The darker side of the Jedi?

[C Of K]

the Jedi not being in a relationship had to be the worst idea of all. one single quote that becomes completely unfounded by that concept
"The Emporer knew as I did that if Anakin had any offspring they would be a threat to him"
Since Jedi were not supposed to have families etc... how the heck could the Jedi have known that jedi offspring were to be a threat?

True. Anakin's offspring were strong in the force. That's not the only reason why they were such a threat to the emperor. As you saw in RotJ, he could have beaten either of them.

They were a threat because Anakin was a threat. The emperor wanted to completely destroy the part of Darth Vader that was Anakin Skywalker. Any offspring would be a constant reminder of everything that Anakin had to leave behind as Darth Vader. Once Luke emerged, the emperor had to get Vader to kill Luke, or Luke to kill Vader. Anything less and he would be forced to fight Vader for his throne.

Vader was the jedi messiah, after all. He may have always had thoughts of killing the emperor, but for almost 20 years he served loyally. As soon as Luke shows up, Vader tries to take power, just as he suggested to Padme at the end of RotS. Padme wasn't a jedi, but so long as she lived, she was a threat the the emperor because Anakin cared for her.

Every time Vader had something, more than just service to live for, his greed went into overdrive. That was the real threat. Anakin made strong connections with other people very easily, and they brought things out of him that the emperor didn't want brought out.

 

[ghost8772]

Okay, then how about "the force runs strong in my family"

Basically Lucas turned the force from something that could be passed along lineage, and tried to make it a spot occurance. no jedi offspring, jedi are now celibate and monklike, to remove fear of losing something you must let it go, also the whole mitichlorines, or however they were spelled, dropped in. Anakin being an immaculate conception. All this made it so that things like force and family were to be mutually exclusive. talk about kicking over all the sand castles that you allowed built, including your own.

 

[C Of K]

Okay, then how about "the force runs strong in my family"

Luke was only stating a fact in that instance. By that time in the story it was obvious, by his ability to use the force, that it did run strong in his family. But then, his father had always been something of an anomaly. Anakin was the strongest jedi--ever. It is not made clear whether or not that had anything to do with him passing the ability on to his children. But I'll follow your line of thought anyway, and consider the possibility that Lucas actually was implying that any jedi could pass the force onto offspring back in the old trilogy...

Yes. I thought the midichlorians were a rather stupid idea. But there is basically nothing that says the force couldn't be passed down through lineage in the prequels. It's true, that as a rule, the jedi obviously didn't do this, not because they were physically incapable, but because they chose not to (for whatever reason)

It's quite likely that people who never became jedi passed it down to their children for generations before someone in their lineage was identified by jedi. Anakin's mother, for instance, could have been strong in the force. From all appearances, Lucas really didn't change much from the first 3 movies to the last 3. In all six movies, there is no indication that any jedi ever started a family, other than Anakin. Old Ben Kenobi had no wife, and no children. Neither did Yoda. The movies never imply that Luke had anything more than a sister and a father. Lucas didn't change his concepts so much as he added to them.

 

[clovis-man]

With the origional movies, there were only two, and definately the underdogs. They lived in poverty and did ... nothing, as far as I can see. Once you take that poor-underdog-worthyness away, it becomes more of a mixed bag.

Good point. In the original film (episode 4), the light sabre, etc. was a weapon for a more elegant/civilized time, yada, yada.

At that point, Lucas had effectively painted himself into a corner. The Jedi had to wear the white hats, ride a white horse, shoot the gun out of the villain's hand instead of blowing off his head, etc. Pretty nasty handicap when dealing with guys who have black & red tattooed heads and grafted on horns.