Jedi Council and Anakin

[Stravo]

In regard to the Jedi Council's decision in TPM regarding not training Anakin does it really make sense? Here's what I mean, Anakin has the Force Potential to be more powerful than even Yoda as seen in his Midichlorian count. He has already demonstrated using some of that force potential as seen in his podracing skills at a very young age.

In light of his potential and the fact that he latently taps his power does it make sense not to train him or at the very least teach him how to use that latent ability properly? Were the council just going to throw Anakin out on the street (interesting question as to what Anakin's alternatives were going to be if Qui-gon had not stepped in and stubbornly had him stick by his side)? Additionally considering his force potential is it wise to leave someone untrained with that kind of power? What if the Sith were to get their hands on him? Remember that by this point the council at least suspects then Sith might still be around as Qui-Gon dueled Maul during their escape on Tatooine and even if we say they don't think the Sith are a credible threat if I'm not mistaken there are dark jedi or dark side users in the galaxy according to the EU. Anakin is a walking threat to the Jedi order if the wrong sort get their hands on him.

So, even with the doom and gloom surrounding their visions of Anakin's future, logically, did it make any sense to discard him and his training? Remember we're talking about a child who is walking around with the potential to be as strong if not stonger than the mightiest Jedi Master currently serving and judging from Obi Wan's astonishment at the reading that's not something that happens every day. He was a special case no matter how you cut it.

Absent what we know happened later were the council wise in their decision? And I'm curious as to what their plans were for Anakin should Qui-Gon have accepted their judgment. Would he have gone into the Coruscant version of Child Protectice Services or Foster care?

[Knife]

From what I understand, in Jedi or just Force training, there is a watershed moment where you get actual access to Force Powers instead of just... what do you want to call them, Force side effects? Anakin had what amounts to 'really good luck' and 'good reflexes' as a by product to latent Force powers but, as I understand the EU, he would never have had Force TK or other uber skills without Jedi training. The Jedi Order probably knows this and so will not train anyone in the basics unless they commit completely to the whole deal. All or nothing, if you will.

[Riquende]

They would likely have put him in one of the branches of the Jedi Service Corps.

[lstyer]

In hindsight, training him turned out to be a pretty bad idea after all. That said . . .

considering his force potential is it wise to leave someone untrained with that kind of power? What if the Sith were to get their hands on him?

I don't know if we need to limit the danger to the Sith.

We can see from Star Wars and the scenes prior to Yoda beginning to train Luke in Empire Strikes Back that it apparently doesn't take all that much training to get someone to/past what Knife characterizes as the "watershed moment" where they're actively and effectively calling on the Force rather than just being the unconscious beneficiary of its favor. Luke was almost immediately blocking shots from the remote with his lightsaber, and after only a few hours or, at most, days of training with Obi-Wan, he was able to use some kind of Force-based super senses to make the Death Star shot and was pulling off at least limited TK.

It's my understanding that young Anakin's Force potential was higher than Luke's, so it seems to me that any Force user who ran across him could probably have him doing some fairly impressive stuff in pretty short order. So, yeah, if the Council had really just turned him loose without training, they'd be taking an awfully big risk as to what kind of training he might end up with.

[Eframepilot]

Sidious would totally have gotten Anakin if they didn't train him. "We will watch your career with great interest," anyone? But from the Council's point of view at the time, Anakin would not have been a threat if he wasn't trained; he would go off to some obscure life with minor effective Force powers.

[Metahive]

But from the Council's point of view at the time, Anakin would not have been a threat if he wasn't trained; he would go off to some obscure life with minor effective Force powers.

And risk that he becomes a second Asajj Ventress? The Jedi don't have the complete picture when it comes to monitoring people with command of the Force. Even if the Sith missed Anakin, who can say that the person with the strongest Force-rating in the galaxy won't be picked up by one of the myriad rogue or Dark Jedi roaming the hyperspace lanes as soon as he's out of sight of the temple?

Also, who says Anakin won't be able to figure out how to securely use the Force on his own? Especially the Dark Side since that only requires developing enough hatred, anger, resentment and lust for power to become available and Anakin for sure has enough reason to indulge in them when he's abandoned by the people he once adored.

[lstyer]

[quote="Metahive"][quote="Eframepilot"]The Jedi don't have the complete picture when it comes to monitoring people with command of the Force.[quote]
That's part of the point of The Phantom Menace and, to some degree, the prequel trilogy in general -- the Jedi order has become complacent and developed tunnel vision. It doesn't even seem to occur to the Council that Anakin might receive training from a source other than the Jedi order.

They know that the Sith are active and that the Jedi order didn't train that crazy looking Zabrak who killed Qui-Gon. Just those two facts should tell them that someone other than the Jedi is capable of training a Force user to become a threat. Plus, Yoda had already given his "always two there are" speech, and Obi-Wan had killed one of the two, so they might have realized that there was a decent chance that the remaining Sith would be recruiting. But none of that seems to have occurred to the Council, and instead they seem to have basically just figured that so long as the Jedi didn't train Anakin he would remain untrained.

[Havok]

They didn't know, or at least believe the Sith were still an issue until the moment Anakin was brought before them, so that isn't an issue. Especially as they know how the Sith work. If there is one, there is obviously another that trained him. That equals two and that is all there can be. Not an issue.

As we saw, Qui-Gon had every intention of training Anakin whether or not the Council took him in or not, so that isn't an issue.

Potential is just potential. It doesn't mean that he is going to become anything more than a lucky garbage man without the training the Jedi Order offers.

There is ZERO indication in any incarnation of Star Wars that a force user can develop powers without some sort of knowledge and training base.

To say that a pretty much perfectly adjusted kid is going to, on his own, manifest evil force powers is a pretty big stretch and needs some sort of precedent to back up that it could happen.

[Scrib]

They didn't know, or at least believe the Sith were still an issue until the moment Anakin was brought before them, so that isn't an issue. Especially as they know how the Sith work. If there is one, there is obviously another that trained him. That equals two and that is all there can be. Not an issue.

Because Sith would never give up or betray an apprentice or master to get another one.

But yeah, I've never seen a canon story with someone developing conscious control of their powers to the extent that Jedi have. They can boost their reflexes and become better fighters/sabacc players whatever but it's not as versatile or dangerous as a fully fledged Jedi. Anakin's potential is just that.

Seeing as he showed issues from the very first meeting with the council training him was probably more to keep him out of the hands of the Sith and somewhere they could control instead of having Obi-Wan just run off with him. But I suspect that if there had been no Sith they probably would have kicked him to the curb.