Who was "The Chosen One": Luke or Anakin?

Question

Most would say that Luke is because he is the focus of the first movies (4-6), but Qui-gon said Anakin was "The Chosen One".

Who was the real "Chosen One"?

Answer 1

It's Anakin.

Luke was a very powerful Jedi, that's why he was "a new hope" for Ben and Yoda. He had the Force potential to become what his father was supposed to become, the Force potential of the Chosen One (ref).

Meanwhile, It's Anakin who fulfilled the Prophecy by (temporarily) killing the Emperor and brought balance to the Force.

Finally :

George Lucas himself has stated that Anakin is the Chosen One and that the prophecy is true, although Luke indirectly served as the catalyst that allowed Anakin to fulfill the prophecy.
- Star Wars wiki, "Chosen One" article, "Behind the scenes" section

Answer 2

I always favored a more literal interpretation of the "bring balance to the Force" part of the Chosen One prophecy. At the beginning of the prequel trilogy there are many Jedi but only two Sith. During Episode III and in the gap between III and IV, Darth Vader kills most of the Jedi, so that at the beginning of Episode IV only Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda remain. So by this point in the series, balance has been brought to the Force and the prophecy has been fulfilled... from a certain point of view.

Answer 3

Anakin was the chosen one. He was supposed to destroy the Sith and later on become the most powerful Jedi ever. Palpatine got to him too early before he knew what was good for him. Everyone was testing him at once, the council, obi-wan and the force (his dreams). The only reassurance he got was from Palpatine.

While training Luke, Yoda explained that Anakin was powerful, but he could never focus on the "right now", and that he was always looking to the future. He never realized at the moment of action what he was actually doing because he was so impatient of what was supposed to come to him it led him down a bad path.

Balance can be interpreted in many ways, however the point is he is the chosen one. Maybe he was always fated to fall and kill the Sith from within as a Sith. It's confusing. It could also mean balance can only be brought by the chosen one and that balance would be brought through the chosen one's vision of what balance is. Maybe Anakin got to decide the whole time what balance was. Palpatine just suckered him in to ruling it to his own favor.

Anakin survived being mutilated and burned alive by lava, but that should just prove he is the chosen one. He was powerful enough to stay alive, but why?

In his lifetime, he was supposed to bring this prophetic balance into place. Whats to say after balance was brought he wouldn't die? After all, isn't that his purpose? It would explain why he died at the end of ROTJ, instead of simply blaming it on the electricity.

Maybe the republican Jedi were unbalancing the force as well by their lifestyle. No attachments, no love, nothing. Breeding an army of laser-deflecting emotionless unattached warriors probably did not serve in the will of the force's favor. Think about it, Anakin fell to the dark side for love (Padmé), but fell back to the light side for love (Luke). Maybe the power of love is greater than the power of the force. The force should not take priority over a lifestyle but accompany the lifestyle in a great way.

In the prequels, the Jedi prided themselves too much on their ability to be fierce warriors and to deflect bullets from droids. The war Palpatine created exploited the Jedi's weakness.

Obi-Wan and Yoda only became true Jedi masters in the OT. Qui Gon Jinn had to redirect them and train them back into the proper ways. They stopped relying so much on their lightsabers and more on their wit, their meditation and being in-tune with the force.

"A Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defence, never for attack" however we see the Jedi being launched into war, hunting droids and several separatist organizations. They go against their own code all throughout the prequels. Only in OT are they truly peaceful Jedi, wise and in tune with the force.

Being raised and trained during the war Anakin quickly became a skilled warrior and very powerful, but it drove him to be quick to draw his blade and start a fight. He was never properly taught to be a Jedi. Palpatine knew this would happen. Instead of the council focusing on training Anakin to be the ultimate chosen one, they chose to focus on the war he created. This distracted the council from training Anakin properly and made all the Jedi very on edge all the time. "Our ability to use the force has diminished" – Windu even said it himself that they failed as Jedi.

At the end of ROTS, when Yoda sends Obi Wan to fight Anakin, then goes to fight Palpatine, that's why he exiled himself. It was this decision, a decision of pure arrogance ("Your arrogance blinds you master Yoda" Sidious to Yoda) and only at the end of that duel did he realize he made a huge mistake. Only the Chosen One could kill the Sith, so why not go with Obi Wan to see Anakin instead of making Obi Wan fight the Chosen One who had been wrongly deemed a true Sith. They only saw a few clips of what Anakin did but they never saw the whole story. They were too quick to draw conclusions and they were acting sporadically and quickly without much thought.

