The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland has reignited the most important debate in the entire Star Wars franchise; what does the balance of the Force really mean? It’s surely no exaggeration to say The Acolyte has been one of the most controversial Star Wars stories ever told. Set a century before the Skywalker Saga, The Acolyte shows the tail-end of the High Republic Era – the golden age of the Jedi Order. It is a time when the Jedi believed themselves to be perfectly balanced in the Force, secure in the dominance of the light side.

A hundred years later, these illusions would be shattered. The Sith would emerge from the shadows, and Qui-Gon Jinn would return from the desert planet of Tatooine with a boy he believed to be the Chosen One – the one destined to bring balance back to the Force. Implicit within this was a strong criticism, that the Force was already out of balance, and the Jedi – for all their Force-sensitivity – simply didn’t notice it. But what does the balance in the Force mean, and what can The Acolyte teach us about it?

Leslye Headland Has Just Dropped A Bombshell In The Balance Debate

Is The Acolyte’s Sith Lord More Balanced Than The Jedi?

According to The Acolyte‘s showrunner Leslye Headland, the show’s Sith Lord is more balanced than the Jedi – and this is why he won a battle against an entire squad of Jedi in The Acolyte episode 5. She explained it like this:

Manny’s character is more in-balance than Sol’s character, especially when he says, ‘I’ve accepted my darkness. What have you done with yours?’ Sol is just in full-on repression mode at this point. He’s deluded himself into thinking that he has achieved balance. As Qimir says in Episode 2, ‘The Jedi only think they’ve found peace.’ Maybe that’s not true for all Jedi, but that’s his point of view. That’s what allows him to do what he did to survive and to keep his way of life. Not just a way of life. His actual life.

Headland is ascribing to one particular interpretation of balance; that each person carries their own inner light and darkness, and that every individual must strive for a sense of balance and inner peace. In The Acolyte, the Sith Lord is actually the more balanced character, because he has accepted his own inner darkness. In contrast, Jedi such as Master Sol have simply repressed their darkness, refusing to acknowledge it and deal with it.

This interpretation chimes with certain episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In one arc, Master Yoda began his quest for immortality, which would eventually lead him to discover how to become a Force Ghost. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 6, episode 12, “Destiny,” Yoda has a mystical experience in which he is confronted by a Gollum-like dark side version of himself. He gradually realizes this is his own darkness, which he has repressed all these years rather than confronted. To find true balance in the Force, Yoda must face the side of himself that he has hidden all these years.

How Does This Contribute To The Balance Of The Force?

George Lucas Was Never Entirely Clear

Taking a step back, it’s worth noting there’s a reason the idea of the balance in the Force is controversial; there’s some evidence George Lucas himself changed his mind about what it meant. He introduced the Chosen One prophecy in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but carefully avoided clarifying its meaning in the movies themselves, not even revealing the text of the prophecy. Lucas’ best explanation was in a 2010 Star Wars: The Clone Wars writers’ room meeting, released as part of Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

“What happens when you go to the dark side is it goes out of balance, and then you get really selfish… when you get selfish, you get stuff. Or you want stuff and when you want stuff, and you get stuff, then you get afraid somebody’s going to take it away from you… Once you become afraid that somebody’s going to take it away from you, or you’re going to lose it, then you start to become angry… And that anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering…”

According to this interpretation, the dark side is by nature a perversion of the Force, a corruption within it. It is a destructive foreign entity that must be crushed. This has the advantage of easily explaining how Anakin brought balance to the Force, because he killed Palpatine, the ultimate Sith Lord, the embodiment of all those negative and destructive impulses.

The problem, though, is that Lucas’ view seemed to evolve during the production of Star Wars: The Clone Wars – as can be seen in season 2, episodes 15-18. This arc saw Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano travel to a mysterious planet rich in the Force. There, they encountered the Mortis gods, avatars of different aspects of the Force. The Daughter represented the light side, the Son stood for the dark side, and the Father – a Chosen One analogue who wanted Anakin to take his place – was the agent of balance.

Mortis suggested a different view of the Force, one more akin to the concept of yin and yang. According to this interpretation, both light and dark are natural and necessary, and true balance involves holding them both in a state of careful and deliberate tension. This appears to be the modern Star Wars take, with Anakin Skywalker’s Force Ghost – seen in Ahsoka – actually capable of wielding both light and dark.

Star Wars Has Always Evolved, & Will Continue To Do So

George Lucas Established The Foundations

Circling back to Headland’s quote, the discussion of balance underlines the fact Star Wars will always be changing and evolving. It always did; as much as Lucas may like to claim otherwise, there’s abundant evidence so many ideas only came to him as he was working on the franchise. Even “I am your father” wasn’t in the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back, let alone the Chosen One prophecy and the balance of the Force.

Different interpretations will appeal to different viewers. Some will prefer to view the dark side as a corruption, others will find themselves drawn to the idea of balance holding light and dark in a state of tension. Filmmakers and showrunners like Dave Filoni and Leslye Headland are fans themselves, and they’ll naturally bring their own thoughts and ideas into the mix, continuing to drive the debate. It will be fascinating to see how that discussion evolves, but The Acolyte is proving to be a valuable contribution to it.