We flew through the air traffic lanes between the districts of Coruscant, changing flight lanes every few moments.
Evidently, Master Qui-Gon wasn’t used to waiting.
I actually liked his slightly crazy flying style better.
Every few seconds we switched lanes, and the only reason we didn’t crash was because of his command of the Force.
I felt exactly the same as I had during my podrace on Tatooine.
When I looked at Obi-Wan, he clearly didn’t seem thrilled with his master’s flying style.
His slightly pale face only emphasized that.
Poor guy.
First tormented by his master, and later by his own Padawan.
He never got a moment’s peace.
I ignored him and looked out the windows, still fascinated by the buildings and vehicles that I had once seen only on a screen.
After a few minutes of flying, I finally saw what I had been searching for since the beginning of our journey.
On the horizon appeared the distinctive Jedi Temple, with its tall towers and square silhouette, which was at the same time incredibly majestic yet somehow elegantly simple.
When we landed in one of the speeder parking areas near the entrance, I honestly forgot to breathe.
The Temple looked as if it had been taken straight out of the movies.
That enormous entrance reaching toward the sky, and those stairs…
My inner fanboy completely lost it again.
I looked around, watching hundreds of Jedi and Padawans entering and leaving the Temple.
In the movies, it had always seemed as though there were only a handful of them, but now I saw hundreds with my own eyes, each of a different species and height.
You couldn’t find such a diverse crowd even on Tatooine.
I recognized at least twenty different species, and I couldn’t even count the ones I didn’t recognize.
I ignored Obi-Wan, who climbed out of the speeder with trembling legs.
Slowly, I followed Qui-Gon up the stairs toward the main entrance, which towered above us like the jaws of some giant beast.
When we reached it, I noticed the Temple Guards in their distinctive armor.
I had a huge urge to touch it, but my logical mind quickly suppressed the thought.
They nodded respectfully to Qui-Gon Jinn.
Apparently, he was a well-known figure.
Considering who his master had been and his direct lineage from Yoda, it wasn’t surprising that he was so recognizable.
As soon as we passed through the entrance, I felt an almost unnatural silence.
Compared to the constant noise of Coruscant, this place was a true oasis of peace.
Everyone seemed to treat the Temple with great respect, which gave it an almost sacred atmosphere.
The temperature was noticeably lower than outside.
The air seemed filled with the scent of marble and wood, which permeated the entire building.
Beyond the entrance stretched a massive corridor lined with enormous pillars.
I saw even more Jedi, but they all seemed to respond to the aura of this place, moving quietly and swiftly.
In the distance, I noticed statues of ancient Jedi Masters.
Each one seemed to tell the story of its own struggles throughout the thousands of years the Order had existed.
I glanced at Qui-Gon Jinn.
His expression clearly showed that he wasn’t convinced this meeting would go the way he hoped.
My “visions” obviously hadn’t improved the situation.
For a long time, I thought about how I should behave before the Jedi Council.
Eventually, I realized that I simply had to be myself.
I didn’t want to pretend to be someone I wasn’t, because I wouldn’t fool Masters who were focused entirely on sensing my emotions and desires.
I might as well shock them a little.
We passed training halls, the library, and a courtyard with a single tree.
In the distance, I thought I could hear lightsabers clashing.
Some younglings were probably practicing their first duels.
As I made my final decision about how I would present myself before the Council, I noticed that we had stopped in front of a pair of plain doors that, as I had expected, led directly into the Council Chamber.
Suddenly, I started to feel nervous.
In a moment, I would be standing before the greatest Jedi of this era, including Yoda himself, who was nearly nine hundred years old.
The amount of knowledge and skill that an intelligent being could accumulate over such a long lifetime was truly terrifying.
I took a deep breath and, seeing that Qui-Gon Jinn was letting me go first, pushed the doors open.
The moment I crossed the threshold, I felt twelve pairs of eyes turn toward me.
Some of them seemed curious.
Others, seeing my age, immediately dismissed the possibility of me joining them.
But one person’s gaze felt the strangest.
I couldn’t sense anything from him.
Yoda looked at me, but it seemed as though he was trying to look through me, as if he were entrusting my evaluation entirely to the Force.
That didn’t seem entirely fair to me, because the Force has no consciousness.
It simply exists and strives for balance, and treating it with religious devotion certainly doesn’t help logical reasoning, decision-making, or fully understanding it.
Perhaps that trait came from Yoda’s species.
There had always been theories that his species was more religious in its approach to the Force.
A person’s first instinct often reveals what decision they will make in an important moment.
