This is an updated version of an article that ran in 2012.
It started off pretty simple—there was a young man who wanted to become an agent of good, like his father before him. He would use a mystical energy known as “the Force” to become powerful enough to defeat darkness. Once he did, the universe would be restored to its balanced state, freedom would spread throughout the galaxy, and all would be well.
But you know what? Balance is not good triumphing over evil. Balance is balance. The seesaw doesn’t tip in either direction here, so… what does that mean for Star Wars? Well for one, it may be time to reevaluate everything that we know—or think we know—about the nature of that galaxy far, far away. And the given the questions raised by the final words in The Last Jedi’s trailer, those questions are more pressing than ever.
While George Lucas may have based the general outline of Star Wars on western mythology, the Force itself resembles faiths and spiritual ideas from all over the world, from Zen Buddhism and Taoism to audio fragments from an Arthur Lipsett film in 1963. These inspirations lead to a phrase that we hear often in Star Wars canon—“so-and-so will bring balance to the Force.” Yet we’re not encouraged to actually explore what that might entail.
For the record, Lucasfilm in its pre-Disney days stated officially (in the Power of the Jedi sourcebook) that the “correct” philosophy where the Force was concerned is the one held up by the Jedi Order in the prequels. It’s an awkward insistence at best since:
- this has not been confirmed in any other licensed material pre- or post- canonical restructuring;
- there are a plethora of fascinating perspectives on the Force that have been explored in the Star Wars Legends novels (aka the old “Expanded Universe”), the current canon, and the television spin-offs Clone Wars and Rebels;
- this sends a lot of poor messages where the Jedi are concerned, especially when you take into account their horrible handling of, well, everything in those three films.
So let’s actually consider how the Force seems to operate in the Star Wars universe. We have a special form of energy that only certain sensitive creatures are capable of using. It allows the manipulation of objects, minds and, in certain cases, matter (i.e. you can create life at a certain level of mastery). Understandably, different groups emerged with different perspectives on how to use this energy and what its purpose was. The two most prominent sects in Force philosophy were the Jedi and the Sith. The Jedi were motivated by compassion, order, and a pursuit of peace. They believed that the Force had a dark side and a light side, and that pursuing the light side was keeping the Force in its natural state.
The Sith were practitioners who embraced the dark side of the Force, the side most commonly associated with anger, fear, and hate. It is important to note that the Jedi are the most insistent that the dark side works primarily on these emotions. However, the more interesting differences between the Jedi and the Sith lie in how they choose to operate the Force: the Jedi prefer to keep in contact with the Force occupying all living things, to draw on the natural world and use it to their advantage. The Sith are more concerned with cultivating internal energies, focusing on personal power and passions. Rather than anger and hate, it would be more correct to say that the dark side is predicated on selfish pursuits, or more interestingly on emotions at large. Sith seek to gain status and control their surroundings, while the Jedi seek to use their powers for the benefit of others and attain peace in place of emotion.
That sounds like the nobler endeavor, but the problem with the Jedi boils down to one word: order. Once you establish something as an order, rules and regulations are needed to give it structure. It would have been beneficial if the Jedi were simply “Random Acts of Kindness Agents,” helping those in need and offering a friendly hand, but once they had existed as an organization for long enough, they were simply folded into a galactic chain of command. They were called on at the behest of the largest government in the galaxy, involved heavily in politics, and they needed numbers to grow so they could properly handle the demand for their services.
Which is where the whole “taking babies from their parents to train them in the Jedi Way” thing started. No matter how you slice it, that’s one practice that never made the Jedi look good. While it’s understandable that you would want to start those kids early and get their brains ready for the harsh realities of the peace-keeping life, nabbing your recruits before they have they have the chance to form the most basic opinions is basically non-consensual brainwashing. Even if you and your compatriots are on the so-called side of goodness.
There are fascinating co-philosophies at work within the Star Wars galaxy. When the movie prequels came out, accompanying material stated that Qui-Gon Jinn and other Jedi like him were proponents of the “Living Force,” choosing to focus on the moment and let all living energies inform their decisions. The Clone Wars series introduced the concept of the “Cosmic Force,” the aspect of the Force that binds the universe together (that’s more Yoda’s bag, as you’ll recall from his sermonizing in Empire Strikes Back) and seems to have dormant and active states—Rey’s “awakening” to her sensitivities in Episode VII was the result of the Cosmic Force going through some brand new turbulence.
The Legends canon had even more ideas about how the Force should be perceived by living beings: there were believers in the “Unifying Force,” who did not adhere to the notion that the Force had sides—imagining instead that the Force was a deity-like entity that did not judge actions or living beings to be good or evil, and focused on the future to connect with that what was meant to be. Interestingly, this practice was also deemed important by many Jedi, though they did not seem to hold with any other beliefs associated with the Unifying Force philosophy.
How are we supposed to parse out this web of moralizing? It’s fair, perhaps, to claim that the Jedi are “more right” than the Sith in their views of the universe, but that does not make up for their myriad of errors in execution. Anakin Skywalker was believed to be the Chosen One as decreed by a prophecy. Because the Jedi believe that the elimination of the dark side equates to balance, the hope was undoubtedly that Anakin would bring the Sith out in the open and allow for their elimination. He failed to do that entirely, instead destroying the Jedi Order down to the last youngling. (Ouch.)
Unless you take the actions of Luke and Leia into account. In which case, Anakin Skywalker did manage to bring balance to the Force—by virtue of his children. His children who were not supposed to be born according to Jedi doctrine, because Jedi were not supposed to fall in love, get married, and have babies. Hello there, shaky ground. (For the record, this particular interpretation of events was confirmed by George Lucas himself.)
That ground gets even shakier when we examine what leads up to Luke’s near-death and Vader’s change of heart. Luke goes against practically everything that he is told by Obi-Wan and Yoda; he leaves Dagobah with his training incomplete, he confronts Vader before he’s ready, he cares too much about his friends. Yoda and Obi-Wan are still operating on the old system, acting secretively and deciding what is right for their pupil to know. Luke ultimately proves them wrong, in more ways than one: his defining moment comes out of a fall, an unintentional surrender to anger and pain, which then allows him to see where those emotions would lead him. Without that final duel between himself and Vader, Luke would have no basis for understanding what the dark side would demand of him. Vader would not then, in turn, have been faced with the prospect of losing his son, the tipping point that allowed him to destroy the Emperor. (I won’t say that Vader was brought back to the light side or the Jedi Way because I would argue that he wasn’t; Vader acted out of deep personal love and selfishness to keep his child alive, at opposition with the Jedi Code and the “correct path” for light side users according to the doctrine set down by the original Jedi Order.)
Which makes one curious: if the Jedi Order was training the initiated from infancy, breeding out any opposition or understanding of darker emotions, how did it manage to survive as long as it did?
