Saga Star Wars Philosophy: Jedi and Sith

Jedi Merkurian · Jul 18, 2014

Iron_lord said: ↑

Luceno's very good when it comes to continuity nods.
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Yes. Yes he is.

darth-sinister · Jul 19, 2014

Iron_lord said: ↑

Luceno's very good when it comes to continuity nods.
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To be fair, he really had to be vigilant with the novels that tied heavily into the films.

Gamiel · Jul 29, 2014

Master Raze Golladio said: ↑

Yes, Palpatine was absolutely using those concepts as tools to manipulate Anakin into following him. The entirety of the scenes between Anakin and Palpatine in RotS were a very clever way for him to steer Anakin gradually into considering some acts and thoughts that, under the leadership of the Jedi, he would not normally have considered.

The scenes in the Mortis episodes of TCW with Anakin and The Father, The Daughter and The Son were interesting from a philosophical and religious perspective as well, because it introduced staples of our world's belief structures, like deities, trinities and duality. They were quite polarising in terms of the meanings of the light and dark sides of the Force, showing that the light side was very much peaceful, considerate and giving, whereas the dark side was far more anarchic, power-driven and selfish. The trouble I have with this is that any truly good story with any kind of depth to it really needs to have morally grey characters, by which I mean like those characters that can be created in AD&D under the overall alignment headings of Chaotic Good and Lawful Evil:

From "Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)" on Wikipedia:
Chaotic Good

A Chaotic Good character favors change for a greater good, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom, not only for oneself, but for others as well. They always intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally disorganized and often out of alignment with the rest of society. They may create conflict in a team if they feel they are being pushed around, and often view extensive organization and planning as pointless, preferring to improvise.
Robin Hood,StarbuckfromBattlestar Galactica, andMalcolm ReynoldsfromFireflyare examples of Chaotic Good individuals

Lawful Evil

A Lawful Evil character sees a well-ordered system as being easier to exploit, and shows a combination of desirable and undesirable traits; while they usually obey their superiors and keep their word, they care nothing for the rights and freedoms of other individuals and are not averse to twisting the rules to work in their favor. Examples of this alignment include tyrants, devils, undiscriminating mercenary types who have a strict code of conduct, and loyal soldiers who enjoy the act of killing.
Like Lawful Good Paladins, Lawful Evil characters may sometimes find themselves faced with the dilemma of whether to obey law or evil when the two conflict. However, their issues with Law versus Evil are more concerned with "Will I get caught?" versus "How does this benefit me?"
Boba FettofStar Wars, andX-Men'sMagnetoare cited examples of Lawful Evil characters
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These are the types of characters that really flesh out a story and give it more dimension than the average "good vs. evil" plot for most movies. The article mentions Boba Fett as a Lawful Evil type of character, but I think if you truly want to make a story good, you need to have core characters like that - people doing bad things, but for the right reasons - and I think if you stop and think about it enough, you'll see that most of the characters in the Saga are like that. Luke and Han both participate in the murder of thousands of people aboard the Death Star in order to save millions of lives across the galaxy. And in the same vein, Anakin brutally slaughters Dooku in order to try and end the Clone War.

But in terms of core Jedi vs. Sith philosophy, I think what it really boils down to is personal gain. The Jedi ideal (to whatever degree it is upheld) is to be completely altruistic and of a "service to others" mindset, without emotional involvement, since passion and attachment lead to vulnerability and corruption. The Sith ideal, on the other hand, is a selfish need to demonstrate and maintain power and superiority over others by means of caring too much about things to a point where they defend them with terminal intensity (as I believe the military like to phrase it). The trouble is, we're not machines, so we're all prone to corruption and aspiration, so neither path is truly, completely and purely achievable.
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Saga Star Wars Philosophy: Jedi and Sith

Jedi Merkurian Future Films Rumor Naysayer Staff Member Manager

darth-sinister Manager Emeritus VIP - Former Mod/RSA

Gamiel Chosen One