Dave Filoni may be celebrated as the second coming of thisStar Warsera. However, many fans critiqued his claim that Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is the greatest Jedi.The writer-director has had his hands on the pulse of animation for a while. He endeared himself to fans as a director of the beloved cartoonAvatar: The Last Airbender, which eventually helped him get his foot in theStar Warsdoor. This led to the creation ofStar Wars: The Clone Warsand the subsequent series,Star Wars: Rebels. Considered one of the highlights ofStar Warscanon, Filoni has proven he knows his stuff. But the creation ofthe iconic Ahsoka Tano(Rosario Dawson) notwithstanding, he has recently raised alarm bells with statements about The Chosen One.RELATED:Ahsoka: Dave Filoni Has A Good Reason For Why The Villains' Lightsabers Are OrangeIn aStar Wars: Ahsokafeaturette, Filoni offhandedly mentioned that Ahsoka was trained by the greatest Jedi of all time. This threw many fans for a loop, and they took to Twitter to air their concerns. “Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke, and a handful of others known and unknown arguably have rights to title of greatest Jedi of all time,” posted@TheHouseOrgana. “But Anakin, while arguably the most powerful Force user, was absolutely not the greatest Jedi.”
Fans such as@allthingskenobiadded to the discourseabout The Chosen One, stating, “I doubt even George would agree with his assessment lol.” An opinion shared by manyStar Warsviewers leaned towards the more obvious choice of Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) being the greatest Jedi. He never succumbed to the Dark Side and lived in exile to selflessly train Luke (Mark Hamill) when he came of age. Some critics dispute this, putting their gauge for the greatest Jedi even higher. “I see you all saying Obi-Wan’s the greatest Jedi in response to Filoni here but that’s also wrong cuz neither Anakin or Obi-Wan come close to Luke and/or Qui-Gon,” noted@NickMenakos. Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Luke are undoubtedly some of the most morally pure Jedi, but does that make them great?
The term “great” can have many different connotations. Judging by the collection of remarks from critics, these fans take the term to mean the person who most fulfills the ideals of the Jedi. But just because Jedi like Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) followed the Jedi Order indiscriminately doesn’t mean they’re great. It just means they’re used to taking orders. If fans learned anything fromThe Clone Wars, blindly following the Jedi Order is as bad as following the Sith. The Jedi were instrumental in forcing Ahsoka out of their collective, even though she was innocent of any crimes. Anakin arguablyjoined the Dark Sidebecause of prejudice from the Jedi, who were too afraid of the prophecy to treat him acceptably. Anakin is the greatest Jedi because he doesn’t fall into line in the cult-like Jedi Order.
Undoubtedly, Anakin fell off the path of righteousness, but his depiction inThe Clone Warsshows he has compassion when it’s right and breaks the rules when they don’t make sense. He treatedhis dedicated clone trooperslike his equals and trained Ahsoka to think for herself. The responsibility for Anakin falling to the Dark Side isn’t his alone. It is the system that created him. The fact that he returned from the Dark Side, earned redemption, and returned balance to the Force makes him the greatest Jedi of all time.
