What Is Balance To The Force?

The Star Wars prequel trilogy introduced the idea of a prophecy of a Chosen One bringing balance to the Force. Throughout that trilogy, the Jedi interpret this as needing to destroy the Sith. In The Force Awakens, we also hear Lor San Tekka say that there can be no balance to the Force without the Jedi. We hear about the prophecy in the prequels, but a fundamental flaw of these films is that the words of the prophecy are not conveyed to the audience. Yoda suggests that the prophecy could have been misread, but we were not told what exactly the prophecy said. Audiences were just told to go along with the idea that Anakin Skywalker, with his high midi-chlorian count and family background that sounds biblical in nature, is the Chosen One. In 2019, however, the novel Master & Apprentice gave us the exact wording of the prophecy:

“Only through sacrifice of many Jedi will the Order cleanse the sin done to the nameless. The danger of the past is not past, but sleeps in an egg. When the egg cracks, it will threaten the galaxy entire. When the Force itself sickens, past and future must split and combine. A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored.”

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So the wording of this prophecy points to Anakin being the Chosen One. Some fans believe that Anakin's meant to kill all the Jedi because there are too many of them compared to the Sith. For some, balance sounds like it means there needs to be an equal amount of Jedi and Sith. There is also often the interpretation by fans that true balance means being rid of the dark side altogether. This may, however, go against what George Lucas was trying to convey about balance. In a January 20, 2002 article by Los Angeles Times titled "Flaws in a Good Heart," there is a quote by George Lucas about the light side and the dark side:

"I wanted to have this mythological footing because I was basing the films on the idea that the Force has two sides, the good side, the evil side, and they both need to be there. Most religions are built on that, whether it's called yin and yang, God and the devil—everything is built on the push-pull tension created by two sides of the equation. Right from the very beginning, that was the key issue in Star Wars."

This seems to fall in line with the Father's quote in the Mortis arc from The Clone Wars season 3, where the Father watches over the Daughter (representing the light) and the Son (representing the dark):

"It is only here that I can control them. A family in balance. The light and the dark. Day with night. Destruction, replaced by creation...Too much light or dark would be the undoing of life as you understand it."

So it appears that the eradication of the dark side is not what needs to be done in order to achieve balance. Rather, people like the Sith embrace the dark side too much, to a point where it dominates their entire being and throws things out of balance. It may be difficult to interpret what exactly people should do with their dark side that would be useful and not cause harm and throw things out of balance, but the dark is part of even the most benevolent of beings. In the Yoda arc from The Clone Wars season 6, Yoda confronts his darker self. He initially denies that this is a part of him, but he eventually comes to terms with it, saying the following:

"Part of me you are, yes. But power over me you have not. Through patience and training, it is I who control you."

Yoda acknowledges both the light and the dark within himself. The goal is to keep it all in balance. He is able to keep the darkness under his control, whereas dark side practitioners often express their inner darkness in an untamed fashion that harms others. So destroying the Sith may indeed bring balance to the Force, but wiping out the dark side altogether is not part of achieving balance. The light and the dark are apart of everyone. It is just that people need to keep both sides in check. If one lets the light dominate, then there ends up being a situation like that of the prequel era Jedi, who look down upon the expression of emotions like anger and frustration. And we all know how well that went when Anakin basically blew up. Based on the evidence presented, true balance to the Force comes from finding balancing the light and the dark within oneself, and not allowing one to be too dominant over the other.

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Written By Steven Shinder

Source(s): Los Angeles Times

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