OK, in Episode I, Qui-Gon Jinn says that Anakin will bring ‘balance to the force’, but I don’t understand why that is a good thing - being as all the Jedi at that time are on the good side, surely something that will bring balance to the force would be on the Dark side and therefore not a good thing to find?
Have I missed something?
A pondering Tuco.
They probably didn’t really think about it, and just assumed that balance was a good thing. And that was probably reinforced by the fact that it was an old prophecy,
Not a Star Wars scholar here, but your question reminded me of a similar question dealt with elsewhere. Maybe similar reasoning applies.
<irrelevant background>
Many years ago I read through a series of books by Michael Moorcock, a fantasy writer of some note. There are several sub-series centered around different heroes, but the entire series came to be known as the Eternal Champion series, as the various heroes were written to be different incarnations of the same Champion, via parallel dimensions or some such device.
</irrelevant background>
Rather than characterizing the source of conflict as “good vs. evil”, as happens so often in epic dramas of all kinds, these books instead focused on “law vs. chaos”, two forces in opposition but neither necessarily “better” than the other. There existed a need for balance, justified by the explanation that too much law (order, causation) leads to stagnation, while too much chaos (disorder, randomness) yields, well, chaos.
This seems to me a pretty decent explanation of the need for balance between two diametrically opposed forces, at least in popular fantasy fiction. Perhaps the writers of Star Wars likewise don’t see the Dark Side as ultimately, totally evil, but as one half of a pair of forces both necessary to maintain a dynamic universe.
Or, more likely, Joe_Cool is right and they just thought balance sounded like a good thing, and i’m way overthinking it… 
I got the impression that it’s a Three’s Company type of misunderstanding. What Joe_Cool said, basically.
“Oooh, there’s like, 80 zillion people who can’t use the force, and 800 or so of us. If this “Balance to the Force” prophecy comes true, we’ll have, like, just under 40 zillion new club members, all paying 100 credits a year as union dues, so let’s see, carry the 2, drop the…”
“Umm, may I interject something? Has anyone considered that there are like 800 of us, and somehow or other we know that there are always two bad guys, and only two, so that would mean…”
“Shut up, man, I’m figuring out how many pleasure planets we can buy for club members only with these new funds coming in…”
Probably for the reason why Christians are waiting for the second coming (and the Jews are waiting for the first)… it’s a religious belief, probably stemming from the fact that the Jedi are losing their mastery of the Force. I guess they didn’t just stop and think that, maybe, they should be spending more time meditating and less time pacing slowly and ominously up and down the halls of the Jedi citadel.
I like the idea that Anakin brought balance to the Force by killing almost all the good jedi so that the Dark Side and the Light Side were on equal footing, but how exactly does that work? We know that there were two evil Jedi - the Emperor and Darth Vader. We know of too good ones - Yoda and Obi-Wan. But then we throw Luke into the equation, throwing things off…OK, Obi-Wan dies before Luke could be considered a Jedi, so there’s a period of time where there is only one good one, Yoda. Then Luke becomes a true Jedi, and Yoda dies, leaving only one good Jedi…where’s the balance in that? Luke is hardly the equal of Darth Vader and the Emperor. Then, there’s the opportunity to balance things out by killing one of them, but BOTH the bad Jedi end up dead, leaving only one good Jedi and one relative with Jedi potential.
I guess I shouldn’t try to make much sense out of the Star Wars movies.
And, of course, you have the New Jedi Order novels, which are strongly hinting that there is no light or dark side, just the Force itself…
Lucas approved the books. Take it as you will.
Well that makes some sense. If you think of the Force as neither good or bad, just existing, like a gun for instance. The gun itself isn’t good or bad, but it is used for both reasons.
It mainly depends on the morals of the person who can control the gun. And just as gun safety schools, permits, and training help people use their gun safetly and effectively, but no one can ‘force’ someone to use a gun correctly or righteously.
Jedi’s use the Force in the same way.
Like SPOOFE said, I took it to have something to do with the fact that the Jedi seemed to be developing a few problems over the years. Visions were becoming more clouded, there was a sense of overimpending darkness, stuff like that. They could have been thinking “balance” would clear all that stuff up and make it all hunky doorey and smooth sailing all over again. People tend to look towards the positive aspect of things, so when the options are:
or
People like the first option better, so they focus on the pretty. Then they start looking for the water buckets when it’s too late.
Keep in mind that while Luke was a good Jedi, he didn’t follow the Jedi traditions at all.
They didn’t know what ‘bringing balance to the Force’ meant, it was just a weird prophecy. The actual balance happens in Return of the Jedi. Anakin (Vader) kills the Emperor, and the ‘balance’ is restored.
