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This celibacy rule among the Jedi is illogical. Permitting Jedi to marry will ensure a steady supply of future Jedi which are so rare and so hard to train. Why have this rule which obviously weaken the Jedi order? Look at Anakin's offspring. Every single one of his children had Jedi powers even without much training. If Anakin had obeyed this illogical rule, the Jedi would have been weakened. Why did the Jedi have this rule and how do they ensure the Jedi do not go extinct over time as a result?

Gallifreyan
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user486818
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    When that rule against Jedi falling in love and getting married was first mentioned in dialogue in Episode 2, I remember thinking: "What a stupid idea to retcon in at this late date." So I'm not very interested in defending it -- but it's worth pointing out that some Star Wars novelists then took the view that the rule was against a Jedi getting too "attached" and becoming "married" -- but that there was no rule against casual sex with consenting partners! I suppose that would make it possible for Obi-Wan, for instance, to gets lots of women pregnant and then walk out. (Isn't that inspiring?) – Lorendiac Mar 25 '17 at 07:55
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    Maybe the Force abilities were not commonly transmitted to one's offspring, and Anakin was only an exception to this? On the other hand, children with a connection to the Force were born all the time across the Galaxy, and that's why Jedi recruiters were sent to look for them, to keep the Order alive. – Essen Mar 25 '17 at 08:22
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    @essen one point is also that the jedi often washed out those not strong enough in will and those didn't fall under the regulations of the order and thus produced offspring. – Thomas Mar 25 '17 at 08:24
  • @Essen -- the idea had also occurred to me that the movies sure don't guarantee that "the offspring of a Jedi will always be Force-sensitive themselves, and thus potential Jedi for the next generation." It might not be genetically based at all. I don't know if any of the licensed novels ever examined the point in detail (heck, the writers might even contradict one another). But in my previous comment, I just focused on the point that "not allowed to get married" is not necessarily the same thing as "not allowed to engage in sexual conduct which might produce babies." – Lorendiac Mar 25 '17 at 08:28
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    For future reference - jedi is both singular and plural. – Gallifreyan Mar 25 '17 at 11:02

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For why the Jedi had this rule......it was as strange as it sounds pure and utter fear. It may sound strange when it comes to the Jedi but it also fits them perfectly as there was one thing they feared that could happen. Falling to the dark side. For the Jedi attachment leads to jealiousy and thus to fear, hate and anger and so to a fall to the dark side. But even though the Jedi disregard fear as something negative and try not to be controlled by it, their rules on the other hand signify an underlying fear of falling to the dark side by giving in to something that could lead them down the path (like forming an attachment). So one can say that the orders rules are faulty as they were built upon fear. OR one can say they are wise as they stop younger Jedi from making errors (which they didn't any way seen in Anakin). So all in all it depends on the point of view (as many Jedi like to point out).

As for why the Jedi didn't go extinct. Even without them having children (or most of them as "only" attachment was forbidden, not the act iself although it was very probably quite frowned upon) the Galaxy itself produced quite a lot of force sensitive children. And also those that didn't manage to stay in the order as they were not strong enough or too angry or found too late had offspring and thus a steady supply of force sensitive children was there any way.

Thomas
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  • If dark side practitioners are allowed to marry and have sex while jedis aren't, it will drive lots of Jedis to the dark side given that it is against human nature not to marry. Most humans want to marry. – user486818 Mar 25 '17 at 08:27
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    @user486818 not 100% exactly, as we have seen in history celibacy can exist even to greater extent than the Jedis have (they onla have the attachment rules there). But ultimatively even though it works for some it fails time and again for many others. Thus its one of the reasons why it looks to me as if the Jedi were afraid of the temptation and thus set up the rule. And as it was fear driving them it was faulty (as is all that is built on the dark side). – Thomas Mar 25 '17 at 08:32
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    @user486818 It is arguably human nature to procreate. Marriage is simply a socially-approved framework within which one can pursue said goal. There is nothing in human nature that drives anyone to marry per se. The Jedi can have a rule against marriage without necessarily being against procreation or temporary sexual liaisons. (I don't know the extent to which this is true or not, since I'm not current on the state of the canon.) – Patrick Wynne Mar 25 '17 at 08:55
  • @PatrickWynne Current state of canon is saying their rule is against forming attachment (and just that). As the liasons most of the time create attachments of some sort or another....especially if they result in offspring they are typically not allowed or frowned upon (in the very least). – Thomas Mar 25 '17 at 09:13