Why did the Jedi want to bring balance to the Force?

Question

During the Prequel trilogy, the Jedi wanted to bring balance to the Force, in accordance with a prophecy. There seemed to be a general agreement that this was a 'good thing', but a disagreement with the assertion that Anakin was the one to do it.

Why did the Jedi Council believe it was good to bring balance to the Force? The Republic was mighty (in theory), the Council was established as THE source of Force users, the Sith were thought extinct, and the number of Dark Jedi was apparently very, very low.

It seemed, for all intents and purposes, as if the Force was strongly imbalanced in favor of the Light side...so why did the Council want to 'balance' it?

Answer 1

The simple answer is that the Council knew Anakin was a critical player in the events of the future, but they didn't know how or why. They had no clue what bringing balance to the Force entailed. Looking back, it is obvious, but in the canon, they didn't. In fact, read this quote from the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith book, by Matthew Stover (p. 213, hardback, first edition):

"Yes. Always in motion, the future is." Yoda lifted his head and his eyes narrowed to thoughtful slits. "And the prophecy, misread it could have been."

Mace looked even grimmer than usual. "Since the fall of Darth Bane more than a millennium ago, there have been hundreds of thousands of Jedi -- hundreds of thousands of Jedi feeding the light with each work of their hands, with each breath, with every beat of their hearts, bringing justice, building civil society, radiating peace, acting out of selfless love for all living things -- and in all these thousand years, there have been only two Sith at any time. Only two. Jedi create light, but the Sith do not create darkness. They use the darkness that is always there. That has always been there. Greed and jealousy, aggression and lust and fear -- these are all natural to sentient beings. The legacy of the jungle. Our inheritance from the dark."

"I'm sorry, Master Windu, but I'm not sure I follow you. Are you saying -- to follow your metaphor -- that the Jedi have cast too much light? From what I have seen these past years, the galaxy has not become all that bright a place." [My note: Obi-Wan speaking here.]

"All I'm saying is that we don't know. We don't even truly understand what it means to bring balance to the Force. We have no way of anticipating what this may involve."

All bold emphasis is mine, but italics were in the original text. I typed this by hand, so there may be typos in there, but the gist is there.

This book is considered G-level canon, so I consider it to be a very valid source. More info on the levels can be found on this Wikipedia page.

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On another note, he did indeed bring balance to the Force when he killed Palpatine in the end. It's an interesting twist, given that one would think at the end of Episode III that the prophecy was referring to raising the level of darkness to that of the light -- but not so.

Answer 2

It's because what the Jedi Order call "balance" is not the middle point between dark and light side, it's the absence of Dark Side use:

Traditional Jedi were keen to keep the Force "in balance". They attempted to achieve this by destroying the Sith and denying the dark side—essentially "keeping balance" by restoring the Force to its natural state, as they viewed the dark side as "corruption".
- Wookieepedia article about "The Force" section "The Jedi Order" paragraph 2

Also, about the Chosen One prophecy:

The idea of balance of the Force, a central tenet of the Jedi Order, refers to the ideal state in which the Force exists in nature, i.e. as the light side. The presence of the dark side corrupts and destroys this natural balance, and the Jedi viewed it as their duty to restore it.
- Wookieepedia article about the "Chosen One"

Finally as from Georges Lucas's intention:

Many fans incorrectly assume that balance refers to an equal mix of both light and dark side users. However, as George Lucas explains in the introductory documentary for the VHS version A New Hope, Special Edition, this is not the case:

"[...] Which brings us up to the films 4, 5, and 6, in which Anakin's offspring redeem him and allow him to fulfill the prophecy where he brings balance to the Force by doing away with the Sith and getting rid of evil in the universe..."

In an interview, Lucas compared the difference between the light and dark sides as being like the difference between a symbiotic relationship and a cancer. A symbiotic relationship is one which benefits both parties and in which neither is harmed, whereas a cancer takes without giving back, eventually causing the death of both parties
- Wookieepedia article about the "Chosen One", Section "Behind the scenes"

Update: On a side note, I just watched the French translation of The Phantom Menace with my son and the "bring balance to the Force" concept was translated to "restaurer l'harmonie dans la Force" (to restore the harmony to the Force). This is one of the unusual case where the intended concept was better in translation than the original.

Answer 3

When a system that seeks a balance becomes out of balance one way, it typically rebounds and becomes out of balance the other way before stabilizing.

The stronger the initial imbalance, the stronger the resulting "rebound" imbalance the other way.

Perhaps the Council feared that if the Force was as strongly imbalanced in favor of the Light side as it appeared to be, a strong rebound towards the Dark side was inevitable if steps were not taken to moderate the situation.

