Episode VII: What was the point of restoring balance to the Force?

[Wolf]

One thing I never really understood is what was the point of the chosen one restoring balance to the Force, if the Dark Side would just rise up again in a few decades?

With the new films coming, I wonder how they'll explain it, if at all. (Does the EU explain how it can bring the Sith back if the balance was supposedly restored, if so, what was the point?)

I suppose it might be connected with "the Force awakens" bit, any ideas as to what that actually means?

After all those centuries of prophesying about a chosen one that would restore balance to the Force, it seems really pointless if the Sith/Dark-Siders just rise up a few decades later.

Considering the thousands of years the Jedi and Sith were fighting, with one winning, then losing, the cycle was never-ending, so it seems pretty pointless for some random prophecy which says "yeah, a chosen one will come who will balance the Force and the Jedi win.... for a few decades, then the cycle just repeats"

Seriously, what was the point?

 

[Lief]

[member="Wolf"]

It depends on how you view balance, to be honest. Look at it this way, once the Sith were gone the Jedi grew... But the Jedi are light. Light is not balance, it's only one half of the equation. For there to be true balance, there has to be both sides. Both must exist for either to exist. The absence of one causes unbalancing in the Force. Likewise, the absence of both is not balance either. It's nothingness.

 

[Corey's OOC]

The Force will go in ebbs and flows, like the tide.

I am willing to bet that this First Order/True Order/The One True Empire will be a lot more human and a lot less... I want to say awesome but I think I mean crazy.

And maybe the Rebellion will be a lot less... forward and decidedly super light sided.

Maybe more grays break out, is what I'm hoping for. And it goes with the way sci-fi movies are written nowadays, nothing is ever so... happy-utopia anymore. Its dark, and gritty and bad things happen to good people.

 

[Trenchcoat Man]

Conflict Theory. Evolution. Survival.

You breathe just so you'll have to breathe again in a few seconds...What's the point?

It's an engine that fuels the universe.

 

[Wolf]

[member="Jyn Sol"]
So what did Vader achieve by bringing balance? It still serves as a useless prophecy, because the Force must have become unbalanced again as the Dark Side rises up, nothing has changed.

 

[Wolf]

[member="Trenchcoat Man"]
My question really is, what's the point of this prophecy?

 

[Wolf]

[member="Jyn Sol"]
According to Jedi philosophy, the Dark Side was a corruption of the balance, with the Light Side being the pure, unadulterated balance of the Force, they were not two halves of an equation.

Regardless, the prophecy is still pointless.

 

[Lief]

[member="Wolf"]

He brought years of peace after, what? 16+ years of darkness? He stopped the tipping of power, stopped the Sith from destroying the Jedi entirely. He allowed the balance between Light and Dark to resume, without either one becoming greater than the other. During the time of the New Jedi Order there were still Sith. But the Sith were not a stronger force than the Jedi, or vice versa.

 

[Deneve Verd]

Well, let's look at the numbers...

When the Empire was at its height, the Dark Side dominated the Galaxy. There were a bunch of Force-trained folks in the Imperial Ranks, with Vader and Palpatine being at the helm of the operation. The Light Side only had a few beacons scattered about; but that was the equivalent of having a candle in the middle of fog.

So when Vader killed Palpatine and then was redeemed/died, the two biggest Dark Side sources in the Galaxy were extinguished. Now the remnants of the Darkness and the small population of the Light were on somewhat equal footing (although politically the Light was in the lead). I'd consider that some form of balance. Neither side of the Force had an overwhelming upper hand on the other.

So with Episode VII, we'll see the new generation of the Light and the Dark awaken. There will be balance because, again, small numbers.

