LogFAQs > #929638588

Odd observation of the day:

In The Phantom Menace, a major plot-point is Qui-Gon cheating to win a dice roll against Watto, because Jedi morals are apparently extremely flexible. But earlier today, it struck me - why would ANYONE ever gamble using dice in a universe where Jedi exist?

These are people who can literally make things move with their minds, with almost no effort. And it's not as if Jedi have a monopoly on the Force - almost every version of an extended universe to the franchise implies pretty much anyone can wake up one day and find themselves being Force sensitive, using it to do things like being highly intuitive about things, or being "lucky" as a matter of course.

We can't even really say "Well, to most people the Jedi and the Force are just myths" (like A New Hope kind of implies), because the Prequels show us there are apparently hundreds (if not thousands) of Jedi roaming all over the known galaxy, presumably showing up in news reports about the war against the Trade Federation, and generally being incredibly blatant about who and what they are. To the point where an uneducated slave kid on a backward planet at the ass-end of the galaxy immediately recognizes a Jedi because of their lightsaber.

So why would anyone ever TRUST a game of "chance" they know can be easily manipulated? Even if the guy you're betting against isn't a Jedi/Force user themselves, how do you know there isn't one just around the corner fucking with you for some reason?

If someone proved to me that telekinesis was both real and possible in our world, even if only one out of every million people could potentially do it, I'd still be hesitant as hell to gamble for money in any way that could be easily and subtly manipulated by it. I'd assume in a universe where TKs are literally around for thousands of years, gambling as a concept would evolve to the point where physical chance would be viewed as a poor method of deciding anything (for exactly the reason we explicitly SEE in the movies the first, last, and only time anyone ever rolls a die). If anything, it feels like that's why things like Han Solo's space chess board would have been invented in the first place - to create alternate means of gambling that can't be altered by outside forces.

What makes it worse is that Watto STRAIGHT UP KNOWS that Qui-Gon tried to mind trick him the first time they met, meaning he basically HAS to be a Jedi (or someone with similar abilities), and that he apparently isn't all that overburdened with morals - yet STILL doesn't hesitate to accept a bet with him and suggest rolling the chance cube for it.

So Watto's pretty much a complete idiot no matter what. But most people in the galaxy can't possibly be that stupid.
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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
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