More importantly, is it possible that “balancing the Force” actually includes the annihilation of the Jedi Order?
A look at what the Legends canon did previously to answer that question yields some surprising answers: Luke eliminated more than one of these ideological tenets when he reestablished the Order in those books. His Jedi trainees got married, considered new ways of using the Force, argued their purpose, and had complex personal relationships with their teachers and everyone they know. Luke prevented his students from being asked to serve at the behest of the New Republic. He advocated different paths for different Force users and acknowledged that the Force may not have sides—it’s people who do.
Now we have a trailer for Episode VIII, and Luke has a few choice words for us: “It’s time for the Jedi… to end.”
We know that prior to the events of the third trilogy, Luke was training some new Jedi, and that those students were ostensibly slaughtered—either by his nephew, Ben, or by other members of the Knights of Ren who absorbed now-Kylo into their ranks. We also know that Luke has spent all this time hidden away on a planet that supposedly houses the first Jedi temple. Knowing all of this, all that Luke has been through and likely learned… isn’t it possible that he finds the old ways too limiting to sustain? That he has learned enough about the Force to recognize that these labels have bound people up for so long that the battle between “light” and “dark” has become a never-ending cycle?
Because I’ve got news for you—the history of the Star Wars galaxy is precisely that. Jedi versus Sith, for thousands upon thousands of years, locked into a war they created for themselves and never seem capable of eradicating. The Sith are gone in name, but the Knights of Ren remain. Someone has to stop them… but maybe that someone shouldn’t be a Jedi.
Maybe the galaxy has to change.
Perhaps what Luke has discovered is that this overbearing focus on “light” and “dark” sides has only led to utter polarization and stagnation. While using the Force out of compassion is clearly a good idea, just as using it out of anger is a bad one, it may be time to let go of the old teachings and create something new—making the future of the Star Wars saga anyone’s guess.
Emmet Asher-Perrin just wants someone to give Luke a damn hug when this is all over. You can bug her on Twitter and Tumblr, and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
Yes! This, incidentally, is more or less why I think Rey is Luke’s daughter and Obi-wan’s granddaughter. She’d bring together the two streams of the old paradigm—Kenobi’s Jedi Order mentality and the Sith heritage on the Skywalker side—and potentially forge a new way.
The Jedi are Lawful Good, the Sith are Lawful Evil, and there are no Chaotic Good or Evil groups, nevermind Neutral Anything.
Great article! You make a great case for the fact that the Jedi Order was only slightly more sustainable than the Sith, which isn’t saying much. I am hoping that Episode VIII and IX complete the destruction of the Order and make way for truly neutral Jedi in future stories.
The Yin and the Yang, one cannot exist without the other. Perhaps, that is the Force.
As for Rey, I believe she is Luke’s daughter, but Obi-wan’s granddaughter? Did Obi-wan get married or had an affair? He was a very law-abiding, rule-following Jedi in all the pre-Disney Star Wars. And in Tatooine, he was an eccentric old man. When did he have time to fall in love?
BTW, it is a real question. I’m not being sarcastic. I really want to know
“(I won’t say that Vader was brought back to the light side or the Jedi Way because I would argue that he wasn’t; Vader acted out of deep personal love and selfishness to keep his child alive, at opposition with the Jedi Code and the “correct path” for light side users according to the doctrine set down by the original Jedi Order.)”
Believe that all you like, but I’m afraid the entire arc of Darth Vader in ROTJ disagrees with you on that score. Luke’s actions and his sacrificing himself to the Emperor at the end to redeem his father is predicated on the notion that–just as said father once ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader, Darth Vader could again become Anakin. Anakin and Vader represent the two faces of the old culture: one loving and paternal, the other tyrannical and paternalistic. Luke understands that and sacrifices himself to redeem his father’s soul (literally) and so aligns himself with the positive aspect of his heritage by focusing on the good–the Jedi–aspect of his father’s identity. Now, I’m all for instituting reforms in the Jedi Order, but it must be a Catholic Reformation (the Jedi Order collapsing in on itself and reconstituting as a new Jedi Order), and not a Protestant One, with the Jedi becoming something else entirely, something wholly without the name-brand recognition. Certainly the Jedi would do well to incorporate their shadow, in the Jungian sense. After all, it’s Luke’s sudden and horrible violence at the end of ROTJ that allows him to beat Vader and strike off his hand, and I don’t pretend there’s no utility in the psychology of evil from time to time, but that’s what makes Luke’s refusal to give in and take his father’s place as subordinate to the Emperor that much more significant. He repents immediately of his actions and sacrifices himself on the hope that that sacrifice might wake his father back up. Which it does. Now you can argue that Vader’s acting selfishly, but I’m not so sure: because Anakin in that moment is also acting as a Jedi must: in defense of the good. Palpatine has to go, Luke must be saved. The two desires in this particular instance overlap, so I can see how you’d get the Vader-as-selfish reading from the end, but I really don’t think that’s right at all.
If you recall the ending of Clone Wars, Yoda had to face trials laid out by the Force that he could only pass by acknowledging that he had darkness within himself, despite centuries of training, but that he was in charge. These trials were pointed out to him by Qui-Gon, in order to become one with the cosmic force to come back as a ghost, which Yoda then taught to Obi. What I mean it that this story arc in Clone Wars, as well as Bendu in Rebels, both of which are canon, seem to be pointing us in a direction of integration and balance and a deeper understanding of the force than what the distractions of the galaxy can influence
The real takeaway from the unending Jedi-Sith conflict is that the galaxy would be better off without either the cackling, power-obsessed followers of the Dark Side or the useless monasticism of an Order that prides itself on its detachment from human emotions and problems. If Force users just behaved like people, using their powers to serve existing goals and desires, they could do what is right (or wrong) without the endless, pointless philosophizing over “balance”.
I always thought L.E. Modesitt Jr’s explanation of magic in ‘The Saga of Recluce’ books was a more satisfying exploration of this than Lucas ever provided. Jedi = Order, Sith = Chaos — and the series explores how actions by each can be understood to be “good” or “bad”. And the “balance” is only truly reached with the rise of “gray” wizards who understand that both are needed and that dogma gets in the way of understanding. I do hope that’s where the latest Star Wars trilogy is going with all of this.
Yeah, @@.-@ + 8. The SW system is based upon the duality inherent IRL, IMO. One can be a powerful force for either creation or destruction, it’s just a matter of moral orientation.
@1 & 4: I feel the same way, Rey has got to be Luke’s daughter, otherwise a lot of VII makes no sense (to say nothing of its “Family” trailer). I also feel she’s Obi-Wan’s granddaughter, and we will meet her mother in the Kenobi standalone film.
Edit: I meant grandmother.
