To say that Qui-Gon Jinn is popular among some is something that goes without saying, and there is a reason for that. Qui-Gon is likeable, charming, funny and played by the always excellent and charismatic Liam Neeson. The trouble with the character is that the movies are but the tip of the iceberg where this man is concerned.
He is a myth-inspired character with an obvious surname ‘Djinn’ or ‘Jinn’, as you might have guessed with the Djinns of Arabic myths being ephemeral spirits that tend to whisk you away or grant you your deepest wish. Often at a price, so that one must be careful with them. What is so interesting is how much Qui-Gon has gotten misunderstood by so many who have idealised him.
Qui-Gon indeed is a heroic figure but a deeply flawed one. He is a man who many believe to be a rebel, to be someone who flouts the wishes of the Jedi Council because he is wiser than they, he is the lone individual crying out in the wilderness. What’s funny is that once you read the books notably the Jedi Apprentice series, and their expanded volumes of the Legacy & Secrets of the Jedi, and the Phantom Menace novel, you see a very different man.
He is Yoda’s yes man. Never does he actually go against the teachings of Yoda, and at no point does he really contradict him. There have only been two times in his life when he’s gone against what Yoda taught; the first was in his training of Xanatos Crion, and the second was regarding the Anakin Skywalker incident in Ep 1. Both mistakes, and both times were about ego with him.
The first time, Qui-Gon was to be warned that there was a darkness in Xanatos, one that worried even Yoda. The trouble is that Qui-Gon spoiled the boy and never wanted to listen to anything bad about his ‘boy’. So that when the time came, for him to face the Trials, Yoda decided to have the boy tempted by having the Jedi team sent to Telos IV, Xanatos’s homeworld.
Proud of his father’s wealth and influence since a young age, Xanatos quickly turned to the Dark Side, at the urging of his father with Qui-Gon helplessly looking on. Sound familiar? Well it is very similar to the Obi-Wan, Anakin & Padme/Palpatine dynamic. The trouble is that in this case Qui-Gon chose to slay Crion, Xanatos’s father with Xanatos going bonkers after this. Disappearing for a few years, Xanatos was to become a MASSIVE thorn in the Jedi’s side over the next few years.
Qui-Gon Jinn by that time had become consumed with self-pity, and had refused at first to teach Obi-Wan, believing he was destined for the Dark Side. It was not until Obi-Wan tried to use to blow himself up to save Qui-Gon that he accepted the boy. Afterwards, they had a few adventures, then were sent on a mission to rescue Tahl, Qui-Gon’s former lover and best friend.
Now, the relationship between Tahl & Qui-Gon is complicated, lovers in youth (with Dooku disapproving but not caring enough, as he didn’t much like his Padawan, but thought ‘whatever, not my problem’), then they grew apart for a time and yet always remained friends with Qui-Gon longing for Tahl deep-down.
The thing is though, that the mission to Melida/Daan saw Qui-Gon Jinn prioritise saving her, as she had been blinded during the mission. Obi-Wan for his part felt that her wishes to have her mission to put an end to the bloody war on the planet ought to take priority. So Qui-Gon commanded the boy to leave and abandon the rebellion there, which Obi-Wan could not stomach, so Obi left the Order temporarily.
Later Obi-Wan was to be allowed to semi-rejoin, the Masters of the Council liked him and wanted him back, but Qui-Gon preferred to reject him once more. Icier than Dooku had ever been to him, he was to crush Obi-Wan continuously, which was made worse by the fact that Obi-Wan was envious of Qui-Gon openly favouring Bant in front of him, and Tahl coming to adore Obi-Wan so that Qui-Gon felt annoyed and angry that she loved his Padawan (seemingly more than him). Really, Tahl should have been Obi-Wan’s Master, it might have saved everyone a lot of drama and trouble.
But anyways, after Xanatos took an acid-bath, and lots of really great stories took place, such as Obi-Wan’s first team up with Siri.
Now we get to the interesting part; Qui-Gon on that mission has a vision. One of Obi-Wan banished from the Galaxy, with only dark-secrets and his misery for company.
You know what Qui-Gon Jinn vows to do now? To do all that he could to prevent this prophecy from happening.
And so his every action thereafter is intended to save his adoptive-son/Padawan from becoming the broken man he saw on Tatooine.
We next get Qui-Gon and Tahl starting their affair back up, and her dying. Her death nearly sent him over the edge, and nearly turned him to the Dark Side. Thereafter, the relationship between him and Obi-wan was changed, as was Obi-Wan’s close big brother/little sister bond with Bant (Tahl’s Padawan). So that the latter resented not being there when her Master died, and the former believed that Obi-Wan could never understand his grief.
In turn, Qui-Gon came to believe that if attachment nearly turned him, it would certainly turn his Padawan, and that Obi-Wan could not be allowed to fall in love. So that in this way, when Obi-Wan did with the beautiful, and talented Siri Tachi, Jinn when he learnt of it was angered and alerted Yoda who immediately cracked the whip.
The couple were torn apart, both threatened with a ban, and when Obi-Wan tried to persist for their love, Siri folded. But she would never truly forgive Qui-Gon, and he in turn was to never allow her near Obi-Wan so long as he lived (jokes on him, once he was dead, Obi-Wan took 3 years and restarted the affair).
Trouble for Obi-Wan, was that he was 18 when he had fallen in love, and he is 25 years old by Ep 1. By that time he had become an embittered, broken young man, with only one person to really call his own; Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon had distanced Obi-Wan from Bant, from Garen Muln (Obi-Wan’s best bro), and Siri, and this after Obi-Wan had lost his own Shmi/maternal figure.
