SWC Would you be a Jedi or a Sith?

While if your a with you get zapped by lightning from a weird old Man who betrays all his students.

 

Neither. Both have good qualities, both have bad qualities.
The Jedi are too strict and emotionless, but the Sith are too selfish and ruthless.

 

Neither. I prefer to walk the line down the center as a Grey Jedi.

 

We'd learn both the ways of the Jedi and Sith just like Lord Revan!

 

If it were the post-OT EU, I'd say Jedi in a heartbeat. But in the Old Republic era? I'd throw my lot in with the Sith.

 

I would not want to be either. I guess if I had to pick I would be a Jedi.

 

I think I'd be a Jedi, but probably more like a Gray Jedi. Hopefully won't fall to the dark side completely.

 

Definitely Sith.

I'm a big believer in transhumanism, improving the quality of life, trying to create a technological utopia, immortality, things like that. In my personal interpretation of canon, the Sith, with their goals of immortality, have come the furthest in their transhumanist efforts, from the technique of essence transfer to biological immortality. The Jedi are conservative, backwards monks who kidnap children and raise them in a cult-like setting where they are not only taught to repress their emotions, their humanity, with even a staple of organic life (familial and romantic love) being barred, but they're also essentially reared as child soldiers. The Jedi embrace death; sure, they call it "becoming one with the Force," but right up until Yoda and Qui-Gon rediscovered the lost art of becoming a Force ghost, Jedi cozy up to the permanent dissolution of sapient identity. Again, they give it a nice name, a la "going to Heaven," but let's not ignore the fact that Jedi are deathists, unlike the Sith, and that is moral anathema to me given the lack of evidence for what they claim.

The very first conflict between Jedi and their dark counterparts who would become Sith Lords? It was because the Dark Jedi were using the Force to manipulate life. Creating new life, changing life, seeking immortality... These Dark Jedi were trying to create a utopia without the horrors of death and biological affliction, yet manipulating life was "unnatural" according to the Jedi, so they were cast out. How sad, that the galaxy could have become a utopia, yet instead the Sith were forced into their own small corner of space, free to work on creating utopia, and defeating death. The Sith are forward-thinkers who recognise the vast potential for the Force to be used for good; is using a few tricks like pushing things around as part of a galactic police force (who have a license to kill that, if held by modern day police forces, would horrify us) really the most effectively altruistic use of the Force? No, the Sith wanted to unlock the Force's full potential, and remake the universe into a utopia with their powers, just as we today are unravelling the mysteries of the universe, remaking the world into one friendlier to human existence. I have no doubt the Sith arts of alchemy and dark side devices like the Star Forge could have cured all diseases, removed death from the equation, and even ended all resource shortages thus turning the galaxy into a post-scarcity civilisation. They would have brought about a technological singularity, and the end results would probably look like something out of Iain Banks' Culture series.

Consider that the Sith's worst atrocities have been in wartime, and that the Jedi and Republic are no saints on that score, even stooping to the degree of attempted genocide against the entire Sith species - men, women and innocent children. However harsh, the ends-justifies-the-means approach of certain Sith (certainly not brutal warmongers like Malak or egomaniacal psychopaths like Palpatine, but alchemists like the first Sith Lords or Plagueis) to me is far ethically superior to the unscientific "There is no death, there is the Force" dogma of the Jedi.

 

Problem being that people who start out fairly nice (Malak in the first parts of the KOTOR comic) have this tendency to become worse people when exposed to the Dark Side of the Force.

The Jedi have also evolved considerably over time - the PT-era Jedi are very different from the ones of older eras.

 

Very true. There's so many flaws on both sides, but I do think the flaws of the Sith are easily magnified due to the kinds of actions sparking successful revolutions against corrupt, backwards regimes (the Republic!) in order to avoid genocidal persecution make necessary. Add the simple, evolutionary reason for power alone corrupting - the pressure to cooperate rather than defect slackens considerably once you're the alpha male of the tribe - and the kind of personal tragedy or unique experiences - of experiencing the very worst of society's status quo, e.g. the Jedi's refusal to help and the horrors of the Mandalorian Wars - associated with 'breaking free' of typical, apathetic thinking, and I think the excesses of the very worst Sith Lords are explained without necessarily saying 'The dark side made him do it.' Similaerly, I think Atris' fanaticism explains her various evils without saying the holocrons had a magically corrupting influence on her.

