15 Years Ago Today, George Lucas Broke All His Own Rules of the Force (& Star Wars Has Never Been the Same Since)

January 28, 2026, 10:30am

One mystery of the Force lies at the heart of the entire Star Wars saga: just what is the balance of the Force? The idea was introduced in The Phantom Menace alongside the Chosen One prophecy, with Anakin Skywalker introduced as one destined to restore the balance of the Force. But the films themselves were silent on just what that meant; the Jedi appeared to mean it referred to the final destruction of the Sith, but Master Yoda himself acknowledged the prophecy could have been misread.

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George Lucas himself typically agreed with that interpretation, though. He frequently presented the dark side as almost cancerous in nature, destructive and parasitic, and explained that Anakin restored the balance when he killed the Emperor and defeated the dark side. The light side is life, the dark side is death by nature, and balance is the dominance of light that allows for universal flourishing. And yet, surprisingly, Lucas eventually seemed to pivot to a different view.

15 Years Ago Today, Star Wars Totally Rewrote the Chosen One Prophecy

Fifteen years ago today, Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3, episode 15 introduced one of the most unexpected additions to Star Wars lore: the Mortis Gods. These were three cosmic beings who served as avatars of different aspects of the Force: the Son stood for the dark side, the Daughter for the light side, and the Father strove to maintain balance between them both. The Father was dying, and he hoped that Anakin Skywalker would take over his role, in accordance with his destiny as the Chosen One.

The clear implication was that Lucas was hinting at a different interpretation of the Force. This is more of a “yin and yang” interpretation of the Force, one where both light and dark are necessary and the Chosen One is destined to hold them both in tension. Speaking at last year’s Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni recalled how strange the Mortis gods seemed even to him: “It was the weirdest day [when] George brought that stuff up,” he remembered. “I don’t know where he was going with that one.”

All this has led to intense debate among the Star Wars fandom. Some point to the more traditional interpretation of the Force, some argue that the Mortis Gods prove the true model of the Force, and still others argue the Mortis Gods have been misinterpreted in the first place. The truth is likely to be revealed in Ahsoka Season 2, given the end of the first season featured a statue of these ancient beings on the extragalactic planet Peridea. But, in the meantime, we’ve already been seeing signs of a shift in the Disney era.

Star Wars Has Committed to the Mortis Gods Model

All the signs are that Star Wars has embraced the Mortis Gods model. The Last Jedi featured a mural of the Prime Jedi, founder of the Jedi Order, and they were portrayed using a yin-and-yang style mural that suggested they were the darkness in the light and the light in the darkness. Since then, official tie-ins have introduced an ancient Jedi mantra that conceived light, dark, and balance as different aspects of the Force; “We walk into the light, acknowledge the dark, and find balance within ourselves.” It suggests the first Jedi had a very different perspective on the Force.

There’s a sense in which the Force Dyad – a major part of the Star Wars sequel trilogy – represents this philosophy too. Tie-ins have established the Dyad as something of both darkness and light, with Rae Carson’s novelization revealing the bond between Rey and Kylo Ren had been “refined in the fire of mutual searching, shared grief, rage and hate, but also of compassion and empathy.” The Last Jedi‘s best action scene saw Kylo Ren and Rey work together in the throne room; Rey fought with rage and aggression, while Kylo Ren had a Jedi’s serenity.

More recently, Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte seemed to build on this in the best possible way through what many viewers believed was another Dyad – the sisters Osha and Mae, one light and the other dark, each bound to the other. Iconography throughout that show supported the same view of the Force. If Ahsoka Season 2 continues in this direction, then the course of Star Wars will have been decisively set – and it will all flow from George Lucas’ pivot 15 years ago today.

What do you think the balance of the Force really is? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!