The works of George Lucas and J.K. Rowling both contain prophecies that raise the age-old question of fate versus free will. The dilemma is apparent. If someone is able to accurately foresee future events, does it follow that those events are inevitable? Is there any place for free will in such a situation? For Anakin Skywalker and Harry Potter, these concerns are paramount, and play out in varied ways in each of their stories. They are both set apart as the one to fulfill a particular prophecy by overcoming a great evil, and both face internal and well as external struggles in the process of coming to terms with the prophecy.
In The Phantom Menace, the prophecy is first brought up when Qui-Gon Jinn makes mention of a startling theory to the Jedi Council, that Anakin was conceived by midichlorians, the microscopic lifeforms that give the Jedi their sensitivity to the Force. Mace Windu responds incredulously: “You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force? You believe it is this boy?” Later, we learn that the subject of this prophecy is known as “the Chosen One”; it is the term used by Qui-Gon when, as his dying wish, he asks Obi-Wan Kenobi to train Anakin. “Promise me you will train the boy...he is the Chosen One...he will bring balance.” It is an ambiguously worded prophecy. What exactly has brought, or will bring, the Force out of balance in the first place, and how is the Chosen One supposed to restore balance? The answer is never stated overtly in the films, though comments such as Mace’s “if the prophecy is true, he is the only one who can bring the Force back into balance” imply that the Jedi are aware of an imbalance that has already occurred. From Lucas’s statements1 we are led to believe that it is the Sith who have brought the Force out of balance, and that their destruction is the only way to restore balance. Whatever the precise meaning of the prophecy, however, it places a heavy burden upon Anakin, one that brings into question his very ability to choose.
Harry Potter feels himself to be in a similar situation in the penultimate chapter of The Order of the Phoenix, when Albus Dumbledore at last reveals to him the prophecy that was made before Harry’s birth. We are given the specific wording:
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies... (OoTP, 841)
Almost immediately after reading these words we are given a hint of a distinctly non-fatalistic interpretation of this prophecy, when Dumbledore explains that either Harry or Neville Longbottom could have been the subject, but Voldemort chose Harry to be his foe. However, the issue of free will versus destiny is not at all resolved, as evidenced by Harry’s dismally fatalistic words: “So...does that mean that...that one of us has got the kill the other one...in the end?” Dumbledore answers sadly in the affirmative. Where is Harry’s ability to choose in all of this? His only real choice, it seems, is between killing or being killed.
The crux of the dilemma lies in our perception of time as linear, in which results occur, temporally speaking, after their causes. It is difficult to perceive of a prophecy doing anything other than causing the event which it foresees. Certainly we are not accustomed to the idea of a future event causing an occurrence in the past. On the other hand, if someone such as a seer, or an omniscient higher power, is capable of seeing all time simultaneously, what does that mean for those of us still within linear time? Jason T. Eberl discusses this conundrum in his essay in Star Wars and Philosophy: “How can I change the future that is already known by someone who can’t be wrong about it?” (Eberl 7). And yet there is hope still for free will, in all of this. If indeed time need not be viewed linearly, then something does not necessarily need to have occurred first in order to cause a later event. In other words, a future event or choice may determine what is prophesied, rather than the other way around. In addition, mere knowledge of something does not have to equate with cause. Augustine argues thusly: “Your recollection of events in the past does not compel them to occur. In the same way, God’s foreknowledge of future events does not compel them to take place...God foreknows all the things of which He Himself is the Cause, and yet He is not the Cause of all that He foreknows.” (qtd. in Eberl 8) Therefore, a prophecy need not erase free will or demand adherence to a choiceless destiny. How does this play out for Anakin or Harry?
The nature of the prophecy referring to Harry and Voldemort is explicitly delineated in The Half-Blood Prince, in the pivotal chapter entitled "Horcruxes." After realizing the enormous tasks that lie ahead of him in order to defeat Voldemort, Harry feels overwhelmed, and rather disappointed that Dumbledore continues to insist that his ability to love is the “power the Dark Lord knows not.” Dumbledore, however, avers that “Voldemort singled you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him -- and in doing so, he made you the person who would be most dangerous to him!” (HBP 509). As already explained in the previous book, the prophecy had been equally likely to refer to either Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom, but it was Voldemort’s choice that made it Harry. Indeed, it was Voldemort’s choice to act on the prophecy at all that resulted in its fulfillment -- Dumbledore hints intriguingly that there are recordings of prophecies stored in the Department of Mysteries that have not been fulfilled at all. This is little comfort for Harry, however, since he still cannot see that he has any choice in the matter, even if Voldemort did. Dumbledore then gives him the knowledge that finally offers the comfort and courage he needs. “Imagine, please, just for a moment, that you had never heard that prophecy! How would you feel about Voldemort now?” (HBP 511-12). And Harry knows that he would have chosen still to pursue and kill the murderer of his parents. “It was...the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high” (HBP 512). This is notably similar to the words of John Locke, who posited:
Suppose a Man be carried, whilst fast asleep, into a Room, where is a Person he longs to see and speak with; and be there locked fast in, beyond his Power to get out: he awakes, and is glad to find himself in so desirable company, which he stays willingly in...is not this stay voluntary? I think, no Body will deny it: and yet being locked fast in, ‘tis evident he is not at liberty not to stay, he has not freedom to be gone. (qtd in Eberl 12)
Harry realizes that “some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but...there was all the difference in the world” (HBP 512). It is not his passive fate to fulfill the prophecy, but his deliberate choice. Evidently the prophecy was made in the first place in anticipation of Voldemort and Harry’s choices, and is thus entirely dependent on those choices.
