Good and Evil vs. Neutral by Nick Thompson

Good and Evil versus Neutral

An Examination of the Real Role of Good and Evil in Star Wars

“You don’t know the power of the Dark Side.” This is possibly the most famous quote from Darth Vader. He tells Luke repeatedly that the Dark Side is powerful, but he never goes into detail about the moral obligations of the Sith. It is Luke that assigns good and evil to the Jedi and the Sith, which is ironic because the Jedi are completely neutral peacekeepers and the Sith have a choice between good and evil. The Jedi seldom stray from the path of simple peacekeeping, and if they do it is to combat the Sith. They learn to control their emotions and let the Force flow freely through them. The Sith, on the other hand are very emotional, trying to control the Force to their own ends, often leading them to clash with the Jedi, because they are trying to alter the universe rather than keep it as it is.

The Jedi are the universe’s peacekeepers. They try to stop wars, often siding with the status quo to bring the war to its quickest end. In the Clone Wars, the Jedi side with the Republic to quicken the demise of the new insurrection of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. In the series Young Jedi Academy by Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, the Jedi serve only the New Republic, ergo the driving force behind the galaxy, and quell resistances such as the Shadow Academy and the Diversity Alliance. Peace and stability are what the Jedi fight for in the galaxy.

The Jedi’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the Sith, who go against what the Jedi stand for. Before Episode I takes place, the Jedi have just learned of the demise of Darth Plagueis, and think that the Sith have been eradicated. This is why they strive to keep the peace in the Republic, because if the Sith were truly dead and the Republic was at peace, the Jedi would have completed their goals. When it is revealed that the Clone Wars was an elaborate plot to revive the Sith and destroy the Jedi, the Jedi turn from their motives to keep the status quo to combat the Sith. In the original trilogy, the Jedi actively combat the status quo for the same reason, because they value the destruction of the Sith over peace. In the “Legacy” comic book series by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, Cade Skywalker, the last living Jedi, goes rogue with a small band of Freedom Fighters after the return of the Empire, going against all odds to overthrow the Sith once more. In effect, the elimination of the Sith, the Jedi believe, will be met with the embrace of their values.

The Jedi teach that emotions are hindrances. The most basic teaching of the Jedi is to let go of their emotions. The Jedi are often called to search, study, dissect, and let go of their feelings, so that the irrationality of emotion is converted and integrated into the Jedi’s stream of logic. This gives them a neutral standpoint overall, as they dissect both their evil emotions, such as hate, jealousy, and greed, and their good emotions, such as love, compassion, and joy. They learn to control their emotions, which is why they are opposed to the Sith, who learn to let their emotions control them. Yoda’s primary teaching to Anakin is, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." These negative emotions, the Jedi believe, cascade into one another. In the same way, the Jedi believe that attachment and love lead to jealousy, which leads to fear, and begins the cycle of negative emotion. Thus, even compassion and attachment are observed as obstacles to the Jedi.

The Jedi are also very passive about the future. They want the Force to flow as it will, as it does in peace. They oppose war because they believe it collides with the will of the Force. They oppose the Sith because they try to control the Force, and the future, to their own needs. Yoda’s primary teaching is to let the force flow freely. He teaches that "Careful you must be when sensing the future... The fear of loss is a path to the dark side." And that "Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is." In other words, any natural occurrence is to be accepted, and any attempt to change a natural occurrence is greatly frowned upon. The Jedi believe that the Force can take care of itself without any outside help.

The Sith, on the other hand, embrace their emotions to draw power from them. They care about civilization, they care about life, they care. And with this care, this love, they can choose diverse paths. They can choose to protect this life and its freedoms, as Darth Vader, Darth Pinzex, and Tanya Solo do in Revenge is the New Hope by Nick Phoenix, prolong this life as Darth Plagueis the Wise devoted his life to, or force order and protection on this life by stifling its freedoms as Darth Sidious does in the Star Wars movies. They are constantly upsetting the Jedi’s views on emotion, and although they are not usually too concerned with the Jedi, Darth Sidious’s teachings about order and protection encourage the stifling and even eradication of the Jedi Order, which is made a priority by Darth Krayt in “Legacy.” Other than that, the conflict stems from the Sith’s embrace of their emotions and love of mankind obstructing the Jedi’s utopia.

The Sith, therefore, can either be compassionate or cruel, as long as it furthers human life, and the Jedi must be completely neutral and dispassionate, and this is where the conflict spawns. Thus the conflict in Star Wars is not between good and evil, but between passion and dispassion, between action and inaction, between alignment and neutrality. The Jedi, as neutral peacekeepers, clash with the Sith not because the Sith are inherently evil, but because they are movers and shakers of the flow of the Force, because that choice that the Sith are given threatens what the Jedi work for. This is the true conflict behind Star Wars.