Our
first introduction to the deeper lore of Star Wars occurs in
New Hope when Obi-Wan Kenobi explains to Luke Skywalker that for thousands of
generations the Jedi stood as guardians over the Galaxy until the dark times of the
Empire. In essence, once upon a time, the Galaxy was a reasonably good place.
The fact that this is no longer the case must therefore be the fault of some
villain.
There
are clear political implications for this version of galactic history. If only
that villain can be removed, the Galaxy will once again become a good place. If
only Luke would be willing to abandon his moisture farm, help Obi-Wan rescue
Princess Leia, blow up the Death Star with his X-wing, learn to use the Force,
and put Darth Vader into a position where he has to choose between betraying
Emperor Palpatine or watching his son be tortured to death with force
lightening over the course of three movies then the people of the Galaxy will
be able to live happily ever after. As such, Luke is morally justified in
trying to do these things even though there is only a small chance of success.
Furthermore, his actions will lead to a galactic Civil War with a body count
escalating presumably into the billions the closer he comes to his goal.
From
the Expanded Universe, we learn that Obi-Wan’s version of galactic history has
as much validity as what he says about Luke’s father. Instead, the Jedi and the
Sith have been locked in a cycle of combat that has gone on for thousands of
years. Neither side can ever win this struggle because they are both trapped by
their own ideologies. To be a Jedi means to obey the Force and not attempt to
use the Force to take over the Galaxy even if it is done to refashion the
Galaxy into what they think is a better place. Any Jedi who tries to "fix" the
Galaxy by actually trying to eliminate the Sith will inevitably become a Sith
Lord themselves. Thus, the cycle will continue even if the Sith Lord in
question is defeated. We see this in the examples of Raven, Exar Kun, Ulic
Qel-Droma, and Jacen Solo, all of whom become Sith Lords themselves precisely
because they tried to fight the Sith. It is the Sith who believe in using the
Force to refashion the Galaxy in their own image. So, anyone who tries to directly
fight the Sith has already tacitly admitted that the Sith are right about
fixing the Galaxy by killing a whole bunch of people. The only thing that
remains is accepting that the Sith are also right about the relatively minor details such
as wiping out the Jedi and destroying the Republic.
What
limits the Sith and stops them from conquering the Galaxy and destroying the
Jedi is simply the fact that they are all a bunch of Sith Lords. They will
inevitably stab each other in the back in order to claim the mantle of supreme
Sith Lord.
The
Sith Lord who understood this best was Darth Bane. He recognized that the Sith
could never defeat the Jedi in head-to-head combat no matter their superiority
in starfighters or lightsaber duelists. His solution was to wipe out all the
other Sith Lords and establish the Rule of Two. There should be a Sith Master
and a Sith Apprentice. The purpose of the Master is to train the Apprentice to
be powerful enough in the Dark Side to kill them. If the Apprentice fails, they
will die and the Master will find a new student. If the Apprentice succeeds,
they will become the new Master and be tasked with finding an even more
powerful student to kill them in turn. Following this logic, the Sith Lords of
the Bane tradition left the Galaxy in the hands of the Jedi for a thousand
years until Darth Sidious was able to take over the Galaxy as Emperor Palpatine
by baiting the Jedi into fighting the Clone Wars.
Recognizing
that there is no defeating the Sith allows one to put a different twist on the
original films. It should be noted that neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda ever bother to
directly fight the Empire. Instead, they submit themselves to the will of the
Force and trust that the Sith will naturally be their own downfall. (Whatever
Disney is planning to do with the Obi-Wan series that does not fit with this
should be rejected as a retcon done in the spirit of greed and not out of
faithfulness to the original.)
When
Luke comes to him with R2-D2 and the message from Leia, Obi-Wan agrees to leave
Tatooine not to fight the Empire but to train Luke in the Force. Rather than
fight against Darth Vader, Obi-Wan allows himself to be killed, teaching Luke
the pacifist lesson that it is better to allow the Sith to kill you than strike
them down and risk becoming a Sith Lord yourself. Obi-Wan guides Luke in
destroying the Death Star. This is an act of self-defense and not designed to
fix the Galaxy. Of true importance here is that Luke learns to trust the Force
to fire the torpedo and not his ship's computer.
