Dual Of the Fates: a Masterpiece

Star Wars. one of the most influential and successful film franchises of all time.  Fans have been watching Star Wars for nearing 50 years now , and they’ve gone through a rollercoaster of experiences at the hands of Lucasfilm and most recently Disney. Whether it be the original destroying of the Death Star in the original New Hope movie in 1977, or the death of the beloved Han Solo in The Force Awakens. Whatever the moment is , every Star Wars fan has a moment that they love the most and hold dear to their heart. Me personally, we’ll have to go back to the not so popular Episode I: The Phantom Menace. I believe that the Duel of Fates scene in the end of the film and the scores role in the prequel trilogy. I think that this moment and the musics evolution and meaning in the 3 prequel movies, is the catalyst of the Star Wars universe and really transcends the film it was written for.

John Williams is the mastermind behind many of the themes from film that most people can hum from memory, Jaws, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and of course Star Wars just to name a few. Every Star Wars fan knows the scene, Darth Maul, one of the few things that is universally loved from the prequels, black and red war painted face, double ended lightsaber wielding Sith Lord, is faced against the noble Qui Gon Jin and his padewan young Obi Wan Kenobi. what seems to be a simple evil vs good battle, but just as we find in the film’s title , there is more than what meets the eye with the Dual of the Fates lightsaber dual. Williams scores have this enate ability to feel as though they are these massive , almost religious experiences that seemingly have been echoing since the beginning of time, they’re just that powerful. And Dual of the Fates is certainly no exception. Darth Maul’s entrance is flanked with low bass fan fare, the rest of the sound comes in, with pumping orchestra strings, low woodwinds, the French horns, all stacking on top of each other, building the melody up and up to what I think sets this piece apart from anything else , The choir, this jarring almost frenzied choral of 80 people tiered perfectly. This choir is the most powerful thing ever heard from a film score, enough to send shivers down your spine.

Ultimately this rollercoaster of a scene is just that a rollercoaster, rising and falling taking by the seat of your pants, and finally releasing you as Qui Gon Jin being defeated by Darth Maul, and his Padewan Obi Wan avenging him by slicing Darth Maul in half. While this is one of the best lightsaber duels in the whole Star Wars universe, I think its the way this song fits into the plot and the overarching story of the prequel trilogies that makes it so transcendental.

In the first movie the plot involves young Anakin Skywalker, Qui Gon and Obi Wan find the young bound to be most powerful Sith Lord of all time on a small desert planet Tatooine. Qui Gon quickly senses that this boy has the potential to become the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, some could even say “the chosen one”. After winning a pod race, Anakin is released from his slave role, and is set off with Qui Gon and Obi-wan to become a Jedi. These plans are disrupted as when Qui-Gon returns to Coursaunt, the Jedi counsel tell him that he cannot take young Anakin as his padewan as he already has one in Obi-wan, also Jedi Master Yoda proclaims that he senses the boy’s future is clouded. Qui-Gon is displeased with this news and really plans to take Anakin under his wing against the counsel’s wishes. Obviously this plan gets cut short as he is defeated by Darth Maul, Obi-wan goes on to take in Anakin as a padewan as to continue this deceased master’s final wishes, even though he isn’t the most fond of the boy and wants to follow the Jedi counsels orders. Long story short Anakin becomes Darth Vader, if you didn’t know. Now I can hear you asking, where does Dual of the Fates come into this? In the title itself.

What I find so monumental about this piece of music is that this is the crux of the entire Star Wars universe and not many people see it. The battle between Maul , Kenobi, and Qui Gon, is the battle for the fate of Anakin Skywalker, the two fates of the chosen one are fighting physically. On one hand if Qui-Gon lives, he presumably takes Anakin under his wing and makes him become a noble Jedi such as he , but what ends up being the result on the other hand , is that Obi-Wan reluctantly takes Anakin in and we see young Skywalker develop into the Sith Lord Darth Vader. I think that the title of Dual of the Fates is so powerful within itself that the whole first movie could have been titled that.

What makes Dual of the Fates transcend the Phantom Menace though is that it is played throughout the rest of the trilogy whenever Anakin is at a cross road. For example in Episode II when Anakin finds out that the sand people have captured and tourtured his mother to death, as he races to the village on the speeder, the faint melody of Dual of the Fates being played in the background. Anakin’s fate is once again on the fence, Anakin eventually ends up slaughtering the entire village, the women, the children, like animals. But this piece of music that in the first movie represented the universe’s tussle with fate is heard in the background, if Anakin doesn’t act on his feelings of hate and fear, he isn’t going to be led further to the dark-side, instead the dark side pulls the chosen one further into it’s grasp. The song is heard once again in episode III after Anakin is officially dubbed lord Vader and is going to kill the younglings at the Jedi temple. Anakin’s fate is in constant turmoil, until the end of the Revenge of the Sith where we see the dark side fully encompass Anakin Skywalker and produce Lord Vader.

The entire original Trilogy rests on Luke’s battle with His father Darth Vader, the entire thing, thus making the Dual of the Fates Battle in episode I the most pivotal moment in all of Star Wars for me. And the score more than justifies that, the entire FATE of the universe rests on Qui-Gon’s death, without this battle, there may have never been a Death Star or an unlikely hero from Tatooine having to fight his father for the sake of the universe. This is why Duel of The Fates transcends the prequels, the entire fate of the galaxy, and cinemas most iconic villas, rests upon and is felt in this masterpiece of a score,