Confronting Fear
The nine-film Skywalker Saga begins, reaches its central turning point, and ends when Jedi masters choose to train new apprentices in spite of fear – both the fear in the prospective apprentices, and the fear in themselves.
In The Phantom Menace, the Jedi Council won’t receive Anakin Skywalker into the Order because Yoda “sense[s] much fear in [him],” and “Fear is the path to the dark side.” The Council later reverses its position, and Yoda reluctantly allows Obi-Wan Kenobi to train Anakin, even though “grave danger I fear in his training.” Given that admission, perhaps Yoda changes his mind because he doesn’t want to act on fear, either.
But Yoda’s fear over Anakin’s fear is not without reason: fear will put Anakin on “the path to the dark side.” Yet when, in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin comes to him to confess a fear, the only remedy Yoda prescribes is “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose,” and he leaves Anakin to achieve this impossible goal alone. Instead of confronting the very fear he feared, Yoda deflects it.
Four films after The Phantom Menace, in The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is again opposed to training a Skywalker who fears. When Luke insists he isn’t afraid, Yoda replies, “You will be. You will be.” But though he has even more reason to fear a Skywalker than he did before, Yoda still consents to train Luke. The way Yoda responds to fear has changed. This time, he helps the apprentice confront his fear, first by sending him into the cave, and then by exposing fear’s corollary – lack of faith – through challenging him to raise the X-Wing.
Another four films later, in The Rise of Skywalker, Luke reveals that he and his sister Leia chose to train Rey even though they knew her to be the granddaughter of Palpatine, who has always used fear to tear the Skywalkers and the galaxy apart. Though Luke is initially terrified of Rey’s hereditary powers in The Last Jedi, like Leia, he resists that fear and helps Rey confront her fear of herself so she can use her powers for good. This way Luke does not repeat the mistake he made with his nephew Ben Solo, driving a fearful apprentice to the dark side by lashing out in fear.
Luke tells Rey that “Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi.” But the Skywalker Saga consistently shows that confronting fear cannot be done alone, and that one cannot confront fear in another without first confronting the fear in oneself. Yoda leaving Anakin to confront fear on his own leads to the undoing of the Jedi and the revenge of the Sith. Yoda’s decision to not fear Luke as he feared Anakin, and instead help Luke confront his own fear, begins the renewal of the Jedi. And Luke and Leia’s decision to not fear Rey as Luke feared Ben, and instead help Rey confront her own fear, leads to the final overthrow of the Sith.
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Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Kylo Ren / Leia Organa / Luke Skywalker / Rey / Yoda
Films: Episode I: The Phantom Menace / Episode III: Revenge of the Sith / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi / Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
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Concepts: fear / teachers and students / training
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