The Balance Series: Part 5 | Prophecy of The Chosen One

Katelyn continues to explore the balance of the force and its consequences for the Star Wars universe…

“A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored.”

Ok, kids, we’re diving deep on this one. Before we begin, we need to decide what the term “balance” means. The term is a misnomer. I believe Lucas meant balance to be the eradication of the darkness. Why he chose specifically to call it balance, I am unsure. Balance implies equality, but the true meaning is the absence of darkness. Darkness upsets the balance that is the Force and throws it into chaos. It clouds visions and can weaken a Jedi’s resolve, creating doubt and confusion.

Before Master and Apprentice, we had nothing, squat, zero, zilch of the Chosen One prophecy. The closest we came was The Jedi Path where the pages had been ripped out by Palpatine after the Jedi Purge and he acquired the book. I was convinced we never would. That maybe Lucas would write half the prophecy on his tombstone just to make us guess and wonder until the end of time. But finally, for better or worse, we have a piece of it in our hands.

“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.”

Let’s break this down.

“Only through sacrifice of many Jedi will the Order cleanse the sin done to the nameless.”   I think we are starting at The Clone Wars here. Cleansing the sin to the nameless could refer to all those lost during the Clone Wars or even to the Purge. The Jedi fought for the “little person” during the war as well as attempting to keep the Republic in tact.

“The danger of the past is not past, but sleeps in an egg. When the egg cracks, it will threaten the galaxy entire.”  Personally, I think this refers to the returning of the Sith. The Jedi thought that the Sith were truly dead, never to return.  They were wrong on both counts.

“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.” 

At first glance you automatically want to say Anakin, right? Anakin didn’t have a father and he killed the emperor.  The problem is with what happened after. There wasn’t lasting balance. Luke may have bought himself some time, but the First Order rose up and Kylo Ren with it. The negation of the dark side was not achieved. So, who’s left?  Rey.

“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.” 

We don’t know yet if Kylo told Rey the truth or not about her parentage. In fact, I believe he lied to convince her to join him. She may have been created, either intentionally or not. “Past and future must split and combine”.  So we are going to see something old combine with something new.  Didn’t we hear Palpatine laugh in our first The Rise of Skywalker trailer? Could Rey be something of his creation? Let’s look at the reasons the Jedi thought that Anakin was the chosen one.

He had no father. He had an incredibly high midichlorian count. He obviously could use his abilities before he understood what they were. He was strong. That’s pretty much it. Well, we don’t know Rey’s parentage. We don’t know her midichlorian count. She learned how to use her abilities very quickly. She is strong enough that Luke didn’t want to train her, much like Mace Windu didn’t want to train Anakin. So far I think we have a match.

We may have yet to see what true balance looks like: an actual eradication of the darkness and a true end to the Sith. Was Anakin really as close as we will come to a Chosen One, or is Rey the real deal? I guess we’ll have to wait until December to find out.

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Katelyn Mathis is a regular Staff Writer for Future of the Force. She is a passionate Star Wars fan and is the go-to source for Force Knowledge. Follow her on Twitter @ForceKnowledge where she uses the force frequently!

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Katelyn Mathis

Katelyn Mathis is a Senior Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. She is a passionate Star Wars fan and is the go-to source for Force Knowledge. Follow her on Twitter where she uses the force frequently!