Prophecy lies at the very heart of the power of the Jedi of George Lucas' Star Wars universe, both in the physical and political arenas. According to Qui-gon, the ability to see into the future is the source of the Jedi's extraordinary reflexes, and, thus, is the basis of their style of combat.

The Sith also demonstrate heightened reflexes and impressive combat skills. When Qui-gon describes Darth Maul as being "well trained in the Jedi arts," we can assume that he refers to the focused use of future sight in a combat situation, as well as the more gymnastic Jackie-Chan-type Jedi skills.

It is unclear, however, exactly how the Jedi come by their knowledge of the future.

While the saga shows us no examples of ritual taking of auspices -- or tea readings -- we do see conscious efforts to access information from the future.

Yoda closes his eyes, not unlike Luke training with his saber on the Falcon, implying that at least sometimes and at least for Yoda, divination is an act of will, a deliberate action taken to open the Jedi to the Force of prophecy.

On the other hand, Jedi are moved occasionally to sudden, uncalled-for foresight. Qui-gon spontaneously foresees that Obi-wan "will become a great Jedi knight."

Wherever Jedi prophecy falls between Han's hunches and an oracular "hotline to the Force," it seems to be rooted in the study of character.

In the same film, Darth Sidious is surprised by the Gungan attack not because he had not foreseen it, but because it is out of character for the young Queen Amidala. ("This is a rash move for her.")

Beyond character studies, actual detailed insight into the future is relatively rare in the narrative, but not completely absent. Luke's vision of Bespin is probably the most important incidence of this, leading as it does to Luke's break from his teacher.

Two characters in particular aspire to the role of prophet, and actively seek to convince others of their predictive capacities. I am speaking, of course, of Yoda and the Emperor.

Yoda makes the vast majority of prophetic statements heard in the four films.

When describing Anakin he remarks, in his now-famous disregard for grammar, that "clouded this boy's future is."

A generation later, he tantalizes Luke with the promise of the prophetic powers of the Jedi way with a seductive "the Force will show you many things."

Young Obi-Wan has learned to respect Yoda's divinatory skills, warning Qui-gon that "Master Yoda says that [he] should be mindful of the future."

The other members of the Jedi Council do not speak of the future with the sense of command that Yoda does -- rather, in their interview of Anakin, they are mostly concerned with the boy's emotional state, as though gauging his character as a clue to his -- and their -- destiny.

In any event, Yoda gets an awful lot wrong, especially about Luke and Darth.

It is interesting to note that Yoda's predictions are almost always coupled with descriptions of how difficult his mode of prophecy is -- "always in motion the future is."

This may certainly be true, but such qualifications also help him avoid blame when his prophecies are proved false (as they always are), and simultaneously remind whoever he is talking to just who is the real Jedi Master.

Immediately after Luke's vision of Bespin, Yoda deliberately tries to keep Luke from following his own course in combating the Emperor.

Particularly chilling is his demand that Luke should let his friends die in order to defeat the Emperor and Vader. This raises the ominous question of just how the Master survived the Jedi Purge (presumably at the expense of the rest of the Jedi Council), and also seems to be an attempt to eliminate the competing ties of family and friends which limit Yoda's growing control over Luke.

This is not even defensible as a desire to preserve a scarce resource: potential Jedi Knights. One of the very friends that Yoda consigns to death is Leia, the "other Skywalker," the Jedi Order's last chance if things go south with Luke.

Yoda the Jedi prophet is counterbalanced by the great Sith Prophet, the Emperor Palpatine. Throughout The Empire Strikes Back and well into The Return of the Jedi, Palpatine predicts [either through traditional spying or divination] just about every move that the Rebellion makes, most notably their "surprise" attack on the new Deathstar at Endor.

The Emperor certainly manipulates Darth Vader, reinforced his prediction with the perceived ability of the master to foresee the future. Darth clearly fears this predictive ability, even asserting that "the Emperor has foreseen" his attempts to supplant his master with the aid of Luke.

And yet, having succeeded for one and a half movies, Palpatine completely fails in the final conflict.

Nor is he alone -- Yoda and the disembodied Obi-Wan are equally unsure of the outcome, and can only mistakenly predict that Vader cannot be turned.

There is a simpler explanation for all of these false prophecies. Maybe neither Yoda nor the Emperor can predict the future with any confidence, or at least no better than non-prophet Jedi (or even non-Jedi?) can achieve.

Surprisingly, the Jedi with the greatest insight into the eventual fate of Anakin, and thus the Jedi order, is Qui-gon, who argues against the distraction and allure of the Seer in favor of the Now -- truly spiritual and Zen, and, in the end, correct. As foreseen (or engineered by self-fulfilling engines of prophecy), Anakin does in the end restore balance to the Force.

Qui-Gon even allows his own apprentice Obi-Wan to tease him about his failed predictions. You were right about one thing, master -- the negotiations were short.