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The Star Wars prequels are secretly brilliant.


Stashed in: George Lucas

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I've always thought that the Jedi prophecy was really about Luke. He was the Jedi that used the emotion of love to drive his vision of the Force. The internal compass allows him to let anger and hate flow through him, but not consume him. He brings 'balance' to the Force.

In Episode I the prophecy was that Anakin would "bring balance to the force." In Clones it was changed to "bring balance to the force and destroy the sith." If you watch particular George Lucas interviews, it is clear that the prophecy is indeed speaking about Anakin, and that he will fulfill the prophecy by bringing balance to the force "and destroying the sith" when he finally kills the Emperor in Jedi.

I appreciate the efforts made by viewers to identify a deeper meaning to this "prophecy," but I am convinced that Lucas was simply flying by the seat of his pants when he wrote these movies. Too many plot elements and character arcs are poorly thought out for a message this nuanced to be intentional. Not to mention that relying on some vague "prophecy" as a story driver is probably the laziest plot device ever invented.

I'm not saying these theories aren't thought provoking interpretations of these films on their own terms, but Lucas deserves little to no credit. With enough scrutiny, profundity can be identified in nearly any piece of art, whether or not the author intended it.

The real shame in this instance was the potential for the prequels to add depth to the original trilogy (which was flawed in its own right), and enhance our understanding of the star wars universe. Instead, we got an entirely predictable plot line that does nothing to add depth to any of the characters, and a muddier understanding of how the universe works.

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