Star Wars Rebels implies Luke Skywalker is the Chosen One (or does it?)

Following Maul and Obi-Wan’s fateful showdown in Star Wars Rebels “Twin Suns,” Maul asks Obi-Wan if the boy he protects, Luke, is the Chosen One. And Obi-Wan answers, “Yes.”

“Who is the Chosen One?”

That question has plagued Star Wars fans for years. We can’t decide if Anakin brought balance to the Force by destroying both the Jedi and Emperor Palpatine, or if Luke fulfilled the prophecy by redeeming his father. Or both. Yeah, it’s a complicated subject.

In Star Wars Rebels “Twin Suns,” the question of who the Chosen One became seemingly more complicated. At the end of their fated duel on Tatooine, a dying Maul asks Obi-Wan Kenobi if the person he protects – Luke – is the Chosen One. And Obi-Wan answers, “Yes.”

Is Obi-Wan’s answer to Maul a confirmation that the Chosen One is, in fact, Luke and not his father? Was Qui-Gon Jinn – were we all – wrong about Anakin?

From a canon perspective, Anakin is, without a doubt, the Chosen One; George Lucas confirmed it in an interview many years ago. Unless Lucasfilm wants to alter something so central to Lucas’s original vision for the Star Wars saga, that fact still stands. So then, why does Obi-Wan believe Luke is the Chosen One instead of Anakin?

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Ironically, Obi-Wan’s line from Return of the Jedi about “a certain point of view” renders his belief that Luke is the Chosen One merely that: a belief. In Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan tells Luke, “You’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” The key idea here is that from Obi-Wan’s point of view, Luke is the Chosen One. And why shouldn’t he be? His father, the original subject of the prophecy, turned to the dark side. He slaughtered innocent younglings, Force-choked his own wife, and betrayed his best friend. When you witness firsthand such terrible acts, as Obi-Wan did, how can you hope that the perpetrator will come back from that dark place?

So, from Obi-Wan’s point of view, the pure and good Luke has inherited the task of bearing the prophecy out. It is now his job to accomplish what his father could not and defeat the dark side. Once again, however, this is Obi-Wan’s perspective on the prophecy. It bears reminding that he also thought Vader couldn’t be redeemed, and he was wrong about that. Thus, we can conclude that nothing Obi-Wan said in “Twin Suns” confirmed in any way that Luke is the Chosen One.

However, we can’t confirm that Luke is not the Chosen One, either. We don’t know how the prophecy works. It could be an inherited prophecy that passes down from generation to generation of Skywalker. After all, just as soon as the Force is balanced, the equilibrium is ruined again. Evil never rests. So perhaps Luke is a Chosen One in a bloodline of them.

Next: Mark Hamill shares first-ever photo of Luke Skywalker on the A New Hope set

Which means that, from a certain point of view, Obi-Wan could be right.

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