Is "Evil" defined by action, intent, both or neither?

My thought was that the Jedi Council knew all along that the Chosen One was destined to destroy them and bring balance to the Force by tipping the scales in favor of the Dark Side.

However, they could not simply kill Anakin; that would have corrupted them. Also bringing balance to the Force was simply nature asserting itself; the most they could have done was delay the inevitable.

Thus, the hostility to Anakin. Qui-Gon did not know the whole story, and mistakenly beleived that bringing up Anakin would help the Light Side.

Anakin fulfilled his destiny partly by destroying the Jedi. For years, there were only two Sith and two Jedi.

Luke enters the picture, and the last of the Jedi die off, leaving only the Sith. Anakin fulfills his destiny at last by destroying both himself and the other Sith, leaving only Luke, who at that point is neither truly Jedi nor Sith, having embraced both the Light and understood the Dark Side ("Only now, at the last, do you truly understand.") Thus, at the end of Return of the Jedi, the Force is truly in balance at last.

The Force is not necessarily a force for good; it has a Dark Side. Anakin redeemed himself in the eyes of his son and mentor (and the audience); his becoming a Force Ghost is a sign of this in story terms, and shows that he was able to utilize the Light Side at the end.

I don't think it is so much that the Force forgave him as it is that he received a reward for a job well done.

Sorry for the double post. Net connection went loopy...

I think we're getting onto dangerous ground here - it's possible someone could start accusing George Lucas of making the prequels enhance the story of the older movies.

Well, that's what we're discussing here: whether a good intent negates the karmic burden of evil results.

Hmm, the love of filthy lucre is the root of all evil, but I'm not sure the pursuit of money is inherently evil...

...in any case, in the absence of telepathy, we can only assume that he intended nothing but entertainment for his fans.

On the other hand, the movie Howard the Duck showed that extradimensional Dark Overlords can possess people...

The Star Wars story is interesting. It tells one of the oldest myths around: The universe was created, but there's somehow a schism that must be repaired. And so the universe creates its own solution to the problem: The Sacrificial Lamb. But the Lamb is raised from the dead in the end, and exalted.

But the twist in the end is that Anakin must repair the schism by perform some truly horrendous acts; and that's what makes the Star Wars story so different. In most tales of this nature, the Sacrificial Lamb brings peace, and lays down his life willingly after having lived a life fighting for the cause of good. Anakin's starts out that way, but it certainly isn't lived that way.

Nonetheless, he accomplishes what the Force created him to do. And make no mistake about it: he meets all the criteria of a messiah. Born of a virgin birth and the whole nine yards. He, however, falls to the dark side, and then, at the very end, turns against his dark master to overthrow him in an effort to save his son. In that one act, he redeems himself and restores balance to the Force (repairing the schism).

In my mind, his ascension as a Force Ghost was foreordained because the Force always intended for him to give his life to save his son. Jedi were always big on destiny and fate and looking into the future. And Anakin's ascension was just the Force's way of saying, "This is your reward for laying down your life, for being the Sacrificial Lamb we created to solve this problem."

In the Star Wars universe, The Force is God. Neither good nor evil, but struggling to maintain a precarious balance. And it'll do whatever's necessary to keep it in balance.

Just my two $currency.