The subsequent events would seem to back up this idea, as, by the end of the Prequel trilogy, the Light side of the Force became almost as scarce as the Dark side was at the beginning.

Answer 4

Good and evil are both eternal. The balance was basically done. The sith were the ultimate evil in the universe. After the death of Palpatine, the sith never regained power until 137 ABY. The balance was restored for about 133 years. That sounds good to me.

Answer 5

The Jedi would to bring the balance of the Force for his selfish reasons. Palpatine were right when said to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith that Jedi become arrogant, selfish and dominant. The balance is the balance between Dark and Light - so one who can use and understand both Dark and Light, who can live with one and another inside him.

A Sith was a menace but Jedi are not rules of the power, galaxy. Jedi is suppose to defense light with light not with dark and Sith is suppose to defense dark with dark not with friendship or understood. The Sith betray but in last decades Jedi betrayed too. They betrayed Anakin:

1. they robbed from his feelings to his mother,
2. they had him as a weapon against the Sith,
3. they did not understand the nature of his feelings,
4. they left him on Mustafar (his friend, father and brother altogether) instead they saved him.

So the Jedi would power and the dominant role like the Sith.

Answer 6

If there is no bad to challenge the good, the good would have no meaning. The force wouldn't function as there would be nothing to define what the light side of the force is without having the dark side.

Its like having day without night. If night didn't exist, the concept of day wouldn't exist as it would be the only thing we would know.

Answer 7

Chances are the 'bringing balance to the Force' prophecy was interpreted different ways by the Jedi and the Sith. The former thought it meant light vanquishing darkness and all evils shunted aside, the Force becoming wholly good, etc. The latter saw it as a weapon to blind the Jedi.

Don't we have an Expanded Universe novel about Palpatine and his master? I believe they dabbled quite heavily in prophecy distortion.

Answer 8

It is thought that the Jedi were in agreement that bringing balance was in the act of eliminating the sith completely and thoroughly. This was shown throughout the perspective of the jedi and its order. The movies and books before "the old republic" showed the jedi with the upper hand of numbers. In the old republic however the sith were ruling the galaxy in large numbers with a whole PLANET dedicated to their order. (koriban) <- might be wrong spelling. / Anyways this was a power trip in a sense. Sith rule the galaxy and there is few to none jedi hiding in the crevices in the galaxy. Later in the present movies and books (before the old republic) it is the sith hiding in the shadows with few numbers and the jedi out in the open, proud and in charge so to speak. Good and evil are never in balance. Depending on the era, one always is stronger so to speak than the other. Balance cannot be achieved with one side or the other. It must COMBINE good and evil to find an equal middle. But as the jedi and the sith viewed it. They thought it was eliminating the other side.

Answer 9

Maybe the old adage of there can not be light without darkness, Without the bitter the sweet would not be as sweet thing.Good needs evil to survive as far back as history goes it has to be two sides to every coin. God vs Devil, Cain vs Able, Adam vs Eve and of course King Kong vs Godzilla.

Answer 10

The prophecy of the chosen one AKA anakin skywalker. The sith were evil (depends point of view) and jedi and sith been at war for thousands of years so there was obviously no middle ground in the war. Anakin was supposed to destroy all sith and bring order and peace to the galaxy.

Answer 11

The Force is meant to balance both light and dark-an over abundance of one would result in an unbalanced Force. I believe Luke realized this in The Last Jedi and hence his desire to live alone and die- "I came here to die" and "The Jedi need to end". For without light, there would be no dark. Without a Jedi, there would be no Sith, and vice-versa, so there would be no need for conflict and suffering.

Answer 12

It's hard to say. One theory of mine is that it was all about that corrupted Force created by the Sith - which would be an obvious interest of the Force. BUT...

On the other hand we can see that Jedi were corrupted. They were blind, idle in a way, stiff and overgrown. Also they were against nature since they wanted to CHANGE the world instead of pursuing their own happiness. Jedi and Sith were both delusional. They were both living in their heads. Jedi in their "We are the guardians of the world" idea and Sith in their "We are the power! We control them all!" - while in reality Jedi were sitting in their caves and Sith in their big chairs. And laughing to themselves like delusional fools. Both of them were trying to bite something bigger than they could chew. The truth is - the Force itself is guarding the world. And the Force itself can't be controlled since Sith are just a creation of the Force just like everyone else. And so - it is more about development than dark or light. Both idle and corrupted Jedi and cancerous Sith had no future. They didn't stop when they should and so they destroyed themselves.

Answer 13

Balance of the Force does not mean balance of the Force-users. The Jedi wanted to bring balance to the Force because that is the optimal, desired state of the Force. Or in the words of the Father in Mortis: Too much light or dark would be the undoing of life as you understand it. Bringing balance to the Force means destroying the Sith which is a good thing.