George Lucas makes it very clear that Anakin Skywalker was always the Chosen One. If we look at what we know and don’t know about the prophecy, it confirms it. The question of why so many refuse to accept it comes back to the Will of the Force, forgiveness, and the basis upon which Star Wars itself is formed. These sources are those that are directly from the movies, as well as two authors who had to consult directly with him due to the subject matter of their stories.
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What IS Prophecy of the Chosen One?
We know from various sources. that to meet the criteria of the Chosen One, you have to be strong in the Force and born about the time the balance was lost. And you have to put a stop to whatever is causing the imbalance. That’s it. That is all of it. That’s what we have.
The Will of the Force
“The simple truth–if any truth is ever simple–is that we do not truly know what the will of the Force may be. We can never know. It is so far beyond our limited understanding that we can only surrender to its mystery.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith novelization
The will of the Force is a mystery even to the Jedi. It has nothing whatsoever to do with human logic, or human preference. It didn’t ask Shmi Skywalker’s opinion about getting pregnant, nor did it ask Anakin Skywalker if he wanted this incredibly heavy burden. Nor did it detail how he was to do the job. It just said that he would do it. Not how.
The prophecy never gives any detail as to how it’s to be fulfilled. But we know it involves destroying the one who caused the imbalance. That would be Palpatine, AKA Darth Sidious, and any Sith directly involved in this recent shift to the Dark Side. Plagueis is dead. But having served him, and at least failed to stop his power earlier, means Darth Vader is also involved. The only way to fulfill the prophecy, sadly, is if Anakin is willing to die to stop it. He has to be willing to finish the Emperor, even if it finishes him as Darth Vader too.
Anakin’s Credentials
There was no father, that I know of…I carried him, I gave him birth…I can’t explain what happened. Can you help him?
Shmi Skywalker to Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace
A boy… his cells have the highest concentration of midi-chlorians I have seen in a life form. It is possible he was conceived by the midi-chlorians. ~ Qui-Gon Jinn
Qui-Gon Jinn and Mace Windu in the Phantom Menace
“You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it’s this…boy?” ~ Mace Windu
Now it’s a fact that in regards to the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, as well as the novel Darth Plagueis, that George Lucas was directly in consultation with the authors. These both delved deeply into the origins of the Chosen One, and regarding the Expanded Universe, he was very particular about being given final veto on the main movie characters. You can find direct quotes from both of these authors here. Matthew Stover, who wrote the novelization, states that the manuscript came back with notes from Lucas right now to switching out individual words.
“…I have scanned this prophecy; it says only that a chosen one will be born and bring balance to the Force; nowhere does it say he has to be a Jedi.”…
Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Revenge of the Sith novelization.
The prophecy doesn’t say the chosen one is a Jedi. But it’s unlikely anyone but a Jedi, or someone Force trained, can take down a Sith. Anakin of course was trained by both. Power alone isn’t enough, not against someone trained to use it.
I think it’s worth noting here that it specifies a chosen one, as opposed to the chosen one. That kind of implies that while Anakin is the Chosen One of this prophecy, it doesn’t preclude others being born. Anakin is to bring balance to the Force this time. But there is nothing to say there was never a point in time previously a chosen one wasn’t needed, or that none will be again.
Anakin was born to solve a particular problem in this point in time. The idea he would destroy the Sith forever was far too much pressure for anyone. The Sith were born of the Jedi themselves, and all it would take is a long lost Sith artifact for the teachings to be rediscovered and for someone else to seek to alter the balance.
Debunking a Sith Lie
Next we need to get rid of a lie about his credentials. Anakin wasn’t created by the Sith. He was created by the midi-chlorians to bring balance. I can’t recall where I read that Mr. Lucas did, at one point, consider having Palpatine being his father. But I definitely recall he said he rejected the idea. (I’ll add that interview source when I re-discover it.)
