Star Wars!!!
Herein lies much spolier-ridden pedantry.
In any discussion such as this, it is always good to declare what is or is not canon. Recently I have discovered a two-dimensional description that I think sums up my preferences vis-a-vis the general community quite nicely. To stick with the religious theme of canonicity, I have dubbed the two dimensions "orthodoxy" and "literalism". Orthodoxy governs what is or is not canon, while literalism determines how the canon should be read.
Orthodoxy:
Literalism:
In this scheme, I classify myself as an Ultra-Orthodox Fundamentalist. If I had to guess, I'd say that most people who have thought about this issue are Conservative Moderates, while most hard-core fans (such as the denizens of http://www.stardestroyer.net) are Orthodox, ranging the spectrum from Literalists to Moderates. Everything that follows, being written by me, will be from my perspective. Just so you know.
First off, Episode III has taught us much with regard to the nature of the Force. Just looking at the original trilogy, it was pretty clear that the Light Side was the right side, to use a Johnny Cochran-style rhyme. From the opening crawl depicting the "evil Galactic Empire" to the destruction of Alderaan to the Sith urging Luke to give into his hate, everything in the original trilogy supported the notion that the Sith and their Empire were the most evil of bad guys. Since the Jedi were the ones who had devoted their lives to opposing the Sith, it followed by elimination that their teachings must be morally correct.
But from the beginning of Episode I the picture became cloudier. We see that "before the dark times, before the Empire" everything wasn't perfect, or even really all that great. Republic law and even Republic currency are no good on the Outer Rim, clear indications that the Republic was ailing well before Palpatine got his hands on the levers of power. Later, in Episode II, we see that the rebel Seperatist movement is made up of industrialists, bankers, engineers and the like. Apparently anyone engaged in a productive trade sees it in their best interests to openly rebel against the government. I'm not sure that I have the words to describe how rare and surprising such a turn of events is, from a historical perspective. Needless to say, simple bribery or, in extremis, a coup d'etat is as far as entrenched business interests will go to defend the bottom line. The use of unsanctioned military force is not only bad PR, it's bad for the bottom line. The economy must be in a severe, prolonged Depression.
Narrowing in on the case of the Jedi, we see that their Order has ossified as well. The Jedi are traditionalists who are dangerously out of touch with the real world. The best example of this comes from Episode II, where Kamino was deleted from the Jedi Archives and Obi-Wan was deeply puzzled by this - so much so that he had to go ask Yoda for help. He had the word of a trusted informant and physical evidence to support that the planet existed, yet he valued the accuracy of the Archives so highly that he didn't immediately assume that they were in error. The librarian was even more hard-core, saying that "if it isn't in the Archives, it doesn't exist".
So this is the situation at the beginning of Episode III. We know that the Jedi way isn't all that it is cracked up to be, but I think that any fair-minded observer had to conclude that the Dark Side is a whole lot worse. So whatever excesses or blindnesses stem from adherence to the Code are justifiable for inhibiting the growth of the Dark Side.
But then Episode III comes along and we learn several crucial pieces of information. We knew from the earlier prequels that love (not just romantic, but also familial) wasn't allowed for Jedi because specific emotional attachment leads to the Dark Side. Episode III extends this lesson in a couple of ways. First, it is fully established that the root of Anakin's sin in the eyes of the Light Side is that he cares about people. It's not just Padme or his mother. He wants to be Superman - a hero in the most classic sense - bright, shining, noble, and always saving the day. These ambitions are in the end incompatible with the Jedi Code.
Second, we learn that love isn't incompatible with the Dark Side. It is my belief that Palpatine genuinely loves Anakin like a son. All of the dialogue between them could easily be seen as crass manipulation. And certainly much of it was, in the sense that he was trying to get Anakin to subscribe to his philosophy, but looked at that way "manipulation" must lose its connotative edge, for every teacher is then a manipulator. But notice that not once does Palpatine lie to Anakin. In fact, I believe that Obi-Wan comes closer to lying to Luke than the Chancellor ever does with Anakin.