They should have both gone to see Anakin first, calmed him down together and them the three of them take on Palpatine, but no Yoda thought he could take on Palpatine. ("His abilities have made him, well, arrogant"-Obi wan "A trait more and more common among Jedi, even the older, more experienced ones." Yoda). Little did he know...

Answer 4

In the Star Wars Rebels episode "Twin Suns", Maul

finds Obi-Wan on Tatooine and fights him

He figures out that Obi-Wan is "protecting someone" (who we know is Luke).

MAUL: Look what has become of you. A rat in the desert. Look what I have risen above. I've come to kill you, but perhaps it's worse to leave you here, festering in your squalor.

OBI-WAN: If you define yourself by your power to take life, a desire to dominate, to possess, then you have nothing.

MAUL: And what do you have? Why come to this place? Not simply to hide. Oh, you have a purpose here. Perhaps you are protecting something... No, protecting someone.

After Obi-Wan

defeats Maul, and before he dies,

Maul asks Obi-Wan: "Tell me. Is it the Chosen One?", to which Obi-Wan replies: "He is".

After a cut scene, we see Obi-Wan

riding to the outskirt of Uncle Owen's farm, where he hears Aunt Beru calling Luke inside, in a similar fashion to how she does in Star Wars Episode IV.

So, in Disney TV canon, it appears Luke is now set as the Chosen One! Anakin may or may not have been the Chosen One during the prequel trilogy, but he does not appear to be so going into the original trilogy.

Answer 5

"Anakin is the chosen one"

_{^{Featurette: The Chosen One - George Lucas}}

Anakin is clearly the chosen one. Now the problem with the fans they're thinking Luke because anakin turns to the dark side.Because without Luke in the first place,Anakin will not fulfill his mission. Supposedly by now, they should now think that Anakin is the chosen One. Because He is just Like Jesus Christ. After he died he appeared again.

Now, Let me view my point of view as Catholic Liturgical Calendar like Easter,Christmas, Ordinary Time and Lent. In The Return of The Jedi is the episode where the redemption of anakin occurs. The Redemption of Anakin is the Easter season of Star Wars. In the Revenge of the Sith until empire Strikes Back , It is the Lenten Season.

Fans of the Original Trilogy,Were thinking that Luke Skywalker is the Chosen One. My Brothers and Sisters Luke Skywalker is not the chosen one. He is just the catalyst of the chosen one. Meaning he is the one who cause Anakin to fulfill his prophecy as the chosen One.The Main Antagonst in Star wars is Palpatine. Who is the satanic figure in the saga. In ROTJ,Anakin was awakened and Darth Vader was destroyed. It is anakin who throws palpatine not vader.

Please watch this video,For more details

Answer 6

The chosen one was Anakin but probably the Jedi didn`t read the prophecy in the right way.

The chosen one must bring balance in the Force.

When Palpatine had said that Jedi had become arrogant, dominant, too aggressive in Revenge of The Sith, it was true so the balance of the Force, in this case, pending to the Dark side. Why?

Obi-Wan betrayed Anakin. He left him to die on Mustafar. That wasn`t a Jedi behaviour. Mace Windu was going to kill Palpatine until Anakin said that Jedi did not do such things. Jedi fought. Jedi killed. Jedi betrayed. On the other way Sith become a friend. Sith understood.

Another explanation: When Darth Plagueis played with Force, altering the number of Midichlorians, the Force itself created something in response of this offense - created Anakin. Anakin was supposed to be the Force itself. The Force brought Qui-Gon to Anakin - the Sith violated the nature of being - for to meet him. Only this. But Qui-Gon also played with Force to take Anakin out of his natural homeland. So The Force in this point left to Anakin the decision of what in right. And Anakin killed all old Jedi council because the Force.

But then his son, although Vader had killed and tortured so many people, loved him and made Vader sacrifice his life for something bigger than himself. And then the Prophecy become a reality. Anakin is suppose to be the Chosen one but Luke, a son of the Force, is his guidance and his words.

So I would say that both Anakin and Luke was the Chosen one altogether. Without Luke`s actions, love, loyalty, innocence Anakin would have never killed the Emperor and fulfilled his destiny.

Answer 7

Anakin is the Chosen One. In Overlords, an episode of The Clone Wars, the Force wielders subject him to a test to see if he is, which he passes. Excerpt from Wookieepedia:

After Anakin Skywalker successfully passed a test by subduing both the Son and the Daughter, the Father recognized him as the Chosen One who was destined to take his place as warden of the children.