Chosen One

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

- A Jedi prophecy

The Chosen One was the central figure in the Jedi prophecy that foretold the coming of the one destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. The prophecy also affected the realm of Mortis, as the Father believed&mdash;in the event of his death&mdash;only the Chosen One had the strength to preserve balance between the Son and the Daughter. During the final years of the Galactic Republic, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn discovered the Chosen One in the form of Anakin Skywalker, a human child enslaved on the planet Tatooine. Skywalker joined the Jedi Order and, during the Clone Wars, became an exceptionally powerful Jedi Knight before falling to the dark side of the Force. Adopting the identity of Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, he participated in the systematic purge that left the Jedi all but extinct.

Vader had a son, Luke Skywalker, however. Having lost the former Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Grand Master Yoda spent decades hiding in exile, awaiting the time when Luke was ready to be trained as a Jedi. Kenobi, who considered his fallen apprentice lost to the dark side, came to believe that Luke would fulfill the prophecy of the Chosen One. However, Luke endeavored to redeem his father, believing that there was still good within him. Moved by his son's compassion, Vader sacrificed his life to destroy his Sith Master, Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire. The deaths of the last two Sith Lords rendered their order extinct. As a result, the Force was brought back into balance. With his destiny fulfilled, Anakin's spirit was reunited in death with his former mentors, Kenobi and Yoda.

Origin
"If the prophecy is true, your apprentice is the only one who can bring the Force back into balance."

- Mace Windu, to Obi-Wan Kenobi

As foretold in a Jedi prophecy, made by an ancient Jedi mystic and recorded via holocron, the Chosen One would bring about the destruction of the Sith and the restoration of balance in the Force. However, the Sith were all but destroyed by themselves, leading the Jedi Order to believe that their ancient rivals no longer posed a threat to the galaxy. But in the aftermath of the Sith's near destruction, Darth Bane emerged as the last survivor and ultimately chose to pass his knowledge to a single apprentice, thereby forming the Rule of Two that would limit the Sith ranks to two&mdash;a Sith Master and an apprentice&mdash;for the next thousand years.

Apart from the Jedi prophecy, the legend of the Chosen One was connected to three ancient Force wielders&mdash;the Father, the Son, and the Daughter&mdash;who resided in the ethereal realm of Mortis. The Father maintained balance between the Daughter and the Son, who embodied the light and dark side of the Force, respectively. In the event of his death, however, the Father sought to recruit the Chosen One as his successor, believing that only he would have the power to preserve the balance on Mortis.

Qui-Gon Jinn's discovery
"You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it's this&hellip;boy?"

- Mace Windu, to Qui-Gon Jinn about Anakin Skywalker

Forty-one years before the Battle of Yavin, Shmi Skywalker gave birth to a son named Anakin Skywalker. Though she could not explain it, there was no father involved in her child's conception. In the first decade of young Skywalker's life, both he and his mother lived in slavery on the Outer Rim world of Tatooine. Originally the property of Gardulla Besadii the Elder, the Skywalkers traded owners after the Hutt lost them in a Podracing bet with the Toydarian junk dealer Watto. During his service to Watto, Skywalker befriended Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who was known for his fascination with prophecies.

Jinn, having gauged with Skywalker's inherent strength in the Force with his own observations, had an analysis made of the boy's exact potential through a blood test. The results confirmed that Skywalker had an unprecedented quantity of midi-chlorians in his cells; his exact count remained unknown as the readings were off the chart. However, the test did confirm that Skywalker had over twenty thousand midi-chlorians, at least, exceeding the count of every Jedi including Grand Master Yoda. In addition, the secret of Skywalker's miraculous birth was revealed to Jinn by Shmi.

Faced with such revelations, Jinn came to the conclusion that Skywalker was in fact a vergence in the Force &mdash;the Chosen One destined to bring ultimate balance. As a result, Jinn brought the now former slave with him to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant where he presented his findings to the Jedi High Council. Following a series of initial tests and questioning, the Council declined to authorize Skywalker's training due to his age and the fear within him. Despite the Council's judgment, Jinn remained adamant in his belief that Skywalker was the one foretold in the prophecy. After sustaining a fatal wound during the Battle of Naboo, Jinn implored his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to become Skywalker's mentor. With Jinn's death, the Council reversed its position and confirmed Skywalker's new status as a member of the Jedi Order in 32 BBY.

Path of the Jedi
"You are the Chosen One. You have brought balance to this world. Stay on this path and you will do it again&hellip; for the galaxy. But beware&hellip; your heart&hellip;"

- The Father's last words, to Anakin Skywalker

As Skywalker ascended the Jedi ranks, the Jedi Council observed his progress with a degree of concern. While the Padawan possessed exceptional skills, as acknowledged by Mace Windu, Skywalker's own Master noted that his apprentice had grown arrogant because of his advanced abilities. Although Windu himself remained skeptical about Skywalker's status as the Chosen One, he affirmed his belief in the prophecy, stating that&mdash;if it was true&mdash;only Kenobi's apprentice could bring the Force back into balance.

