Lit A question about Dark Jedi/Sith who go back to the light side.

Going from all of the lore from the novels and comics, when a Dark Jedi or a Sith gets redeemed and goes back to the light side, do they still have to answer for their crimes? I'm all for rehabilitation and all that, but they can't just get off scot-free simply because they decided to become good again right? Everyone, and I don't care who you are, needs to face the consequences of their actions.

Cause let's say a Sith killed a whole bunch of innocent people in horrific ways, and then became good again. Do the rest of the Jedi just say, "Well, you're a good guy now so we're all cool with you now"? Cause if so, that would be very strange. And what if the government needs said newly redeemed Jedi to stand trial?

 

I think we're to understand that this is extremely rare, so there may not even be much of a precedent for it. It does seem the Jedi aim to treat it a little like rehab.

 

Jedi that go dark are occasionally redeemed-Vader, tahiri, Jacen(in the process when Jaina killed him).

As for those who are sith or dark siders first redemption is a lot more rare-Vestara Khai was arguably redeemed yet succumbed to her own dark nature in a moment of crisis. Darth Gravid is an interesting case perhaps he had a crisis of conscience, a road to Damascus sort of conversion, or maybe he just felt really bad about doing what Sith do.

Other than that redemptions are rare.

 

The Jedi are okay with it because they're a religious sect which practices forgiveness but the Republic may ask for them to be tried.

 

I wonder, though, if all of the Jedi would be OK with it. Because imagine if this redeemed person happened to kill a lot of Jedi while he was a Sith. I'm sure most of the Jedi wouldn't trust him and would gladly hand him over to the Republic for whatever they wanted to do with him.

 

Well, we have two examples where this is the case.

Ulic Qel-Droma
Darth Revan

Neither of which were welcomed with open arms by some.

 

Haha, I still have yet to beat either of the KOTOR games. I've played em, but never finished em! I should.

But yeah, as far as Vader goes, I can't imagine he would've been able to just hang around with the good guys as if nothing had happened had he not died at the end of ROTJ! I'm assuming the Rebel Alliance would've had him stand trial for his many war crimes, but let him live in exchange for vital information to defeating the Imperial remnant. I'm sure, though, that there would be a crapload of citizens who would want Anakin's head.

 

Vader redeemed...but died shortly afterward. However if not I believe that the as soon as he set foot on a Rebel cruiser with Luke he would have been arrested, tried, and executed for war crimes within 2 minutes.

Kyp Durron redeemed and seemed to get a pass for committing a genocidal war crime by destroying Carida.

Luke redeemed and got a pass for war crimes commited while part of the Empire in the Dark Empire comics.

Too many times in Legends it seems as if the Dark Side is considered a form of temporary insanity....and if brought back all is forgiven.

 

Eh, there was mind-control by a SIth Lord involved even if Exar Kun seemed less inclined to control WHO Kyp killed as long as he DID kill.

Also, Carida was a military target.

There's contradictory information too as Stackpole wrote the world as a fully populated one while WEG wrote it as a place which had displaced the Natives and was purely the Imperial Academy.

 

Quinlan Vos in Dark Disciple...Jedi to Sith, then back to Jedi.

 

Ten years after The Sith War the galaxy remembered Ulic Qel-Droma's involvement and turn to the dark side. No one was out actively searching for him after he turned from the dark side but mercenaries still dreamed of getting a shot at killing him. Plus the Republic did have him on trial for a few minutes when he was still a Sith. I can't remember if he was forgiven of his crimes by the Republic but he stayed in exile and was blind to the force so he was no real threat to anyone anymore.

Whenever Leia said she wants her son back in The Force Awakens, I always wonder: Even if Kylo turned back to the light, isn't she aware that she would be seeing him behind a jail cell for the rest of his life? I'm quite certain Luke wouldn't be too happy to see him either.

Most Jedi who turn back to the light never have enough time to face a trial usually because they die soon after, unless you're Revan in which case you have no memory of what you did. Although I'm still wondering how Darth Marr turned into a force ghost considering he still died a Sith. I guess that was just Bioware not caring considering TOR was no longer canon anyway.

 

It sort of depends how far they take the whole ''Dark Side as a drug'' imagery - taken to the logical extreme then it would be possible for a Sith/Dark Jedi to go clean. On the other hand you get Sith like Sidious who was a malevolent, murderous sociopath entirely independent of his force ability so it could be a case by case basis.

 

That's not the same thing though, Jedi Council asked him to ''assassinate'' Dooku, that's not the Jedi way, and they knew they were wrong and they pushed Vos to the dark side, so they had to forgive Vos.

 

They stated specifically in the old Jedi Academy trilogy and I, Jedi....he was influenced to the Dark Side....not controlled with no will of his own.

And what Kyp did would be akin to if you or I go ahold of a nuclear missile during the Iraq War/Desert Storm and launched it at Baghdad. We are not government or military. It would be considered a war crime and everyone...including our own government would be screaming for our head. We would be arrested, prosecuted, convicted and executed.

 

Darth Caedus wasn't in the process of being redeemed. He died a Sith Lord and suffered an eternal damnation for his horrific and brutal acts.

 

SWTOR has several Sith retraining on Tython as Jedi. Not only Sith apprentices, but Sith Lords, even a Dread Master.

 

Influenced is still influenced and the Jedi Academy trilogy specifically says that after Exar Kun dies, he has puppet strings cut. He also stopped trying to kill Han immediately.

The whole condemnation of him and him having free will comes from CORRAN HORN.

Who is an IDIOT.

At least lecturing Luke Skywalker on the Dark Side.

 

It's an ambiguous and hinted at that then Denning reversed it anyway. Jaina stated he became Jacen seconds before she impaled him. I'm inclined to believe that while he wasn't redeemed in the fullest sense the light of Jacen began to shine again and the persona of Darth Caedus retreated(somewhat).

 

That's what I thought in Invincible, that he was redeeming himself... but in FOTJ, his spirit is still clearly Sith, and as arrogant as ever.

 

Darth Caedus became Jacen Solo for a single moment, to save his daughter's life rather than kills his murderer. Caedus was already dead at that point, he could have chosen to use his last bit of strength to strike back and take Jaina into death with him. Instead, he chose to save a life rather than take one. But a single step back towards the Light doesn't equal complete redemption, not when that one act doesn't achieve much.

But there was a point in that final fight where Caedus tried to negotiate with Jaina, even deactivating his lightsaber and putting it away. And she just ignored it and continued trying to kill him. That isn't the Jedi way. Neither of the Solo twins were very good Jedi. Their brother on the other hand was an excellent Jedi. A pity he died so young.

 

Corran's argument that "If Kyp had wanted you dead, he would have parked the Sun Crusher on you" does make sense though. Kyp may have relinquished a certain amount of control - but he still invited Kun in. He only starts being "puppet-ish" very late - after the fall of Carida. During the fall of Carida - he's still focussed on saving Zeth - if Kun had him under firm control - that wouldn't have happened.


Corran does acknowledge later on (in conversation with Elegos) that his understanding of what "falling to the dark side" is like, is limited.

 

Yes, probably why Jaina became an Imperial Knight.

She was too militant to be a Jedi.

It should be noted, though, Jacen was unrepentant of his crimes (at least according to Troy Denning) as it was all to save his daughter from being corrupted--at least according to the retcon in Fate of the Jedi.

Which felt very Un-Star Wars.

 

Yeah I'm not sure why that was, other than Denning trying to play games with the readers.

 

I find it kinda intersting that people say that Jacen's sacrifice at the end isn't going to absolve him from his crimes while the exat thing happened to Vader who was much worse than Caedus.