Star Wars has always played with the idea of interpretation and points of view.
Obi-Wan straight up lies to Luke about who his father is and when confronted about it makes a very solid argument that his story was true—that Anakin Skywalker was killed by Darth Vader—from a certain point of view.
The prequels introduce their own mysteries about Anakin.
He is the long prophesied Chosen One, but how he ultimately brings balance to the Force is probably not the way the Jedi would have wanted it—Anakin/Vader paves the road to balance in genocide, infanticide, basically all sorts of “cides” before balancing everything out with the one-two punch of regicide and suicide.
The latest episode of The Clone Wars tackles the interpretation of the Chosen One myth from a whole new angle and marks the return of Qui-Gon Jinn.
I always liked Qui-Gon.
I feel like having him killed off in Episode I was a bad idea because he could have brought some real emotional conflict to two otherwise flat, spectacle-strewn sequels. When we meet Qui-Gon he is presented as wise and noble, but most importantly skeptical of the Jedi Council. He wasn’t afraid to question them, and when pushed, was ready to defy the order and train Anakin himself.
Imagine if he left—or was thrown out—of the Jedi Order in Episode II?
Imagine the conflict Anakin would have faced over seeing the man who rescued him from slavery being ousted from the very order he was sworn to. Flawed as it was, The Phantom Menace still benefits from Qui-Gon presence, one that is noticeably absent from Episodes II and III.
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| “Say hi to Senator Binks and Hayden Christensen for me, jerks!” |
Qui-Gon was also the first who believed Anakin to be the Chosen One, which brings us up to the point here: The Clone Wars just threw a huge monkey wrench in the whole Chosen One thing.
Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka crash on a planet that works to attract and amplify the Force. It is inhabited by three life forms. The Father, who embodies The Force, and The Son and The Daughter who embody the Dark Side and the Light Side respectively. These Force Wielders are so powerful that they can use the Force to change their physical forms and defend themselves against lightsabers with their bare hands. Their planet, as the Father informs Anakin, is a sort of prison and it is his belief that the Chosen One won’t bring balance to the Force in a big picture way, but will replace him as the custodians of his children and their planet. Phew.
Get all that? Good.
What this episode brings to the table is a new interpretation of the Force, something that Expanded Universe material has played with but has never been a part of George Lucas-approved Star Wars canon.
Within this big universe we have Jedi, Sith and people who either believe in the Force or don’t. These Force Wielders are neither Jedi or Sith and it is their belief that Anakin also exists on their level, a sort of grey area of the Force only way better.
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| “Or not. Sad Trombone.” |
This is all the sort of thing that I love about The Clone Wars.
It lets us to look into the larger, prequel-era world in ways that the movies wouldn’t allow. It also gives the characters personalities and growth that the prequels almost entirely lacked. We get to actually see Anakin and Obi-Wan as friends, we get to see Anakin as the great Jedi he was while flirting with the anger we know he’ll succumb to. This show is the closest we’ll get to a do-over on the prequel trilogy. I look forward to seeing how these new takes on the Chosen One and the Force play out and hope to see more of Master Jinn.
If nothing else, the tease of a potential Dark Side Ahsoka should prove to be an interesting twist. Like I’ve said on this site before, Ahsoka has to go somewhere before the events of Episode III.
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| Who’s just here to sell girls toys now? |
Tony Pacitti is the author of the coming of age fanboy memoir My Best Friend is a Wookiee: One Boy’s Journey to Find His Place in the Galaxy. You can read more of his geek rambling at tonypacitti.wordpress.com