I wonder how much of people’s thinking regarding the nature of the Force and the Jedi has been influenced by the fact that in the movies, with a couple brief exceptions in Ep. III, the Jedi are the only ones who seem to spend any significant time discussing its nature, and beings’ relationships to it, while the Sith are shown simply to use it. That (ahem) imbalance could easily lead one to believe not just that the Jedi have some sort of purer understanding of the Force but even that they are some sort of True embodiment (i.e. Force=Jedi and no questions asked), with all other understandings being at best incomplete and at worst corruptions. (It doesn’t help that a number of Lucas’s comments seem to hint in this direction.)
When you consider that the Jedi are simply one organization espousing one understanding of the Force, and combine that with the canon portrayal of their utter failure at their chosen task over the past ~50 years, I don’t think that The Last Jedi is in any way ambiguous: we can infer not only who it references but why he decides upon that path.
@@.-@: I’ve wondered about that, too; I’m not sure where the “she’s Obi-Wan’s daughter” thing is coming from, either. The two things I’ve read, that he spoke to her when she picked up the light saber, and that she also has a British accent, have other answers. (The light saber belonged to Anakin and then to Luke, both of whom had close ties to Obi-Wan. It’s a family heirloom, and Obi-Wan was seen by Anakin and Luke as a sort of adopted family member. And accents are regional, not genetic. I have a generic newscaster accent and my sister has a Midwestern accent you could cut with a knife, but we’re still biological siblings.)
I’m not ruling out the possibility that she might be Obi-Wan’s granddaughter; I just haven’t heard very much as to why that theory’s supporters are leaning that way. If anyone can weigh in on that, I really am curious.
I see the ‘Dark Side’ as entropy and the Light Side as creation. Entropy isn’t bad in it’s place but when people use/ increase it they throw the universe out of balance.
@12 The Jedi also seem to be the only ones who use it without being a danger to everyone around them. Being Sith seems to correlate with being a mass murderer, if not genocidal.
@17/noblehunter: An excellent point, and a further example of how the narrative drives towards a certain point of view (that may or may not hold up to Fridge Logic). Whether such evildoers are drawn to or created by Dark Side powers remains an open question: we’d need to see Force users who were neither Jedi nor Sith to assess how many of them were homicidal or otherwise sociopathic. I doubt Lucas would ever have explored that, perhaps Disney (!) will be more accommodating…
@@.-@ — Re: Obi-Wan parenting a child. Don’t forget, there’s 18-19 years between ROTS and ANH in which Obi-Wan is presumably hanging out Tatooine, alone, isolated and believing that the Jedi Order is essentially done for. While he may have been a pious Jedi in his earlier years, these circumstances could have caused him to rethink things.
Possible heresy to Star Wars fans: Lucas is not a deep moral thinker. His moral philosophy is simple light/dark, good/evil dichotomies. It’s not even as complex as the D&D moral alignment grid. Step far enough back and it’s a fairy tale for children, with easily identifyable good guys and bad guys.
The entire concept of balance in the force is problematic, also. Balance would mean a middle-ground, equivalent to true neutral. Order/Jedi/good guys becoming supreme is not balance. The more order, the less entropy. That leads to reduced chaos, not reduced evil. In fact, evil can increase along with order. The Force Awakens at least recognized this with the fascistic Nuremberg style speech of General Hux of the First Order. (Throw in Snoke and we have lawful evil vying for supremacy.)
The first potential agent of the chaos needed to balance the Force was Anakin Skywalker, who nearly destroyed the Jedi Order. His grandson is even more chaotic, but not necessarily evil. Perhaps the story will move into a more complex moral dimension, where Luke sees that the Jedi may have contributed to the divisive lockdown between users of the Force and that there has to be at least a third (or fourth) way.
@20 Sunspear
Completely in agreement that the Jedi aren’t handling the situation in the right way. By insisting that it’s “our way or the highway”, they’re teaching dissidents that their only options are to fall into line or join the Sith.
“Balance” makes no sense in this context. If the galaxy is too nice, are Jedi supposed to go kick a puppy to restore balance? If things have been peaceful for a long time, should Jedi feel obligated to start a war? The idea of “balancing” the Force has never made sense to me, and I’ve never heard a convincing description of what it means.
The Sith can be orderly when they’re ruling the galaxy through the Empire, and the Jedi can spread chaos and disorder when they’re fighting with the Rebellion. Clearly, there isn’t a simple Jedi=Order, Sith=Chaos match. As you say, we need more moral complexity.
One insight I got from the novel, “Order 66”, was that by the time of the Clone Wars, the Jedi order had become incredibly corrupt, as seen by their being complicit in the use of slave labor (Clones) in deadly labor. Whatever the manner of their birth, Clones were fully human, but the Republic, including the Jedi Order, only viewed their loss of life as an inconvenience.
@@.-@ In The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan had a love interest: Duchess Satine of Mandalore. They struggle to get things off the ground because they’re both too attached to their individual duties and values, but they’re pretty adorable. At one point, he even tells her that he would’ve left the Jedi Order for her, which is huge, but he sadly loses her in the end. If anything, it shows that Obi-Wan was capable of falling in love, and that he might’ve sacrificed a few things for the right person.
The Kenobi angle on Rey does mostly rely on the accent and his voice in her vision. Both of those are plenty to make it plausible, though not definitive. I also look at how she wields the lightsaber, which evoked Ben’s style on the Death Star. If Luke can inherit Anakin’s way with machines as well as his piloting ability, Rey might inherit Obi-wan’s accent and fighting style to some degree (as well as apparently Skywalker piloting/mechanic abilities).
I mainly like the idea because of the merging of Jedi Order with Sith lines for a potential new way, though that’s obviously not evidence. Obi-wan would have had to have fallen off the Jedi Order personal code of conduct wagon, as hasn’t been pointed out, but that’s not impossible. Maybe Qui-gon convinced him he had to in order to help usher in an new era or something.
Having concentrated Force-user parentage (I assume Mom Kenobi would have been Force-sensitive) and grandparentage might explain the apparent speed at which her powers manifested in TFA. We don’t know if that was a normal curve for someone who grew up self-reliant in a post-Endor galaxy (as opposed to Luke post-Order 66 and even then his piloting was exceptional because of the Force, like Anakin’s). But maybe she’s so good to quickly because she’s got the heritage. Might be time to view Force kids like Wizarding kids: the abilities manifest themselves and some are better at controlling it them before formal training.
There’d have to be some explanation for why Obi-wan doesn’t think of his daughter as a hope against the Emperor but that’s probably easily solveable.
Apologies for the typos—on my phone.
Personally I found philosophy of The Order during the time of the Infinite Empire, that existed before splintering into Jedi & Sith, as presented in Dark Horse’s Dawn of the Jedi series to be most fascinating….
I opened this to comment, then got distracted by work, etc and so now it’s the next day. When I started this there were only 2 comments but I imagine there are plenty more.
