star wars - Why wouldn't the Jedi train Force users?

If you've watched the first episodes of Star Wars, or listened to Weird Al's The Saga Begins, then you know that the Jedi council originally forbade Anakin's force training.

But why in the world would the Jedi council not want to train all the Force users they could? It seems like by not training someone in the Force, they may end out going to the Dark Side. Or is shunning someone from Force training Dark/Light neutral?

Answer

The most specific reason given by the Jedi in opposition to training Anakin (beyond merely stating that he is too old) is:

He is too old. There is already too much anger in him.

_{Mace Windu, Star Wars: Epsiode I The Phantom Menace}

Anakin has had time to grow up with the injustice of slavery for both him and his mother, and this is just one reason why he's developed some anger which makes him more likely to turn to the dark side.

Although it's possible that Anakin might have turned to the dark side even without training, at least in that case he would be less dangerous because he would have much less command of the Force. Of course, the Jedi would have to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't meet a Sith or some other Dark Jedi and learn about the dark side from such a person. The same is true of any other Force-sensitive individual who was too old when discovered -- it's better to leave them untrained than risk training them to have good command of the Force and then turn to the dark side.

Another reason why age is a factor is that it takes a long time to complete Jedi training. Obi-Wan, for example, started training "from a very young age" and didn't even become a Padawan until he was about 13 years old. Anakin essentially skipped all this training and became a Padawan directly, but this probably only possible because of his record high midi-chlorian count. It would take too long to train most Force-sensitive individuals if they started at Anakin's age.

(For the more cynical among us, the Jedi also need to "get 'em while they're young" in order to more effectively ~~brainwash~~ indoctrinate the trainees in the Jedi teachings.)

Comments

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...

Blog

Search This Blog