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Why Jedi-training age requirements? unless...

#1 User is offline   dougte Icon

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Posted 20 June 2005 - 05:43 PM

I've been wondering: why do the Jedi generally set age limits on training? They want young children, but why? There really isn’t a good reason why older individuals who are strong in the force shouldn’t be allowed to train—unless the Jedi want complete obedience. Unless they don’t want questions asked. Unless they want complete inculcation on par with religious extremist terrorists!
Whenever Luke or Anakin ask questions they’re scolded and given some really vague new age verse that can be taken ten thousand ways. Personally, I LIKE that Anakin questioned the Jedi (I just wish he wasn’t such a whiney b**ch about it). If all Obi-Wan and Yoda could do was answer in a bunch of mumbo-jumbo contradictory double-talk, then perhaps Anakin made the right choice.

devil.gif



Note: For those wondering, I liked Revenge of the Sith 10,000 times better than the other two (I'm not just trying to incite violence) but it still wasn't like the originals.
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#2 User is offline   Lord Melkor Icon

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Posted 20 June 2005 - 06:10 PM

Because young children have no attachments and are trained in the ways of the Jedi since they are like 1 or 2 years old, they are less likely to fall to Darkside.
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#3 User is offline   SithAvenger Icon

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Posted 20 June 2005 - 06:11 PM

Just imagine this: Darth Rugrat. (That's so evil.)
Sorry, you won't be seeing a smartass sig here. Try with the next poster.
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#4 User is offline   JW Wells Icon

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Posted 20 June 2005 - 06:28 PM

Meh, there was one semi-decent reason in ESB:

QUOTE
LUKE: Oh, no. We'll never get it out now.

          Yoda stamps his foot in irritation.

YODA: So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you
nothing that I say?

          Luke looks uncertainly out at the ship.

LUKE: Master, moving stones around is one thing. This is totally
different.

YODA: No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn
what you have learned.


. . . . . .

LUKE: (panting heavily) I can't. It's too big.

YODA: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hm?
Mmmm.

. . . .  (after Yoda lifts the X-wing)

LUKE: I don't...I don't believe it.

YODA: That is why you fail.


The implication here is that the Force works off of belief, and does not obey the laws of physics. Lifting an X-wing is not a matter of raw "power", but concentration and understanding.

If this is the way things work, it might well be easier to train small children to use the Force before they learn any preconceptions about the way things work. The fewer concepts like "big things are harder to lift than light things" you've learned, the less you have to unlearn in order to think in a Force-centric manner.

'Course, this concept is largely torpedoed by the whole "midichlorians" thing, so those interested will have to come up with something else now.
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#5 User is offline   dougte Icon

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Posted 20 June 2005 - 07:07 PM

QUOTE (JW Wells @ Jun 20 2005, 06:28 PM)
'Course, this concept is largely torpedoed by the whole "midichlorians" thing, so those interested will have to come up with something else now.



Why didn't someone sit Ol' George down and say, "Umm, the midichlorians thing...yeah, it's dumb. Cut it."? *Groan* If I ever become a millionaire I promise I will never surround myself with a bunch of "yes-men" who only tell me what I want to hear.


Anyway, good point about the "unlearn what you have learned".
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#6 User is offline   LiocModnar Icon

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Posted 21 June 2005 - 08:54 AM

QUOTE (dougte @ Jun 20 2005, 05:43 PM)
I've been wondering: why do the Jedi generally set age limits on training?  They want young children, but why... unless the Jedi want complete obedience.


That's an interesting point you raise. Surely the republic that hasn't invented ultrasound but has the technology to rebuild people would have some sort of child welfare laws. At least on planets that are near enough to make enforcement possible. What would possess a parent to hand over their child to a group of strangers, well-known but still strangers, knowing they'd never see them again? Hmm, seeing a connection to a modern event but I'll let that go.

On that aside, the most reasonable explanation is one of pragmatism. Our earliest memories are formed around the age of 3. I'll conveniently assume that all minds work this way and there's no difference between species. Taking a child away before then would give them no memory of any other family but the Jedi. This serves the dual role of cultivating their loyalty and making an education much easier by being surrounded by like-minded people. Rather than learning how to hide or ignore their abilities, they're developed.

Why not train older? Part of the problem is what Palpatine explained to Anakin - that he's had a life outside his training and can question things. However, Qui-Gon seemed perfectly capable of asking questions as well which nullifies that point. It could be the Yoda argument advocated above, that they have too many boundaries imposed on themselves. Or it could be that their midichlorians aren't as young as they used to be and are busy dealing with their own free radicals. rolleyes.gif
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#7 User is offline   WalkingCarpet Icon

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Posted 21 June 2005 - 08:57 AM

Or maybe they just don't want more whiny teenage bi-otches like Anakin.
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