This is a topic I could get drawn into an hours long conversation on and/or ramble on (as I have done so on the other Last Jedi threads) so I’m just going to try to hit a few points for now.
-For me, the biggest faults of the Jedi are the child-brainwashing and the use of the clone army. In fact, I think the use of the clone army may be even worse to me (although both are bad). The canon is a little inconsistent as to whether or not the children are willingly given to the Jedi to foster (I believe CW seems to imply they are). I can see where a misguided idea that children with Force powers need to be trained from an early age to forego their attachments and passions and toe the Jedi line would come from, especially if the Dark Side IS so tempting and easily takes root. I am not saying it is RIGHT, just that maybe a few bad catastrophes resulted in that kind of thinking.
-That said, I completely disagree with the idea that the existence of an ‘order’ itself is bad. I think it’s fine to have an organized group with guidelines, rules, accountability, vision, direction, etc. But I also agree that the entanglement with a political body is where they have gone wrong (hm. Is this what will happen to the Avengers if they sign the oversight accords ;) ?)
-Balance and the Force having ‘sides’. Sigh. I think part of the reason the nature of the Force is so hard to tangle out is precisely because of the way that George Lucas is trying to make a very ‘western’ good and evil story, but also use ‘eastern’ concepts as well, which don’t always mesh. On one hand he tries to portray the light/dark sides as good/evil, but that’s not how light and darkness work in real life (darkness is a very necessary thing, actually, and NOT in the way ‘evil is necessary for good’ which is a belief I reject) but on the other there seems to be this desirable ‘balance’ between them. This is just my own personal opinion, it’s probably contradicted by some of the canon, but I reject an idea that balance means an equal amount of good and evil, or that you need evil to know good, etc. Because in my view good is an inherently good thing, we are able to know and recognize it. Evil is a twisting of good. In fact, perhaps evil itself represents the lack of balance/harmony. So going ‘to the dark side’ would mean not necessarily HAVING emotions, passions, attachments, etc (which is where the prequel era Jedi order took things a little too far in their fear…and fear is of course off the dark side ;) ) but being so focused on them that you become selfish, greedy, seek power for power’s sake, wanting to dominate/control people (which can sometimes come from good/misguided motives…the Jedi might even fit into that) to the point where it seduces/twists you (to say nothing of people who just like to hurt people or simply don’t care if they do because they believe might makes right, etc).
There might be situations where using the Force out of fear/anger isn’t, at least from the start, the worst thing – it might be something legitimately worth getting afraid or angry about (some injustice, defense of a vulnerable person, tec). But perhaps it starts to be come a ‘when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail’ thing where if you don’t carefully train yourself to correctly integrate your emotions (even if you acknowledge them – I do not believe they should be repressed/denied), you will always be using the Force like that and start to justify more and more.
I also kind of like the idea that perhaps what we term the Dark Side is something that has arisen due to sentient beings’ evil contributing to the Force, since it draws on all living things. But I think all of the movies, even after the wiping of the EU, are clear that there IS something objectively different about the two sides of the Force. It maybe that they are sensing some kind of evil taint/energy/vibe, or maybe just a different type of ‘energy’ that is just too powerful/addictive for most people to use responsibly.
So in short (short-ish, at least) – while I don’t necessarily agree that the Jedi absolutely have to go and are fundamentally corrupt, I can also see that the endless cycle of Jedi vs Sith battle may just be aggravating the problem and they definitely need to CHANGE.
You also have tons of interesting thoughts about Luke/Anakin and redemption which I’ll just comment briefly on – I also am of the mind that Luke represents the ‘balance’ between the two paths, or maybe the restoration of what the Jedi path SHOULD look like. As for Anakin’s redemption, it’s kind of a big deal for me, and I’ve also kind of poked at the idea that, really, he did it for his son. But I don’t know that precludes that he went back to the light – I think very few of us are really capable of true altruism with no ulterior motive at all. I think a lot of us do need those connections do kind of ‘remind’ us why we need to do good, etc. Because we’re not perfect, even if we aspire to be. We’re human, we need human connections. So I can see that his choosing to save his son instead of continuing on his own path could be something that would spur him to the light. Maybe there is a Jedi purgatory where he gets to work it all out ;) And again, this is a point that the Jedi Order perhaps has missed in their attempt to create perfectly logical, neutral, calm Jedi.
If anybody reads Wheel of Time I think there is also an interesting parallel to the way Aes Sedai (female ‘channellers’) are trained – they go to the Tower at a young age (pre-teen/teen), are expected to forsake most previous ties (although not to the same extent, many still retain trappings of their culture/heritage – but channeling also greatly increases your life span so you will basically outlive all your loved ones by generations), and must be completely unruffled (in fact ‘Aes Sedai calm’ is a common expression). The main test one must pass involves having to go through various stressful/sad simulations and channel without showing any emotion (which also includes things like having to forsake your own hypothetical spouse/children/loved ones, etc). This is to prove your complete loyalty to the cause as well as your ability to be calm. Anyway, my very favorite main character basically ‘fails’ her test because she’s a rather fiery badass who basically gets passionate about stuff, and then she schools the rest of them about how dumb it is that they just stay in their tower unconnected to the world at large and you SHOULD get emotional about some things. They do end up ‘passing’ her in the end as a)she is awesome and b)the world is changing by then. WoT also draws a lot from Eastern/dualist thought regarding its mythical power, although there are also some notable differences/distinctions in how they are conceptualized. There is definitely balance, but there is no ‘dark side’ – one of the ‘sides’ IS dark/bad but that’s due to an external factor, not the natural state of things. Although for the record I wasn’t totally on board with the premise at the very end regarding the Creator/Dark One which does kind of go into the ‘evil is necessary for good to exist’ kind of idea.
Anyway, thanks for the great rundown of the various Force philosophies, etc. I agree that the Jedi may not have the complete picture (although I don’t think their way is inherently bad/wrong) and it’s always interesting when the EU talks about other Force users and the practices they have. Although even Maz – who is not a Jedi – does seem to recognize there is a ‘darkness’ and a need to fight it. And that’s ultimately what Star Wars should be about, both as an external battle AND an internal battle.
And now for comments :)
@1 – I have no strong feelings towards any of the Rey-parentage theories at the moment, but I would like to add that a person can unite philosophies without a genetic link to them.
@2 – I don’t really believe being ‘truly neutral’ is a good thing. I mean – people can use neutral to mean a variety of things. In the sense that it means being impartial and willing to consider the facts, not being unduly influenced by your own agenda and desires, it’s good. But on the other hand, I think some things are objectively worth being against and ‘biased’ against. (Take me with a grain of salt, as much of my own views are influenced by Catholic moral theology and philosophy – which can be very different from some of the Eastern views being pulled from here which is why some of my own headcanon is probably a little different. Still, in many other ways Star Wars is a pretty universally applicable story, regardless of the specific mechanics/metaphysics of things, which is why I love it so much and many of the themes still resonated very strongly with me).
