Who Brought Balance To The Force?
I feel that the conversation about who actually brought balance to The Force is one many Star Wars fans have had, with some believing it was Anakin, but others siding more with that it was in fact Luke. In this blog, I am going to put my view on who I think brought balance to The Force. So who do I think it was? I believe it was both Anakin and Luke Skywalker. I know that sounds like the easy choice, but stick with me!
I think the best way to explain myself is to start at the end and work my way backwards. This means, talking about Luke, and his part in bringing balance. Luke shows us in the original trilogy that he is very emotionally driven like his father, with this being a red flag for the Jedi, as one of their key rules is being in control of your emotions, which is exactly what Luke is not. This would then leave you to assume that Luke should be a Sith, as having your emotions be in control of you and how you make decisions is the way of the dark side. That, right there, is also why I think Luke is not a Sith either. He uses his emotions to guide him, and in turn, makes decisions he feels are right, without his emotions overwhelming him. Essentially using the discipline of the Jedi, but also listening to his emotions like a Sith, resulting in him bringing balance to The Force. You can clearly see him display this in Return of the Jedi as he turns to The Emperor and refuses to kill Vader, even if he did tap into his emotions to be beat his father. Luke states that he is a Jedi, like his father before him. I do agree that he is a Jedi, as his end goal is the same as the Jedi, just his method of getting there is not the same. He believes in the same values. This is why I feel Luke brings balance to The Force, as he is able to pull from both sides, whilst still remaining in control of what is right and what is wrong... This leads me to Anakin. You would be forgiven for thinking that if Luke did all of the above, then Anakin can’t have brought balance to The Force, but this is why I think he also did. Anakin gave life to Luke, so I believe this is his hand in doing exactly what Qui-Gon said he would. This may seem a little bit of a weak answer, but I feel that the decisions Anakin made are just as vital as anything Luke did. Anakin goes against his training before he even understood the Sith, and got Padme pregnant. He did things no Jedi would do, but I don’t believe he acted like a Sith here either. His decisions were based out of love and caring for others, which was then sadly manipulated by a very powerful Sith Lord.
What I am trying to say is that it is the Skywalker family that brought balance to The Force, not a single person. A lot of people think Luke has become a “Grey Jedi” meaning that he can wield both sides of The Force, but I am not a fan of this. Star Wars is about Good versus Bad, Light versus Dark. I believe Luke is of the Lightside as his intentions are good, even if he gets there via a different route. I understand that there is a lot more to this in the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons but I wanted to write this blog from the view of a film watcher. Do you agree? Let us know who you think brought balance to The Force in the comments section below...