What is a Balance of the Force?

Question

note that this was part of a mega question split as requested

I'm a film student working on a script on a Star Wars film as a personal project, I know there is little to no chance that I would ever get to work on a star wars film but we can dream. Anyway I would like some questions answered to help clarify how things work in the Star Wars universe. Any help would be appreciated.

First Question: What is a Balance of the Force?

Something I always found interesting was one of Spoony's old written reviews of Star Wars Episode III in which he makes a good point, how does wiping out the Sith bring balance to the force, surely all you’re doing by killing them is making the force more imbalanced as one side is vastly stronger than the other. Surely to get true balance, one must except both the Light and the Dark and be able to use them in harmony like how Luke did in episode 6. He was able to use deceit & truthfulness, Fear & Joy and most importantly, Anger and Compassion. This can be best seen in the final battle in the Death Star as he was able to use anger as a strength and then did not get consumed and used compassion, effectually using both sides of the force in balance.

Answer 1

On the 3 original movies, before the "midichlorians" explanation, the Force was closely tied to spiritual philosophy.

The balance between Good and Evil is a classic on the history of literary creation, from the Greek classics to modern literature, from Shakespeare to Mammet, from Homer to Michael Moorcock you can find thousands of writtings and storys dealing with balance between the forces of light and the dark side, not only at a planetary or universal scale, also at a personal level.

From a philosophical point of view that's something perfectly understandable, all human beings dwell with passions and feelings that pushes it's actions towards both sides of the balance; while most of people tends to be fairly balanced (some phylosophers said that humans are born attoned to light side), there are individuals that clearly falls apart from the middle and becomes truly good or evil beings.

Those individuals make the difference and pushes their societies towards enlightement or anarchy, the unbalance quickly generates a wave that interacts with it's balanced neighbours and the universe starts to work towards balancing it. Then, usually, war emerges and, after a while, a certain level of balance is again reached.

Suposedly, no society could pervive out of a certain level of balance. At a personal level unbalanced beings are less able to survive. They tend to risk her lifes for a higher purpose or to impose it's will over weaker beings, having usually as a result shorter lifespans.

This doesn't mean that the society, the universe or the humans are perfectly balanced. Always there will be some sort of unbalancing, the key to the existance is to not fall too far apart to that point of equilibrium.

Answer 2

In the Star Wars universe, the understanding of the term Bringing balance to the Force changed over time. See here for another question that deals with the original understanding. For hundreds or thousands of years, a prophecy (the chosen one) foretold of the coming balance to be brought. The Jedi of the Galactic Republic understood balance as:

"keeping balance" by restoring the Force to its natural state, as they viewed the dark side as "corruption". (src)

When Luke Skywalker became Grand Master of the New Jedi Order, the focus changed to one more closely aligned with the Unifying Force.

The concept of the Unifying Force was that the Force is a single entity and has neither a light nor the dark side. The Unifying Force was viewed as a deity that neither had sides nor chose them, treating all beings equally. Followers of the Unifying Force always kept their eyes open for future possibilities. In the end, it resulted in them trying to fulfill a destiny rather than focusing on here and now, as the Living Force supporter would do.

This view came to popularity after the galaxy's encounter with the Yuuzhan Vong, who could not be sensed in the force. Essentially, they had been stripped of the force by midi-chlorians.

Under the Unifying Force view, the concept of balance was not so much an absence of the "dark side", as there was no dark side, but a place of harmony in the galaxy.

Interestingly enough, there was actually a power known as Balance of the Force.

The Balance of the Force was a radical application of the Force demonstrated by Revan, due to his unique mastery of both the Light and Dark sides of the Force against the Sith Emperor. It was twin rivers of energy that manifested itself as a flash of light, the Force released in its purest form. This technique was able to knock back the experienced Sith Emperor.

It is possible that Luke Skywalker came close to mastering this power as well.