The Chosen One, Balance to the Force, and my son Connor

[frankthedm]

Oh, its a good answer...but it isn't right. Lucas himself has gone into the whole Dark Side doesn't balance Light Side thing.

That is what lucas intended, but it dosn't matter. The results were THIS balance.

 

[Dragonblade]

I have my own odd view of "balance" to the force.

Most immediately assume that the Jedi of the Old Republic were actually "light-siders." I disagree, they were grey -siders. Only two Jedi measure up to the ideals of the force - Qui Gon and to a lesser degree Luke. All of the other Jedi fall short to thier own ideals and the ideals of the Jedi order; they become stagnatly bound to a set of traditions and rules that keep them safe from the darkside. It is their fear of the darkside rather than their devotion to the light which prompts them to do as they do. The crowd favorite Yoda is the best example of this "force bankrupsy" - even as time moves on and we enter episodes 4-6 he is still so blinded by tradition that he cannot adapt, nor does he hear the will of the force.

The Jedi in 1-2 are a LN society whose entire organization is devoted to keeping its members free of the Darkside. It has putrified from within until it only has the trapings of "goodness" even though individuals within it still strive to do good. Rules replace reason, tradition replaces adapting, and they have come to believe that - no fear, no anger, no hate are the opposites of fear, hate and anger. Luke intuitively uses Love, Loyalty, and Compassion to redeem his father against the advice of his Master and the most famed Jedi Master in the history of the order. The return of balance is not the return of the Darkness that was the Sith [they never went anywhere], nor was it the winniowing of the numbers of Jedi, the return to balance was to replace the murky twilight of the Jedi with a pure and clean light that embraces the human condition and is willing to risk loss and willing to risk love.

This is exactly my opinion as well. But you said it more eloquently than I probably could have!

 

[Dragonblade]

The storyline of Knights of the Old Republic for Xbox actually adds more credence to Eosin's excellent theory. In that game, the Jedi have become bound by tradition, an organization that fears the darkside so much, they have forgotten what it means to be heroes, they have forgotten how to fight for what is right and good.

Your character is a renegade Jedi who hasn't forgotten what it means to be a hero, and understands that doing the right thing sometimes means you have to go to war and fight to save the people who need you and look up to you.

Unless you play as a Darksider that is...

 

[Welverin]

Am I the only one who looked at the title of this thread and assumed it was a comparison of Anakin Skywalker to The Slayer and Angel's son Conner?

I hate you for making me think of that abomination.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Rules replace reason, tradition replaces adapting, and they have come to believe that - no fear, no anger, no hate are the opposites of fear, hate and anger. Luke intuitively uses Love, Loyalty, and Compassion to redeem his father against the advice of his Master and the most famed Jedi Master in the history of the order.

Although I don't agree with all your analysis, it is the first time I've heard this - and I like it. It makes Lukes achievement seem all the more spectacular.

Incidentally, it has always bothered me that in the films while espousing 'no anger' the light sabre duels always seem to be won by the person who is most angry! Maul vs Qui-Gonn. Obi-Wan vs Maul. Luke vs Vader. In each case the winner had clearly lost control of their emotions and apparently fuelled by the very anger they were supposed to eschew come out the winners. I always wanted to see victory won by the zen-like calm of the hero (as per the closing fight scene of the Matrix). Your thoughts put an interesting spin on that.

Cheers

 

[Henry]

Incidentally, it has always bothered me that in the films while espousing 'no anger' the light sabre duels always seem to be won by the person who is most angry! Maul vs Qui-Gonn. Obi-Wan vs Maul. Luke vs Vader. In each case the winner had clearly lost control of their emotions and apparently fuelled by the very anger they were supposed to eschew come out the winners. I always wanted to see victory won by the zen-like calm of the hero (as per the closing fight scene of the Matrix).

