Assenting Mothers and Conflicted Children
In The Acolyte and The Phantom Menace, a Jedi on a mission has a chance encounter with a Force-sensitive child whose birth is shrouded in mystery. In both cases, the child's mother assents to let the child go to become a Jedi, though the child turns out to have conflicted feelings about this future.
In The Acolyte, the Jedi Sol comes to the planet Brendok on a mission to study a vergence in the Force. However, he is distracted from this mission when he stumbles across Osha and Mae Aniseya – children with an unusual sensitivity to the Force, who were mysteriously "created" without a father by the witch Mother Aniseya. Believing it is Osha's destiny to become a Jedi, Sol offers her the opportunity to come to Coruscant and train at the Jedi Temple.
In The Phantom Menace, the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn comes to the planet Tatooine on a mission to get Padmé Amidala safely to Coruscant. However, he is distracted from this mission when he stumbles across Anakin Skywalker – a child with an unusual sensitivity to the Force, who was mysteriously conceived without a father in the womb of Shmi Skywalker. (Qui-Gon later tells the council that a "vergence in the Force" is located around Anakin.) Believing it is Anakin's destiny to become a Jedi, Qui-Gon offers him the opportunity to come to Coruscant and train at the Jedi Temple.
Despite initial reluctance, both mothers ultimately choose to let go of their children, granting them the agency to decide their own futures. Mother Aniseya tells her daughter, "Destiny is not decided for you by an anonymous force. You get to make a choice, Osha." Shmi tells her son, "Anakin, this path has been placed before you. The choice is yours alone."
Both children make the same choice, leaving home to begin their Jedi training with a Jedi Master who acts as a surrogate father. However, they are haunted by lingering conflict over their decisions. In The Phantom Menace, part of Anakin wants to leave Tatooine and become a Jedi, but part of him wants to stay attached to his mother. In The Acolyte, the internal conflict between these two halves of Anakin is externalized in Osha and Mae, who Sol later describes as being two parts of "the same person." Osha is the part that wants to leave Brendok and become a Jedi, while Mae is the part that wants to stay attached to her mother.
EXPLORE FURTHER…
Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Mae Aniseya / Mother Aniseya / Osha Aniseya / Qui-Gon Jinn / Shmi Skywalker / Sol
Shows: The Acolyte
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Concepts: attachment / birth / children / duality / home / letting go / mothers
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