Just a little thought

[yaohua0106]

So what will the Jedi say to the parents when they take their baby away? Servie for the great good sounds fine, but I doubt any normal parents will just give their baby away that easily. In TCW, the mother is sad and angst about her child leaveing her even though she already give the Jedi permit to take her child. So what make she choice this?

Comments

[forcewatcher]

The thing that's important to understand, and it's never made clear, is that by the time of the Phantom Menace, the Sith are urban legend to the most studious scholarly civilian. Most people have never heard of them. Consider - it's been 1000 years. By the time of A New Hope, the Jedi are largely unheard of, and that's been 19 years. Neither side really had that big of a presence to those outside of core world government when either order was at the top of their game.

I think when Jedi come baby-claiming, it's explained - as you say - to the parents what an honor it is for their child to be special, that the Jedi are guardians of peace, and what the personal risks are for the parent to attempt to raise a kid with such abilities. For example, who would want to raise a child who might unconsciously Force choke a parent while they're asleep? These are real dangers. Again, you point this out.

The reason the "too old" thing comes into play is because the Jedi are looking for children who are too young to have attachments. Anakin is an exception, and if not for the whole prophecy thing, he would never have been allowed in. Yoda, for example, didn't want him. But he was accepted, and he was treated like any other padawan at that point, at least on the surface. He was clearly advanced in his skills enough to fly a podracer, so the next logical step is field training under his master. What happened from there is exactly why the Sith want pupils with attachments and why the Jedi don't. Plagueis, for example, told Sidious, "Tell me what you love so that I may take it from you." The psychology of loss is powerful stuff. From the Jedi perspective, taking the child young isn't cold - it's doing the kid a favor.

If you don't mind my butting in...?

[ladyhadhafang]

That makes sense. It's still pretty creepy though. (Regarding the Jedi taking children from their parents thing)

Re: If you don't mind my butting in...?

[forcewatcher]

It's all in your perception of what you know. To them it's normal. To us, creepy as hell for all the wrong reasons. There are stranger things on this world that are seen as normal to some cultures.

Re: If you don't mind my butting in...?

[ladyhadhafang]

Looking at it that way, it...definitely makes more sense. :)

[yaohua0106]

But what about Luke? For all I have know, he never get trained before ANH, and there is no harm, Luke himself maybe never know he has the Force.
And there must be some parents rufuse to give up their babies, then what happen to them? Will the Jedi force the parents, or will they leave the baby along? Will the Jedi take a note of the un-trained babies, or just set the children loose? And if said baby cause trouble with Force, who will get blame, the stuipd Jedi who can not teach old child with attachments, or the stupid parents who do not know what is beat for their child?
Sometimes the Jedi almost seem a cult to me, but they are the good guys and they really do the things for the great good...

[forcewatcher]

I'll address this backwards. The definition of a cult is the worship of a living deity. The Jedi Order isn't a cult by definition, but where they once stood for justice, by the time of the prequels the Republic they serve is corrupt.

What about Luke? Have you SEEN Revenge of the Sith?! Wow. Um... Look up a little event called the Clone Wars, which ended with another little event called Order 66. Better yet, don't look that up. Just watch the movie. I think you'll find Luke has all the exceptions in the world to not being raised by the Jedi Order.

[yaohua0106]

No, what I mean is that Luke is powerful yet he did not been trained by Jedi and he is fine as a boy and cause no danger and I have not read EU where he get trained before ANH. This have nothing to do with why Luke not being raised by the Jedi Order(I have watched all the movies, thank you very much), it is about Luke not being raised by the Jedi yet he is still a normal boy who have no knowledge with Force even though in theory, if any un-trained child will cause trouble because of their power, it will be Luke(or Leia), thus make a part of the EU reason fail.

[forcewatcher]

Had to make sure - the nature of how the question was phrased raised flags. Better safe than sorry.

One exception never proves a rule. Any study of philosophy will tell you that's just misled logic, regardless of circumstance. The Jedi were doing this for 25,000 years, and clearly they thought there was a reason. Rules like that don't come about arbitrarily. Even before the Jedi encountered the Sith, there had to be cases where Jedi fell from the path due to attachments because they were brought in too late or where powers manifest uncontrollably, probably during puberty, and it hurt people.

Luke had a fail-safe from all of this. He wasn't trained before ANH. Obi-Wan was right there, watching him the entire time. Owen and Beru knew what was at stake. If something manifest, you can better believe that Obi-Wan would have started Luke's training early because at that point the power of that magnitude he inherited from his father would be like sending a beacon to the Emperor and Vader. They'd both have been hunted. As it was, the only reason Luke wasn't hunted is because until that point, it was assumed Anakin had no offspring. You don't look for what doesn't exist.

I wouldn't rely on the EU for explanations. It's not film canon. It's licensed speculation. We can guess, those writers can guess. Until it comes from George, that's all it is: guessing.

[yaohua0106]

My point is that the reason EU give us is that it is dangerous if the child's power manifest without proper training, while Luke and Leia who may become the most powerful Force user because their father, never manifest their power until they know they have the Force, like you point out, they never send beacon to the Sith. So as what I have posted earliy, I wonder if there is some more soild explanation and open to speculation.
But then again, look at the TCW, there are little kids use their Force power while they are still no older then three, Ventress is quite young when she push people by the Force, while little Anakin never show any special power like lift something with him mind, so maybe the more power you have, the later they manifest in your life. And when we are talking about normal Force-sensitive child, we should not count the Skywalkers.

[forcewatcher]

Again, you're siting a handful of examples from a 25,000 year history. There are likely many kids that the Jedi missed who didn't manifest powers. Just because a person has the potential to wield the power, that doesn't mean the power manifests. You and I have potential to increase our brain power past 10%. That doesn't mean we will on our own accord.

Anakin DID manifest his powers, just not in ways like you discuss. He was the only human with reflexes fast enough to run a podracer. You need Jedi reflexes to pull that off, as Qui-Gon pointed out.