 

The Ketos spring to mind as "relatively normal aristocrats who are twisted by the dark side into its servants once they start dabbling".


Corran's view of the Dark Side also seems to be "one big use of it, and your character will twist, turning you into a monster." in I, Jedi.

Different authors have different takes, of course. However, if I were dropped into the SW-verse, knowing everything I know but no more (besides how to speak Basic) and given fairly hefty Force-potential - I'd be far more inclined to seek out the Jedi than the Sith - for fear of those authors turning out to be right. Preferably the less uptight Jedi (Djinn Altis's sect would be a good example, during the era leading up to TPM).

 

That's where I differentiate my 'historian/accuracy' POV, where Force ghosting is selfish denial of the will of the Force and the dark side is magically corrupting, and my 'personal interpretation,' where neither of these things are entirely true. And in the latter interpretation, the Ketos were twisted by the dark side, and Force ghosting is a selfish denial of the will of the Force... but only from a certain point of view, with a certain definition of 'the dark side' (as the Jedi might define it, perhaps, referring solely to sociopathic patterns of behaviour exhibited by their adversaries), and from a certain definition of 'selfish,' and so on.

I think if I were dropped into the GFFA, I'd probably create a clone with full flash imprinting as Zeta Magnus did and precommit to dabbling in the dark side if I woke up as the clone, and thereby empirically test what personality altering effects it may have, if any.

 

Would that be before, or after, seeking out Golg and the Heart of Graush?

 

Before. I think letting myself be possessed by the shade of an ancient Sith Lord and blackmailing him into performing the Force walk ritual and relinquishing posession (but only after stealing the powers of Palpatine, Darth Nihilus, Vitiate and others, of course) would count as dabbling in the dark side. Of course, if I didn't want to risk having a psychopath!Dreadwar rival running around (in case the dark side truly is corrupting), I suppose I could simply go ahead and dabble in the dark side myself, learning the power of memory rub having installed a slave implant that kills me (thus working as adequate blackmail against future!possiblyevil!me) if I refuse to wipe all of my memories as a dark-sider if I fail to pass a Rakatan mind reading test (of the sort attuned to Revan's mind, that detected the amnesiac Revan's mental signature being sufficiently different to bar passage to the Star Map, so it would detect the mental differences hypothetical dark side corruption would result in) I had set up beforehand...

Furthermore, in order to have more than just autonomous copies of myself running around, I'd link them all up with nihil smokestone, creating a sort of Dreadwar hivemind distributed among multiple bodies. If one Dreadwar begins to be corrupted by the dark side, it'll be like a drop in the ocean, as my consciousness would essentially be spread among many, and any personality changes in one Dreadwar would be swiftly overpowered and corrected by my 'overmind.'

 

Considering how much time and money it would cost to acquire such resources - I doubt I'd be thinking that far ahead. "Find Altis - try and get trained from "potential" to as far as I can manage" would be about my speed, at least to begin with. Once I have "Force Skills" - then I'd think about other stuff.

 

Well, it'd very much depend on where I'm dropped, in what circumstances, etc. But generally my first priority would be to get to Korriban with adequate defenses provided by the very best mercenaries, munchkin my way into becoming the most powerful Sith Lord through acquisition of the Heart and the Force walk ritual (performed at the Temple of Korman Lao, of course, so I wouldn't have to trek to each individual Sith Lord's tomb in order to steal their power). Whether it be cheating at gambling, or simply mentally dominating several million of the galaxy's wealthiest to each gift you a credit, once you're at that level it'd be trivially easy to create the necessary clone vats and so on. And of course, if I'm a Force muggle and the Force walk doesn't work in artificially granting me Force sensitivity (although I do believe blackmailing Dathka Graush to possess me and perform the Force walk and bind Palpatine's spirit to me should not only grant me Palpatine's Force sensitivity but also his powers), there's always the Chiloon Rift monolith, the Malrev IV temple, the Mask of Nihilus, and the Valley of the Jedi and Scepter of Ragnos depending on which era I'm dropped in, and then I could perform the Force walk.