Based on Darth Plagueis we have another clue. That is timing as well as the truth behind Palpatine’s half truth, half lie. “Drunk on his own power, he had attempted an even more unthinkable act: to bring into being a creation of his own….But ultimately to no end….The Force had grown silent, as if in flight from him, and many of the animals in his laboratory succumbed to horrifying diseases.” So Palpatine baited Anakin with a partial lie, telling him something he knew would both make him think of his own birth, as well as Padme. But Plagueis did not succeed in his attempt to create life.
Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life … He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.
Palpatine to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith
Timing of his Birth
Full disclosure here: again, I’m basing this part on the consultation James Luceno had with George Lucas on the novel. I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of the novel for various reasons, not least of which is him being alive at the start of the Phantom Menace. But I have to flat acknowledge that the creator of the Chosen One was consulted on the book.
Here is another quote from the Sith Lord’s point of view in Darth Plagueis. “All that mattered was that almost a decade earlier, they had succeeded in willing the Force to shift and tip irrevocably to the dark side. Not a mere paradigm shift, but a tangible alteration that could be felt by anyone strong in the Force, and whether or not trained in the Sith or Jedi arts.”
Plagueis also knew that the Force might push back. It had done so before. “…he wondered what calamity the Force was planning in retreat to visit on him and Sidious or both of them for willfully tipping the balance. Was retribution merely waiting in the wings as it had been on Coruscant nearly twenty years earlier?”
A large note here is that Plagueis himself was alarmed by Anakin. He heard the rumor that Anakin might be the chosen one. “He fought to repress the truth. The boy would change the course of history. Unless….Maul had to kill Qui-Gon to keep the boy from being trained.“
Sith and Jedi
“The Sith have been extinct for almost a millennium!” ~ Ki-Adi-Mundi
KI-Adi Mundi and Mace Windu in the Phantom Menace
“I do not believe they could have returned without us knowing.” ~ Mace Windu
Another detail here is that the Jedi thought the Sith were extinct. The Jedi Council was shocked and expressed doubt at Qui-Gon insisting that his attacker must be a Sith. The shift in the balance was either so slight and gradual that they hadn’t sensed it yet or they hadn’t attributed it to the Sith at all. The Sith had been around since Darth Bane. So in spite of their personal belief and bias, it’s unlikely that the prophecy meant the Chosen One would kill all Sith for all time. All indications suggest that the prophecy means to right the balance a certain particular few Sith has destroyed. That would be Palpatine, given that Plagueis is dead.
A Second Chance to Fulfill the Prophecy
“I am a Jedi like my Father before me.”
Luke Skywalker, Return of the Jedi
Anakin didn’t know his son. But he did know that he himself had made the choice to serve a Sith Lord based on a promise that wasn’t fulfilled. He was told Palpatine would help save his wife. She died anyway. He also knew Palpatine told her he killed her in his anger. That also was a wrong. Had she died, instantly, as Palpatine implied, she would not have had time to give birth. Anakin probably suspected something as soon as he heard the name Skywalker in regards to the Death Star. But he wasn’t sure. He did possibly have other relatives out there (his mother, sold as a slave, would’ve had family.)
Luke gave him a second chance at revisiting this choice. But it was a chance he knew would kill him. Let’s not forget he had Luke’s whole lifetime to learn his life support suit’s limitations. He knew what that lightning could do. He knew it would probably kill him. This was a selfless act, the opposite of the way a Sith would behave.
The Sith rely on their passion for their strength. They think inward, only about themselves.
Anakin in Revenge of the Sith
The Jedi are selfless . . . they only care about others.
When Anakin died, he rejoined Obi-Wan and Yoda as Force Spirits. All seemed happy. This was evidence the Force accepted his sacrifices.
My Theory on Why People resist Anakin’s Role
Will and the Creator
In creating Star Wars, it’s well known George Lucas used the Hero’s Journey pattern. He combines mythology, buddhism, and christianity.
