Lit Wasted Potential

Committing crimes, yes- but not really "part of the underworld" the way he was after he left.

 

Lorian Nod is almost as good a name as Freedon Nadd. Almost.

 

Thats true...he digressed greatly.

 

Does raise questions as to how good the Jedi are at raising kids- or if some children are just problematic from infancy.

 

Personally, I think it's impossible to ever know. Goes back to nurture versus nature...

 

Ok, really late reply, sorry about that. I was busy for a while, then I forgot.

But I would like to point out that monks don't always live in isolation, doing nothing but meditation. In particular, the Jedi have more than a few similarities with the Shaolin temple - whose monks did indeed go out and fight what they saw as wrong and even got involved in politics. Even Order 66 was, if I remember correctly, based on the various sackings of the temple in both history and folklore.

Similarly, the Sohei warrior monks of Japan were a very active political and military force, at least during the Sengoku Period.

 

You should.

Hey, everyone! Trip's theory *was* elegant, and also cool. Can confirm.

 

I wanna see the theory please!

 

Okay, first, the 'religious' aspect of the Sohei is often wildly overblown. Most 'Warrior Monks' were monks in name only and were in fact former Samurai or Ashigaru fighters who joined holy orders as adults and took up arms for the various politicized factions of Buddhism in Sengoku Japan. And those fights were at best marginally about religious doctrine and mostly about raw political power (and land, war in Japan was always about land) with the sects as one more militant faction among many.

The comparison with the Shaolin is more apt, but hardly makes the Jedi look better. While Shaolin history is melded with myth and therefore rather nebulous in fact, the temple was sacked at several times. This is hardly a comparison that makes the Jedi look good or less isolated. If ordinary monks who both did not, kung Fu legends aside, possess superhuman powers, and lived within a cultural context appropriate to their beliefs (which the Jedi, living in a Westernized culture do not) couldn't keep the people from pillaging them when things went bad, how can we expect it of the Jedi? Imagine Shaolin monks wandering the countryside of 19th century America, righting wrongs as they saw fit. How well would that go over?

 

It was done (starring David Carradine, IIRC)!

 

Ok then. I concede the point.

 

Sorry about the late reply but can you be a bit more specific? Thanks