Star Words: Part XXVII
Sep. 14th, 2017 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilThere are just oodles of foreshadowing lines after the final battle of Episode I, aren't there? And most of them are about Anakin. We have Palpatine's friendly "We shall watch your career with great interest" that's only horrifying if you know what he's really planning. And we have Yoda worrying of the "grave danger" he senses in Anakin's training, while Obi-Wan insists to Yoda that he will fulfill his promise to a dying Qui-Gon, "without the permission of the Council, if I must." This leads to Yoda's grumbling about "Qui-Gon's defiance" living on through Obi-Wan, his reluctant concession, "Your apprentice, Skywalker will be" and Obi-Wan's promise to Anakin at Qui-Gon's funeral -- "You will be a Jedi." Whenever a character says the words "I promise" in a Star Wars film (or any story, really) you can bet that it'll be important later. Lucas doesn't generally belabor plot points, so it must be very significant that we see the ominous, uncertain nature of Anakin's induction into the Jedi Order.
And it all begins with Qui-Gon's dying words.
"Promise me. Promise me you will train the boy. He is the Chosen One. He will bring balance."
First off, kind of a snub toward Obi-Wan, isn't it? Just imagine that your beloved mentor, the man who trained you for years and years, is about to die. And there's not a word about you and how much you meant to him. He reserves his last breath for that upstart little kid he's barely known three days.
Okay, but Obi-Wan is probably a bigger man than to get too resentful. After all, he and Qui-Gon had an excellent heart-to-heart right before the battle (see entry XXIII of this series), so he has his master's approbation and well wishes. And he has to know Qui-Gon's single-mindedness when it comes to following the will of the Force. So there must be something about training Anakin that's too important to leave alone. Does Obi-Wan believe at this point that he is the Chosen One? Maybe not. I think he wants to believe it, because otherwise Qui-Gon wasted his last words and last wishes. He's certainly going to honor that dying wish with all his might.
And here we have the establishment of an awfully shaky apprenticeship for Anakin. Obi-Wan, barely done being a Padawan himself, driven not by any particular connection to Anakin but out of devotion to his lost master; charged with the training of possibly the most important potential Jedi who ever lived. No big deal. No major issue if he fails, except perhaps the Force falling permanently out of balance. But Qui-Gon begged for his promise -- there's that word again! -- and Obi-Wan is determined to follow through.
Anakin isn't the protagonist of Episode I. The story belongs primarily to Qui-Gon, Amidala and Jar Jar. It's curious to start that way, but the more I think about that choice, the more I like it. Anakin was a slave from an obscure planet. No one expected him to be anything important, until a chance meeting with a maverick Jedi. And then everything shifts, reorienting around Anakin's journey through light and darkness. That shift, to me, is a fascinating way of illustrating how the universe has gone off-kilter, out of balance. Something is off. Something has gone wrong. And Palpatine's private victory is only the beginning.
More on that with next week's installment -- which will be the finale line I'll discuss from Episode I in this series! I look forward to moving on to Attack of the Clones after that...
And it all begins with Qui-Gon's dying words.
"Promise me. Promise me you will train the boy. He is the Chosen One. He will bring balance."
First off, kind of a snub toward Obi-Wan, isn't it? Just imagine that your beloved mentor, the man who trained you for years and years, is about to die. And there's not a word about you and how much you meant to him. He reserves his last breath for that upstart little kid he's barely known three days.
Okay, but Obi-Wan is probably a bigger man than to get too resentful. After all, he and Qui-Gon had an excellent heart-to-heart right before the battle (see entry XXIII of this series), so he has his master's approbation and well wishes. And he has to know Qui-Gon's single-mindedness when it comes to following the will of the Force. So there must be something about training Anakin that's too important to leave alone. Does Obi-Wan believe at this point that he is the Chosen One? Maybe not. I think he wants to believe it, because otherwise Qui-Gon wasted his last words and last wishes. He's certainly going to honor that dying wish with all his might.
And here we have the establishment of an awfully shaky apprenticeship for Anakin. Obi-Wan, barely done being a Padawan himself, driven not by any particular connection to Anakin but out of devotion to his lost master; charged with the training of possibly the most important potential Jedi who ever lived. No big deal. No major issue if he fails, except perhaps the Force falling permanently out of balance. But Qui-Gon begged for his promise -- there's that word again! -- and Obi-Wan is determined to follow through.
Anakin isn't the protagonist of Episode I. The story belongs primarily to Qui-Gon, Amidala and Jar Jar. It's curious to start that way, but the more I think about that choice, the more I like it. Anakin was a slave from an obscure planet. No one expected him to be anything important, until a chance meeting with a maverick Jedi. And then everything shifts, reorienting around Anakin's journey through light and darkness. That shift, to me, is a fascinating way of illustrating how the universe has gone off-kilter, out of balance. Something is off. Something has gone wrong. And Palpatine's private victory is only the beginning.
More on that with next week's installment -- which will be the finale line I'll discuss from Episode I in this series! I look forward to moving on to Attack of the Clones after that...