If that was really how they made decisions, then it was no wonder Sidious deceived them.
All he had to do was hide his presence in the Force, and the Order had no chance of detecting him.
If you always rely on the Force to solve your problems and suddenly it has no answer, you begin to behave like a child lost in the fog.
And no matter how wise you are, you start making mistakes and poor decisions.
That was why, in the original story, Master Yoda accepted the Jedi’s failure and waited for a savior instead of taking responsibility.
Under their judgmental gazes, I walked to the center of the chamber and waited for the tests to begin.
Yoda: “How old are you, young one?”
“Nine.”
I noticed Mace Windu frown.
Yoda: “Your mother, who is she?”
“She was a slave, but I haven’t seen her for two days, so I can’t be certain of her current situation.”
Yoda: “In riddles, you enjoy answering, young Anakin, hmm?”
Yoda: “Your father, know him you do?”
“My mother never spoke about that subject, and I have no particular interest in him.”
Yoda: “Your situation, understand it we do, hmm.”
The sun over Coruscant was slowly beginning to set.
Night was gradually descending upon the planet, which I found far more interesting than this entire test, whose outcome I already knew.
I knew that at least half of them had made their decision the moment they saw my age.
I noticed Mace Windu take out a small device.
It looked very much like a tablet.
“I’ll be displaying images.
Tell us what you see.”
He switched it on and displayed something.
At that exact same moment, images began appearing in my mind.
So I simply started listing them.
“Ship…
cup…
speeder.”
Mace turned the display off and, clearly intrigued by my speed, nodded toward Yoda.
Yoda: “Good, good, young one.
How do you feel?”
“I’m cold, sir.
Probably because of the planet I come from.”
Yoda: “Afraid, are you?”
“Depends on what,” I replied with complete seriousness, looking him straight in the eyes.
“Death.
Losing those close to me.
Failure.
I’m afraid of many things.
Everyone experiences some kind of fear.
That’s what makes us mortal, isn’t it, Master Jedi?”
I noticed that my words, so inconsistent with my age, and my completely serious demeanor had clearly given Master Yoda something to think about.
Mace Windu: “Are you afraid of leaving your old life behind?”
“I don’t think there was much to leave behind, considering I was a slave.”
I looked at him, genuinely wondering why he was asking that question and whether my presence here didn’t already answer it quite clearly.
Yoda: “Hmm.
Know we do.
Your feelings and thoughts, we perceive, young Anakin.”
Mace Windu: “Be mindful of your feelings…”
Ki-Adi-Mundi: “Interestingly, your thoughts revolve around your mother…
and Qui-Gon Jinn.”
Anakin: “I miss her.
Even so, she raised me alone for the first nine difficult years of my life.
It’s hard not to become attached to someone that close.”
Yoda: “Afraid of losing her, are you?”
“I think so.
But that’s only human.
If I weren’t afraid, you should suspect me of being a sociopath and isolate me from society.
Why should that affect whether I’m accepted?
Do you only accept emotionally dead children?”
Yoda: “Khh…” He choked on my remark.
“Everything.
Fear is the path to the dark side.
Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.”
Anakin:
“Suffering leads to compassion, and compassion to forgiveness.
If there were no hatred, how would we know what love is?
And if we were incapable of love, then what would be the point of living, Master Yoda?”
Yoda: “Wise and clever, you are, young one.
Yet deep commitment and a calm mind, a Jedi must possess.
Great fear in you, I sense.
Not only of losing your mother, but also for the future of the galaxy.
From where comes such a feeling in you, young one?”
“Because I’ve seen more than many adults.
But I won’t let myself be entangled or controlled by that fear.
That is not how I want to follow the path of the Force.
That is why I would like the training you can offer.”
Yoda: “Then continue, we shall.”
I passed test after test without difficulty.
What shocked them the most was my ability to control objects through the Force.
My telekinesis, even though I could lift only light objects.
A child my age shouldn’t have been capable of lifting anything at all.
That required incredible concentration and faith in one’s own abilities.
Twilight slowly settled over Coruscant as Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and I once again stood before the Council.
Yoda: “Right, you were, Qui-Gon.”
Mace Windu: “His cells contain an exceptionally high concentration of midi-chlorians.”
Ki-Adi-Mundi: “The Force is very strong in him, and his mind is astonishingly sharp and mature.
One might even say frighteningly so.”
He gave me a deeply shocked look.
Qui-Gon: “Then he is to be trained?”
Mace Windu: “No.
He will not be trained.”
Already knowing this verdict, I showed no change in my expression.
Instead, I watched Yoda with curiosity.