@5 – I totally agree :) Also I LOLd at your Reformation metaphor.
@6 – Those were some of my favorite Clone Wars episodes and I wish they had done more with them! We are just about to finish the first season of Rebels so I haven’t gotten to that yet!
@8 – I am always a little wary of ‘gray’ philosophies. I mean, I’ve seen it done okay (understanding that all situations have nuance and that context matters), but also used as a justification for all the cool darkside powers/antiheroes, etc. But again, I don’t see what’s so bad about WANTING to be purely good even if you know you won’t attain it. (But of course good/evil are different than order/chaos which is why the concepts sometimes get muddled).
@12 – the EU had various interesting Force orders out there (that weren’t evil). The newer canon has introduced this a little bit (the Nightsisters on the ‘bad’ side, and the Whills on the ‘good’ side and also that culture that Jar Jar goes to help).
@19 and others – I don’t think it’s explicitly canon anymore, but Kenobi was a pretty good book about what he was doing (not that it postulated any particular romances for him). :) And we know he WAS capable of falling in love because of Satine, etc, so he theoretically may also have decided to leave the Jedi teachings behind now that they were no more (although I could also see him wanting to stay loyal to them out of his own sense of identity). I don’t really lean towards the Obi-Wan parentage theory either but I suppose it could be possible.
@20 – I actually don’t totally disagree with you. I think Lucas does have many gifts and is deep in some ways, but I agree that the storytelling/symbolism is intended to be very broad here. But like you say, the ‘balance’ you describe isn’t actually a balance I would want if it means having to tolerate evil as some necessary part of the universe (inevitable, perhaps, but not necessary). True neutral does not actually appeal to me (nor has it in D&D). I do tend to be a more ‘order’ focused person but I’m not morally opposed to less order. (So maybe in that sense, I don’t really mind a balance between chaos and order).
@21 – ha. Yes, you have definitely articulated the same headscratching I have about ‘balance’ and the way it is sometimes presented.
@22 – THIS. I think the use of the clones as commodities and not truly recognizing their rights as persons (although at least in the Clone Wars we see that at least some of them did treat them with respect and tried to foster their individuality and even grieved them) is honestly one of the more morally heinous things the Jedi have been complicit in, and I also think it was part of Palpatine’s master plan to damage their credibility, both to outsiders, and also to weaken them morally from within. He masterfully maneuvered them into a no-win situation and made them complicit in their own moral downfall. (Of course they had their own part to play in that too, but Palpy certainly escalated it).
@27 I think the Dark Side is dangerous to the user, like channeling, but instead of being burned out or dying, a dark side user is at risk for megalomania, sociopathy, and severe impulse control issues. The dark side seems inherently corrosive to the self, so that going too far could be inevitable. The light side doesn’t seem to result in the same kind of unintended personality change.
@29 – yes, this makes sense (I think I postulated something similar on another thread). The Dark Side, or the fact that the Force has two aspects, may not be some inherently evil thing. It may even be necessary (creation/destruction, etc) but the vast majority of people who try to tap into it go nuts (to put it loosely).
Plus, it seems like certain strong emotions seem to make you more likely to tap into the Dark Side/drawn to it. I am not sure that is mutually exclusive – there are possibly light side Jedi who can be emotional – positive emotions, at least – while using the light side (although the prequel iteration of Jedi seemed to discourage that), and probably some very dispassionate/controlled Dark Side users (although, again, the Sith seem to specifically focus on fostering rage, hatred, aggression, fear, etc as a way to tap into it), but it does seem to be a correlation. Or perhaps that’s what the Dark Side IS – some pyschic manifestation of all those negative energies and feelings (that’s kind of woo, but…I could go with it I guess).
There may be some incredibly controlled and/or ethical people that can do it without succumbing or becoming addicted to it, but the Jedi deemed it not worth the risk, hence their hardline stance. And who knows, maybe in the end they are right.
Hah, I just saw Emily’s concluding author signature line about wanting to give Luke a huge. Me too :D That’s the hardest part about watching these movies to me. Even if they are good movies (and they are) it’s hard to really ‘enjoy’ my favorite characters going through so much crap! While if Luke dies I really hope he gets to go out in glory, I would be 100% satisfied with him living to a contented old age.
Star Wars will never abandon the Jedi concept. The order might become something different, with streamlined ethos, but it will never stop being. Star Wars needs Jedi.
@18 – Ian: Lucas is only one man with one vision, Disney is a company that is far more than the Disney brand with Mickey and the Disney Princesses and all that.
@24 – Matt: The accent angle is ridiculous, and about her fighting style, if anything, Rey is using moves that are much like what she did with her staff, which only look like OT Obi-Wan’s moves because there was no swordfighting choreography in ANH; they were just banging sticks against each other. And about her Force abilities manifesting themselves “quickly”, that is obviously because she already has training, which “awakens” at the right time (plus, it’s not like she does amazing things, she does one mind trick, and then fights an already heavily wounded Kylo).
@31: The accent angle is only ridiculous if this story is meant to follow real life rules about heritability… which it doesn’t. Everybody accepts Luke is a swell pilot because Anakin.
Or it could simply mean she learned to speak around her mother who picked up an accent from Obi-wan when *she* learned to speak, if you want to go Real Life with it. I’ll admit it’s a thin reed, but it’s not much less substantive than the rest we know about her, which is virtually nothing.
We only know a limited number of people with accents like that in the SW galaxy, most of whom are Imperial officers. But Obi-wan is prominent among such speakers and has close ties to the Skywalkers.
The numbered stories focus on the Skywalkers, which could Ben Solo obviously covers, but given her positioning in the story so far may well mean primarily Rey. The lightsaber went to her, not Ben. And, handily for the Kenobi-Skywalkers theory, she heard Obi-wan in the vision. The absolute weakest possibility is that he spoke to her simply because he’d kept the weapon in a crate in his house for a couple decades. That’s a barely credible far second-place theory. The much stronger possibility is he was acting through a familial tie to help her awakening.
Sure, her fighting style was related to her staff fighting and only evoked the Death Star old man duel because choreography wasn’t what it is. Doesn’t mean that in a franchise where every detail is now carefully crafted it wasn’t an intentional parallel. It’s not proof either, but at this point we have no proof of anything.
@28: that’s obviously true, but these stories now have a cyclical feel to them with the parallels in TFA to ANH. Wouldn’t surprise me if that extends to Rey in her apparent role in the story.
@32 – Matt: Being a good pilot has roots (partially) in certain things which can be inherited.
