Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was released almost exactly 20 years ago. Though it’s safe to say the film hasn’t exactly aged well, it’s got an increasingly warm place in fans’ hearts from those who saw it when they were children. And while Jar Jar Binks might never be rehabilitated, elements like Darth Maul returning in Solo and the Naboo levels in the Battlefront II video game prove that there’s an appetite for all things Episode I.
However, there’s one key element in the film that’s been a mystery for the last two decades. You’ll remember that Liam Neeson’s enigmatic Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn spoke of a prophecy that seemed to relate directly to the young Anakin Skywalker. This prophecy helped convince the Jedi to train Anakin, which set the universe on a pretty horrible path. But while the dialogue explained that the prophecy said that Anakin would bring “balance to the Force,” we never actually found out the exact wording. Until now.
Claudia Grey’s new book Master and Apprentice, which follows Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan prior to the events of The Phantom Menace lays it out as so:
“A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored.”
What the Jedi never seemed to quite work out was that “balance in the Force” might not be such a great thing for them given that there are hundreds of Jedi in the galaxy and only two Sith Lords. Most consider the prophecy to have finally been fulfilled though when Darth Vader threw the Emperor into the Death Star’s reactor core, leaving no Sith in the galaxy and only untrained Jedi Luke Skywalker.
If you ask me, with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker billed as the finale of the Skywalker Saga, I think there’s a decent chance that this prophecy will rear its head once more, especially given that the Emperor seems to have somehow survived being vaporized, but we’ll find out for sure come December.