Did Anakin Bring Balance To The Force? (& How Exactly)

The history of the entire Star Wars Skywalker saga began with Anakin Skywalker, who was deemed the one who would bring balance to the Force when Qui-Gon Jinn found the boy in the Outer Rim planet of Tatooine and realized that he was exceptionally strong with the Force. That was when he was trained as. Jedi but ended up betraying the Jedi Order to become Darth Vader. Nevertheless, we still saw a redeemed Anakin killing the Emperor to save his son, Luke, during Episode VI. So, does that mean that Anakin brought balance to the Force?

Anakin did indeed bring balance to the Force when he killed Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi. It was the act of killing Palpatine, who was the imbalance in the Force, that brought balance back. The existence of the Sith was the imbalance that needed to be removed, as Anakin did so when he killed the Emperor.

The term “balance” tends to be something that people often misunderstand when it comes to Star Wars. However, balance in the Force has always been defined as the absence of the Sith or the dark side. In that regard, it was Palpatine’s death that allowed the Force to be balanced once again. And we will discuss this topic in greater detail in this article.

Did Anakin Bring Balance To The Force?

In the main events of the Star Wars universe, the one thing that has always been a central topic is the Force and the main agents of the Force, which are the Force-sensitive users from both the Jedi and the Sith. The reason why the Force has always been a subject of topic in the Star Wars universe is the fact that the Jedi are seeking to bring balance back to the Force, which is the guiding force that moves everything in the universe like an invisible hand. That means that an imbalance in the Force means that the galaxy is being guided in the wrong direction.

So, with that said, the main Star Wars movies can be traced all the way back to one boy—Anakin Skywalker. This boy made his first chronological appearance during the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. When Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi were trying to lead Padme Amidala away from the Trade Federation, they found themselves stuck on an Outer Rim planet called Tatooine, where they met Anakin.

Qui-Gon, upon meeting the boy, immediately realized that the Force was strong in him. And after testing him for Midi-chlorians, which are organisms that allow someone to be strong in the Force, Qui-Gon realized that Anakin’s had more Midi-chlorians than quite possibly anyone in the history of the galaxy. That was when he theorized that Anakin was the Chosen One that an ancient prophecy said would bring balance to the Force.

At that time, the Jedi already sensed that the Force was not balanced because someone had been working behind the scenes to make it unbalanced. Nevertheless, in Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, that was when they realized that it was Chancellor Palpatine who had been working behind the shadows to take over the galaxy as its new Emperor. He was able to lure Anakin over to the dark side to become Darth Vader. That was when Obi-Wan Kenobi, right after defeating Anakin in their battle in Mustafar, said that he was supposed to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force instead of leaving it in darkness.

As we all know, the movie timeline fast-forwarded all the way to Episode IV: A New Hope, which was set 19 years after Episode III. That was when the original trilogy happened, as Luke was able to learn that he was a Jedi. As the trilogy went on, he learned that Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker all along and had fallen to the dark side many years ago. The trilogy ended with Luke defeating Vader, and the redeemed Anakin killing Emperor Palpatine. 

Then, nearly three decades later, the sequel trilogy happened. Fast forward to the final movie of the sequel trilogy, Anakin’s voice could be heard in the background when Rey was trying to find the strength to defeat Palpatine. The voice said that she should bring balance back to the Force, just as he did. But did Anakin really bring balance back to the Force?

Apparently, Anakin did indeed bring balance back to the Force. He fulfilled his role as the Chosen One of the prophecy. This topic has always been one of the things that Star Wars fans talk about because they weren’t sure whether or not balance was indeed restored to the Force. But Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker was the proof that fans needed to hear because Anakin himself, as a background voice, told Rey that he restored balance to the Force.

How Did Anakin Bring Balance To The Force?

Anakin Skywalker brought balance back to the Force by fulfilling his role as the Chosen One when he was the one that killed the Emperor. There were people who thought that it was Luke who balanced the Force, but it was actually Anakin.

Throughout the entire original trilogy, both Yoda and Obi-Wan believed that Luke was the new Chosen One because he was now the only person that could possibly defeat Darth Vader and the Emperor to restore peace to the galaxy once more. But the thing is that the prophecy was never specific in relation to how the Chosen One was going to bring balance to the Force.

So, despite the fact that Anakin turned to the dark side to become Darth Vader, he still was able to bring balance back to the Force when he personally killed Emperor Palpatine, who was the dark lord of the Sith. Luke was merely the instrument that the Force used to pull Anakin back to the light side, as his love for his son was what ultimately compelled him to kill the Emperor. And Anakin’s subsequent death meant that the Sith was no more.

Of course, there are a lot of people who believe that the Force was never balanced because of the destruction of the Sith. But balance in the Force never meant an equal number of Jedi and Sith users. Instead, balance meant the absence of the Sith, who were causing the imbalance in the Force. And this imbalance was always Palpatine, whose return in the sequel trilogy caused another imbalance that Rey needed to correct.

Then there’s also the fact that balance in the Force was never going to be permanent. It only lasted for a short while until a resurrected Palpatine caused it to go out of balance once more. And that was why there was a need for another Jedi to return balance to the force, and that Jedi came in the form of Rey, who was the spiritual successor to the Skywalker legacy that began with Anakin.