None of the above proves the proposition, of course. The first real piece of evidence in support of the idea that Palpatine cares about Anakin as Anakin is his boast to Yoda that "Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us." This is a strange thing to say if all one cares about is accumulating greater power. Logically, the Emperor ought to fear this outcome more than anything rather than boasting of it as his crowning achievement. But it makes perfect sense from the parental perspective. He is *proud* that he will train Vader to be the greatest Force user in the galaxy.
The second, and most compelling, piece of evidence is the scene by the lake of fire. When Palpatine arrives to rescue Vader and sees him crippled, what does he do? He doesn't simply kill him for having failed (like Vader did to Captain Needa in Episode V). Palpatine has to know that Vader, if he survives, will be crippled. There are always other apprentices. But Anakin, unlike Maul or Dooku, is not just his apprentice, he's his son. So he kneels beside what is left of Anakin and comforts him in his moment of extreme weakness. And then he rebuilds him into that towering presence that has lodged itself into my subconscious as Lord Vader.
So I am forced to conclude that not only is love (meaning here any real, powerful, abiding connection to other people) a path to the Dark Side, love is *of* the Dark Side. And with this I finally understand how one could choose the Dark Side, in full possession of one's faculties, with the justified conviction that one is making the right choice.
At this moment the true tragedy is revealed. Why are the only options slavish adherence to tradition or the amoral pursuit of power? Why must Anakin choose to discard half of himself - a good, noble half - whichever way he goes? It is the choice itself which is flawed. And this is the true meaning of the prophecy that Anakin will "bring balance to the Force". The very existence of mutually opposed Jedi and Sith traditions forces Anakin to choose between them. And by the end of Episode VI, Anakin has destroyed them both.
Actually, that isn't entirely true. Luke actually finishes off the Jedi Order in Episode V. Yoda tells him as he contemplates going to Cloud City: "If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered." This is a little disingenuous of the great Jedi Master. After all, Luke's friends think that they are fighting for the Republic and against the Empire. By the end of Episode VI, the Empire is no more and the Republic is restored. So in that sense he was able to both save his friends and their cause. But from Yoda's point of view the war isn't about politics; it's about the Force. And when Luke leaves to go to Cloud City, he leaves without learning the Jedi traditions and the Jedi Code. Luke will never again have the opportunity to learn these, so he can never rebuild the temple. The Emperor will have finally won.
From the perspective of the Force, Luke has taken his first step onto a new path. After all, in the context of the Anakin discussion, hasn't Luke chosen love over prudence? According to the Jedi, that is the path to the Dark Side. Seen in this light, Luke's choices in Episode VI are all in this vein. Luke goes to Jabba's palace to save Han. A real Jedi would never have taken all those risks for one man, especially since bringing down Jabba did nothing to assist the greater war effort. Then Luke abandons the shield generator mission and confronts Vader to save his friends. Finally, Luke chooses his father - family - over his own life, since he certainly stood no chance against the full might of the Dark Lord of the Sith.
At the end, I am left with the conviction that Luke embodies a new way of seeing and experiencing the Force, one that allows for humanity, decency and nobility. It is beyond tragic that Anakin can only share in this new freedom from beyond the grave.
-Nick
In any discussion such as this, it is always good to declare what is or is not canon. Recently I have discovered a two-dimensional description that I think sums up my preferences vis-a-vis the general community quite nicely. To stick with the religious theme of canonicity, I have dubbed the two dimensions "orthodoxy" and "literalism". Orthodoxy governs what is or is not canon, while literalism determines how the canon should be read.
Orthodoxy:
- Ultra-Orthodox: Only considers the movies themselves as originally filmed to be canon. All other information is considered no better than idle speculation.
- Orthodox: The position of most serious fans. Canon consists of the movies, scripts, radio plays, novelizations and such materials authorized by Lucas and directly associated with the movies. In the case of conflicts, the source closest to the movie as filmed takes precedence. Any other non-canon authorized information is accepted as true if it doesn't conflict with the canon. In any event, statements by Lucas and Lucasfilm are considered binding.
