Hello everyone!

I was just thinking about Anakin being the Chosen One (as I just read an old blog on that very subject), and I got to thinking - did Qui-Gon, in his infinite wisdom, connect the dots and guess that Ani was this prophetic person when they first met? He clearly knew that Ani had some Jedi powers, but did he know Ani was going to be the most powerful Jedi?

Then I got to thinking about the TPM podrace (don't ask me why...), and Qui-Gon's faith (not religiously - it's not that kind of blog) in Ani. Why did Qui-Gon believe so much in Ani? Did he actually believe in him, or was he planning something else?

Here's what I think.... I think Qui-Gon didn't believe in Anakin as much as we were lead to believe. I think he rigged the race so his new interest would win, thereby being freed. Now, we all know that Qui-Gon knew that Ani had an incredibly high midi-chlorian count, which sparked much interest in Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. And although Ani had this amazingly high count, Qui-Gon couldn't have known, at that early point, that Anakin was The Chosen One.

This is why I think Qui-Gon influenced either Anakin, his pod, another racer, or one of their pods, so Ani would win. This way, he could bring Ani back to the Council with an excuse to have him trained. I don't think Qui-Gon believed Ani could have won the race solely on his own.

Yes, Qui-Gon knew Ani was potentionally very powerful, but after all, he was just a 10-year-old boy. An untrained 10-year-old boy at that. Qui-Gon couldn't possibly have trusted his, Obi-Wan's, Padmé's, Threepio's, Artoo's, Jar-Jar's, and all the other Nabooians' lives in the hands of a child who may or may not win a race when he hadn't ever won one before.

Qui-Gon obviously knew somehow Ani would win the race:

Padmé: You've never won a race?
Qui-Gon: Don't worry. You will this time.

(Or something like that...) This much blind faith, I think, shows that Qui-Gon was already planning to manipulate the precedings somehow at that point. He wouldn't have guaranteed this had he not been planning something.

Now let's here what you have to say!

May the Force be with You!