Actually, if you look at Lucas' spin on it, the Dark Side always seems to win out in direct melee battles (as I see in the previews of Ep III, it appears that theme will be spelled out in a BIG way.) However, I think Obi-wan technically "won" the battle with Darth Vader by becoming one with the Force, and Luke almost lost the battle with Vader BECAUSE he almost won, and thereby sealing his fate as a slave of evil; instead, he spares Vader and saves his own life. Maul vs. Qui-Gonn was more through trickery than through force of arms, and as Obi-Wan proved, he was more than a bit peeved when he cut Maul in two.

Winning in terms of Star Wars jedi doesn't mean the guy who won the fight.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Ah, I bow before Jedi Master Henry. Truly this Padawan Learner still has much to unlearn.

-bows-

 

[satori01]

The funny thing is, Vader also won by Obi-Wan doing the disappering act before him, how else do you think he becomes a blue glowy guy at the end. He must have been pondering what happened in that meditation chamber of his.

Blue Glowy Jedi technique.

Sith life extender technique, like R.U.S, I'm not sure it even exsists.

 

[Desdichado]

In a very similar discussion on rpg.net, the following observation, with which I agree 100%, was offered (slightly edited to remove language that is acceptable there but not here):

From what I've read of Lucas, the Sith --by their nature-- create the imbalance. The Jedi --in their dogma-- create a situation where the Sith could prosper, without themselves being evil. The Sith mess things up by existing-- the imbalance in the force is caused by them, and the more influence they have over things, the worse the imbalance. Whack the Sith, and fix the imbalance-- Obi-Wan says as much...

Spoiler

"You were the chosen one! You were supposed to destroy the Sith and restore balance to the Force! Not become one of them!"

Or something to that effect.

But prophecy always comes back and bits you right in the nutsack. Anyone tries to give me prophecy, I'm going to hit them in the face with a half brick down a tube sock, and run for the hills.

A Jedi can be in balance without ‘being dark.’ He has to be in harmony with himself though-- accept he has the passions, and that they aren’t inherently wrong. Allowing passions to rule is the path to the Dark Side, not possessing emotions or acting with them. The dark side makes you a slave-- at first a slave to your own passions, and later a slave to a manipulative old fart who uses his age and power and experience to get inside your head and twist you into knots and make your passions serve him. Embracing the dark side means surrendering to passions, and allowing them to rule your life, damn the consequences, and hell with anyone who gets hurt-- it is pure self indulgence, pure egotism, pure narcissism. A Jedi could love, could hate, could fear, and could feel anger-- if he allows those feelings free reign, he tempts the Dark Side.

The Jedi in the age of the Republic have become so puritanical in their interpretation of the code (likely owed in no small part to Yoda’s 800-year run as resident master-in-office)-- they don’t say “Accept your feelings, they are real and legitimate, but consider them as only one important consideration among many. Balance them against honor, duty, and your sense of the Will of the Force. Meditate upon them, and when you are calm, act.” No, they say, “Become empty. Abandon attachment. Beware emotion, because it might lead you down the wrong path.”

More than once, I find myself thinking about Sex and the Force.

Sex can mess up your life if you use it badly, selfishly, in anger, fear, or hate. It also likely messes up other people’s lives too. Same with the Force. If all the Jedi order preaches is abstinence, then how the hell are a bunch of hornball Jedi kids supposed to deal with all the exciting sweaty dangerous realities of the situation safely? Anakin goes to Yoda and says, “I feel funny when I ride the bus and it’s bumpy, and I saw this girl and my lightsaber turned on all but itself, and I have hair where I didn’t have hair before… what should I do?” And all Yoda will say is, “Obstain from Sex you must, a path to VD it may become.”

The Dark Side isn’t legitimate. It isn’t healthy. It isn’t something that needs to be balanced against the light side. It is a messed up evil aberration of something beautiful and wonderful, and entirely the result of human complexity getting mixed up with a psycho-reactive universal energy field.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

That is perfectly written. Its exactly what Lucas' view of the Force is, and how things play out in the movies, themselves...as well as the EU material(especially the Tales of the Jedi comics where you see Jedi before they get wrapped up in the Code too much)