Eosin the Red said:
Yoda - The wise master, made more so by his culpability for the fall of the Jedi.
Mace - The rightious warrior.
Obi-Wan -- The man who followed the rules, because nobody else was.
Qui-Gon - listens only to the force, more elemental.
I think that Mace will also come to embody the arrogance that helped lead to the downfall of the Jedi. He is a great warrior, but unlike Yoda, it is not tempered by wisdom. I think Yoda is already beginning to see where things are headed, but I think it will take Mace by surprise.
Another thought about the Jedi children. 1,000 generations ago several infants did not up and leave their parents so they could form the order. THe order was formed by adults who had studied the force. Somewhere along the lines people knew their parents and it did not destroy the order? Why change?
The Sith. I imagine the Sith were the reason they changed it. Lucas has said that the first Sith was a fallen Jedi. I imagine he was a lot like Anakin: an idealist, somewhat naive, who lost what he loved the most. Like Anakin, his life had been given meaning by the Force, so he embraced the same idea that Anakin did, "If I had been POWERFUL enough in the Force, I could have prevented this." So, driven to seek personal power, this Sith would have corrupted others. This led to the war between the Jedi and Sith that all the books talk about. In the wake of that war, surveying the destruction caused, ultimately, by the selfishness of ONE Jedi, they would have begun to weed out causes of selfishness. This would expand over time, to weeding out attachments, and even a sense of self. A good idea carried perhaps a bit too far. They divested themselves of passions and attachments, and in doing so, isolated themselves too much.
Possessive relationships are the bane of the Jedi especially marriage (which BTW is an institue dedicated to the orderly disburcement of property, not love).
Originally, perhaps, but the troubadours changed that in Western culture. And if you watched the romantic scenes in AotC, I think it's clear Lucas was proceeding from that tradition.
Tradition has clouded the minds and history of the jedi. Sure, love is dangerous but you can not face fear, anger, & hate with emptiness. It doesn't work. Vader was lost. His son who had FAITH in his father faced, the darkness alone. His HOPE that there was still goodness in the Sith Lord allowed him to confront his deepest fears. The LOVE of the last Jedi redeemed Vader.
Agreed. Ultimately, Anakin balanced the Force by creating one Jedi who was doing the right thing, his son. Qui-Gon Jinn talked about the Will of the Force, and there's a great deal of talk throughout the series of Destiny, that those who can feel the Force have things they are MEANT to do. I think the Will of the Force has a notion of how it SHOULD be used and that it created Anakin to bring the users of the Force back in line, not only by killing the last Sith Lord, but also by cleansing the Jedi. The Sith are an abberation. The Jedi are guided by the Force. The Sith twist the Force to their purposes. They must be removed to bring balance. But the Jedi, too, are not truly following the Will of the Force. They are more interested in their rules and codes than in trusting to the Force. I think Yoda and Obi-Wan will come to realize that Qui-Gon was the one who had it right. Remember when Obi-Wan was instructing Luke in ANH? "You must let go your conscious self and trust your instincts." "Stretch out with your
feelings." "Let go." I have a hard time with the rules-conscious Obi-Wan of the first two movies being so able to let go of intellect. Those sound more like things Qui-Gon would say. Did say, in fact, to Anakin, "Feel. Don't think. Use your instincts."
And Anakin had it right when he said that compassion is essential to a Jedi. What's so compassionate about locking yourself up in a Temple and acting as diplomats and political advisors? The Jedi should be using their skills and powers for the benefit of all life, no matter the scale of the cause.
Sorry about the book... I get a little verbose sometimes...