So, a little while ago, Trish wrote a blog about Star Wars. In that post, she brought up the question of what exactly would cause a Jedi to join the Sith. She wanted to know if Anakin would have still joined the Dark Side if he had never fallen in love.
So a few of us commented on it. And since then, I've really been giving this a lot of thought.
Considering that I am far from a Star Wars junkie, a lot of people may jump on me about this. But here goes nothin...
I think the first thing you have to do when talking about Jedi and the Dark Side, is to distinguish which Star Wars world your "topic" resides in. In my mind, there are 3 of them: The old movies, the new movies, and the books. The first two are obvious. Together, they make the entire Star Wars series. And yet, they seem completely separate from each other (duh). Now, the reason I also add the books is because I believe they all follow a standard. I've never read them, but I think that most of the books revolve around the plot foundations created by one of the first authors. So I imagine that a lot of the books hold the same rules and beliefs.
So here's what I believe. If a Jedi fell in love, then there's a good chance that they will join the dark side eventually. I don't think that the fact that they are in love will do it....but it will be the cause. When you become a Jedi knight, you lose all ties with the rest of the world. The embrace the Jedi. You serve the people. All of your decisions and actions are based on this. So what if you were in love with a woman? What if you married her? Now there's something else you care about just as much. So what if, one day, you had to make a decision that helped the Jedi way of life, but hurt the woman you love? You'd be conflicted. You'd begin to question your beliefs. You may begin to resent your choice to become a Jedi. And now you've left yourself open for a Sith Lord to get his hands on you. Your love for your wife became a hole in your armor.
Now, I think that this applies to the new movies, mainly. That is my biggest exposure to how the Jedi lived. In the old movies, Luke was raised as a normal person....he can deal with his emotions. The force is really just a tool that he uses...not a way of life. And since I've never read the books, I couldn't tell you how they handle that stuff.
I could ramble more about this topic but I'll leave it here. Maybe I'll look for some websites that talk about this.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Path to the Dark Side
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
While book are usually not considered "canon", George Lucas maintains a Vader-like Grip on all things Star Wars and anything plot line needs his approval before it goes forward. Thus, Star Wars presents a special case where the books are much closer to canon, than, say, Star Trek.
Adding the books in, however, forces the issue of the time after Episode VI. Luke is married to a Jedi named Mara, Leia and Han are married, they all have children, and everyone loves each other.
I said this on Trish's blog before, but I just don't think being in love is a path to the Dark Side. Love is the exact opposite of the Dark Side. I respect your view that love may become a weakness--it certainly happened with Anakin. But it seems to me the situations where you'd have to hurt your wife to save the Light Side of the Force would be few and far between. I think two Jedi, or even a Jedi and a normie could live together in loving harmony, as long as the Jedi didn't sacrifice his beliefs for the sake of his/her other half.
We should also remember that Anakin went to the Dark Side because he was afraid of what would happen to Padme; that she would die and he couldn't protect her. However, the visions of her dying came from when HE himself killed her later in the movie. In other words, if he had told Sidious where to stick his lightsaber, kept to the Light, ect., Padme never would have died, and they most likely could have lived together yada yada. It was Anakin's willingness to betray his principals and his lack of trust for the Jedi Masters that led him down the path of the Dark Side, not love.
I guess we can agree to disagree on this. I certainly agree that if someone isn't careful love can force them to do things that are not Jedi; but I also think that proper training and strength of character can shield you from those dangers and allow you to love and also be a Jedi.
Man, I'm a loser.
matt had a great point in saying love helped him defeat the sith in the end- his love for luke. LOVE does not DRIVE a jedi- or anyone, to the dark side. We also have to keep in mind Anakin was so powerful, he was practically unstable, and the Emperor fed on that instability.
what made me wonder about that was when Yoda told him to "let go." and then I started wondering what all the jedi rules were, yada yada yada.
as for then books, I've read afew, liked some, hated others. There's a style and "theme" to the stories that can even be felt through all the CG. some authors have tried to steer the saga in another direction, I give them credit but with some stories, like James Bond, Indiana Jones, and otehr classic character - you have to be Extremely careful when you deviate from the norm.
I defintely agree that the two trilogies take place in different worlds. Let's face it, the Anakyn that Obi-Wan reminisces about in the original Star Wars is hardly the same character we are given in the new films. And in the original film, Uncle Owen talks about Anakyn like he knew him fairly well, but in the new films they are little more than acquaintences.
Anyway, to the topic at hand. In the case of both Anakyn and Luke, love isn't the catalyst that makes the dark side a nice proposition, it's fear.
With Anakyn, the fear and helplessness in knowing that Padme was going to die led to his accepting of the Dark side.
With Luke, the fear of possibly losing Leia in both "Empire" and "Jedi" made him consider joining his father in one movie and almost kill him in the other. However, love brought Luke back, the love that Leia, Han, and the Rebel Alliance felt for him. Anakyn had nothing to bring him back. Padme and Obi-Wan were all manipulating him (he felt) and the Jedi council severely mistrusted him. What's a guy to do?
Post a Comment