Independent George wrote: ↑Tue Aug 21, 2018 4:05 am
Here's the question I've had since KOTOR 1:
Is the dark side an external force that imposes its will upon the Sith? Or is it a moral choice made by people who choose the dark side? If it's the latter, why do so many Jedi go full Evil Overlord the second they stray the slightest bit from the Jedi path?
I get the impression that Lucas wanted it made clear Anakin wasn't corrupted by magic but simply bad choices. I also think that in Star Wars, it IS a force of dark magic but because the Force is everything that means it's "anger actually IS evil magic rather than just emotions." It's the higher level of the universe behind thoughts and feelings.
As for why so many Jedi go Evil Overlord, I think it's the case of suppressing their feelings and devoting themselves to others for so long that they break bad bigger than anyone else. If you're going to be a bad guy, why not be a Big Bad Guy?
Revenge of the Sith's novelization showed Count Dooku planned to make a New Jedi Order with a human-centric bias as well as a fascist New Order to rule everything. Darth Vader, we know, believed the galaxy could be brought to heel. It's only Palpatine who only is in it for himself.
There's is absolutely nothing in the Sith code that says you have to be an omnicidal maniac - or that embracing your emotions should lead you to abandon your empathy. In fact, the latter should probably lead to the opposite. So why then should feeling strong emotions inevitably lead to falling to the dark side? The way it plays out seems more consistent with the dark side being an external entity that either corrupts or breaks people to its will.
Well the Jedi obviously feel emotions and Anakin gives the 5th grade version of the Catholic Catechism. Jedi are supposed to feel compassion, friendship, mercy, and love. It's just they're not supposed to feel bad emotions and either suppress them or resolve them. They're also supposed to love everyone and not just one person.
Remember, the Jedi are WRONG in that Luke's love for his father saves the universe.
It'd be one thing if it followed the French Revolution model, where a desire to promote equality gradually leads to murdering everyone in the way of progress. Except... that actually seems more in line with being an extreme interpretation of Jedi philosophy, where you reject all emotion in favor purity of thought. At that point, it is merely practical to prune society of all the dangerous elements that threaten your utopia of justice and peace.
Babylon Five seems to be something of a model in the Sith believe the universe is a Dog-Eat-Dog universe and encourage you to embrace selfishness, anger, hate, and rage to drive out all things but self-interest. While the Jedi embrace selflessness to an arguable fault. However, I think the Prequel Jedi aren't meant to be IDEAL Jedi.
They're a bit on the decayed ossified side but as we see with Qui Gon, Obi-Wan, and others, they're still mostly good people. They're just a bit stuffy.
Versus, you know, Satanically evil Sith.