After the Clone Wars began with the Battle of Geonosis in 22 BBY, Skywalker became a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic, having achieved the rank of Jedi Knight by the time of the Battle of Christophsis. During the war, he unwittingly undertook a mission to the realm of Mortis alongside his former Master and Padawan, Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano, respectively. Upon their arrival, the Father sought to gauge Skywalker's strength in the Force, ultimately to determine if he truly was the Chosen One. By using his powers to bring the Son and the Daughter to heel, Skywalker convinced the Father that he was indeed the one destined to bring balance to the Force, as only the Chosen One could tame the Father's children.

With his stewardship of Mortis nearing its end, the Father invited Skywalker to remain in order to preserve the balance between his children. Skywalker declined the Father's offer, however. Like the Father, the Son became intrigued by the power of the Chosen One. In his desire to leave Mortis, the Son endeavored to turn Skywalker to the dark side of the Force. His plan succeeded, albeit for a short time, when Skywalker saw his own future through a series of Force visions imparted to him by the Son. After discovering his Son's actions, the Father erased the visions from Skywalker's mind. Following the deaths of all three Force wielders, Skywalker returned to the galaxy alongside Kenobi and Tano, where they discovered that no time had passed in their absence.

Fall of the Chosen One
"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Anakin Skywalker

During the waning days of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker was caught in the middle of an increasingly strained relationship between the Jedi Council and Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, leader of the Senate of the Galactic Republic. His friendship with the chancellor, as well as his appointment to the Council's ranks by Palpatine's request, caused the Council to become more wary of Skywalker. Through it all, Kenobi remained confident that his former student would fulfill his destiny as the Chosen One by destroying the Sith and restoring balance to the Force. Yoda began to suspect that the prophecy might have been misinterpreted, however.

By the end of the Clone Wars, Skywalker turned against the Jedi Order and embraced the dark side of the Force as the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Though wracked by grief over the fall of his former apprentice, Kenobi confronted Vader on Mustafar and emerged as the victor of their lightsaber duel. Kenobi exclaimed that Anakin Skywalker was the Chosen One but instead of bringing balance as foretold, he condemned the Force to darkness by joining the Sith. Having said his piece, which Vader replied with utter hatred for his former master, Kenobi left his fallen apprentice to burn on the edge of a lava bend. Vader managed to survive his grievous injuries and was retrieved by his Sith Master Darth Sidious. However, his condition necessitated an extensive cybernetic reconstruction rendering him more machine than man. His damaged body was then encased within a life-sustaining suit of armor. From then on, he would serve as his master's right hand, enforcing Sidious' reign as Emperor of the First Galactic Empire.

Dark times
"They called you the Chosen One, and you believed it. You believe it still."

- Momin, to Darth Vader

With the Emperor's blessing, Darth Vader claimed Mustafar as his own and oversaw the construction of his personal residence, Fortress Vader, with the help of Lord Momin. Although Momin was long dead by the time of the Imperial Era, the ancient Sith communicated with his modern counterpart through a mask imbued with his dark essence. Having manipulated Vader into constructing the fortress as a conduit for the power of the dark side, Momin was able to open a portal in the Force which ultimately facilitated his rebirth. The two Sith Lords battled each other in a cave beneath the fortress, and Momin revealed that he knew about Vader's former persona Anakin Skywalker.

The reborn Sith Lord was aware that the Jedi believed Skywalker to be their prophesied Chosen One, and that Vader still considered himself as such despite his fall to the dark side. Scoffing at how Vader could have been gifted with the greatest power in the galaxy, Momin derided his opponent as a broken shadow of his former self. Furthermore, Momin taunted Vader by reminding him of his wife, the late Senator Padmé Amidala, and how he failed to save her in spite of his potential as the Chosen One. Vader ultimately defeated Momin, however, resulting in the ancient Sith Lord's second death.

Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace affected his former master's view of the prophecy. Whereas Kenobi once believed his apprentice to be the Chosen One, he became convinced that Vader was incapable of turning from the dark side. He therefore placed his hopes in Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, whom he watched over during his years in exile and isolation on Tatooine. When confronted by an old nemesis, the former Sith Lord Maul, Kenobi brought an end to decades of rivalry by striking down the Dathomirian. With his last breath, Maul asked Kenobi if he was protecting the Chosen One, to which the Jedi Master said he was, having come to believe that the prophecy would be fulfilled by Luke instead of Anakin. With that, Maul died believing that the victims of the Sith would be avenged.

Prophecy fulfilled
"You were right&hellip; You were right about me. Tell your sister&hellip; You were right."

