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Throughout The Last Jedi, it is often mentioned that the Force balances itself. Luke says this in the island, when he is talking to Rey:

She feels the dark place in the island, then Luke says: Powerful light, powerful darkness.

Also, in Snoke's chamber, he says that he had warned Kylo:

That as he (Kylo) grew stronger, his equal in light would appear. And that he (Snoke) assumed it was Luke, but it was Rey after all.

Now it doesn't make sense when you think about the fact that Snoke is supposedly the stronger user of the Dark side. So where is/was his match, his balanced light-side Force user?

One would assume it was Luke, but Snoke himself didn't assume that. He taught Luke was Kylo's match. If he was so smart, wouldn't he follow his own advice, and imagine that his equal was going to show up too?

So, does this idea even make sense? Does the Force always rise someone to balance, both light and dark side?

We also know that Snoke has been alive long enough to see the rise and fall of the Empire. How come the Force didn't balance itself then? In this movie, Luke says that:

For a few years after the destruction of the Empire, the Force was balanced, at peace.

But if Snoke was around then how was that possible?

amflare
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LcSalazar
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2 Answers2

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Yes, but the means of said balancing is not always clear

The Force being in balance has been a running theme since the very beginning. Lucas drew inspiration from Eastern philosophies like Zen Buddhism and Taoism, in which balance is a large factor. So, in that regard, yes, The Force will always try to balance itself, since out-of-universe, that how it was created, and therefore, in-universe, thats how it is.

Lets establish a bit of context as to why The Force tries to balance itself1. If we simplify the Light and Dark side to Order and Chaos, it is easier to understand. If you have too much Order, nothing changes. If you have too much Chaos, nothing can be.

The Jedi strive to protect and preserve everything, and so can pull The Force out of balance with too much Order. The Sith, on the other hand, strive to bend The Force to their will, and take its power into their own hands. This tends to lean too close to Chaos.

When either of these happen, The Force corrects for it. On a Macro scale, we can see this in the fall of the Jedi. They had held the galaxy in stasis for almost 1000 years, so the Sith overthrew them. Then the Sith went power mad and wrought too much destruction and The Force had to correct again.

On a Micro scale, we can see the same thing play out with The Ones in the Clone Wars animated show. We see them in Overlords, Altar of Mortis, and Ghosts of Mortis where they have almost absolute control over The Force, and by extension, their world. Which is why The Father chose to sequester them on said world. Without going into many details, it is there that The Son (who had inclination towards destruction) and The Daughter (who was inclined to preserve) were both kept in balance by The Father.

Now, to get back to the question at hand, you outlined a scenario presented in The Last Jedi, and asked if The Force always raises someone Light/Dark to balance someone Dark/Light (and if so, where is Snoke's equal). And the answer is... kinda. The act of balancing sometimes manifests as an individual person with the power to affect change. Sometimes not. In current canon, it is almost exclusively this method. However, Anakin's birth is an example of a time where The Force was altered so drastically, balance naturally occurred without a person bringing it to fruition2.

Its worth pointing out that The Force is not always in balance, but tends to swing back and forth in a constant attempt to correct itself. And this takes time, so there will not always be a match for a certain Force user (in this case Snoke3). I imagine that Episode 9 will round out the current arc and show up the completion of this rebalancing.

To wrap this all up, balance is not necessarily the "light-side" having as many equivalent users as the "dark side". And error correction takes a bit of time to occur.

1 - While slightly outdated, this answer does a good job talking about balancing The Force (though in context of The Chosen One).
2 - This was more fleshed out in Legends and is less clear in current canon
3 - Though if we are being honest, how powerful was he really given the ease of his death?