He seemed unexpectedly hesitant.
Qui-Gon: “No?!”
Mace Windu: “He is too old.
There is already too much anger and fear in him.
Even we cannot completely see through his mind.”
Qui-Gon: “He is the Chosen One.
You must see that.”
Yoda: “Clouded, the future of this boy is, as clouded as his thoughts.”
I noticed Yoda staring at me more and more intently despite his own words.
Qui-Gon: “Then I will train him.
I will take Anakin as my Padawan.”
I watched Obi-Wan specifically for this moment, and I almost burst out laughing when his eyes practically popped out of their sockets in a cartoonish expression of shock.
Yoda: “A student already you have, Qui-Gon.
Another, take you cannot.”
Mace Windu: “We forbid it.
The Code says so.”
Qui-Gon: “Obi-Wan is ready…”
Obi-Wan: “I am ready to face the Trials.”
Yoda: “Ready so soon, are you?
Of readiness, what do you know?”
Ouch…
That verbal slap from Yoda toward Obi-Wan actually hurt.
I looked at him sympathetically.
Some sort of sixth sense made him look back at me.
When he saw the expression in my eyes, I thought he was going to collapse right there.
He turned as red as a tomato.
Qui-Gon: “He is stubborn…
and still has much to learn about the Living Force, but he is capable.
There is little more he can learn from me.”
Yoda: “Who is ready, decide that ourselves we will.
Much still he has to learn.”
Mace Windu: “This is not the time…
The Senate is voting for a new Supreme Chancellor.
Queen Amidala is returning to Naboo, which will put pressure on the Federation…”
I didn’t feel like listening as they discussed the rest of the situation.
Everything unfolded exactly as it had in the movie.
The Council discussed the threat posed by the mysterious warrior and decided that Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and I would accompany the Queen back to Naboo.
Yoda: “The fate of young Skywalker, decided later it will be.”
Qui-Gon: “I brought him here.
He must remain under my care.
He has nowhere else to go.”
Mace Windu: “He is your ward, Qui-Gon…
that we do not dispute.”
Yoda: “Train him not!
Take him with you, but train him not!”
Mace Windu: “Protect the Queen, but do not intervene if war breaks out until we receive authorization from the Senate.”
Yoda: “May the Force be with you.”
The three of us bowed in farewell and left the Council Chamber.
As we walked toward the Senate to meet with the Queen, I noticed that my two elders were clearly discouraged, so I decided to lighten the mood a little.
“It didn’t go that badly, did it, Master?” I asked Qui-Gon Jinn with a smile.
“How is that ‘not that badly,’ Anakin?
You were rejected by the Council.”
Obi-Wan: “He’s right.
I can’t imagine a worse outcome.”
“At least Master Yoda likes me.
He kept looking at me the whole time.”
“He does?” they both asked at the same time, equally surprised.
….
Autor note
Another week is coming up please drop some stones if you can.
….
Facts about the temple
The Jedi Temple was built on top of an ancient Sith shrine.
The Jedi chose to build the Temple there to suppress the lingering dark side energy with their constant presence in the Force.
The Temple contained over a thousand rooms, including training halls, archives, meditation gardens, laboratories, hangars, and private living quarters for Jedi.
It housed one of the largest libraries in the galaxy, preserving thousands of years of knowledge about the Force, history, and countless civilizations.
The tallest towers of the Temple contained the Jedi High Council Chamber.
Their height symbolized the Jedi’s pursuit of wisdom and the light side of the Force.
Several thousand Jedi lived in the Temple at any given time, from younglings to Jedi Masters.
The films only show a small fraction of the Order.
Force-sensitive children were usually brought to the Temple as infants, which is why nine-year-old Anakin was considered an extraordinary exception.
The Jedi Temple Guards were not members of the High Council.
They were an elite order dedicated solely to protecting the Temple and its secrets, carrying distinctive yellow double-bladed lightsabers and wearing ceremonial golden masks.
The main halls displayed statues of legendary Jedi Masters, honoring some of the greatest figures in the history of the Order.
Despite housing thousands of people, the Temple was remarkably quiet.
Jedi intentionally moved and spoke softly to preserve an atmosphere of peace and meditation.
The Temple grounds contained the legendary Uneti Tree, an ancient tree often used as a place for meditation and reflection.
From the upper balconies, visitors could see the endless skyline of Coruscant, with constant streams of airspeeders and starships crossing the city-planet.
After Order 66, the Temple was captured by Anakin Skywalker and the 501st Legion, and was later converted into the Imperial Palace by the Galactic Empire.