Just how I've always rationalized it anyway~

 

[Trenchcoat Man]

[member="Wolf"]

Both Forces, when allowed to progress too long, become detrimental. The Jedi in the prequel trilogy had become set in their ways, exclusionary, fat, racist, and inept. It needed outside irritants to provoke growth. The Sith rose, the Sith conquered (due to the lack of anti-bodies within the system to successfully fight it off), and the Sith began to crush all the individual republics into a single, deteriorating bureaucracy -- made them all sick. The Rebels then resisted and rebuilt, modernizing older structures to be more powerful than they were before because they were built on newer, stronger principles. They also had a fresh vision as to why they wanted these institutions in the first place.

In the new trilogy, the story may not have an actual "point" inside the mono-myth of the initial 6. It's likely just a residual strain of a fading Empire that they need to knock down the last few pegs.

 

[Wolf]

[member="Jyn Sol"]
Considering how one side becomes stronger than another and then the tides turn has been going for centuries, I don't see the uniqueness or point of this chosen one prophecy to begin with

 

[Connor Harrison]

[member="Wolf"] I don't read into it too much because I'll pick things apart that don't need picking.

Just like in real life, there is a great power at play over ANY prophecy, foresight, vision - whatever. This case it is the Force.

There will always be rotten people who embrace the Force and make it wonderfully nasty; Kylo Ren will be one of them. So while the prophecy was correct at the time, now, the natural order of life has just proved that evil can and never will be quashed with the balance of the Force. So yes it ridicules the prophecy, but I am sure it will openly address the point that there never CAN be a resolution to any "balance".

The Force will be there for good and evil for eons to come.

 

[Lief]

[member="Wolf"]

Because prior to Order 66 there had been like 3 Sith in existence. Post Order 66 there were 2 Jedi in existence...

Prior to Order 66 there was a ridiculous abundance of Jedi and they held the grip over the Galaxy. Post Order 66, while there remained just the 2 Sith they held a very firm grip over the Galaxy.

Neither of these eras had balance. When one is in a steep decline when compared to the other, that is not balance.

However, following the fall of Palpatine and Vader the Galaxy had an equal footing of Jedi and Sith. Neither held dominance. They had an equal presence.

Thus, balance was achieved.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

[member="Wolf"]

I always kind of reckoned that it was one of the 'lol, you interpreted this wrong, now it's screwed you' prophecies.

Granted I do see the Force as a light and dark balancing act, so it was like the Jedi thought fulfilling the prophecy would get rid of evil, the darkside, no more strife etc, so they worked towards it, when really it was about bringing good and evil back into line.

Prophecies as a whole are kinda pointless unless they have winning lottery numbers ;p

 

[Lurcano Car'dann]

[member="Jyn Sol"] Your poitn is correct but there were far more then 2 Jedi after Order 66. There were a few survivors after Order 66. Try, 10-20 Jedi left over after Order 66.

 

[Lief]

[member="Wolf"]

ADDITIONALLY!

You have to remember that this is a PROPHECY.

Prophecies are not necessarily steeped in solid fact. The future changes, it is ALWAYS changing, and even followers of the Unifying Force Theory accept that while they can make educated guesses through prophecy/precognition, things can change, things can be altered. Nothing is for certain.

Just like in real life; there have been prophesies made by individuals throughout history. Most of the time these things don't come true (a few times they have, but was the prophet the reliable one or was it just sheer dumb luck?)

Just because Star Wars has the Force does not make it any more 'true' when a prophecy is made.

 

[Lief]

[member="Lurcano Car'dann"]

It was just a number used to show what I meant; compared to how many there were pre-Order 66, there were very few left.

 

[Connor Harrison]

AND I think JJ isn't expecting most of the cinema goers to be picking apart a prophecy enough to demand it be answered in the film!

That's something George Lucas would have spent 30mins doing in the film had he directed it with mumbo-jumbo. I think we are simply meant to accept that evil never goes away.

But nor do the heroes.

 

[Tefka]

Obi-Wan Kenobi: "With all due respect, Master, is he not the Chosen One? Is he not to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force?"

Mace Windu: "So the prophecy says."

Yoda: "A prophecy that misread could have been. "

 

[Corey's OOC]

Plot might be the reason.