The problem was, it had to go through the chaos of Imperial rule in order for it to happen as prophesied. (prophesised? propheseyed? propheseen?)
It’s not really balance in a ‘evenly measured between two parts’ way, it’s actually intended to mean that everything was brought back to the way it used to be (which, as of the era of The Phantom Menace, is just like it already is).
The “balance” wasn’t regained so much by the death of Jedi or making just as many “good” Jedi as there were “bad”… my take is that the Jedi Order became too political and “structured”, and weren’t using their feelings or instincts any more. They were trying to follow a textbook for training, much as one would to to learn math or physics, and this resulted in inadequately trained Jedi.
The ultimate balance came when the useless, scholastic Jedi Order was dissolved, and a new beginning could be had, one that focused more on the Force itself rather than proper teaching steps.
It’s still my personal belief that Qui-Gon is mistaken, and that Luke is the chosen one. If that’s the case, then the “balance” that he brought about at the end of Return of the Jedi is, well, maybe not the single most prosperous time in the history of the Jedi order, but it’s something good. I think it’s this kind of balance that the Jedi in The Phantom Menace are anticipating. The sort of Mystics-Skeksis 2 vs. 2 “balance” that Darth Vader brought about is not what the prophecy is about, I think.
I was thinking that the council was flat-out STUPID for not figuring out “balencing the force” would mean something bad (Lots of ‘light’ jedi, two ‘dark’ jedi…).
But then in AotC, something came up that might explain it… They were talking about how their powers were weakening. Maybe they thought that this balancing force might be something that keeps the force strong, instead? shrugs Though I’m guessing it’s exactly the opposite…
Maybe by “balance” they really mean “full potential.”
The ability to use the full potential of the force has gotten diminished over time, maybe due to a dearth of metaclorians or complacency on the part of the Jedi & their training.
The Jedi get weaker and a split occurs.
The Sith get lazy and start channelling the force through anger & hate.
The Jedi, being fearful of and susceptible to the dark side, focus their training on the “good” uses of the force.
What’s needed is someone strong enough with the force to use its full potential without sliding towards the dark side, or being overly fearful of it.
Along comes Anakin who fits the bill, but he’s already had a bad childhood, then the Emperor starts further manipulating him. The Emperor has no interest in Anakin realizing his full potential because he’d then lose control over him. So we get a dysfunctional Darth Vader instead.
To my mind, balance hasn’t been restored yet, since Vader died without really passing anything on, and neither Luke or Leia can use the force to its full potential. Even if the Skywalker twins start training new Jedi, there’s still a good chance eventually someone is going to slip back to the dark side again. Then we’re in for three more movies, I guess.
Bah… people people people… the Balance has not been achieved yet.
We already had a spring back situation, where we were at one extreme (all the good Jedi) then snapped to the other extreme in response (pretty much all the good Jedi dead and the Emperor and Darth Vader ruling all)
Now, with the advent of the New Jedi order series of books we are going once more to the other extreme. Not completely, but starting to. One or two bad Jedi and lots of good as being trained at the Academy by Luke.
Now according to my roomie* one of the old Academy’s or temples or whatever has been built on a site of pure Force. Essentially a mingling of the good and bad. The Force is neither good nor evil, it merely is. And the intentions of the user make it so. His theory has something to do with the fact of Twins. In the latest books there is an enemy that revers twins, and basically when they grow up has them go at it one to kill the other. The one who kills his/her twin is a great and powerful person/leader etc. Luke and Leia are twins, both are Force sensitive and with training Leia could probably use the Force much like Luke. She doesn’t though, as far as I know.
Now Leia… has twins. I can’t recall their names but they are both Jedi trained and such. And now, last I heard, one was turning to the dark side. The twins of the Skywalker/Solo family are supposed to bring about the Balance. Either by one being of the light, the other the dark. Or by them both combining to find a balance between them.
Don’t ask me how it works, this probably makes no sense right now as I am going nuts. But I’ll try to elaborate if anyone asks me to.
[sub]*He’s read all the books so far, as I know and often tells me what has happened along with theories galore. So this rambling comes from my second hand knowledge from him. I personally have only read one book.[/sub]
Of course, there’s also the possibility that the first three really fun movies get balanced out by the second three really lousy movies…
[sub]Is there an Apathetic Side to the Force?[/sub]
Let the Force flow through you…Become one with the Force…Let your thoughts drift…Hey man, you wanna order a pizza or something?
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfills himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
Arthur, MORTE D?ARTHUR By Tennyson