- Conservative: Basically anything that has some connection to an official or authorized source is canon. Conflicts are handled similar to the Orthodox position, except that Lucas himself is not looked to as the final arbiter of truth.
- Reform: The entire idea of uniform "canonicity" for a work of fiction is ridiculous. It is up to the reader/viewer to determine how to integrate the various Star Wars works of art into a coherent whole.
Literalism:
- Literalist: Everything that is seen, heard, or read in canon material is objectively true unless we have canon evidence to believe that it is not.
- Fundamentalist: Everything that is seen, heard, or read in canon material is true "from a certain point of view". The evidence has not been doctored, but it may or may not have been edited for dramatic or political reasons.
- Moderate: The stories that make up the canon have been produced by people. When the intent of the creators and what actually appear in the stories conflict, one should side with the artist and not the art.
- Metaphorist: The stories that make up the canon should be read symbolically, as reflections of archetype and myth, rather than literally. The "truth" of events in works of fiction such as these is unimportant.
In this scheme, I classify myself as an Ultra-Orthodox Fundamentalist. If I had to guess, I'd say that most people who have thought about this issue are Conservative Moderates, while most hard-core fans (such as the denizens of http://www.stardestroyer.net) are Orthodox, ranging the spectrum from Literalists to Moderates. Everything that follows, being written by me, will be from my perspective. Just so you know.
First off, Episode III has taught us much with regard to the nature of the Force. Just looking at the original trilogy, it was pretty clear that the Light Side was the right side, to use a Johnny Cochran-style rhyme. From the opening crawl depicting the "evil Galactic Empire" to the destruction of Alderaan to the Sith urging Luke to give into his hate, everything in the original trilogy supported the notion that the Sith and their Empire were the most evil of bad guys. Since the Jedi were the ones who had devoted their lives to opposing the Sith, it followed by elimination that their teachings must be morally correct.
But from the beginning of Episode I the picture became cloudier. We see that "before the dark times, before the Empire" everything wasn't perfect, or even really all that great. Republic law and even Republic currency are no good on the Outer Rim, clear indications that the Republic was ailing well before Palpatine got his hands on the levers of power. Later, in Episode II, we see that the rebel Seperatist movement is made up of industrialists, bankers, engineers and the like. Apparently anyone engaged in a productive trade sees it in their best interests to openly rebel against the government. I'm not sure that I have the words to describe how rare and surprising such a turn of events is, from a historical perspective. Needless to say, simple bribery or, in extremis, a coup d'etat is as far as entrenched business interests will go to defend the bottom line. The use of unsanctioned military force is not only bad PR, it's bad for the bottom line. The economy must be in a severe, prolonged Depression.
Narrowing in on the case of the Jedi, we see that their Order has ossified as well. The Jedi are traditionalists who are dangerously out of touch with the real world. The best example of this comes from Episode II, where Kamino was deleted from the Jedi Archives and Obi-Wan was deeply puzzled by this - so much so that he had to go ask Yoda for help. He had the word of a trusted informant and physical evidence to support that the planet existed, yet he valued the accuracy of the Archives so highly that he didn't immediately assume that they were in error. The librarian was even more hard-core, saying that "if it isn't in the Archives, it doesn't exist".
So this is the situation at the beginning of Episode III. We know that the Jedi way isn't all that it is cracked up to be, but I think that any fair-minded observer had to conclude that the Dark Side is a whole lot worse. So whatever excesses or blindnesses stem from adherence to the Code are justifiable for inhibiting the growth of the Dark Side.
But then Episode III comes along and we learn several crucial pieces of information. We knew from the earlier prequels that love (not just romantic, but also familial) wasn't allowed for Jedi because specific emotional attachment leads to the Dark Side. Episode III extends this lesson in a couple of ways. First, it is fully established that the root of Anakin's sin in the eyes of the Light Side is that he cares about people. It's not just Padme or his mother. He wants to be Superman - a hero in the most classic sense - bright, shining, noble, and always saving the day. These ambitions are in the end incompatible with the Jedi Code.