In your article you write “The Jedi were motivated by compassion, order, and a pursuit of peace.” and I remembered a scene where Darth Sidious says “Once more the Sith will rule the galaxy…and we shall have peace”. I am not sure if its relevant to the article, but I think its worth mentioning that obtaining peace is an end goal of the Sith too? As opposed to just being driven by fear and anger and hate? Which they fully embrace to ‘achieve’ peace
The true nature of the force is less complicated than you think.
Force abilities, like real life epiphanies, come from perspective – from time spent reflecting on deconstructing society, the self, and perceived reality into smaller observable elements, which leads to enlightenment – material pursuits often cause suffering, and this is an approach to life by which we can become tools of unraveling said suffering for others – we see Yoda and Obi Wan both impart this wisdom to Luke. Prequels Anakin breaks that mechanism entirely, as he is completely unenlightened, yet extremely powerful. By casting Anakin as an irredeemable narcissist with no capacity for spirituality, Lucas broke the entire spirit of the original trilogy. Anakin is like a pope who gets the signs of the cross backwards, only thinks about church on Sunday, and can turn water into wine. It makes no sense.
Anakin was meant to be a dedicated paragon of the Jedi order whose good will towards others was gradually turned toward evil deeds on a grand scale, instead, the prequels reveal that he never had to work towards enlightenment to cultivate his power, and that he only had good will towards himself – this fundamentally broken narrative approach necessitates an unfortunate framing, specifically, a myopic westernized Jedi order that is overly focused on denying all forms of pleasure, as opposed to a holistic eastern Jedi order that teaches simple morality and reasonable self control. Not only was the choice to “go catholic” incompatible with supernatural plot devices, but it takes the focus of the entire series away from personal and spiritual growth, and centers it instead on dogma – which is not to say that commentary on dogma doesn’t belong in Star Wars – no, the original trilogy is already a succinct missive of spirituality and the importance of choice, which is a clear rejection of dogma.
There is a place in Star Wars canon for a myopic, westernized Jedi order similar to the Catholic church, but that place isn’t the prequels. It could work very well for a future or past point in the series, but it puts a distorting pressure on the established forms of Anakin/Vader, as well as Obi Wan & Yoda – Anakin’s fall should’ve been about distorting his principles (not him hating going to church and being a priest (but still getting wizard powers)). Retroactively recasting your archetypal sages (Obi Wan & Yoda) as dogmatic dinosaurs further mutilates the simple message and spirit of the original trilogy. Unfortunately, Lucas saw it fit to include incompatible pieces of both a westernized and eastern Jedi order in one package – the resulting subject is rife with unnecessary conflicts, and it adds too much additional baggage onto the already overloaded political narrative.
Following that line of reasoning, it’s easy to unravel the other quandaries of the Star Wars universe post prequels. Take the Jedi Academy for example. How do you raise decent children? You teach them to be generous, not to hit each other, not to steal, not to make fun of less fortunate children, to be thoughtful, to respect others, to help those in need, to stand up against bullies, etc. Those are the simple standards that Jedi and real life humans live and teach by – when we teach children these things, we aren’t brainwashing them, or teaching them not to have emotions, we’re teaching them to master their emotions, and we’re teaching them which emotions have very negative consequences if left unchecked. Now imagine that your child’s emotional state could manifest in supernatural energy that can shape reality – there’s a clearly heightened importance in teaching them this control and morality. The Jedi Academy was just a spiritually focused boarding school for gifted children who society understood were potentially dangerous. It’s not a sinister notion. Further, just as real life practitioners of faiths are permitted to choose their level of involvement, including whether they are interested in celibacy, Jedi could decide if they wanted to be clerics, warriors, teachers, parents, or walk away entirely. That’s canon now. Disney is intent on shoehorning corrections in.
The Jedi order was always about listening to the spirit, allowing it to guide you, and finding the right path for your life – apply that lesson to your life – stop viewing the prequels as canonical.
Just a few random questions (I have no real interest in debating the legitimacy of the prequels – there are parts of the way Anakin’s story works for me and parts that it doesn’t and I respect everybody’s right to an opinion on this):
-I actually do agree with you that the idea of raising children from the start to be responsible masters of their powers has its roots in a good motivation and is not necessarily as sinister as some of the other interpretations (assuming the parents have the choice).
-“Further, just as real life practitioners of faiths are permitted to choose their level of involvement, including whether they are interested in celibacy, Jedi could decide if they wanted to be clerics, warriors, teachers, parents, or walk away entirely. That’s canon now. Disney is intent on shoehorning corrections in.” – just curious, where are you getting this from? Are you saying it IS canon in some official way? I don’t even disagree with you, it’s how I always envisioned it before the prequels as well.
-To be honest, I find your characterization of ‘catholic’ to be quite short-sighted and missing the mark of true Catholic theology/philosophy. Although I agree that the prequel Jedi reads like a cheap generalization of the Catholic church. But YMMV. :)
Regarding some of the lineage theories:
Obi-Wan had a brief fling while serving as a padawan on Mandalore, where he met Satine Kryze (later the Duchess). It was at that point that he would have willingly left the Order for her and they may have had a child without his knowledge (she would have hidden it from him to keep him from leaving the Jedi).
One theory holds that Sabine from Rebels is their daughter and that she and Ezra (the padawan character from Rebels) have a kid: Rey.
A fun but highly unlikely spin-off theory says that Ezra becomes Snoke…
Sabine’s parentage is completely known on Rebels, and even if she could be adopted, it’d diminish a very important part fo the series based on her and her family. Plus, she looks Asian (just like her mother and brother, and presumabily her father), which neither Obi-Wan nor Satine do.
Plus, Sabine was born in 21 BBY, much later than Obi-Wan’s time as a padawan.
@39 MaGnUs:
The theory relies rather heavily on secrecy and lies. If you can fake her lineage, you can fake her birthdate (within a certain range, at least). I’m not saying it’s a strong theory, nor a likely one, just an amusing one (and the Ezra = Snoke theory is even weaker and less likely, and seems mostly to rest on similarities in nasal shape and a lot of deliberately wishful thinking IIRC).
@Lisamarie – Ah, my link got purged from the post. Here we are.
The Jedi order of the prequels is definitely colored by shallow generalizations of Catholicism, which don’t translate into valid real world commentary on Catholicism.
@39, 40 – I don’t think Sabine is related to Obi-Wan, but I’m relatively certain that Rey is, and I have been since a couple hours after I first saw TFA.
One item I didn’t see listed here – her actions in Starkiller base – a lone agent navigating an enemy stronghold, calm and unafraid, climbing about unseen in shafts, misdirecting guards – these scenes reflected Obi-Wan’s actions on the Death Star in more than a visual sense, and I doubt that was a coincidence. I think it’s also significant that a mind trick was her first force discovery – at the time of the original trilogy, this seemed a Kenobi specific skill which he passed on to Luke, and I suspect Abrams/Kasdan felt the same way about this skill, and its inclusion in TFA.
