Full Series The Bendu

Just saw the relevant bits on YouTube. The Father, QuiGon, Kenobi, Anakin, and Yoda all become enlightened. Not so for the Bendu. His Middle is still dualistic. And his being in isolation a form of spiritual quietism and narcissism. His ego wounded, he gave into the dark side, though it's too early to see if it'll consume him or not. There is no gray if we mean being able to use both light and dark. The light is the Force in sync, the dark is when it's out of sync. Things aren't absolutely light or dark. It's Jedi sight that can discern what is relatively good or evil. Kenobi wouldn't have killed Maul if he didn't have to protect himself and ultimately Luke. He was selfless, the Bendu selfish.

 

Maybe in this creature's warped sense of justice( revenge, retaliation and retribution all that kinda thing), if he does decide to go after the Jedi and the Sith/Empire, it could be his version of creating balance and the middle as its pretty apparent he wants to wipe out the Jedi and all their kind- he's no longer neutral or dormant now. Just for calling him a coward, Bendu goes on a rampage of murder. That kinda anger and true self becomes known, so his "balance" is really questionable. I never trusted the character. But Rebels has a bad habit of quickly creating conflict and sparking something interesting to prematurely just squashing it or it goes nowhere for long. Not sure I will follow the 4th Season, but it would be interesting to see if or where they go with this character.

Bendu opening the Sith holocron way back when, may of indicated his more dark nature and alignment, and/or it could've corrupted him despite all his philosophy and rhetoric .

 

I wonder if the glowing yellow eyes signify anything in regards to the force... we've seen it before. Maybe your eyes glow yellow when you achieve a certain level of oneness with the force?





side note the force wellspring has an interestingly similar color palette to Atollon.

 

The only time we see yellow eyes is with dark side adepts.

 

that's too narrow minded considering we're still at the beginning of understanding the force in the new continuity. Bendu is the second example of a force user who has exhibited glowing yellow eyes which we first saw with the Force Priestesses, and both seem to have the same level of knowledge of the force.

 

The Bendu, ultimately, I think is what you have with unchecked Force God powers and no moral compass pointing particularly either way. "Leave me alone or I'll freak out eventually" Thrawn done killed him real good, though, so take that, ya lazy so and so.

 

You're right, I had forgotten the Force Priestesses have yellow eyes. And the Son has red eyes. And Dooku has normal eyes. So eye color is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition to be dark side.

 

Kylo Ren also doesn't have yellow eyes, but he isn't a sith just a dark sider.

 

Snoke doesn't either. Maybe it's a Sith all-or-nothing applejack to corporeal life being the only kind, and to use the dark side to maximize this life. I don't think Dooku not having yellow eyes means he wasn't fully evil like some have opined. Like Palpatine he had a public image to maintain. After Palpatine had the experience with Windu he could blame it on the Jedi.

 

Bendu keeps proclaiming he serves the will of the Force, which seems a strange and pretty blasphemous boast, as he clearly serves his own will. Or more likely he believes himself to be the will of the Force.

The Nightsisters and Ventress did not develop or manifest the yellow eyes of the Sith Lords, despite being full blown Dark Siders. While they did have a little different philosophy and manner about them on how to control and use the Dark Side, their pathway and embrace of the Dark Side yet is still pretty much similar to the Sith Lords - and later they turn Savage's eyes into what the Sith have that apparently never alerts Dooku when he sees him. Vos does develop the Sith eyes under Dooku's Sith Apprenticeship.

Dathomirians all have white skin, that looks very similar to also to like a corpse white color that was pretty commonly used in the EU for Dark Siders - and least was the case for Vader and Sidious but both Sidious and Vader were badly damaged. For Snoke, his skin and disfigurement apparently follows a more EU pattern of Dark Side corruption but something else may be at work. Who knows maybe his eyes change in another film or he has more than one guise. Dooku was shown with yellow "Sith eyes" only once, when he Force Lightning attacked Savage during his training on Serreno.

"Dark Side teeth" seem to be another indicator of absolute corruption. Savage, Maul and Sidious had it too. Seems inconsistent though, more so than the eyes imo - especially on Rebels Maul no longer has the evil teeth, maybe a sign of less corruption, or the change in the art and production as Vader under the mask was kinda anachronistic.

TCW Sidious under his hood switched to yellow eyes apparently at will, otherwise he kept his human eyes when not dressed as the a dark lord. Vader kept the yellow eyes as a cyborg, post Mustafar transformation and disfigurement . Rebels screwed up his eye color for unknown reasons but it did not match the "Sith yellow eyes". They also gave him eyebrows(again) and his skin color did not seem be the cadaver white of Rogue One or ESB or ROTJ. Maul always seemed to have those yellow Sith eyes even onto his death scene - they never turned off or reverted back to anything. Savage's eyes were transformed when he was induced with the magical powers of the Nightsisters, basically he was pumped full of Dark Side steroids via the Sisters. The Force Priestesses or Shaman of the Whills whatever its called, was another oddball. Names like Anger, Confusion & Sadness does not bring to mind something Good Side/Light Side.