- Anakin Skywalker's last words, to his son Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker's instruction in the Jedi arts began during the Galactic Civil War. By then the Jedi were all but extinct as a result of the Jedi Purge that began with Order 66. Kenobi served as Luke's first master but was killed by Vader soon after, cutting short the younger Skywalker's apprenticeship. But in learning the secret to immortality, Kenobi was able to retain his identity in the Force after death. During the Battle of Yavin, he communed with Luke and told him to trust in the Force. Guided by Kenobi's spirit, Luke saved the Alliance to Restore the Republic by destroying the first Death Star.

His next mentor was Grand Master Yoda who, despite deeming the son too reckless and full of anger like the father, agreed to complete Luke's training as a Jedi. But their time as master and apprentice was cut short; sensing that his allies were in danger, Luke raced to rescue them, disregarding Yoda's warning that only a fully-trained Jedi would be able to conquer the Sith. In doing so, Luke was forced to confront Vader on Bespin, where he ultimately learned the truth of his parentage in 3 ABY.

Having narrowly escaped from his dark father, he returned to Dagobah where a dying Yoda confessed that Vader was indeed Luke's father. Knowing who his father was, Luke found himself unable to consider killing Vader now, and held to the belief that good still existed within the former Anakin Skywalker. But neither Kenobi or Yoda shared Luke's sentiment, believing that the dark side would dominate Vader's destiny forever. Although Luke decided to face Vader once more, as his masters told him he must, he remained steadfast in his determination to redeem his father. As the late Jedi Masters predicted, the Emperor used Luke's feelings to his advantage, intending to turn the son to the dark side, as he did with the father, during the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY.

Luke came close to striking down his father in anger but restrained himself at the last moment. Having defeated Vader and resisted the temptation of the dark side, Luke claimed the mantle of Jedi Knight, his actions confounding the Emperor who lashed out with a barrage of Force lightning. Unable to defend himself, Luke begged his father to save him, and causing Vader to rise up against his dark master at the cost of his own life. In doing so, Vader fulfilled the prophecy of the Chosen One, restoring balance to the Force by destroying both himself and the Emperor, in order to save his son. With his destiny complete, Vader passed away but through the Force his spirit lived on as Anakin Skywalker, allowing him to rejoin his Jedi mentors in death.

Legacy
"I have traveled too far and seen too much to ignore the despair in the galaxy. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force."

- Lor San Tekka

The Jedi prophecy foretold the destruction of the Sith, but it never predicted the end of darkness. Although Anakin Skywalker brought the Force back into balance, the Jedi Order was decimated by his actions as Darth Vader, leaving Luke Skywalker as the last of the Jedi. Despite the fall of the Sith and the restoration of balance in the Force, the dark side endured as remnants of the former Galactic Empire reorganized into the First Order under Supreme Leader Snoke, a Force-sensitive being who was strong with the dark side. In addition to the First Order, the Supreme Leader was served by the Knights of Ren, an order devoted to both Snoke and the dark side of the Force. Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren and grandson of Darth Vader, oversaw the destruction of a new generation of Jedi trained by his uncle Luke, approximately thirty years after the Battle of Endor. Having discarded his former life as Ben Solo, Ren became Snoke's apprentice and endeavored to grow as strong as his grandfather.

Luke disappeared after losing his nephew to the dark side, leaving only fragments of a map that revealed the location of his self-imposed exile. As the First Order grew in strength, Ren's mother, Princess Leia Organa, sought to bring her brother into the Resistance's conflict with the Imperial-inspired military junta. To that end, Lor San Tekka, a member of the Church of the Force, provided the Resistance with the last missing piece of the map to Skywalker. While he was not Force-sensitive, San Tekka was a believer in the ideals of the Jedi Order. Moreover, he believed that the Jedi were essential to maintaining balance in the Force.

Behind the scenes
Though there was some debate that Anakin Skywalker's son, Luke Skywalker, was actually the Chosen One since he caused his father to destroy Darth Sidious, the debate was settled when George Lucas himself confirmed in an interview that Anakin, even after becoming Darth Vader, was still officially the Chosen One and not Luke. Darth Vader: Sith Lord, a canon reference title, also states explicitly that "Anakin had fulfilled the destiny of the Chosen One". The 2017 reference book Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary furthermore clarifies that the Chosen One prophecy just foretold the destruction of the Sith, albeit not of the dark side of the Force, explaining the continued existence of dark side users such as Kylo Ren and Snoke.

Fan debate
A fan debate surrounding the prequel trilogy has been the nature of the creation of the Chosen One prophecy, which was briefly called into question in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Although in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace it was claimed that the Force conceived Anakin completely without outside influence, Darth Sidious heavily implied in Revenge of the Sith that Anakin may have been the result of Darth Plagueis' experiments to create life by manipulating midi-chlorians.

Non-canon appearances

 * William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars Part the First