"I wish I could say that I understood exactly what happened. The Council was concerned about Anakin, of course. They initially refused to accept him into the Order. Jedi were usually raised within the Temple from a young age. Had Anakin been identified five or six years earlier, there would have been no hesitation. It may have been the will of the Force that he was not. Tatooine was well outside of the influence of the Republic at the time."
Qui-Gon paused to gather his thoughts. He felt it was important that Leia and her husband understand where Anakin had come from, that the man they had learned to fear had once been genuine and selfless. "Anakin would have faced a struggle with which other Jedi could not identify. That is no excuse, but it may offer you some insight. His peers would have been raised by the Order for almost as long as they could remember, every aspect of their upbringing devoted to Jedi teachings. Anakin would have been more worldly by far than any other nine-year-old within the Temple, and he would have spent many of his formative years learning to survive in a harsh environment. Beyond that, he would also recall his mother well enough to miss her, strongly, not in the sometimes absent manner most Jedi of the time might have massed a family they could hardly remember."