If Yoda had said no...

[Stravo]

If Yoda denied Obi Wan's request to train Anakin just what could have Obi Wan done? Seriously I don't see it in Obi Wan to leave the order and even if he did wouldn't the order arrest him fro tryng to train someone illegally? Yoda was under no real pressure to allow the training to go ahead IMO so why make the choice? He claims he is afraid of Obi Wan being as rebellious as Qui Gon but in the end it would have been an empty threat on Obi Wan's part.

"Train the boy will you? Meet my foot your ass will."

[Gandalf]

Where would Anakin go? Sent to some sort of orphanarium? Back to Tattooine?

I think it'd be even more interesting to see what Palpatine would do.

[JME2]

Where would Anakin go? Sent to some sort of orphanarium? Back to Tattooine?

I think it'd be even more interesting to see what Palpatine would do.

They might have sent him off to the Agricultural Corps as Obi-Wan nearly was before Qui-gon took him under his wing. If they had, it certainly wouldn't had worked for Palpy in the long run. After all, what better way to show your apprentice-to-be the evils of the Jedi than by training and serving under them?

[Stravo]

Where would Anakin go? Sent to some sort of orphanarium? Back to Tattooine?

I think it'd be even more interesting to see what Palpatine would do.

Anakin could have been raised in the temple as a healer just like other failed padawans.

[irishmick79]

Well, then you have the problem of this kid you dragged off of his homeworld and what to do with him. If Obi-Wan isn't going to be carting Ani around the galaxy with him, he's pretty much stuck with the Jedi council. They probably wouldn't have wanted to just stick him in an orphanage somewhere and let him be, because even when he was a kid they knew he was very powerful in the Force. If they lost track of him, somebody (like palpatine) might have re-discovered the kid and took him in, with dire consequences. I mean, could you imagine what Anakin would have done to the Jedi Order if he had a ten or twenty year head start on his Dark Side training?

So what do you do with the kid? Keep him in the temple and not train him? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense,since it's probably a good way to piss the kid off. You would have to send him somewhere away from Coruscant, and hope that nobody finds him. Or, you could just have Obi-Wan "accidentally" blow Anakin out of an air lock on his way off-planet, but Jedi don't do that sort of thing.

I think Yoda realized that having the kid around was a bad deal, but losing track of him could potentially be ten times worse.

[FOG3]

Wasn't the relevant line effectively:
Qui-gon's defiance I sense in you.

Agree with you the council does, but agree the boy should be trained I do not. Great danger will come of this (Okay I forgot what's the objection after "Agree with you the council does." )

So shouldn't the question be what if the council said no, not what if Yoda said no?

[Rogue 9]

"Agree with you, the Council does. Your apprentice Skywalker will be."

[Mark S]

Qui Gon seemed more than happy to keep Anakin despite the ruling of the council, with his whole, 'I can't officially train you but if I were to leave this lightsabre on the table, and this remote just happened to be floating around, and you just happened to start playing around, I couldn't help but give you pointers...' routine. Obi Wan would have done the same. Better to have the kid trained with support than half-assed. For whatever good it did.

[The Spartan]

The relevant exchange:

YODA
Confer on you, the level of Jedi
Knight the Coucil does. But agree on
you taking this boy as your Padawan
learner, I do not.

OBI-WAN
Qui-Gon believed in him. I believe
in Qui-Gon.

YODA
The Chosen One the boy may be;
nevertheless, grave danger I fear in
his training.

OBI-WAN
Master Yoda, Igave Qui-Gon my word.
I will train Anakin. Without the
approval of the Council if I must.

YODA
Qui-Gon's defiance I sense in you.
Need that, you do not. Agree, the
council does. Your apprentice, young
Skywalker will be.

[Freeman's Trigger-Finger]

There would be no logic in sending Anakin back to Tantooine, mother or no mother. He would only return to an unwelcoming Watto, who would more than likely merely take Anakin as a slave again. Unless the Jedi could guarantee his safety in that respect, kind of like compensation for him not being trained.

In fact, I think it would probaly have been an interesting turn if Lucas had gone with this intial premise in the first place. With Anakin being denied his Padawan/Jedi status by the Council, only to be confronted by sympathizer Palpatine, who, in earnest, could employ a defianat Obi Wan to train the boy. His path to the Dark-Side already under-way from the get-go

[Vympel]

Anakin trained by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from the beginning .... can you imagine the Sith Lord he would be?

[Crown]

If Yoda denied Obi Wan's request to train Anakin just what could have Obi Wan done? Seriously I don't see it in Obi Wan to leave the order and even if he did wouldn't the order arrest him fro tryng to train someone illegally? Yoda was under no real pressure to allow the training to go ahead IMO so why make the choice? He claims he is afraid of Obi Wan being as rebellious as Qui Gon but in the end it would have been an empty threat on Obi Wan's part.

"Train the boy will you? Meet my foot your ass will."

Before the PT, I would have answered; yes. Obi-Wan would have trained him regardless; 'I thought I could instruct him as well as Yoda. I was wrong."

But after ...

[Ravengrim]

Qui-Gon have already decided to train him whether or not the council agreed, remember he was pretty much the SW equivalent of a fundie. Plus bringing him back to Tattoine would have been pretty fucked up.
"Hey, Ani. Yeah...this whole 'Jedi training thing really isn't working out. It's not so much you as it is me. Im just going to have to take you back to being a slave, OK? Alright, great."

In the Star Wars universe it was prophecy that he would be the one to bring balance to the Force, so it was going to happen regardless. In fact, he did actually bring balance. There were too many light-siders and the oppression of dark-siders. He equalled things out.

[Stravo]

Everyone keeps making this statemetn that Anakin would have to be brought back to Tatooine. Thats just false. Anakin would easily have been integrated into the healer Corps that the failed padawans go to. No fuss no muss. Anakin is still free, still part of the Order just no longer dangerous.

[Noble Ire]

Stravo is right.

In Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, it specifically talks about how sending a failed padawan, or in Anakin's case, a being strong in the force but unsuitable for training, back home is extremely dangerous, since the reject is bound to use and misuse their powers. They send them all of to the Ag. Corps or Healers to keep them under control and prevent them from becoming Dark Jedi.