 

No offense, but it is actually the Jedis together with Darth Sidious that made possible Darth Sidious to be absolute ruler of the Galaxy.
Yes, Jedis were deceived, but it was very against their principles to act like they did, under Senator Palpatine.

Just think, Bendu is on a peaceful planet and suddenly, Rebels come and make their base there.
He receives them and welcomes them.
Somehow, because of their incompetence, Rebels disclose their location to Empire.
A large battle starts troubling the living creatures from the planet where Bendu lives.

Why Bendu reveals himself?
Maybe lower down the arrogance of Thrawn, I think.

Question is, if Bendu would have wanted to kill Kanan or Thrawn, could't he done that?

If Bendu would not have acted like that, Kanan and the rest would have been taken as prisoners, by Thrawn.
So Bendu does actually saves Kanan.
I think Bendu does a controlled strike on Kanan ship, to not destroy it, but just to take that he is attacking everyone.
Maybe he lets himself hit by Thrawn on purpose, just to show Thrawn he is "beyond his power to destroy".

 

Yes, Bendu could have easily killed them all. The purpose of showing Bendu's power was for us the viewer to understand the size and complexity of the Force. To understand it's bigger than Jedi and Sith.

 

I do not agree with harsh criticism of some people against Bendu.
Bendu has a correct and peaceful vision upon things.
Kanan vision is darkened by hate and fanaticism.
That is not something we should expect from a Jedi.

In fact the battle from Bendu's home planet is not for freedom as Kanan says, neither for power or "giving results to Emperor" as Thrawn says.
Is actually a confrontation of multiple egos - the ego of Syndulla and Kanan on one side and the ego of Thrawn, on the other side.
Who is owning who.
Kanan and Thrawn and Syndulla are behaving like dark siders.
Kanan goes and starts to insults Bendu, who was his master, to learn him deeper ways of the Force.
That is not what a light side user is doing, not to mention a "great" jedi Knight, as Kanan pretends he is.
Syndulla cares more for Kanan, that for the rest of the Resistance members.
That is not a real leader does.

Captain Syndulla and Kanan lead the resistance in such way, that instead of helping oppressed beings from various places of Galaxy is wasting resources and lives for Kanan and Captain Syndulla egos.

There are noble characters in the battle, for example commander Sato who sacrifices himself to help people escape or Ezra and Sabine and Sabine mandalorians and Bendu which also helps the "great leaders" (read huge egos - Kanan and Sindula) escape.

Disney wanted to make a propaganda episode, with Kanan and Syndulla as main characters, but the script writers betrayed them, with deeper meanings that they hidden in the script .

Is Bendu and Ezra and Sabine and Sabine's mandalorians and commander Sato who saves the day for poor Resistance members.
Neither of them keeps a motivating discourse , all are modest and barely show as main characters of these two episodes.

EDIT:
Let us not forget, Kanan calls Bendu a coward and accuses him of hiding etc.
But at the end of the battle, we are seeing Kanan Jarus "Jedi Knight" which flees from Thrawn and Thrawn troops, while Bendu stays and protects him.

I understood now also why while fleeing, Bendu moderately hits Kanan Jarus ship with Force lightning, while telling "Kanan Jarus, Jedi Knight" -no, Kanan is actually behaving like a coward Sith Lord together with his dear incompetent Syndulla, which almost cause the destruction of the resistance, with her great "leadership" (read arrogance).
Is also fun what kind of "help" Mon Mothma offers to resistance members ,that she will negotiate a fair treatment for prisoners.

I forgot to add to the people who saved the day to all those under Commander Sato command, which are also sacrificing their lives to help others live.
Also, Captain Rex ,other low profile character from Rebels, which starts and powers up the shield that Sabine built , saving at least hundreds if not thousands of lives.

 

Yea -- and the Yellow Eyes in a Sith look nothing like these eyes -- that are simply Golden Glowing Orbs more than eyes.

And... Snoke? Kylo? Didn't see any yellow eyes in Kylo -- and we did see dark orbs in Snoke and Red ones in the Son...

Edit: Looks like you guys covered this one already

Incidentally -- as for The Bendu -- I don't recall him ever a: saying he was in balance b: claiming he was peaceful c: acting in a manner inconsistent with previous appearances...

Right -- because there have been no previous appearances -- so anything he does is new and has no precedent to be disputed.

He only said he was in the middle -- and if anything -- that indicates a very imbalanced place to be. ie - imagine "being on the fence" being closer to his meaning when he says "in the middle"

On another note -- it sure would be interesting to know if these different uber-powerful beings know of each other.
There really is no reason for them to -- and plenty of stories outside of SW have all powerful beings that seem to have Zero relationship to one another.

 

The Bendu yellow eyes reminded me of Darth Bane...

 

according to one theory, that Darth Bane was conjured up by the Force Priestesses to tempt Yoda as a test
The Darth Bane which was drawn and shot in the Mortis deleted scene is classic sith.

 

Yeah, I believe that is the canon status. Darth Bane was just an illusion created to test Yoda.