Malady
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amflare
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    Regarding footnote 3, the same could be said for the Emperor as well (practically was thrown off a balcony), but that would be misleading... – Hans Olo Dec 29 '17 at 19:27
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    @Loki: "Your overconfidence is your weakness." You can be the most powerful squishy wizard in the galaxy, but you're still a squishy wizard. All it takes is one slip-up. And the Force, binding all living things together, is perfectly positioned to slip through the cracks. (For "the Force", you can also read "the Plot", and things work out just as well.) – Jeroen Mostert Dec 29 '17 at 22:56
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    I think it is also important to point out that the Force acts of its own accord. Sure Snoke said he thought Luke was Kylo's opposite, but he is only "human" and can be wrong. Maybe he thought that since he was "behind the scenes" that he did not calculate as much into the equation... but either way I think it is safe to say that the Force was balanced. Snoke<->Luke and Kylo<->Rey. And as we have seen from the end of the movie with the boy and broom there are always aspects that "we" haven't calculated into the balance, but it is safe to assume the Force has; that boy's balance is out there too – Odin1806 Dec 30 '17 at 01:58
  • With regard to footnote 3, I thought this was to demonstrate how powerful Kylo had become rather than to say Snoke was not powerful. – Jesse C. Slicer Dec 30 '17 at 03:52
  • I think this is a good answer, but to the extent that you're getting into philosophy, I'll mention that it's only true that there can be "too much Order" if you define Order to exclude change and motion. – Wildcard Dec 30 '17 at 06:05
  • @Wildcard, I would make the argument that that is Order taken to the extreme. If everything must be just so, then you never have change. Why change is a good idea is an entierly different discussion though. – amflare Dec 30 '17 at 06:14
  • I understand that argument; it just happens that change/no change is an entirely separate thing from order/disorder. You can have very orderly change and you can have total disorder with no change occurring. So it's really just a misdefinition. Not likely to resolve it through internet discussion, though, so I just thought I'd mention it. – Wildcard Dec 30 '17 at 06:42
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    @JesseC.Slicer Except a demonstration of power probably wouldn't have been executed through misdirection and deception. We saw that Snoke was utterly dominant over Rey, never even moving a muscle to effortlessly overwhelm her every physical and Force move, and that Rey and Kylo were comparable (when they were contesting the light saber at the end, say). Snoke extolled his omnipotence, and Kylo exploited Snoke's arrogant presumptions. – zibadawa timmy Dec 30 '17 at 07:39
  • It was never Lucas intention to portray Light Side as some sort of complete non-changing and rigid Order . This kind of Order resembles more to Vader's or Snoke's visions (Galactic Order, First Order) . To fully understand Light Side watch ESB and take note what Yoda does. Only in his final years he nearly completely understood what Light truly is. – rs.29 Dec 30 '17 at 08:18
  • @rs.29 While that may be true, that does not change how The Force works in current canon. I can not write a good answer that only holds Lucas' original intentions as canon. For better or for worse, SW has moved on. – amflare Dec 30 '17 at 20:00
  • @amflare Nope, SW didn't move on. Above anything else, SW is original trilogy. There is relatively solid prequel trilogy, some good EU works, and some bearable cartoon episodes. After that there is watered down crap Disney is peddling that would be forgotten 3-4 years from now like so many blockbusters. Because, in the end, people who care carry the legacy of artwork, and I don't think anyone would care for Disney SW. – rs.29 Dec 30 '17 at 20:17
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No, Force balance as balance of Light and Dark is a Disney invention.

Originally, George Lucas intended that the natural state of the Force is the light side. Sort of like Zen Buddhism, no attachment, meditation, Yoda stuff. In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda was no warrior; he even mocks idea that wars make someone great. Instead he was a Zen master, a bit crazy and silly on outside, but very wise inside. Like all Zen masters from Zen stories.

The dark side of the Force was portrayed as a cancer, a selfish part of beings that wants everything for itself, but in the end, by ruining others, it ruins itself. Just like cancer cells by killing the body eventually kill themselves. Balance of the Force is simply killing dark side, killing powerful dark side users like Palpatine, killing the tumor.

