Chosen One

"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 and referring to the young Anakin Skywalker

The Chosen One was the central figure in the Jedi prophecy that foretold the coming of a being who would destroy the Sith and restore balance to the Force. The prophecy also effected the realm of Mortis, as the Father believed in the event of his death the Chosen One was the only one who could keep balance in the realm of Mortis between the Son and the Daughter. During the final years of the Galactic Republic, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn believed he had found the Chosen One in the form of the child Anakin Skywalker, and Skywalker grew to become an exceptionally powerful Force-sensitive in the Jedi Order before falling to the dark side of the Force. As Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, the former Jedi Knight became a key figure in a systematic purge that all but annihilated the Jedi. Two survivors, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, sought to train Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, in the hope that he would defeat the Sith, and Kenobi came to believe that Luke was the Chosen One.

However, Luke endeavored to redeem his father, believing that there was still good within him. With Luke's help, Vader destroyed his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, at the cost of his own life, but ultimately died as Anakin Skywalker. With the prophecy 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, 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
"He is the Chosen One&hellip; He will&hellip;bring balance&hellip; Train him."

- Qui-Gon Jinn's last words, to Obi-Wan Kenobi

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 Anakin'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, Anakin befriended Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi Master who took an interest in the young slave due to his inherent strength in the Force. After Jinn learned of Anakin's unique birth from his mother, a blood test revealed that he possessed an unprecedented quantity of midi-chlorians in his cells&mdash;over twenty thousand&mdash;surpassing the midi-chlorian count of every Jedi, including Grand Master Yoda.

Such revelations led Jinn to conclude that Anakin Skywalker was a vergence in the Force; the Chosen One who would fulfill the Jedi prophecy. 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.

Following the outbreak of the Clone Wars, 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. By then, Yoda warned that the prophecy may have been misinterpreted.

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. Before leaving Vader to burn on the edge of a lava bend, Kenobi reiterated his belief that Skywalker was the Chosen One, even though he ultimately joined the Sith. In the years that followed the Republic's reformation into the Galactic Empire, Kenobi watched over Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, whom he came to believe was the Chosen One. In 2 BBY when Kenobi fought and killed his old rival, Darth Maul, he still held the belief that Luke would bring balance to the Force and told Maul when the dying Zabrak asked who Kenobi was protecting. With his final breath, Maul declared that Luke would destroy the Sith and avenge him and Kenobi.

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

During the Galactic Civil War, Luke Skywalker began his training in the Jedi arts. By that time, the Jedi were all but extinct as a result of the purge that began with Order 66. His mentors, Kenobi and Yoda, hoped that Luke&mdash;as a fully-trained Jedi Knight&mdash;would bring an end to the reign of the Sith. However, after learning of his father's true identity, Luke resolved to bring Anakin back to the light side of the Force.

Ultimately, it was Anakin Skywalker who restored balance to the Force by destroying both himself and his Sith Master, Darth Sidious, in order to save his son during the Battle of Endor. Having fulfilled his destiny, Anakin joined Kenobi and Yoda in death as a Force spirit.

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, to Poe Dameron

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. Approximately thirty years after the Battle of Endor, Kylo Ren&mdash;the grandson of Darth Vader&mdash;oversaw the destruction of a new generation of Jedi trained by his uncle Luke. 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, Leia Organa&mdash;the mother of Kylo Ren&mdash;sought to bring her brother into the Resistance's conflict with the Imperial-inspired military junta. To that end, Lor San Tekka&mdash;a member of the Church of the Force &mdash;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.

In George Lucas' original plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy, the creation of the prophecy of the Chosen One would have been revealed: the prophecy was purposely created by the Whills, as they were able to create certain destinies for people.

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 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