 

Jedi, forever!

 

You will find whilst my name being The Sith Camp haha and whilst I DO LIKE THE SITH and such then again consider whilst the Jedi Order is strict and a little 'dogmatic' then again - the Sith are:

1.) Treacherous - TREACHERY IS WAY OF THE SITH - one way or another - from the Old Republic to now - look at the fact it doesn't matter whether it was the Ancient Massassi/Dark Jedi on Korriban to the Baneite Rule of Two to the One Sith Empire of Darth Krayt - if Sith are NOT 100% friendly to one another ... and the Rule of Two - even though Darth Plagueis resented it and such tried to get Palpatine NOT to kill or hide secrets from him ... yet Palpatine still murdered him in cold blood ...
2.) Violent and Angry and Selfish ... the fact how Sith one way or another usually meet a horrible and violent end ...
3.) Consider how Sith also - in the Rule of Two - they have the Sith Apprentice WHO MUST KILL THE MASTER ... would the Jedi Order tolerate this? NO WAY! I mean imagine Master Yoda telling a group of brand new initiates and Padawans 'great Power to gain you have ... by killing ME YOU MUST!' - I mean who wants to really end up in a horrible and potentially VERY PAINFUL end as the Sith Master in the Baneite System or the fact still in the Old Republic - consider the fact Ancient Sith Lords and the thugs on Korriban had an animalistic 'butcher' mob-mentality where the strongest and meanest and most violent survived ... the rest - the weaklings died ... and the fact how even Darth Plagueis criticized Ancient Sith Lords as being 'animals and butchers' when lecturing Palpatine the fact how the Baneite Sith are 'architects of the future' ...
4.) Lacking Compassion ... I am actually a person of peace and ofc compassionate - not some cold hard-hearted selfish individual - particularly Palpatine who didn't 'give a Force' about anyone ... and yet Anakin for all his vices he did say 'Jedi use their Powers for Good...they care about others...' which for the matter was correct and how Qui-Gon Jinn explained that was the key to True Immortality

True - whilst Darth Plagueis explained the concept of Sith Lightning and applied it and whilst Sith Lightning is a Powerful Force Power and one of my favorite I MUST HAVE IT Force-Powers then again the evil inherent Dark Side nature of Sith Lightning was that the 'true Sith' practitioner must 'reject Compassion' and 'accept Consequence' - true we must sometimes face the music BUT do we really want to do things that we know of the Consequences that may be beyond any comprehension?

5.) Well ... the fact the Dark Side of the Force ravages and is extremely unstable and violent and no doubt painful ... is it always necessary to go by the doctrine 'No Pain No Gain!' claim? I mean the fact some devoted Sith have scars in the form of nasty battle scars, painful Sith Tattoos applied by Pincerbugs ... or like Palpatine ravaged physically by the Dark Side of the Force ...
6.) The fact should I join the Jedi - well atleast a Jedi too could have a working knowledge AND apply SOME Force Powers that the Sith normally use (e.g. facsimiles of Force Lightning - well look at Luke's Electric Judgement OR Form VII Vaapad - Mace Windu was able to 'Master It')
7.) The fact Jedi next to using Powers for GOOD AND COMPASSION - well Jedi for the matter use words and wisdom by default to solve problems AND the fact Form 0 - using words or non-violence to solve problems
8.) The fact Sith are never 100% friendly to one another and how Darth Anddedu claimed 'Knowledge is Power and Sith DO NOT SHARE POWER!' to Darth Wyrlock III during the One Sith Empire of Darth Krayt ... old wounds and habits don't die eh? PLUS whereas in the Rule of Two the Sith Master teaches AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE to avoid the Sith Apprentice gaining too much knowledge ... a Jedi doesn't do that ... I mean the fact Obi-Wan Kenobi told Anakin he had 'trained him as well as he could and taught him everything he knew and he was proud Anakin had become a BETTER JEDI than he expected' - other than emotional whims and impulse and a lack of patience ...

