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Bringing balance to the Force

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by Pobody's Nerfect, Jul 28, 2015.

  1. Pobody's Nerfect

    Pobody's Nerfect Jedi General

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    This question is specifically directed towards @Pomojema but I'd enjoy hearing from anyone with a well thought out opinion. I'm addressing Pomo because a month or two ago he said something on another thread and I'd like him to clarify.

    Pomo, I'm paraphrasing because I'm too damn lazy to find your original statement. You said something like it was necessary for the Sith to die because they were the ones causing the Force to be out of balance. I was behind the idea that balance could only be found by making the Light Side and the Dark Side compliment one another - a sort of Yin & Yang where each side serves a necessary purpose. You rejected that idea and said the very existence of the Sith is what caused the Force to be out of balance.

    If I've misunderstood your point of view please let me know. I'm not trying to make a straw man here - I'm really want to understand.

    Anywho, my question is this: How do understand the balance of the Force? The way I see it, your point of view would work fine if the prophecy claimed "Purity of the Force", but "Balance of the Force" requires equal but opposite entities.
    • We say StarCraft is a balanced game because the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg are about equally formidable.
    • We say WarCraft II is not balanced because the Orcs are overpowered and the Humans don't have a chance.
    • We say a scale is balanced if the weight on one side equals the weight on the other.
    • We say we eat a balanced diet if we get a variety of nutrition and not too much of any single food group.
    • We say a gymnast has good balance if she can stand (or handstand) on a narrow bar without falling one way or the other.
    I admit I might be focusing too much on the word "balance" but I think I have a good reason for my interpretation. I don't see the Jedi as the way the Force is supposed to be and the Sith as the perversion. Instead, I see the Jedi as the compassionate, selfless expression of the Force, while the Sith are the passionate, emotional expression. The Sith lacked self restraint so they became slaves to their passions. The Jedi buried their emotions so they became slaves to the Jedi Order. The two factions were so extreme in their particular peculiarities that cooperation between the two became impossible.

    The way I see it, Anakin destroyed the Sith and the Jedi Order, and paved the way for a new type of Force-sensitive actor to arrive. A Force user who combines all the nobility and compassion of the Jedi with the passionate emotions of the Sith. A Force user who can use the Light Side and the Dark Side, and who will show us in sequel trilogy that the united, balanced Force is greater than the sum of its Light and Dark sides.

    But I'm getting off topic. I already know how I see it - I'd like to understand better how you see it.
     
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  2. Darth Zloi

    Darth Zloi Dark Moogle of the Sith

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    Nice read! The way I always understood the dark side was that it's almost like a narcotic drug. Once you're hooked, it's very difficult to stop using ... even asbit erodes your physical characteristics. Yoda said that once you start down that path, it consumes you. The Jedi certainly weren't infallible, but they also weren't wrong about everything. I really enjoy discussing the mysticism of the Force.
     
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  3. MarkaN

    MarkaN Rebel General

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    As a fan of all SF/Fantasy including StarCraft & WarCraft I definitely see where you're coming from.

    However, regarding the Star Wars I strongly believe and think it's for the best that it remain an eternal mystery and is never resolved. Resolving it could mean the end of Star Wars and we don't want that - ever.

    I personally believe that the Prophecy of the Chosen One was just a Stih-made deceptive rumor that effectively (just as we've seen) possessed the Jedi of the Old Republic and got into them like a virus, gradually destroying them from within. It was never meant to be resolved to begin with.

    In the Revenge Of The Sith novelization there is a clear quote
    from Palpatine/Sidious himself, where he's addressing the Anakin: "You are the Chosen One. Chosen by Me."

    For me, that seals the deal.
     
  4. mechnight24

    mechnight24 Clone Trooper

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    Just finished the book yesterday, makes quite a lot of sense. The Prophecy may have still existed, but (similarly to the Harry Potter series) was interpreted by the Jedi in a very strict Anakin-oriented way. Sidious was the master manipulator, after all.

    The Jedi have, in a way, brought their own demise upon them. By involving in the Clone Wars and, as even Yoda mentions, becoming warriors. Not a single one of them was supposed to do that, and it might well have been what pushed Anakin over the edge, too, as also quoted in RotS novelization. I don't have the exact quote now, but it was thought by Obi-Wan, how the war destroyed the chuckle in Anakin's voice.
     
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  5. CTrent29

    CTrent29 Rebel Official

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    Oh my God!

    Is this about Anakin being the catalyst for the destruction for both the Jedi and the Sith in order to make it all about the "precious" Rey? God, I hope I'm wrong about this.
     
  6. mechnight24

    mechnight24 Clone Trooper

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    The catalyst for destruction, as you put it, yes. Though we could argue it was Sidious, nearsighted, because Anakin was literally his puppet from near the end of RotS till RotJ. But to make it all about Rey, no, of course not, she's simply a part of new generation and seems be tasked with bringing the balance anew. I do like the theore that she's the new Chosen One and a reincarnation of Anakin...
     
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  7. Vader_the_White

    Vader_the_White Rebel General

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    For starters, I am going to post this:

    The intent was that balance meant destroying the Sith and the defeat of the Dark Side.
    Okay, moving on:

    One of the problems that I think most people have with the term "Balance of the Force" is thinking that Light and Dark are equal. They aren't. The Dark Side is a cancer. It is a perversion of the Force. It's not a yin/yang kind of thing. It's like balance and harmony, not a literal kind of balance.

    Also, the way that Lucas actually described the Dark Side (which is how he was thinking when he wrote the prophecy and the idea of balance) doesn't work for a hero as it is selfishness:
    (I had to type that out by hand while watching the video of him talking to the writers of The Clone Wars in 2010)
    That doesn't sound like something that can be meshed with the Light to me.

    Here's a great analogy I have using Egyptian mythology to explain it better:
    The ancient Egyptians believed that when you entered the afterlife, there would a ceremony where their deeds would be judged. How? Their heart (believed to be the center of consciousness) was put on a scale with a feather (which was a symbol of the Egyptian goddess of truth and law, Ma'at). If you were good (i.e., the Light Side in this case), the scales stayed balanced. If you were evil (i.e., the Dark Side), the heart would sink (imbalance) and then Ammit (a creature that was part hippo, lion, and crocodile) would eat their soul and would simply cease to exist.
    Does this help anyone?
     
    #7 Vader_the_White, May 2, 2016
    Last edited: May 2, 2016
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  8. Pobody's Nerfect

    Pobody's Nerfect Jedi General

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    Your soul gets eaten by a dude that's part crocodile and part hippo?

    Screw the Sarlaac! I wanna see Boba Fett take on that thing!
     
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  9. Vader_the_White

    Vader_the_White Rebel General

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    And part lion. Never forget the part lion.
     
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