Honestly, there is something sad about how broken, and depressed Obi is around the time of PM, and the reason once you peer into the EU isn’t that hard to find.
What is sad, is that Qui-Gon in his desperation to prevent Obi-Wan from becoming a broken man, had broken him. Jinn believed though that he had to be severe with Kenobi, that he was in ever constant danger of falling to the Dark Side, and so needed Jinn to think for him, and to intervene at every opportunity, never trusting in Kenobi’s judgement.
This in spite of the fact that Obi-Wan had had better judgement since he was 13. But ultimately, Obi-Wan’s trauma from the cruel break-up forced on him by Yoda & Jinn was why he turned a blind eye to Anakin’s relationship.
What’s also strange is that Jinn’s with Tahl had been overlooked for so long, whereas Obi-Wan’s was not by either Yoda or Jinn. Truly, they had a lot to learn about child-rearing.
That said, Jinn truly did love Obi-Wan, it was just a selfish all consuming love that believed that none were worthy of, and no others could do as right by Kenobi as he. So that the two were truly icy and growing ever more apart by the time of PM, because Qui-Gon’s tendency of running hot and cold, his suspicion of Obi-Wan’s loved ones, and his pride had driven Kenobi to depression, to bitterness and had left Obi-Wan exasperated also with Qui-Gon’s bad judgement with regards to some missions.
This is not to say Jinn was a bad person, no just that he was a strange fellow.
When Anakin pops up, the strain breaks loose out into the open and the years of suspicion and anger burst open. The sad thing is that they only repaired their broken bond hours before Jinn’s death.
That said, there are only two outcomes that might have been possible had Jinn trained Anakin, and both would have resulted in him turning sooner. The trouble is Jinn’s tendency to run hot and cold, and how controlling he could be with his Padawans’ after Xanatos.
And yet he seemed to genuinely adore and spoil Anakin.
So here’s the first possibility; he does to Anakin what he did to Obi-Wan. Naturally this will result in Anakin turning as he cracks under the pressure far sooner than Obi-Wan ever did.
Second; he spoils the boy, to excess at which point the boy becomes deformed by this coddling habit of his. I think this second possibility unlikely, and I think the first one far more sinister.
For years many have believed that Obi-Wan was responsible for Anakin turning, I will argue something odd; no, Obi-Wan was actually a good father. He was a parent who loved his son, but also knew to trust him to live his own life, to marry whom he liked and to have other relationships.
The last 7 years with Jinn were traumatising for Kenobi, likely he didn’t wish to inflict that kind of suffering on Anakin. And likely this sincere love, and goodness helped to instil some basic ethics in Anakin. Now arguably, he was verbally abusive as seen in Ep2, but he walked it back later in the Clone Wars, apologised and continuously sought to apologise and make up for it. The truth is, Obi-Wan was the one who helped to nurture as best he could the seeds planted by both Shmi and Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon’s bipolar tendencies would have ruined them. Likely Anakin would not have had good in him, had this been the case.
Now that said, this does not mean Qui-Gon should be hated or anything. Bear in mind he taught Obi-Wan the technique of the Shaman of the Whills, and instructed him on immortality. Doing so, so that Obi-Wan could help teach Luke. And having seen the error of his ways after death, Jinn in follow-up novels to Ep 3 tried to reason with Ben, tried to reach out to him, and tried to apologise and help him.
By then though Ben had become bitter and angry, while Jinn sorrowed and had to ‘live’ with the fact that he had sought to keep a prophecy from happening only to have brought it about, just like Anakin. Except, he had ruined his son. The only good he had ever done in all his long years, the knowledge likely tasted bitter.
What can be learnt from Qui-Gon Jinn? Is he evil? No. Was he the best parent? Egads no! But does it mean he should be condemned? Perhaps not. He did wish to atone, he did seek to correct his mistakes. And at the end of the day, if Obi-Wan came to forgive him, as did Siri Tachi, the two he wounded the most, isn’t that what’s most important?
Wow, interesting. I mean... as someone who likes Qui-Gon, I don't how to feel about the EU making the character almost a 180 of how he was in the movies. But interesting nonetheless.
The talk about Qui (and Obi's) girlfriends made think about 'Jedi celibacy'. It seems the Jedi have a twisted understanding of celibacy. They think they must abstain from sex or "attachment" because it's evil. But the true celibate gives up sex/the married life not because it's evil but because it's good and so he gave them up for a greater good.
Personally, if I was in charge of the Jedi, I would instead institute a rule in which only celibates can be a member of the Jedi Council. So it would be like how in the Eastern Rites, married men can become priests but they can't be a bishop. I think there is merit in celibacy (irl monks do it, after all) and I understand that the Jedi have big responsibilities which may not gel well with family life. But given that most Jedi are one from birth, it's really not fair to expect them to abstain from marriage before they are old enough to choose that life for themselves (and I don't accept dumb libertarian "just leave the order bro" argument).
Wow. Great psychological profile of the characters. To me, what seems to be lacking, again, is genuine love, or agape Love. I hate to beat this horse to death but they're missing full revelation. Well, duh. How could they not? So they are perpetually unhappy. The Jedi are supposed to protect and remain chaste to do that but can never keep their pants on. And why? They have no higher plane or reason for their chastity other than worldly protection and everlasting loneliness. So they replace that with worldly versions of love. It's a sad existence for them. Contrast this with those who have given the gift of chastity to The Lord, in order to be united to Him, the source of ultimate Joy in this world and the next for all eternity. That makes sense. Or those who chose chastity to do the will of God to be joined with another on earth, for the same reason in heaven.
This is why I struggle with most plots. I can tolerate them, but they're ultimately empty.