Well summed up! Actually - some Sith like Darth Plagueis 'resented' the Rule of Two ... AND look at how Darth Bane he HATED the Brotherhood of Darkness and he practically 'Forced' the followers to die by goading Kann to use the Thought Bomb ... and the fact how Ancient Sith Lords were even criticized by Darth Plagueis being 'butchers and animals' and no doubt given they had a mob-animalistic mentality where the most strongest and violent survived and weaklings all died for the matter ... then we get how some like Darth Nihilus - he's interesting because ironically for a Sith Lord ... he doesn't 'give a Force' about the Sith! He didn't care about them or anything other than satisfying his hunger and getting MORE POWER somewhat by satisfying that hunger ...

Hmm - actually you know Darth Tenebrous remarked to Darth Plagueis in the novel "We Sith are an unseen opposition. A phantom menace. Where the Sith once wore armor, we now wear cloaks. But the Force works through us all the more powerfully in our invisibility." - that explains the cloaks and the discarding of Ancient Sith Battle Armor eh?

 

It's really a hard dessision, but the sith are mystical and interesting! (I'll join the dark side.)

 

Well - we're talking the Rule of Two Baneite Sith for the matter in terms of mystical and interesting? Given the fact Ancient Sith were technically the Massassi - being a wild and proud and violent species already living in Korriban for the matter and later the Dark Jedi came, conquered and for the matter interbred with the Massassi ... and hence the Sith we know of ...

Plus the fact Ancient Sith were violent and had a mob-mentality of 'beast-eats-beast' butchers world where the strongest lived and weaklings died compared to the Rule of Two ... and the fact how not all Sith are 100% friendly to one another and the fact Treachery and Fear and such are the TRUE REALITIES and such for the Sith ... not Palpatine's claim to Darth Maul 'there can only be two ...' and the fact how Darth Bane himself hated the fact the Ancient Sith in his time were too arrogant and greedy and selfish even by Sith standards to achieve any Power and the fact there were more Sith then before he devised the Baneite Rule of Two Sith where there is always only two at one time ... and how the fact Ancient Sith for the matter - or the thugs on Korriban being violent mob-mentality motivated beings and beasts they 'wore armor' and 'wielded Sith Swords and Sith Alchemy' yet where Darth Tenebrous remarked to Darth Plagueis the generation of Baneite Sith were 'a Phantom Menace wearing cloaks to make them all the more invisible and yet Powerful...'

But still - 'civilized' Sith or not - so Rule of Two Sith or such - one way or another Sith will meet a violent or painful for the matter end ... and how Treachery is way of the Sith and how Sith are violent and selfish - even for the Rule of Two Sith for the matter and hence they cannot achieve 'true Immortality' - looking at Darth Sion, Anddedu and Nihilus - whom for the matter were beyond their prime at times yet they endured painful means to keep themselves alive ... in the form of a walking talking mummy-like corpse for Darth Sion, the agony of your soul being 'ripped apart' via Essence Transfer and well being literally a Wound in the Force for Darth Nihilus ...

Then again Palpatine's claim how Sith and Jedi are not different in the general concept and philosophy of achieving Power and Immortality in ways of the Force ... and the fact how he remarked to Anakin somewhat that 'have you thought how the SITH consider the JEDI to be the BAD GUYS when the JEDI see US SITH as the BAD GUYS too?'

 

Taken at face-value, I generally speaking gravitate more towards the Jedi way and Jedi ideals. However, well-meaning though they are, the Jedi are still massively misguided in many crucial aspects of sentient existence, and I actually think the Sith have the capacity to enjoy life more fully, given the inherently hedonistic and self-serving nature of their code. Somewhere in there, is a beautiful Golden Mean that strikes the perfect balance between the two diametrically opposing ideologies.
I would like to be trained in the Jedi arts, and then depart the Order upon my knighthood, settle down on a frontier world somewhere - such as Dantooine - start a family, and help the locals and possibly the government with their various day-to-day struggles and adversities. That's how I've always thought the Jedi should operate, anyway. They should be somewhat nomadic in nature. Always on the move, journeying wherever the Force calls them.