Never is Anakin’s relationship to the prophecy of the Chosen One explained so overtly. We can only infer its nature from his behavior and what is said by him and other characters. Free will is never entirely discounted, but on the other hand there is frequent mention of destiny. If the “Chosen One” prophecy is a part of Anakin’s inevitable destiny, then it can be assumed that he had no choice but to destroy the Sith and all else that the prophecy entails. This brings up yet another issue: if everything in Anakin’s life is directed toward the fulfillment of that prophecy, then was it simply his fate to turn to the dark side and murder most of the Jedi? Was that the only way that he could bring about the eventual destruction of the Sith? The idea seems almost absurd, and yet it cannot be discounted as long as Anakin’s actions are attributed to destiny. It also implies that Anakin cannot be held responsible for his evil deeds, nor can he be lauded for his good actions, if he had no choice in the matter. If, on the other hand, the idea of free will is introduced, then perhaps Anakin is resisting the prophecy by joining with Darth Sidious in his destruction of the Jedi Order, and only returns from the dark side at the very end when he chooses to oppose the Emperor and save his son.
There is no clear-cut answer to this, but several things offer a strong argument for the existence of free will, in spite of prophecies and the frequent mention of destiny. First of all, the character who confidently speaks of his ability to accurately see future events is not a good character, but rather the evil Emperor: “Everything is proceeding exactly as I have foreseen.” And yet things do not ultimately occur as he planned. Luke does not join the Sith, the Rebellion prevails over the Empire, and Anakin forsakes his old master. At least for the Emperor, the choices of individuals have the power to alter previously foreseen events. Free will does matter.
But what if the Emperor was simply mistaken to begin with? Would free will still matter for someone else with an infallible future vision? This brings us back to the issue of the prophecy. One possible way of interpreting Anakin’s fall is that he was not, in fact, inevitably destined to bring balance, and that his willful decision to join the Sith was an example of how he could have chosen not to. Obi-Wan Kenobi fairly says as much when he laments to a fallen Anakin: “You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness.” By referring to the Chosen One in the past tense, he indicates that it is a lost hope, without any chance of fulfillment. For something that essentially rejects a prophecy, Obi-Wan’s implication is curiously fatalistic. Now that Anakin has taken this particular path, he seems to say, he will have no choice but to continue along that path to its end. Certainly he holds to that view when speaking to Luke years later; there is no hope, in his mind, that Anakin can ever find the ability to turn back. Yet on the contrary, Anakin’s ability to choose is paramount in his embracing of the dark side. It is obviously a bad choice, which results in both personal and widespread pain and suffering, yet it still can provide an affirmation that Anakin’s life is not in the thrall of an implacable destiny.
Vader himself speaks of destiny frequently, and his usage perhaps unintentionally provides an opening for free will. He tells Luke that he must join him to destroy the Emperor at the end of The Empire Srikes Back, for “it is your destiny.” He believes that Luke has no choice but to pursue the same path as his father. Yet when they face off again in Return of the Jedi and Luke refuses to fight him, saying that Vader will instead “be forced to kill me,” Vader responds, “Then you will meet your destiny.” Destiny, then, is not necessarily meant to be a single path that one must follow without any choice in the matter. Instead, it is a word for the eventual place where one’s choices will lead. That is a notion that fundamentally includes free will. And Anakin leaves -- chooses to leave, by all appearances -- the path he has long followed when he turns back to the good side. By doing so, he fulfills the prophecy and brings balance to the Force, but such an act was not necessarily inevitable. The victory over the Sith is far more meaningful if viewed through this light -- not as a passive act by an instrument of fate who lacked the free will to do otherwise, but as the active and courageous choice of a free being, a being who very clearly could have continued to choose the dark path. Like Harry, I prefer to see the prophecy of the Chosen One as being fulfilled by choice, and I believe it makes all the difference in the world.
Works Cited:
Augustine, On Free Choice of the Will, translated by Anna S. Benjamin & L.H. Hackstaff. New York: Macmillan, 1964. Book III pg. 4. Qtd. in Eberl pg. 8.
Eberl, Jason T. “‘You Cannot Escape Your Destiny’ (Or Can You?): Freedom and Predestination in the Skywalker Family.” Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine. Eds. Kevin S. Decker & Jason T. Eberl. Chicago: Carus Publishing Company, 2005. 3-15.
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. (1695) Ed. Peter H. Nidditch. Oxford:
Clarendon, 1975. Book II, Chapter 21, pg. 10. Qtd. in Eberl pg. 12.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New York: Scholastic, 2005.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic, 2003.