Thus, the prophecy of “the Chosen One” is bringing balance in the Force by destroying the Sith (the most powerful and galactic wide Dark Side organization) once and for all.

Giacomo1968
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rs.29
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    Is that you Lucas? – T James Dec 29 '17 at 20:50
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    This does not answer the question so much as it rebuts my answer. Does the Force always try to balance itself? To that you are saying "No, it was originally meant to be balanced when the Dark side was destroyed." This makes no sense. If you have an answer to the question rather than a critique of my answer or Disney's changes, please edit that in. – amflare Dec 29 '17 at 20:54
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    This lead sentence of the answer could not be more wrong. The idea of true balance in the force was first mentioned in the Clone Wars episode Overlords when "the Father" was the balance of the Force between the light of his daughter and the dark of his son. The idea of the balance in the Force was the key element of the entire 3 story arc. And this was in 2011, which was before Disney bought Lucasfilms in 2012. So no, "balance" was not a Disney invention. – psubsee2003 Dec 29 '17 at 22:22
  • ...wasn't the chosen one thing all a flub? – Odin1806 Dec 30 '17 at 02:00
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    "The Chosen One" could be a number of things. If you read between the lines of what Palpatine said at the circus, perhaps Darth Plagueis created Anakin precisely to play on the Jedi prophecy. However, the now-Legends Darth Plagueis novel states the Force created Anakin to balance out Plagueis' dinkering with midichlorians and the Dark Side. Or, maybe Anakin was indeed the fulfillment of the prophecy. Or it was all a big coincidence. – Jesse C. Slicer Dec 30 '17 at 03:59
  • @psubsee2003 In 2011. Lucas was already letting other people do creative work. Mortis story-line was not written by him, although he influenced decision not put Sith force ghosts into story. Eventually, even in that story Anakin had to destroy Dark Side (son) , while Light Side sacrificed itself. – rs.29 Dec 30 '17 at 08:06
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    @amflare Your answer is wrong in a sense that Lucas (and Zen Buddhism in general) do not see balance as equilibrium of Light and Dark, Order and Chaos. Instead, balance is complete Order, but not rigid and bureaucratic, but natural and flowing. – rs.29 Dec 30 '17 at 08:11
  • @rs.29 that may be true, but that doesn't mean it is a Disney invention. – psubsee2003 Dec 30 '17 at 14:53
  • @psubsee2003 Well, yes it is, even before Last Jedi with "Bendu one in the middle" and similar things in Rebels cartoon. Overall, this is entirely different philosophy than one portrayed in original works. – rs.29 Dec 30 '17 at 20:22
  • @rs.29 I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I won't disagree that it is very significant in the Disney canon (which starts with The Clone Wars and the original 6 movies). But I don't get how it could be considered a "Disney invention" when it was first mentioned before Disney owned the franchise. – psubsee2003 Dec 31 '17 at 16:08
  • Regardless of whether it is a Disney invention or not, I don't see how saying "it is a Disney invention" implies the answer "no" to the question. Quite the contrary, it should be "yes" since the official canon of Star Wars is the one that Disney "invents" through LucasFilms. – Fatalize Jan 02 '18 at 10:08
  • @Fatalize Let's put it like this: Disney buys the rights for publishing works of Shakespeare and Tolstoy. Then they change Romeo and Juliet so they become homosexual couple, and they change War and Peace so that main characters fight in war for multicultural, feminist Russia :p Would you consider these new versions as canon, or would you stick to old ones ? – rs.29 Jan 02 '18 at 20:25
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    @rs.29 That hypothetical is pretty ludicrous, since 1. Shakespeare and Tolstoy are dead and 2. We're talking about Disney adding to canon rather than replacing it in its entirety. – corvec Jan 02 '18 at 22:32
  • @corvec Lucas is effectively dead for SW, he will not add any new content. And Disney is changing his core ideas with their "new stuff" . This thing about Force is just one example. – rs.29 Jan 03 '18 at 18:39