As a narrative line in a sequel trilogy which seems intent on restoring lost spirituality to a spiritual franchise, Rey being a Kenobi also feels right in a somewhat intangible, fateful sense, and the events we are seeing unfold strike me as a palindome sequence – a Kenobi was bested by his Skywalker apprentice aboard the latter’s battle station in ANH, and we’ve now seen a Skywalker bested by a novice Kenobi aboard the former’s battle station. A master Kenobi trained a young, desert dwelling orphan Skywalker in the hopes of undoing the sins of his former apprentice in ANH, and now a Master Skywalker will train a young, desert dwelling orphan Kenobi in the hopes of undoing the sins of his former apprentice (and nephew). These bloodlines are drawn to each other, and seem destined to intertwine in a cycle of tragedy, loss, rebirth, and catharsis. What better force to iron out the wild dynamic effects of the Skywalker line than a calm and steady Kenobi – a bloodline that has proven naturally insusceptible to the pull of the dark side. An example of that resilience – Obi-Wan could not kill Vader after he had bested him in a duel, just as Rey had an inherent and instinctive revulsion to killing Kylo (potential dark side act) after besting him in a duel. These are the reasons why Rey is a Kenobi, and I don’t think she has to be a direct descendant (although Obi-Wan certainly had time and space to procreate while in exile), but could even be a niece. There were further mirrored sequences which struck me in the same way, but I’ve actually only seen TFA once, and I can’t recall any further examples. Haha. Maybe I’ll watch again tomorrow.
Phasma ended up in a trash compactor, so she’s obviously the orgy lovechild of Han, Leia, Chewie, Luke, and the Dianoga.
Yeah, and Finn is a Ringo Fett clone.
“Anakin Skywalker was believed to be the Chosen One as decreed by a prophecy. Because the Jedi believe that the elimination of the dark side equates to balance, the hope was undoubtedly that Anakin would bring the Sith out in the open and allow for their elimination. He failed to do that entirely, instead destroying the Jedi Order down to the last youngling.”
What the prophecy said is true. From a certain point of view.
Consider – at the end of Episode Three, you have a single Sith master and a single Sith apprentice, operating in secret and believed to be dead, but moving into the public sphere. And you have a single Jedi Master (Yoda) and a single “apprentice” (Obi-Wan) who until now operated in public and are now operating in secret and believed to be dead. It’s a full mirroring, and can in one sense be considered to be “bringing balance”.
@44 – Luke is the chosen one, according to the recent Rebels episode “Twin Suns.”
Vader could’ve been a lot of things, but his fear of a specific dark future caused all other possible futures to collapse into one dark reality. I’d posit his “chosen one” future was lost. Silly plot device anyhow.
This article is wrong.
George Lucas has explained in an interview (which can be found in the special features of the box set of the movies) that the Sith break the balance and when they died balance was restored. It’s as simple as that. The Jedi do not break the balance, they do not need to be put in check with the Sith. None of that. This is not the Saga of Recluse. You just don’t get it.
@46/tired: Lucas’s explanation of “balance” is nonsense. At best it is tautological. But mostly it just reeks of his ridiculous attempts to spin/retcon Han Solo’s use of “parsec” rather than copping to having made a mistake in his word choice. (Paging Inigo Montoya! :-)
Lucas’s stated Authorial Intent can’t simply handwave away the clear implications of his own six films that the light/dark aspects of the Force transcend both Sith and Jedi. If it was his intent to create a world in which any non-Jedi use of the Force represented imbalance, he failed to clearly convey that vision onscreen.
Also, it’s not Lucas’s toy any longer.
@47 – What are these “clear implications of [Lucas’] own six films that the light/dark aspects of the Force transcend both Sith and Jedi” that you speak of?
Obi-wan Kenobi:
Yoda:
Qui-gon Jinn:
The corruption and decadence of the Jedi Order in the waning days of the Old Republic…the inability of Darth Plagueis & Darth Sidious to fully appreciate or control what they had created in Anakin Skywalker….
… I could probably find more if I were so inclined, but I think those five are sufficient to illustrate that, based on nothing more than Episodes I-VI, the Force is an entity not only above and beyond Jedi- or Sith-trained users but also one whose nature neither of those groups completely understands—let alone controls. Okay, strictly speaking I guess these items don’t explicitly address the light/dark divide; but given that the Jedi/Sith divide is pretty much defined by their viewpoints on the “light” and “dark” aspects of the Force, and given that neither side fully understands the Force, the reasonable implication is that the Force transcends them and their philosophies. Moreover, the light/dark aspects are quite possibly artifacts of their own certain points of view; much like what the late Robert Pirsig said about Zen on mountaintops, or Yoda said about the Force in caves, you find there only what you take with you.
Ooh! I just realized that if Luke & Rey do strike off in a direction beyond the traditional Jedi/Sith viewpoints, philosophy and rhetoric departments the world over will rejoice. Jedi -> Sith -> Luke/Rey will form a nice illustration of the thesis-antithesis-synthesis triad and thus serve as a hook that junior faculty can use in planning some of their introductory classes! :-)
@ian 50, 51
I reject the core concept of the above article, specifically that “this overbearing focus on “light” and “dark” sides has only led to utter polarization and stagnation.”
The living force is simply an analogy for nature. Nature is a duality – destruction and creation, chaos and order, etc., and like nature, the force is indifferent to the moral values ascribed to its functions and parameters by sentient beings, because it is not sentient – it is a set of parameters which define reality. However, there are functions of reality/nature which are undeniably positive for the continuance of life, and importantly, these functions often must be cultivated by human intervention – there is balance, beauty, and joy to be found in life.
Importantly, there are those who do not care if they destroy beauty, upset balance, and cause suffering for personal gain – these are undeniably negative traits of human nature, and by extension are themselves facets of nature on the physical plane – that’s all the dark side is, a manifestation of negative human traits on the physical plane. There is no philosophy required to explain or synthesize this. Also importantly, there are those who will fight against such persons in an effort to preserve beauty and life – that’s all the Jedi are. These are simple, root, immutable facets of good and evil, light and dark. Granted, good and evil are human concepts, but they are derived from a very real body of data – from observations of actions and reactions in the real world. The Jedi Sith dichotomy is not complicated.
These actions/motivations (pillaging vs preservation) are polar opposites, and they do not change on a narrative whim. All humans “bring this into the cave with them.” Star Wars is a human concept, based on these simple truths. Nature alone will not protect you from ill willed people – that requires sentient action, often harnessing functions of nature/science/the force for protection, or for aid in seeing the solution to a problem (aka enlightenment). All else in this debate is clutter obscuring a very simple concept, which is made complex by myriad social and geological variables. Star Wars simplifies these themes to a near root value, it does not seek to complicate them.
