One post got me thinking about Master Qui-Gon Jinn.
here was my rambling though, put in to a semi-semblance of order.
I am confident the following are fairly indisputable 'facts'
*Qui-Gon Jinn had visited the Priestesses at the Wellspring of Life even before the beginning of the Clone Wars where he was taught a great deal about the living and cosmic Force, as well as about the Eternal Consciousness (which he began studying years before his eventual demise at the hands of Darth Maul).
*It’s pretty safe to say that if the Qui-Gon had NOT died at the hands of Darth Maul at that particular time, the future of Anakin Skywalker (and thus the Jedi, Sith and entire galaxy) would likely have played out completely differently.
*By the time of their final fight, It’s highly likely that a Jedi Master as well versed in the flow of the Force as Qui-Gon is, would have sensed that he could not defeat Darth Maul on his own.
*Moments before this charge and his eventual death, Qui-Gon takes to his knees to (however briefly) meditate and focus.
*Qui-Gon Jinn later is able to “find his way back from the netherworld” becoming the first Jedi to continue their consciousness after death.
*After years of communing with the living and cosmic force, Qui-Gon Jinn was uniquely attuned to their ebb and flow.
*Qui-Gon and Maul get separated by plasma shields. Maul even has a shield between him and the room where he eventually looses. As a result of the shield timing, Obi-Wan later is able to run to the same spot Maul occupies when he is trapped. It's a pretty basic issue of timing that I would think a well trained Jedi could have figured out pretty quickly or at least 'sensed' how this situation could play out.
here is where I really start to speculate
If Jinn really wanted to win against Maul in the fight and remain alive at the same time, his obvious best option would have been to play defense when the Energy barriers turned off. Jinn could have just blocked as he backed up, and Obi-Wan could have caught up with them and rejoined the fight so the two Jedi could fight Maul together. Worst case scenario, Jinn gets caught in the same section as Maul without Obi-Wan when the barriers close, but even then Mauls double lightsaber becomes unwieldy for him in such a confined space and .. but i digress.
When the plasma shield separates the 2 combatants 10 seconds goes by before Jinn takes to his knees. I believe that in this time he knows he can not defeat Maul alone in combat, but he also senses a great eddy and convergence point in the Force. He takes to his knees to focus on the Force and 7 more seconds goes by before he closes his eyes. It is my belief that 17 seconds is more than enough time for Qui-Gon to sense that he is at a critical moment in time where one false move could lead the entire galaxy down the path of the dark side or otherwise upset the balance. I believe that whether he has a vision, or merely ‘senses’ it, at some point during these 17 seconds, he understands that in order for things to progress in the best way possible on a galactic scale, he must face Maul alone and loose.
This helps explain why Qui-Gon charges out of the shields at Maul in a move that is obviously going to mean a prolonged one-on-one fight with the Sith.
With his unwavering faith in the force, I don’t think Qui-Gon would hesitate for a moment to sacrifice himself for the good of the galaxy. BUT, he also has a lot of knowledge of the living force, and he believes he can retain his consciousness after death, so he closes his eyes and spend the next 8-9 seconds doing his best to focus on the path to Eternal Consciousness and ready himself for his next phase. He knows he has to loose against Maul, but he also has a plan to keep helping the Jedi in the turbulent future he has sensed. When he got stabbed, he held on long enough to make sure and pass his last request (maybe he saw or sensed that this was a requirement for things to work out) to Obi-Wan, then he CHOSE to physically die. Yes, he CHOSE to die.
In a galaxy full of Bacta tanks, robot hands and other medical miracles, its hard to imagine that he couldn’t have been saved from his single cauterized puncture wound (after all, Maul got cut in half and survived for years without any immediate outside treatment at all, apparently through "sheer force of will").
Instead of hanging on for a few minutes until he could be whisked to one of the almost certainly state-of-the-art medical facilities present in the PALACE they were in, he chooses to attempt the transition to Eternal Consciousness. Unfortunately for Jinn he had the same qualities that would eventually take down all the Jedi; hubris and overconfidence. As a result he made this attempt at when he was not fully ready or able to make the transition and was unable to attain perfect Eternal Consciousness as desired (he could not manifest a body), though he did eventually figure out how to communicate with the living through auditory means.
Despite his imperfect Eternal Consciousness, his death at the hands of Maul at that time, laid the groundwork for the balancing of the force that we are still witnessing today. That groundwork was laid down by choice, by Qui-Gon Jinn as a result of his particular set of skills.
Now I know most will say “he was not meditating, he was just resting” or “he was just regaining composure” or “he sure looked surprised when he got stabbed” or any number of similar things.
I admit, I could be wrong. It may just be incidental that all the future events are tied so directly to this one point in time. It may be pure coincidence that in this light, the scene feels like a practice run for what Obi-Wan later does with Vader. It may have been bad luck on Qui-Gons part that Maul mortally stabbed him.
But… as a wise master once said
“In my experience, there is no such thing as luck - Nothing happens by accident.”
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