent or expressed). The existance of the Sith and the resistance of the Jedi were both the reason why the conflict persisted. The force decided that should come to an end. The conflict of light vs. dark would go on, but not in this manner. Not anymore.

While the Sith prepared in secrecy to destroy the Jedi in one single blow, the Jedi restructured themselves and organized in a way designed to prevent another Sith War and to deal with one if that was the case. They did so by doing everything they could to prevent the fall of Masters and apprentices. By assuring that most or all of the force users were trained in the ways of the light. They made sure that the one who appeared dangerous would not be trained. And they made sure that if did any fall, the problem would be dealt with prior to escalating. It is ironic that with Anakin everything went wrong, exactly at the same time that the Dark Lord of the Sith orchestrated their destruction. But this too was no accident. Both Jedi and the Sith were caught by the plan of the Force. A plan that Anakin enacted. The Jedi trained Anakin because of a prophecy that stated one who would be born of the force would bring balance to it. The Sith manipulated the situation so that Anakin would fall.

I believed the Jedi failed to see that by balance the prophecy meant a complete restructuring of the light and dark, and the conflict between them. It meant the complete obliteration of both sides to allow the force to give birth to everything anew. Yes Anakin brought balance because he destroy the Sith, but this was only possible if the Jedi were destroyed as well. This understanding is crucial to my point.

Before Anakin, Sidious was a Senator orchestrating his ascent to Supreme Chancellor. That is what The Phantom Menace is all about from the dark side perspective. From the lightside it is about the discovery of Anakin Skywalker. From a general prophecy perspective. TPM is about the will of the force. It is not a coincidence that the Sith choose the moment of their assertion exactly as the Jedi discovered the chosen one. As much as Sidious thought to be controlling everything, including the force, he was but a tool in the major scheme of things. Anakin, was more than just the son of the force, he was the symbolic physical expression of the force itself. Through Anakin the force completed its will. Sidious would recognize Anakin's potential and explore it. The Jedi would be blinded by the darkside but too concerned in fulfilling the will of the force to deny the prophecy. Then the darkside would be too blinded by evil to see the power of love in which the remaining Jedi would count on to bring Vader back. Yoda and Obi-Wan explored Luke in order to do so. In the end it was Anakin, both through his evil (falling, destroying the Jedi, helping put Sidious in a position of power, his passion for power and fear of loss) and his good (loving enough as a father to destroy the Sith), that operated the reinvention of the force conflict. He was also its symbol. He was once dominated by passion and then by love.

Anakin is the one because only he was and could be in the position to make possible the today destruction of both the Jedi and the Sith, and he was ultimately responsible for both. It was only through Anakin that the galactic conflict was settled once and for all. At least in the form that it stood before him. Thus it was Anakin and no one else that brought the balance to the force, as described above.