Dark Empire and the Prophesy of the One who will bring balance to the Force

So I was thinking about the prophecy of the "One who will bring balance to the Force" and The DE series. Anakin was the Chosen One, as we all know, and in ROTJ he indeed brought balance to the force, but that is not all the prophecy stated. It said he would "Bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith."

Now in the DE series, Palpatine (Sidious) we learn is in fact not dead, and is quite alive and well (his spirit anyways). And is in fact more powerful then he was in ROTJ with his clone bodies. Now, isn't this a blatant contradiction of the entire SW movie saga? And would this not mean that Anakin was in fact not the Chosen One? As Sidious being alive means Anakin did not destroy the Sith at all, just depowered them for a time.

I don't know who actually killed Palpatine, but I don't think it was Luke, was it? (I thought it was Han or something...) If not then DE actually is saying that the prophecy was not even true, and that there is/ was, no Chosen One at all.

This had always bothered me, because not only does it completely contradict the movies, it also makes the movies seem completely irrelevant.

...Thoughts?

Meh, part of the reason I didn't like the whole concept of Dark Empire.

But still, Anakin destroyed his "original" form. The Sidious in Dark Empire is physically... is just a clone. You can argue that he wasn't an authentic Sith... just a copy.

No, but it was only clone BODIES that Palpatine was using, it was the real Palpatine's Spirit inhabiting the clone bodies. So its still the same Palpatine, not a copy.

Yeah, that always bothered me too. I think that's part of the reason why GL took that "It's a different universe from mine" approach. In any case, I suppose when you think about contradictions, the prophecy you can interprete any way you want (Which is what GL is notorious for), and unless it tries to say something like Mace Windu was a green skinned Yoda character with dreadlocks, there's no real "contradiction" in the strictest sense.

Sure there is, Lucas said Anakin was the Chosen One, who would "bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith". In ROTJ Lucas intended Anakin to fulfill this (and he did). DE contradicts it, because DE says he did not in fact destroy the Sith, and did not in fact bring balance to the Force.

Yeah, lucas has been horrible with his own "official" continuity.

DE was written long before any of this prophecy stuff was even concieved and When it came time for lucas to make a few billion more dollars he just said, "don't care".

All that stuff with licensing and carefully guarded continuity and he just tosses it out the window. The prophecy means squat, it's too vague. Besides destroying something doesn't mean there's not a trace of it left. New Orleans was destroyed and crazy people are still gonna rebuild it.

Originally posted by ((The_Anomaly))
Sure there is, Lucas said Anakin was the Chosen One, who would "bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith". In ROTJ Lucas intended Anakin to fulfill this (and he did). DE contradicts it, because DE says he did not in fact destroy the Sith, and did not in fact bring balance to the Force.

Actually, as of the creation of DE, no contradiction. It was made in 1993-1994, dude. There was no prophecy then. This is just GL coming around and retconning shit because he doesn't pay attention to EU.

Right, be Lucas overrides EU, so when it was made it was fine, but now it contradicts the movies, which are of higher canon then EU. So the movies win, no matter when they are/ were made.

Lucas COULD decide to do a NJO type story arc (Post-ROTJ) and override all of JA/ DE/ NJO/ DN (say Eps. 7,8, and 9 for argument) and THAT would be the new official continuity, not the previously existing EU.

So with the creation of the PT, we now should be questioning how canon DE actually is.

When it was made does not give it higher canon then the movies.

Never said it was higher canon, just that it's ironic that Lucas gives official sanction to something and then ignores it in his future works.

Not really, Lucas does whatever he wants, its his story. He could go and decide to redo ANH tomorrow, and he could do it. He can do whatever he feels like. Its hardly "ironic".

But DE does now conflict the movies, so it should be downgraded in terms of overall SW continuity.

When GL gives official sanction, the EU authors involved know full well that that sanction is for a continuity that is separate from his own.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
When GL gives official sanction, the EU authors involved know full well that that sanction is for a continuity that is separate from his own.

Exactly. He doesn't particularly care for EU, and it really doesn't even fit in the same continuity; there are so many inconsistencies that it really makes it difficult to sort out fact from fiction.

It's difficult to apply DE and say it contradicts the movies, because a.) it didn't at the time and b.) it is an "alternate" and "expanded" universe.

So in a sense, the only real contradictions are in the eye of the beholder. I mean, unless a novel, game, or comic tries to totally retcon the movies, there's no glaring contradiction.

But look at it this way then, if EU is indeed separate continuity from the movies (which it is) and the EU does indeed conflict with the movies (which are still a part of EU in terms of continuity but on a different continuity line) then in the overall EU continuity there is still a contradiction.

This is difficult to explain. So there is the "Official SW continuity" which is JUST Lucas's movies.

So…

GL full SW Canon = Only the movies

EU continuity = All EU, but also includes the movies, or rather, the events and story of the movies, Because it must include the events of the movies to make a coherent time line.

Since the movie stories must be included in the EU time line, if DE is included then there is still either a) a contradiction in the EU time line or B) Anakin was not the chosen one, and there was in fact no chosen one at all.

See what I’m saying. Take your pick between those two options, because that’s all there is.

Yes. Besides also having their own unique continuity, anything from the movies also overrides anything contradicting in EU, inside the EU's own continuity. The movies have actually made significant parts of the EU incorrect.

So in this case, it is not possible for Anakin to not be the Chosen One, that is absolute and overriding. So any other explanation must be found to explain events that seem to suggest otherwise, and if the only option is that the story is now outside of any sort of proper continuity, then that must be done, as happened long ago with Splinter.

Perhaps, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. I've never read an EU story that maintains Splinter in it's continuity. I also seriously doubt that the things that the PT made "invalid" are going to be ignored completely in the future.

.... guess I'm still waiting for the retcon.

But by the EU's own internal canon rules, these things are invalid, so all the EU continues to do when it acts like that is tie itself up in endless continuity messes.

I guess what they ought to do is just throw out the whole cannon/noncannon thing and just let the authors give us good stories.

Infinities baby!!! 💃

What they ought to do is clean up the EU universe. Initially, no single individual kept tabs on it. That's why there's two books depicting the marriage of Han and Leia.

Originally posted by Janus Marius
What they ought to do is clean up the EU universe. Initially, no single individual kept tabs on it. That's why there's two books depicting the marriage of Han and Leia.

They should start by declaring NJO and DN non canon... both those horrendus series suck ass and deserve to die.