 

Of course - then again some like Cade Skywalker and well the 'Gray/Grey Jedi' for the matter they weren't always going to be 100% with the Jedi Order's ideals but atleast they wouldn't downright succumb to madness like the Sith (well violent delusional and selfish Ancient Sith like Kann) ... and the fact how they wouldn't choose a side but walk the line and road between ... and then again I suppose its not all too bad given you get access to Powers and fantastic abilities of the Force without too much restriction - provided though you know the limits ... given from Wookiepedia ' independent Force-user groups included the Ysanna, the Witches of Dathomir, the Aing-TiiMonks, the Baran Do, the Fallanassi, the Jensaarai, the Krath, the Sorcerers of Tund as well as many other Force-based organizations ...'

Hmm - on the other hand - the fact before Luke's Jedi Order the Jedi Order was a tad bit 'dogmatic' given the fact besides the general concepts on 'how' a Jedi must be and 'the Jedi Way' which isn't bad but then again given how Anakin somewhat in the long term through Luke would lead to the New Jedi Order (well Jedi could have families and have a little more liberal freedom) and the fact how Luke claimed '"I don't believe the training of a true Jedi comes from listening to lectures. I want to teach you how to learn action, how to do things, not just think about them. There is no try." ... and then again the need at times to adapt and change ... given the Jedi Order under Master Yoda was unable to sense (well with Prong Krell's exception and to an extent Count Dooku) the Rule of Two Baneite Sith - in the form of Palpatine and Darth Plagueis and the fact how they thought 'the Sith destroyed themselves 1000 years ago...' yet the fact how in the novel Master Yoda realized 'even he too had lost from the start and had been arrogant until it was too late' when he was dueling Palpatine in the Senate ... how instead of expecting hordes of Sith Soldiers and Warriors and well 'delusional, angry, violent and selfish' thugs and mob-minded butchers and murderers from Korriban we see simply 'there can only be two; the Master and the Apprentice at one time...' and how the Rule of Two Baneite Sith for 1000 years patiently trained and adapted and waited for their return and how even in the Darth Plagueis novel Darth Tenebrous remarked 'Sith once wore armor but now we Sith wear cloaks as a Phantom Menace to make us all the more Powerful and Invisible...'

Perhaps then the need to adapt though as well was essential no doubt ... I mean otherwise we might as well just have another delusional Kann II use a stupid Thought-Bomb and launch suicidal attacks against the Republic and yet having to deal with rival Sith factions whom probably 'don't give a Force' about one another other than their own benefit ... but then again Baneite 'civilized architects of a Phantom Menace' to the Ancient mob-mentality minded thugs of Korriban of animals and butchers of Massassi/Dark Jedi in the end Treachery, Selfishness and Anger and a 'cycle of endless Violence' one way or another will plague the Sith and hence they cannot achieve true Immortality and even if they did - it would be in the form of 'a walking talking corpse of a Korriban Zombie (aka Darth Sion more or less), a Wound in the Force (Darth Nihilus whom ironically 'didn't give a Force about the Sith'), dying in multiple fresh clone bodies to be 'reborn' (Darth Anddedu's Essence Transfer and for the matter how Palpatine had to resort to this), Midichlorian Manipulation (well we have read abit of it from Darth Plagueis's novel but then again he was killed and 'charged with utmost contempt and agony' by Palpatine and how Palpatine didn't know 100% all the secrets) or simply the 'Fear' itself ... the Fear of Death which all Sith for the matter no matter how Powerful from Marka Ragnos to Palpatine ... they no doubt would have tried to avoid it at all costs physically and due to selfishness and violence and greed and anger as we know it they cannot be a true Force Ghost unlike a Jedi ... or horrible sacrifices and draining souls of Force-Sensitives given http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Immortality ... or worst yet the fate of some like Palpatine or Darth Tenebrous in the end in a nasty 'Force-ful' wormhole of agony and twisted horror and despair ...

 

I'd be a Jedi. Would have to see how long I could stay in the Council's good graces, but I wouldn't become a Sith.

 

I'd be a Jedi, for sure. As a person, I've come to believe in a lot of the things that the Jedi teach.

 

I would be neither, I would live harmoniously between both sides of the force.