 

The father from Mortis, Master Yoda when retired to Dagobah , Obi Wan when guarding Luke, all become what some considers "grey" Force users.
Which means neutral Force users.
That means they have very great balance and cares a lot more about every life of a living being, than about the pride of likes like Kanan or Syndulla.
Kanan is not free cause he is a slave of arrogance and great opinion he has about himself.
If you watch with more attention, Bendu does not kills anyone from the rebels and he only strikes from Thrawn army to let Rebels escape.

So Bendu is also a very balanced Force user, which cares a lot for the lives of every living being.
There is no negative side of the Force, the Jedi are just less hypocrites than Sith lords, but they are also hypocrites, which wants to rule and be revered.
What Master Yoda,Bendu, father, Obi Wan have in common is that they live in solitude.

EDIT:
Bendu lives in harmony with the spiders near him and pretty likely with other creatures from Atollon. How could he be part Sith Lord? What Sith Lord every lived in harmony with a living being?
Is actually the "great Jedi" Kanan which sees enemies everywhere and with his negative feelings cannot live in harmony with the spider from Atollon, until Bendu does not teach him.
Ezra on the other side has a lot more harmony with living beings.
Master Yoda has saith "Wars not make one great".

 

I don't know if their explanation ever made sense once. Why even build pyramids and other structures to house the dead, if the Sith did not view an afterlife, why would they have all these elaborate burial grounds for. Why did the Sith or their followers care for the dead, if they destroyed eachother and death to them was permanent . Why did the Sith construct masks, lances and other objects that were capable of corruption and Force power. Sith cultists also believe it possible to revitalize and ressurect a dead Dark Lord by bring the soul back to living flesh(seems very similar to the Nightsisters). Apparently the Jedi had a similar belief where they all become with the Force, Sith on TCW seem to view death as nothingness. But who or what creates the Dark Side, if it has a source, then its emitting from somewhere and somehow. Who built Bane's pyramid, and who built the valley of the Dark Lords of Moraband and why. In the Darth Maul comic, breathing in the ash and bone dust remains of the dead, creates apparitions and visions of the past and they're able to come to life in some form. Spirits even Dark Side ones do exist as do Dark Side as do vergences. Evil Sith shrines and apparently burial grounds or a "cave of evil" can haunt and come to life in various ways, and even in some cases overwhelm the Light Side - which places Yoda's absolutism into question and why the Dark Side a quick and easy path. Sith Apprentices have to go through grueling training, and do horrific things, stuff that cannot be viewed as quick and easy. Kenobi and Yoda's attempt to training Luke into a weapon, didnt go so well, and Yoda seemed very unsure of the boy due to his temper, anger and emotions in general along with age. Also why did Yoda hold onto to life for so long when he could've just died and become a Force Ghost. Least in the original films the ghost stuff was more universal, not a special or acquired power.

They had those Moraband serpents that transform into the Sith Warrior specters that warn Sidious and Tyranus of Yoda back on Moraband. Also how would they recreate Bane, who unlike Yoda was long dead and bone and dust. Also its not clear how they would have dominion over the Dark Side on a Dark Side planet. If the Lightside was so powerful then why didnt the Priestesses just wipe out the Dark Side or the Sith in the first place. It seems their meddling just prolongs the struggle at best. Do they even play both sides?! How can Anakin even be a chosen one, when the Dark Side once again wipes out Luke's fledging Jedi order and there is yet another purge religious persecution of Force belief from the First Order. Luke was key to Anakin's redemption, but they never explain how he transforms into a ghost(young or older version). So far, Bendu has not spoken of the Chosen One, least not yet, but Maul had. But Bendu seems to view himself as the balance, or having the right balance of both the dark and the light.



Then we have Kanan claiming, "Holocrons at times take on a life of their own." What does that even mean?! Kyber crystals are kinda living organism.

 

That could be intentional. Filoni believes the Force Planet may not be the only wellspring of life to have existed in the galaxy.

 

Thrawn would just have upped the ante and glassed him from orbit.

 

He tries to kill Kanan so not really protecting him.

 

Interesting. I wonder if he can redeem himself, realize he wasn't following the Whill of the Force.

 

Bendu does not try to kill Kanan.
He could have hit Kanan with lightning while Kanan was outside ship.

Kanan is actually descending together with Syndulla towards dark side.
The lust for power and arrogance of Kanan and Syndulla are obvious.
Kanan calls Ezra "kid" when sending him to "get help".
And is actually Kanan which reveals the location of the base to Thrawn.

Bendu is seeing what Kanan is doing and starts the storm to help Rebels escape from being killed by Thrawn and his soldiers and Kanan and others, from being captured.

Bendu is a very enlightened Force wielder, he does not let Kanan captured, because Kanan called him a coward and so on.
Bendu is actually hitting one of Thrawn soldiers with Force lightning , which thing scares Thrawn and allow Kanan and Syndulla and others escape.

What Kanan does in these 2 episode is a lot of talking and bragging but almost no deeds.
If Kanan would have been a really enlightened Force user, Darth Sidious would have tried to hunt him down.
But Darth Sidious does not search for Kanan, because he can feel Kanan arrogance and lust for power and Kanan does not bothers him.

 

Preach brother.