Later,
in Empire Strikes Back, Luke wishes to go rescue Han, Leia, Chewie, and the
droids. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan warn him not to go. It is more important that
Luke stays in a swamp studying the Force than to try saving his friends on
Cloud City as this will likely lead him to the Dark Side. Luke does not listen
to this advice and because of this loses his hand. On the plus side, he does
gain a father.
Discovering
the truth about Vader forces Luke to internalize the lesson that Obi-Wan and
Yoda had been trying to teach him. He cannot defeat the Sith in a lightsaber
duel. To win such a fight, killing his own father, would actually be a worse
outcome than dying as it would turn him to the Dark Side. Luke, though, still
wants to help the Rebel Alliance destroy the Second Death Star so he agrees to
join Han and Leia on their mission to Endor. Sensing Vader’s presence, finally
causes Luke to realize that there is nothing he can do to help the Rebellion.
His only option is to surrender to Vader in the hope that he can either convince Vader to run away with him or that both of them would be blown up in the Death Star along with the Emperor when the Rebel fleet arrives.
Taken
before the Emperor, Luke finds himself forced into a fight with Vader that he
knows he cannot allow himself to win. Of course, the Emperor is relying on
the fact that Luke is not capable of simply standing back, allowing the
Rebellion to be crushed, without trying to swing his lightsaber at something.
Even here, Luke tries to avoid fighting Vader until Vader baits him with the
possibility that Leia might turn to the Dark Side. Without the Rebellion to use
against the Empire, Leia would have no choice but to turn to the Dark Side to continue her fight.
That is unless Luke is willing to sacrifice himself to the Dark Side in order
to defeat the Empire. While Luke initially gives in (leading to my all-time
favorite Star Wars moment as Luke beats down on Vader to somber vocals), he
refrains from striking the killing blow. Palpatine tries to seal the deal on
Luke's downfall by making sure that Luke murders his father with the full
knowledge of the consequences, but this causes Luke to step back. Luke realizes that
killing Vader would not do anything to bring down the Empire but would simply
make himself Vader’s replacement at the Palpatine’s side. He, therefore, gives
himself over to the Force and throws his lightsaber away, knowing that
Palpatine is going to kill him. In the end, Luke is saved because he refuses to
fight the Sith. Instead, he allows the Sith to destroy themselves as Vader both
finds his redemption but also fulfills his duty as a Sith Apprentice to kill
his Master.
This
perspective on the original Star Wars films offers us a window on part of what
was wrong with the prequels and sequels and how they could have been done
better. The prequels should have been about Anakin's fall to the Dark Side.
Rather than focusing on Anakin's relationship with Padme, we should have been
given Anakin's relationship with Senator Palpatine. (The novelization of Attack
of the Clones actually tries to fix this problem.) Anakin should not
have gone to the Dark Side suddenly in the second half of Revenge of the Sith
out of a desire to save Padme. Instead, Anakin should have spent most of the
prequels faced with the problem that the Republic and the Jedi could not save
the Galaxy even from petty slave dealers on Tatooine let alone from the
Separatists. The only person who can help Anakin is Palpatine. Once
Anakin realizes that Palpatine is a Sith Lord, he makes the choice to submit
himself to the Dark Side, sacrificing the Republic and the Jedi in order to
save the Galaxy.
In
the sequels, having Luke refuse to fight the First Order was fine. That being
said, he should not have turned on the Force. Luke's decision not to fight to
protect the New Republic should have been what drove Kylo Ren to the Dark Side.
He knows that Palpatine is out there and the Republic is not capable of
standing up to him. The only solution is to use the First Order to conquer the
Galaxy so there is a united Galaxy to fight Palpatine. Kylo Ren is even willing
to kill his own father, Han Solo, simply to more fully submerge himself into
the Dark Side. He believes that only by giving himself completely to the Dark
Side, no matter the personal cost to his soul, can he possibly be able to stand
against Palpatine. This would explain his adoration for his grandfather Darth
Vader. From his perspective, Vader was the true savior of the Galaxy. He became
a Sith Lord to fight that evil from within.
When
Star Wars is at its best, it features not just space battles and lightsabers,
but a profound moral question. Is it possible to fight evil without succumbing
to it? As with Return of the Jedi, we should see tens of thousands of people
fighting in space over Republic or Empire, a few dozen on some mission and it
all comes down to one Jedi trying to save himself from becoming a Sith
Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment