Just visited starwars.com, and their poll was "How did Anakin bring balance to the force?" A: By killing 1000's of Jedi so the # of Sith and Jedi were equal, or B: by killing Palpatine. (Come on, only two options!!!)

Given those two choices, A would fit better because, given SW's Yin-Yang type philosophy, killing the Emperor would disrupt the balance even further. Having 1000's of Jedi and only 2 sith is not much of a balance.

However, this question has plagued me: if the prophecy was fulfilled and someone brought "balance to the force", what would the balance look like? (And on the side, did Anakin eventually fulfill that prophecy?)

I've read that Palpatine eventually "embodies" the dark side, as in the dark side actually took up residence in his being, leading to his quick decay and need for numerous clones to regenerate hisself - that's a lot of the dark-side in one person...was Anakin (or the prophesied one) supposed to do the same with the light side (and with as high a midiclorian count as Anakin had, could he have done so?), but was distracted by the dark side? Then you'd have Palpatine on the dark side and so-and-so on the light side.

Or would the chosen one embody a balance of both the dark and light side powers?

What are your ideas of what would the "balance" look like. Let the discussion begin...

Yow! I'm in! http://www.jediknight.net/mboard/biggrin.gif)

Although I found the whole notion of Anakin's pure birth and the 'midichlorians' to be the silliest claptrap George could have pasted onto the Jedi saga, the idea of Anakin bringing 'balance' to the Force was one that made sense to me. As with all such metaphysical truths, though, that truth depends on the beholder's point of view.

Does Anakin cause changes of a political or social nature which bring about a sense of balance? One could argue that the Sith do indeed bring an opposing power to counteract the monopoly the Jedi seem to have in TPM, but that is not the same as seeking balance. By serving the dark side, the Sith are clearly choosing a side and seeking to promote that over the other...they seek to reverse the nature of things, not maintain them in an equilibrium.

However...from Anakin's own point of view, he does learn of both the light and dark sides of the Force, and I think this is what George was getting at. Anakin is the only character to completely embrace the dark side, and then (at the end of ROTJ), he chooses to embrace the light side. This gives him the truly unique perspective of having known both sides, so when he dies and returns to the Force, he brings that experience with him.

That is what I think that balance was about. A supreme spiritual realization that Anakin brought with him to the great beyond, not a changing per se of matters in the physical universe.

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"The entire universe is simply the fractal chaos boundary between intersecting domains of high and low energy."

Well Zoom Rabbit, apparently this is too cerebral a topic for the masses. Or at least the subject line isn't catchy enough. Or, most likely, we are the only two who don't have enough of a life to keep us distracted some questions such as these.

Had a thought this weekend...I read somewhere that Lucas was quoted saying that Anakin did eventually bring balance to the force. I'd like to know his reasoning.

2 sith to 1000's of Jedi - not too balanced...BUT...the Emperor and his Vader were powerful enough with the Dark side to wipe out all but two of the Jedi. Now numbers wise, there's a balance, but power wise, I think not.

The Emperor was, in my opinion, more powerful with the Dark side that any of the Jedi were with the Light side...you don't see any of the Jedi making clones to replace bodies worn out by the magnitude of the force presence. So I think the balance was way out of whack as long as the Emperor was alive, due to the nature of the Dark side - it centered around Palpatine, it engrossed him, it seduced him then consumed him...the Light side is not so. So if a Sith gets that envelopedby the Dark side, than the balance is out of whack (which it was becoming due to Palpatine's other career.)

...hence, Anakin(Vader) disposes of the Emperor and the balance has returned...even though the existence of any more Sith is unknown (but that's irrelevant becasue all the Jedi were unaware of Sidious and Maul).

OT: Palpatine is like the Prince in Princess Bride...he's swamped: he has senator responsibilities, and secretly he is 1) delving into the Dark arts, 2) training apprentices, 3) taking advantage of naive Federation slugs to throw his homeworld into chaos to take control of the Senate...wheh, what a workload!

I'd say Anakin brought balance to the force in the physical and the other. By destroying the Jedi he brought balance in the physical world, and he brought balance to the spiritual world in the way that ZOOM RABBIT talked about.

Also I'm not so sure that Obi-Wan and Yoda were the only Jedi left. I've read books(the books were about the time after ROTJ) that say when Luke was looking for Jedi recruits for his Jedi Academy he found some people that were already Jedi.

Another thought, what if Vader brought a balance to the force by spawning Luke. I say this because when Vader destroyed the Jedi he did more then just even things out, he turned the tide for the dark side. However, when Luke became a Jedi it was once again balanced. An easy way to dismiss that would be to say that when Vader killed Palpatine and Luke killed Vader the balance was once again disrupted.

well, vey interesting points by everyone, but i'll have to agree with ZOOM RABBIT's thoery on Anikan being the only one with a complete understanding of the light and the dark side, and returnng to the force with that knowledge. Good one, ZOOM RABBIT, we shall watch your career with great interest.

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Say "hi" to Bango, Jo-Jo's friend and faithfull sidekick.He helps me bounty hunt.

The Un-Council's Disgruntled Bounty Hunter
-Calypso

Gaa-aah--! That monkey has me hypnotized! I burned the tapes...I buried Jimmy Hoffa in a dress...Monica Lewinsky has a mole on her--hello! I'm back! What were we just talking about?

Oh, yeah...Jedi. It doesn't surprise me that some older Jedi survived the wars. I mean, in the third Highlander movie, we find out that Conner wasn't actually the only surviving immortal after the gathering because there were three bad guys trapped in a cave in Japan all along. Yet, he got the prize at the end of the first movie! Can anyone explain that to me?

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"The entire universe is simply the fractal chaos boundary between intersecting domains of high and low energy."