Who Is The True "Chosen One?"

"You were the Chosen One! It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force....not leave it in darkness!"

-Obi-Wan Kenobi to Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader (Revenge of the Sith)

One of the major plot points of the Skywalker Saga (and a common story trope), first introduced in The Phantom Menace, was that of the so-called Jedi prophecy of "The Chosen One." The prophecy basically states that a "Chosen One" would arise, who would bring "balance" to the Force, which was interpreted as facing and eliminating the Jedi Order's dark side opposite in the Force, the Sith. The prophecy, included in the novel Master & Apprentice, is as follows:

“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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Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, upon meeting young slave Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine and testing his midi-chlorian count, comes to believe that Anakin is that prophesied "Chosen One" and resolves to free Anakin and train him as a Jedi, believing that he would bring balance to the Force. After freeing him from slavery, he takes Anakin before the Jedi Council, who test his abilities. They agree with Qui-Gon that Anakin is powerful in the Force, but initially deny Qui-Gon's request to train him. The Council ultimately relents and allows Anakin to be trained, despite their misgivings. Anakin's discovery also comes amidst the re-emergence of the Sith, who had not been heard from for a millennium, likely intensifying interest in the prophecy.

The matter of the prophecy is not addressed much in Attack of the Clones. However, we learn that the Jedi Council is becoming increasingly concerned that the power of the dark side is growing and that it is negatively affecting the behaviors and attitudes of their fellow Jedi, as well as "clouding" their abilities to see the future and divine the will of the Force.

During the Clone Wars, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka travel to the Force-rich world of Mortis, where the light side and dark side of the Force are personified by the Daughter and the Son, with their "Father" maintaining balance between the two sides. The Father also believes that Anakin is the Chosen One and attempts to convince Anakin to stay and take his place as the "balance" between the Son and Daughter, as his time is limited, but Anakin refuses. Things become complicated, however, when the Son kills the Daughter and, after Anakin is tempted with the power of the dark side after experiencing dark visions of his future. The Father removes Anakin's memories of this vision and kills himself to prevent the Son from stealing his powers, and Anakin kills the Son at the conclusion of their experience on Mortis.

The prophecy comes to the forefront in Revenge of the Sith. The Republic is embroiled in the Clone Wars, and the Jedi are actively engaged in the war, as well as search for the elusive Sith Lord they believe is manipulating events to destroy the Republic and the Jedi. Despite concerns by Yoda and Mace Windu about their decision to have Anakin spy on Chancellor Palpatine and their growing doubts about their reading of the prophecy, they continue to cling to the belief that Anakin is the Chosen One and destined to fulfill his role in defeating the Sith.

Anakin finally uncovers the truth about Palpatine and informs Mace. However, Anakin is left out of Mace's attempt to arrest/kill Palpatine. After being tormented by his fear and worries about Padme's survival, which Palpatine had promised to help with, Anakin rushes in and gets in the way of the duel between Mace and Palpatine, ultimately intervening to save Palpatine. Having betrayed the Jedi Order with his actions, Anakin becomes an acolyte of the Sith Lord, taking his place beside Palpatine in order to try to save Padme from certain death. Yoda and Obi-Wan, who survive the initial Jedi Purge, discover that, far from saving the Jedi Order and restoring balance in the Force, Anakin has joined with the Sith to destroy it, leaving the Force in near-darkness.

The matter of the Chosen One is not addressed at all during the original trilogy, even though George Lucas had been developing a similar sort of prophecy for those films, albeit with regard to Luke, and it was not ultimately included in the storyline back then. While the prophecy of the Chosen One seems unfulfilled at the conclusion of the prequel trilogy, it can be reasonably argued that, by sacrificing his life to kill Palpatine and save Luke in Return of the Jedi years later, Anakin does indeed ultimately bring balance to the Force, just not when nor in the manner that the Jedi Order had believed it would occur. If that was to be the final chapter in the Skywalker Saga, then it would seem pretty clear that Lucas intended for Anakin to be the Chosen One and that he fulfilled his destiny. However, Return of the Jedi is no longer the endpoint of the Skywalker Saga, and the creation of another trilogy forces (pun intended) us to consider that there are broader implications for the prophecy and the balance of the light and dark sides of the Force.

With the subsequent birth of Han and Leia's Force-sensitive son, Ben, who falls to the dark side of the force, Rey's birth and awakening in the Force and, of course, the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine, the Force seems to be in conflict once again during the sequel trilogy and headed toward imbalance and total darkness. In The Force Awakens, we learn about Ben (now known as Kylo Ren) and his struggle with wanting to serve the dark side, but also being pulled toward the light, which he struggles to resolve during the film, culminating in his murder of his father, Han.

We learn in The Last Jedi that Ben's fall to the dark side under Luke's tutelage and the subsequent destruction of Luke's Jedi Temple leads Luke to conclude that the cycle of conflict between the light and dark sides of the Force would consume the galaxy with it. He ultimately resolves to remove himself from the conflict and end the Jedi Order, believing that it would end this cycle. Rey, after experiencing an awakening in her own Force abilities in The Force Awakens, comes to Luke to be trained as a Jedi, but becomes dismayed by Luke's refusal to fight the First Order. She then resolves to try to turn Ben back to the light to fight against the First Order. When brought before Kylo's dark master, Supreme Leader Snoke tells her that he once told Kylo that, as his own power grew in the dark side, that his equal in the light side would inevitably rise to confront him, although he states that he believed that it would be Luke who would be his challenger, not Rey. In an unexpected twist of fate, Kylo kills Snoke. However, unlike Vader, he does not turn from the dark side.

In The Rise of Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine re-emerges, having been cloned by Sith loyalists and threatens the galaxy once again. Through a series of clashes with each other, Rey and Ben eventually come together to stop Palpatine. With the voices of Jedi past helping her along, Rey defeats Palpatine, albeit at the expense of her life. Anakin is one of those voices helping her and urges Rey to "Bring back the balance, as I once did," suggesting that perhaps there is not just one single "Chosen One," and that Rey could have been "the Chosen One" to bring the Force back into balance this time. Ben sacrifices himself to bring Rey back to life, which enables Rey to carry on the legacy of the Jedi. What happens next has not been written. However, future stories may well return to themes of the "Chosen One" and the balance between the dark and light sides of the Force.

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Written By Mara Butler

Source(s): Wookieepedia

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