Can you imagine if Anakin brought balance to the Force if he merges the Jedi and Sith into one Order? A future generation of Jedi and Sith Padawans working together in groups to help balance each other as a team?
Anon, I love this idea you are gold
Okay, so in the EU thereâs this thing called the Jeâdaii Order, the precursors and spiritual ancestors to the Jedi, who do pretty much exactly what youâre suggesting. From the page quote:Â âIn the light, there is a darkness and in the darkness, a light. It is the way with us all. Be a prisoner of neither Bogan[the dark side] nor Ashla[the light side]. Strive to live in balance.â
Think that sounds good? The definition of the Order makes it better:
âThe Je'daii Order was an ancient organization unified by its belief and observance of the Force on the planet Tython, in the galaxyâs Deep Core. Focusing on maintaining a balance in the Force, a state at which Tython was itself hospitable, the Je'daii saw the Force as two aspects of a whole; the Ashla and the Bogan. They saw this duality in the Force represented in the night sky of Tython in the form of two natural satellites; one bathed in light, another shrouded in darkness. In keeping with their ideal balance, Je'daii who fell too far to either the light or darkness were exiled to one of the moons to meditate until they returned to balance.â
(Read the whole page here)
Now, we know Anakin is troubled by what he sees as his inability to be âa proper/good Jediâ. He expresses this to PadmĂŠ, saying he wants more than he knows he should, and he goes to Yoda to seek help, which ends in no help at all as we know. What if he then decides his best route forward is to look at spiritual texts in the Archive? We know he feels uncomfortable opening up to anyone one-to-one, and books canât give him judge-y looks and tell him heâs a bad Jedi.Â
So say he finds himself reading about the Jeâdaii Order. Here are people who werenât afraid of the dark side; who blended dark and light together, who allowed themselves to feel and master both light and dark emotions, and who (Iâm guessing anyway) werenât afraid of love. This philosophy is like an epiphany to Anakin; the thought that you donât have to reject dark side emotions, that itâs possible to balance them. And that word âbalanceâ keeps coming up, time and time again, and yâknow where else the word âbalanceâ is important? The Prophecy of the Chosen One, bringing âbalanceâ to the Force.Â
Aaaaaand you know who else balanced the light and the dark side, and used them both? Yep, (Darth) Revan herself. Possibly one of the most powerful Jedi/Sith ever, vanquisher of Mandalorians, defeater of Malak, asskicker extraordinare. Now, it says in Revan that she (or he I guess but letâs be real Revan is always gonna be a woman for me) was prohibited by the Jedi Council from sharing this knowledge in return for being allowed to marry, but say she does put the information into the Archives somehow. Iâd bet anything there was a junior librarian somewhere, obsessed with the importance of recording everything, that Revan could have convinced to secretly add her philosophy ideas to the Archive, to be made searchable after her death so she didnât get in trouble. And now Anakin has access to thatâŚwell, even Obi-Wan thinks Revan is cool. She canât be wrong, right?
And yâknow what I really want? Forceghost!Revan turning up to talk to Anakin. They have a lot in common and sheâd have a lot to teach him, and not just in this AU either. Maybe he finds a text on how to summon Force ghosts in the Archives, I mean who knows whatâs hanging around at the back of the stacks in there. So he summons Force ghost Revan and she teaches him like heâs her posthumous padawan, and Anakin learns about the actual techniques for mixing the dark and light sides. (Why is Revan allowed to come back, you say? Maybe because this is what the Force wanted all along, to go back to that original balanced state. Maybe itâs just because Revan is awesome. Who knows?)