Second, we learn that love isn't incompatible with the Dark Side. It is my belief that Palpatine genuinely loves Anakin like a son. All of the dialogue between them could easily be seen as crass manipulation. And certainly much of it was, in the sense that he was trying to get Anakin to subscribe to his philosophy, but looked at that way "manipulation" must lose its connotative edge, for every teacher is then a manipulator. But notice that not once does Palpatine lie to Anakin. In fact, I believe that Obi-Wan comes closer to lying to Luke than the Chancellor ever does with Anakin.
None of the above proves the proposition, of course. The first real piece of evidence in support of the idea that Palpatine cares about Anakin as Anakin is his boast to Yoda that "Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us." This is a strange thing to say if all one cares about is accumulating greater power. Logically, the Emperor ought to fear this outcome more than anything rather than boasting of it as his crowning achievement. But it makes perfect sense from the parental perspective. He is *proud* that he will train Vader to be the greatest Force user in the galaxy.
The second, and most compelling, piece of evidence is the scene by the lake of fire. When Palpatine arrives to rescue Vader and sees him crippled, what does he do? He doesn't simply kill him for having failed (like Vader did to Captain Needa in Episode V). Palpatine has to know that Vader, if he survives, will be crippled. There are always other apprentices. But Anakin, unlike Maul or Dooku, is not just his apprentice, he's his son. So he kneels beside what is left of Anakin and comforts him in his moment of extreme weakness. And then he rebuilds him into that towering presence that has lodged itself into my subconscious as Lord Vader.
So I am forced to conclude that not only is love (meaning here any real, powerful, abiding connection to other people) a path to the Dark Side, love is *of* the Dark Side. And with this I finally understand how one could choose the Dark Side, in full possession of one's faculties, with the justified conviction that one is making the right choice.
At this moment the true tragedy is revealed. Why are the only options slavish adherence to tradition or the amoral pursuit of power? Why must Anakin choose to discard half of himself - a good, noble half - whichever way he goes? It is the choice itself which is flawed. And this is the true meaning of the prophecy that Anakin will "bring balance to the Force". The very existence of mutually opposed Jedi and Sith traditions forces Anakin to choose between them. And by the end of Episode VI, Anakin has destroyed them both.
Actually, that isn't entirely true. Luke actually finishes off the Jedi Order in Episode V. Yoda tells him as he contemplates going to Cloud City: "If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered." This is a little disingenuous of the great Jedi Master. After all, Luke's friends think that they are fighting for the Republic and against the Empire. By the end of Episode VI, the Empire is no more and the Republic is restored. So in that sense he was able to both save his friends and their cause. But from Yoda's point of view the war isn't about politics; it's about the Force. And when Luke leaves to go to Cloud City, he leaves without learning the Jedi traditions and the Jedi Code. Luke will never again have the opportunity to learn these, so he can never rebuild the temple. The Emperor will have finally won.
From the perspective of the Force, Luke has taken his first step onto a new path. After all, in the context of the Anakin discussion, hasn't Luke chosen love over prudence? According to the Jedi, that is the path to the Dark Side. Seen in this light, Luke's choices in Episode VI are all in this vein. Luke goes to Jabba's palace to save Han. A real Jedi would never have taken all those risks for one man, especially since bringing down Jabba did nothing to assist the greater war effort. Then Luke abandons the shield generator mission and confronts Vader to save his friends. Finally, Luke chooses his father - family - over his own life, since he certainly stood no chance against the full might of the Dark Lord of the Sith.
At the end, I am left with the conviction that Luke embodies a new way of seeing and experiencing the Force, one that allows for humanity, decency and nobility. It is beyond tragic that Anakin can only share in this new freedom from beyond the grave.
-Nick