Dooku's force lightning. Was it an unfortunate addition?

I'd have prefered it if the lightning was left in the hands of Darth Sidious. It doesn't bother me that much but I think it's cooler if only Papls knows how to use it.

 

How badass would that have been?
And how much cooler would the OT Emperor's quip about a Jedi's weapon be?

 

Because turning to the Dark Side makes you evil.

That's not incompatible with the idea that the Republic is the bad guy(though I don't think it was.) It's only incompatible with the idea that the CIS is the good which is entirely independent of the Republic's morality.

 

I didn't think it was a problem to have Dooku using Force lightning in addition to Palpatine. Dooku's lightning is clearly shown to be weaker so it doesn't take away from Palpatine at all. Though it does raise the question as to why Maul never used it.

 

Dooku's lightning takes nothing away from Palpatine's. If anything it makes him seem more powerful. I doubt that lightning is less accessible than any other force technique, and Dooku learned it the same way you would get a basic understanding of a foreign language. Yoda could block Dooku's with one hand behind his back. But then in ROTS, the little guy flies across the room from a single zap. Palpatine still clearly has much more power. Unlimited power.

I don't doubt that Vader could use it if he wanted to. He blocked a laser with his hand, after all. I just don't see when he ever had a need for it.

 

Turning to the darkside doesn't make one evil, it only removes the shackles of morality, compassion and empathy. The darkside only provides a way for the wicked things harbored in one's heart, to manifest themselves without guilt. The darkside is never satisfied, it always wants more and doesn't care what the cost is. Anger and hate aren't the only paths to the darkside; greed, hubris and envy are equally just as destructive.

I don't believe that the darkside makes one evil, I think it just allows what was already there, to go unchecked and finally bubble-up to the suface...

 

I think there's certainly an element of that, however the Dark Side can also create new evils by twisting and bending even your greatest of virtues.

 

Hmmm...It "only" removes the shackles of morality and compassion...interesting. I would have though those are the core values of a 'good' person? If one's morality, compassion and empathy goes unchecked then one's action would inherently be defined as 'evil,' as we understand the term, surely.

It seems to me that acting without those values would lead to what we see of the Sith; 'evil' mbeings. I don't believe one can have no morals and be 'good' - the two seem, well, incompatible.

 

I think a person is already evil before they turn to the Dark Side, all the Dark Side does is feed on those dark feelings and intentions the person already has. The Dark Side corrupts that person further, making them more evil. It is like a vicious circle, one feeding the other. It gets harder and harder to pull out of it the further you go.

 

I agree completely, the dark side only emphasizes and empowers negative emotions of the being channeling it.

 

Good people have bad thoughts, no?
A moral man makes sound, ethical choices... right?

Temptation never leaves us, we learn to do the right thing by cause and effect.

The truth for me is; a good man choses to do good.
Thus, he still had to decide to do the right thing...

I do not believe that any (except One) man is born being 'inherently-good', as that would contradict the Word.

If a good person is seduced by the darkside, slowly over time, their morality erodes as they proceed to 'do what must be done' to achieve their goals. Take Maris for example, she wasn't evil. She was angry and bitter. She wanted to avenge the loss of her comrades. Some would even call that honorable. Yet, she teetered on the brink of the darkside out of a sense of loyalty, not because she lusted for power or was simply a wicked Zabrak. She was a misguided soul, who was close to losing her way. The darkside didn't give her anything, it used what was festering in her heart and mind until she got twisted by it.

Evil dwells in the hearts of all men; but a good person doesn't succumb to it...

 

That's basically what I was trying to say.

 

I'm glad I was able to properly paraphrase yer post!

 

I think I ran into trouble because, not being the Shadow, I don't know what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

 

I looked her up on the Wookieepedia. Why are her horns a red color? I thought her species only had white ones?

 

I wouldn't be surprised to find some tribal paint thing going on with her horns.
After seeing the Felucians and how Shaak Ti was sporting some body paint, its my best guess.

 

"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness."
~ Joseph Condrad

The dark side, distilled to its simplest form, is megalomania in the extreme -- a concentration of power that benefit the one over all others.

As a result, a true Sith is a sociopathic cancer, a vortex of violence that controls or, failing control, destroys anyone or anything that might threaten their self-sense of ultimate and unequaled power.

 

And what stays the hand of the Sith is but a simple thing, not even tangible to them, really.
IIRC, from one or two of the novels: "there must be some profit in death..."

Ironic, isn't it.

EDIT:
Bane, of course.
Should have remembered that one.