Only by rooting ourselves in simple truth can we begin to wipe away the clutter and see ourselves and the world clearly, because all conflict is ultimately rooted in simple truth. Alternatively, we can focus on examining the clutter, thereby adding to it with volumes of debate.
So, it doesn’t seem like you fully understand the Force. The Force works as a duality, one side is balance, the other is unbalance.
The Light Side of the Force is balance. The Light Side is natural; it’s nature and life. That’s why Kyber crystals are naturally attuned to the Light and Dark siders need to ‘bleed’ it into submission. A little bit of the Dark Side is good, the Jedi cooperated peacefully with the Nightsisters, a group of Dark Side witches, because they were secluded and didn’t hurt people. The Force was described as the surface of a pond; the Light maintains calm, keeping the pond still and the Dark creates ripples in the pond. Too much Dark ruins the peace and tranquillity of the pond
However, the Sith twist the Force. The Sith are unnatural. They unbalance the Force and the natural order of things with their selfish desires. One Sith, Lady Corvax, ruined a planet with her quest to find the key to immortality. Another Sith, Darth Nihilus, literally ate a planet in his rage. This much destruction, and hate, pain, and anger, unbalanced the Force.
The Dark Side isn’t necessarily bad, but it often is. The Dark Side leads to choices made in anger and selfishness, which leads to innocents being harmed. Anakin Skywalker killed hundreds (even children) in the hours after he Fell to the Dark Side because the Dark messed up his self-control and moral compass. Going full Dark Side isn’t the right choice, no matter who you are. Because inevitably, you’re going to hurt people.
The article is incorrect. The Jedi were right. Every Jedi could leave the Order anytime they wanted from when they were brought in. The Jedi Order existed to help innocents and to teach Force-sensitives how to control their abilities without harming others. Force-sensitives can’t be raised by people unaware of the Force. They can’t be raised emotionally or with anger. The Jedi Order teaches that out of them, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Every parent of a Force-sensitive child knows that, and that’s why they give their children up. In rare cases, if they want to keep their children, The Jedi Order is fine with it, as we saw with the Mace Windu comic. The Jedi taught the Light because the Light is good and the Light is balance. No so for the Dark Side.
The Jedi were right to teach from a young age. Look at the catastrophe that was Anakin Skywalker. Granted, he was on a very good path and the Light until Palpatine pulled rank on the Jedi and forced them to hand Anakin over to him for weekly brainwashing lessons. Look at the Jedi. They did not brainwash their members, as every single proper Jedi was a well-adjusted, kind and compassionate, adult who could fully think for themselves. They had all different kinds of opinions, but they worked together to help innocents. The Jedi were basically a giant boarding school/adopted family that provided a healthy environment for young Force-sensitives and taught one how to use their powers for good. AND they always had permission from the biological parents.
Luke specifically said he was following the path of a Jedi when he brought his father back to the light. He refused to strike down Palpatine in anger, and he was filled with remorse when he, in a moment of rage, cut Vader’s arm off. In those final moments, Anakin made a choice. He looked at all that suffering the Dark Side caused him and the galaxy, and he returned to the Light, killing Palpatine and fulfilling the prophecy. People argue Luke brought Anakin back, but NO. This article got that all wrong. George Lucas said Star Wars was about choices, and Anakin made a choice. His return to the Light was not only because of his son, but because he knew that the Dark Side was wrong, after spending 23 years in it.
Also, the no-attachments thing is important, but there are exceptions. Jedi could have children and get married as long as they don’t go insane if their loved ones got killed. Ki-Adi-Mundi had wives and children, but wasn’t attached to them. Obi-Wan loved Satine but chose the Order over her. But most don’t have that control, so the Jedi forbid attachment, but encourage love.
Balance in the GFFA means mostly Light, a little bit of the Dark, but absolutely no Sith hanging around and destroying planets.
@7: It seems you don’t understand the Jedi. The Jedi encouraged emotions, but taught themselves to rule their emotions and not let their emotions rule them, which is exactly what Anakin did when he Fell. Instead of thinking rationally and remembering that Sith lie and the Jedi have Force healers, he turned evil to save Padme. Depa Billable taught her padawan to be proud of his emotions but to not let them control him. Obi-Wan Kenobi told Anakin Skywalker emotions were natural, but he would always have to make a choice in the end.
@36: I agree with your 2nd paragraph. The Jedi encouraged kindness, love, compassion, and self-control due to their abilities. The prequels did portray them like that, it’s just that no one understood. Everyone only looked on the surface, even though it was emphasized by Jedi time and time again that emotions were good but self-control was necessary, and that they used their powers to help.
Ultimately, Light and Dark are only analogies. Light isn’t necessarily good. Light means nature, life, and goodness, all of which the Jedi value. The Dark means unnaturalness (courtesy of Palpatine in Ep. III) and selfish and cruel desires. One is natural and balance, the other is not. The Jedi serve the Light and the people. That’s not how our world works, but it’s how the GFFA works. Face it.
Also, everyone, it’s canonical that every Jedi can walk away from the Order if they disagree. Dooku walked away, Anakin almost did, and Ahsoka Tano also left the Order. The Jedi Order literally made busts of 20 Jedi Masters who left the Order to remind everyone that the Jedi Order is flawed too (you don’t get much more humble than that). It’s also canonical that parents always have permission. We see this in The Clone Wars in the Mace Windu comic (I mentioned this in the earlier comment)
The prequels portrayed the Jedi Order perfectly. Maybe not that much the movies, but The Clone Wars and the books, combined with the movies, showed that the Jedi Order was good for the galaxy.
@35: It doesn’t matter what Anakin was “meant” to be. He was a genuinely good person that made bad choices as a result of Palpatine’s manipulation for 11 years. He made a bad choice, and saw no other path from there on. The Jedi don’t ban all forms of pleasure. Have you seen their robes??? Their over-the-top, dramatic, swooshy, robes? That they use the Force to keep out of their faces when duelling??? What about Anakin’s room that’s filled with pod-racing merchandise? The Jedi are based on Eastern influences, like Buddhism. They preach emotion, but self-control. That’s their entire philosophy. All their rules are based around kindness and emotion, but self-control. They allow possessions, but not too much, as that can lead to possessiveness (as we see Anakin’s love of Padme turned into).
I think people forget that George Lucas based the Jedi on Samurai and Buddhism and those Eastern monk practices – not Catholics. I honestly love the philosophy of the Jedi. “There is no passion, there is serenity.” aka make decisions when you’re calm, not when you’re incredibly emotional. It’s so beautiful and un-cliche. Cliche main characters will always risk the hundred to save the one, and the author emphasizes that’s the right decision. It’s the opposite of the Jedi. They will always try to choose the hundred and not risk that hundred for the single person.
There will always be darkness and cruelty in the galaxy. The Jedi try to keep the Force-related cruelty to a minimum.