There are probably two reasons people resist this. One is worldview.. The concept of forgiveness and grace, are very much Christian aspects. Without going into a full on explanation comparing Christianity to Star Wars ( it’s not an exact comparison and there are lots of books that compare Star Wars to religions), Anakin was granted grace and mercy.
That goes against what many people wanted, which was justice against a villain. Hence a standard Vader is a villain and gets killed for it is what people wanted. Not a tragic young man who wanted to do good but was twisted by an evil man pretending to be his friend, using his fear of losing his love as a lever. This explains why so many resisted the prequel. It’s almost like they see fulfilling the prophecy is a reward. But it was never that. The last thing they wanted is a chosen one who actually was a villain for decades!
Justice
Instead of focusing on justice against Darth Vader, who so many thought was the main villain when the original trilogy came out, the real justice is against Palpatine, who is the devilish liar that misled him. Palpatine, after all, knew about the prophecy of the chosen one and the last thing he wanted was a Jedi as powerful as Anakin in his way.
Anakin successfully did what the prophecy of the Chosen One said he would do. It left him a lot of leeway, since it never said how he would do it. But by failing to do it the first time he had a chance, it cost him dearly. It cost him the life of his wife, the lives of those who trusted him that he betrayed, the love of family. For his son’s entire life he was trapped, isolated from anyone he could trust or truly cared about him. Correcting his course cost him his life.
Redemption, Forgiveness, Grace and Mercy
Anakin’s turning back to the light cost him his life. But he also was forgiven by his son, who even tried to get him out alive. When he died, he was granted peace in the Force, evidenced by the fact that he was with Obi-Wan and Yoda as a spirit in the end.
George Lucas has expressly stated that the reason that they switched Sebastion Shawn with Hayden Christensen in the later media releases as Anakin’s force ghost was to absolutely verify he was redeemed. He reverted to his pre-fallen form. Controversial or not, he obviously wanted this to be very clear.
Also of note: the Ryder Windham books, the Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Rise and Fall of Darth Vader, suggest that it was Obi-Wan who helped Anakin learn to hang on as a Force spirit, like Qui-Gon Jinn. This may come of early drafts of Return of the Jedi, which had the three Jedi returning in physical form and Yoda stating that it was Obi-Wan that interrupted Anakin’s journey to the afterlife so he could come with them.
A Higher Power
Whether the fans believe in these heroes isn’t the point. But they do directly conflict with a modern pattern of social justice heroes. These are often perfect and anything they do is justified. Basically, the end seems to justify the means. This is in contrast to heroes of the past, from ancient myth, to Star Wars, Star Trek pre-reboot and more. Also, there is the whole idea of a higher power with a will of its own being behind the prophecy of the chosen one.
That Christian Influence
Now George Lucas himself compared Anakin’s fall to Judas who betrayed Jesus, complete with Mustafar as a kind of hell. This makes sense in the fact that Anakin betrayed the Jedi. But Judas never turned back. Rather than ask forgiveness he killed himself. According to the Biblical account, Simon Peter on the other hand, denied Jesus three times, but still stayed with his fellows and was there when Jesus returned. He went on to become a leader of the new church. The Bible is full of such clay footed heroes, who messed up royally, faced consequences, but still were called on to fulfill a duty. They weren’t all enthusiastic either. Just ask Jonah or even Moses.
The Will of the Force and the Maker
The Will of the Force suggests a higher power is making the decision on who the chosen one is. It didn’t make that choice based on human logic. There are a great many on planet earth that don’t like the idea their personal will, or point of view on morality, might have a challenger in the form of a higher power. They don’t even like the idea that a fellow human has different points of view.
The Chosen One Featurette.
This is from the Revenge of the Sith DVD and Blu-Ray extras.
Conclusion
Anakin fulfilled all the requirements of the Chosen One, because his creator wrote him to fulfill the prophecy of the Chosen One. He wrote him to fulfill the Will of the Force, which said only that he would be born when the Force was out of balance to correct it. It cared little for anyone’s opinion, including Anakin’s own.
Picture source: starwarsscreencaps.com
