Dave2112
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I was reading the responses in the several Star Wars threads, and something came up a few times that I thought I’d take a separate crack at here, in another thread (rather than posting this over and over again…)
A lot of folks have different views on the whole Anakin-Balance-Prophecy thing, especially when it comes to the nature of the Force and what Balance even meant. There was also a discussion on the “Dark Jedi/Sith” thing that looked interesting, so let’s kill two birds with one stone.
The Sith are not just fallen or “Dark” Jedi that focus on the Dark Side of the Force. The fundamental difference between the Jedi and Sith is a philosophical one. The Jedi believe that their connection with the Force is a symbiotic relationship. Give and take, follow and lead. As Obi-Wan Kenobi once said, it controls your actions AND obeys your commands. The Jedi also see the Force as sort of a sentient entity in and of itself, with a will and at least some level of omniscience. This reinforces the “shared power” philosophy.
The Sith, on the other hand, see the Force as more of a natural phenomenon, one to be used by those with the inate ability to do so. They believe that the Force-user controls the Force. Kind of a hyper-Darwinism sort of thing. It’s not a belief system born out of pure evil, per se…just a point of view that the ability to control the Force should, by natural selection, put one at the top of the galactic food chain.
Of course, this leads to evil acts, but as we’ve seen, the best intentions are sometimes carved into the flesh with a lightsaber. We’ve talked before about how selfishness was more of a path to darkness than violence…but all of that goes back to that one fundamental difference in philosophies.
Now, at one time, there were Dark Jedi, in a manner of speaking. Going back about 6,000 years or so, the Jedi were torn apart by this very difference in beliefs and VERY long story short…those that “fell” (the Dark Ones) were driven into then-unknown space and settled on a planet populated by a race called the Sith. The Dark Jedi eventually took over and adopted the name and it became synonymous with them long after the extinction of the original Sith race. When they found their way back to the Republic (another LONG story short), thus ensued the Great Hyperspace War, followed a millennia later by the Mandalorian and Jedi Civil Wars.
Now, about the whole “Force in Balance” thing…
The prophecy was about Anakin, not Luke. I think we pretty much agreed on that. However, what did they mean by putting the Force in Balance? Does that mean no Sith…or two apiece, or some crazy shit like that? No. During the times leading up to the Clone Wars, the Force was not in balance. You don’t make a prophecy about fixing something that isn’t broke, right? This is why, in Attack of the Clones, Yoda and Mace have a discussion about the Jedi Council’s “diminished” ability to use the Force. Yoda referred several times to the Dark Side clouding everything. The Force was tipping out of Balance toward the Dark. The cycle of events that Darth Sidious was setting in motion, not to mention the actual physical atrocities either committed by himself or on his behalf, were sending ripples through the Force, affecting everything. Such a wide-scale mass-manipulation project, with the intention of placing a Sith Lord as the undisputed Absolute Ruler of the Galaxy, was seriously throwing things out of whack for all of those involved deeply with the Force. This is why it was less obvious that Palpatine was a Sith Lord to the Jedi Council than it was to the viewer.
Just a little something to munch on….
A lot of folks have different views on the whole Anakin-Balance-Prophecy thing, especially when it comes to the nature of the Force and what Balance even meant. There was also a discussion on the “Dark Jedi/Sith” thing that looked interesting, so let’s kill two birds with one stone.
The Sith are not just fallen or “Dark” Jedi that focus on the Dark Side of the Force. The fundamental difference between the Jedi and Sith is a philosophical one. The Jedi believe that their connection with the Force is a symbiotic relationship. Give and take, follow and lead. As Obi-Wan Kenobi once said, it controls your actions AND obeys your commands. The Jedi also see the Force as sort of a sentient entity in and of itself, with a will and at least some level of omniscience. This reinforces the “shared power” philosophy.
The Sith, on the other hand, see the Force as more of a natural phenomenon, one to be used by those with the inate ability to do so. They believe that the Force-user controls the Force. Kind of a hyper-Darwinism sort of thing. It’s not a belief system born out of pure evil, per se…just a point of view that the ability to control the Force should, by natural selection, put one at the top of the galactic food chain.
Of course, this leads to evil acts, but as we’ve seen, the best intentions are sometimes carved into the flesh with a lightsaber. We’ve talked before about how selfishness was more of a path to darkness than violence…but all of that goes back to that one fundamental difference in philosophies.
Now, at one time, there were Dark Jedi, in a manner of speaking. Going back about 6,000 years or so, the Jedi were torn apart by this very difference in beliefs and VERY long story short…those that “fell” (the Dark Ones) were driven into then-unknown space and settled on a planet populated by a race called the Sith. The Dark Jedi eventually took over and adopted the name and it became synonymous with them long after the extinction of the original Sith race. When they found their way back to the Republic (another LONG story short), thus ensued the Great Hyperspace War, followed a millennia later by the Mandalorian and Jedi Civil Wars.
Now, about the whole “Force in Balance” thing…
The prophecy was about Anakin, not Luke. I think we pretty much agreed on that. However, what did they mean by putting the Force in Balance? Does that mean no Sith…or two apiece, or some crazy shit like that? No. During the times leading up to the Clone Wars, the Force was not in balance. You don’t make a prophecy about fixing something that isn’t broke, right? This is why, in Attack of the Clones, Yoda and Mace have a discussion about the Jedi Council’s “diminished” ability to use the Force. Yoda referred several times to the Dark Side clouding everything. The Force was tipping out of Balance toward the Dark. The cycle of events that Darth Sidious was setting in motion, not to mention the actual physical atrocities either committed by himself or on his behalf, were sending ripples through the Force, affecting everything. Such a wide-scale mass-manipulation project, with the intention of placing a Sith Lord as the undisputed Absolute Ruler of the Galaxy, was seriously throwing things out of whack for all of those involved deeply with the Force. This is why it was less obvious that Palpatine was a Sith Lord to the Jedi Council than it was to the viewer.
Just a little something to munch on….