(Meanwhile Madame Nu is getting worried, Skywalker has never spent this much time in the Archives before, and now he hangs around alone and late at night andâŚis he talking to himself back there? Maybe she ought to warn Master KenobiâŚ)
Then Anakin (with no small amount of encouragement from Revan probably we all know she doesnât like the Council) decides heâs going to re-find Tython and rebuild the Order, but theyâre going to be a balanced Order now, and heâs going to teach everyone what Revan taught him, and thatâs how heâll bring balance to the Force. So he kidnaps Obi-Wan (because if he leaves him behind heâll just chase him anyway, and itâs safer for them to brave the dangers of the Deep Core together) and they go find Tython together (Obi-Wan is not happy, but Anakin figures itâs better to ask for forgiveness and all that).Â
So they find Tython and message the Jedi Order like, âanyone who thinks the Jedi need to change and want to go back to your roots, come on overâ and Obi-Wan fully expects them to be alone on this crazy world trying to rebuild an old Jedi Temple with their bare hands, but Anakin has faith. (And of course he sends the safe, tested co-ordinates to PadmĂŠ, inviting her to come along).Â
And people come. Thereâs lots of different sects and divisions of opinion in the Order, and lots of Jedi disillusioned with the war. Going back to what made them Jedi, setting themselves free from the dominion of the Senate and the Republic - this is a fresh start, and it appeals to a lot of people. And most surprising and encouraging for Jedi who want to go - Yoda and Windu approve. (Theyâre not blind, they know the Order needs to change. If we take Maceâs thoughts at the end of Shatterpoint to be accurate, he believes in the Chosen One prophecy, so I think he might see this new Order as Anakin fulfilling that. He might even want to go, though I think heâd feel tied to helping the Republic end the war first. And Yoda has known change is coming, but I think he might see himself as a relic, the symbol almost, of the old Order, and feel that his presence would make it harder for the new Order to move forward cleanly, so he stays on Coruscant and simply wishes them well. He feels his time is over).
And then thereâs Sidious of course. His apprentice-to-be has taken off into the unknown and started spouting some nonsense about balance in the Force? This is bad. I think Sidious might try to find Tython himself, to try and get to Anakin while heâs more vulnerable, since heâs not surrounded by so many people and the Force can be shifted in mysterious ways on Tython, it might be easier to turn him there. Maybe he even goes to the dark side moon, Bogan, and lures Anakin there in the hope that the dark power will turn him.Â
But Anakin understands the dark side now. From Revan, he understands the lure of the darkness, and how it seems all powerful but is really hollow at its core. How it makes you forget what you were, corrupts you. And from Revan heâs learnt how to fight it, and how to use it without being taken by it. He can fill himself with the power, the calm of the light, but he can take Sidiousâ Force-lightning and turn it back on him. He is balanced in the Force; heâs the fully realized Chosen One. Sidious doesnât stand a chance.
So then the war ends and stuff, Bail and PadmĂŠ and their allies start a campaign to rebuild the Republic better, and PadmĂŠ comes and kicks Anakinâs ass for disappearing into the unknown without warning her first. Unfettered by the war I think Windu would come join the new Order, and, feeling like the time of the old Order is over and probably feeling guilty for the bad choices he can now see he made, Yoda probably potters off into self-exile somewhere. With these two figureheads gone I reckon a lot more of the old Order Jedi would join the new Order, perhaps almost to the point that the old Order is made up only of a few staunch believers and stragglers (if thatâs the case then possession of the Jedi Orderâs assets would probably revert to the new Order, since theyâre the bigger/more needy party, and hell probably the whole old Council are over there, so thatâs probably legal. I mean, who even owns the Jedi Orderâs wealth? The Order as an organisation I guess? Therefore the new Order is technically the âJedi Orderâ as well, soâŚ)Â
So Anakin founds the new Order, defeats the Sith, balances the Force. Prophecy fulfilled. (He makes sure Obi-Wan is the new Grand Master, though. He hasnât got the time or the patience for that). PadmĂŠ has Luke and Leia on Tython and they grow up learning to be new Order Jedi, as a happy family.Â
Force ghost Revan pats Anakin on the head and says âgood job buddyâ and then disappears back into the Force. After all that crap, she deserves a rest god dammit.Â