Duel of the Fates
Dualism in Star Wars
By J.D. Partlow

At first glance, the Star Wars universe is as unambiguous as we could ask for: good guys verses bad guys; a classic battle of fates in a dualistic universe. However, the conflict runs much deeper than that. The various sides often misrepresent themselves and more often misrepresent their opposite. It is the purpose of this paper to bring to light some of the more ambiguous truths, presented from a certain point of view, of the Star Wars universe. To do so, we will primarily use the movies and very seldom use the expanded universe, as it is the belief of the author that it holds very little authority.

I. The Politics of Star Wars

When we first are introduced to Star Wars, we are immediately given clues as for whom we are rooting. Darth Vader, dressed in black, confronts the beautiful Princess Leia adorned in white. We are shown the brutality of the Empire as it goes about administrating a painful truth drug to the princess, we hear that the princess is scheduled for extermination, we see Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru burned to a crisp, and we watch the entire planet of Alderaan being destroyed. However, none of these acts are considered extreme by standards of our own earthly governments. Truth drugs are commonplace. Execution of traitors is expected. So also are Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru traitors in aiding the rebellion by hiding Luke. Finally, while the destruction of Alderaan may seem reckless, it was one of the main bases of the rebellion. Princess Leia does inform us that Alderaan is peaceful and has no weapons, but every other statement made by the princess has been a lie. The destruction of Alderaan is no more terrible than the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden, etc. These acts may not have been right—it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss the morality of war—but they were certainly in keeping with human behavior.

In contrast to the Empire, we are presented the Rebel Alliance. However, for all the time we spend with our heroes, we are never presented with any sort of political philosophy. Abstracts aside, we are not given any concrete ideas on what government will be laid in place of the Empire. The Rebel Alliance does not so much stand for anything so much as it stands against the Empire; that is its only purpose. The rub is this: the Senate was dissolved early in Episode IV. All power was the Emperor’s. The next link in the chain of command was regional governors. By destroying the Emperor in Episode VI, these governors became answerable to no one and found themselves with their own stockpiles of armaments. In achieving their goal of destroying the Empire, the Rebel Alliance condemned the Galaxy to war without end.

This is in contrast to the Empire. While the rebels may not have any idea what they are trying to accomplish, the Empire’s goals are quite clear. "Peace. Order. Stability." The Empire never strays from this refrain. In destroying the Empire, the rebels succeeded in destroying its goals by sending the galaxy into chaos. It is difficult to see this any differently: the Empire stands for order; the Rebel Alliance stands for chaos.

If we backtrack twenty to thirty years, the story is not much different. In the struggle between the Republic and the Separatists, the latter seem have better motivations. In fact, we are never given a reason why the Separatists must be stopped other than the fact that they simply must be stopped. While we could ponder the oxymoron of coerced democracy, we realize that this move by the Republic is expected as democracy has very little to do with how the government is run. We are allowed to see how it is run through the eyes of Padmé, Jar-Jar Binks, Palpatine, and even Anakin. The three of those who can actually think each see this governmental system as being massively inefficient and ineffectual. They all see the unfortunate truth that the bureaucrats are in charge and that greed and corruption rule the day. The ideals of the Separatists are small government, free trade, and an "absolute commitment to capitalism." Those are the exact ideals of democracy as the Republic trumpets it. Obi-Wan can declare "my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!" but we know that he is loyal to the former to the extent that he is willing to sacrifice the latter. Instead, we have Padmé who correctly begins to question which side is the correct side. It is unfortunate that she is ignored in her wonderings.

II. Religion in Star Wars

Again, the Jedi are the heroes of our story and the Sith are the evildoers. Again, there is little evidence to support this. For all the propaganda of the evil nature of the Sith, the way we actually see them act we might surmise that "Sith" is a mistranslation from Basic and should instead have meant "Stoic." For all we hear about the Jedi’s "compassion," however, we seldom are graced to see that attribute. A list of confrontations and their outcomes:

Victor                          Loser                                                   Outcome

Darth Maul                    Qui-Gon Jinn                                          One blow to the chest
Darth Tyranus               Anakin & Obi-Wan                                  Anakin loses a hand
Darth Sidious                 Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin            One blow to each
Darth Sidious                 Mace Windu                                           Blown away
Darth Vader                   Younglings                                             One blow to each
Darth Vader                   Separatists on Mustafar                          One blow to each
Darth Vader                   Luke                                                     Luke loses a hand

Obi-Wan                        Darth Maul                                            Sliced in half
Anakin                          Sand People                                           Genocide
Mace Windu                   Jango Fett                                             Decapitation
Anakin                          Darth Tyranus                                       Both hands lost and decapitated
Obi-Wan                        General Grievious                                  Torn apart and incinerated
Mace Windu                   Darth Sidious                                         Cornered, but interrupted
Anakin                          Mace Windu                                           Mace Windu loses a hand
Yoda                             Clone Troopers                                      Both decapitated
Obi-Wan                        Anakin                                                  Lost other hand, both legs, incinerated
Obi-Wan                        Creepy Mos Eisley guy                            Lost arm—no cauterizing
Luke                             Darth Vader                                           Vader loses a hand, again
Darth Vader                   Darth Sidious                                         Blown away

We can see that both sides are brutal, but at least the Sith tend to keep their foes intact. If you go into battle against a Jedi, there is a greater than even chance that part of your body will be separated from the rest. From this list we can also see that the Sith are usually quite Stoic even in their battles with the exception of Darth Vader. It should be noted that in Episode III, the "death" of Anakin is paralleled with the death of Padmé. Similarly, the birth of Darth Vader is not complete until the birth of Luke and Leia, which is also paralleled in the movie. The brutality of Vader in Episode III as seen against the younglings and on Mustafar against the Separatists and even against his own wife—the same brutality we see Anakin use in his genocide on Tatootine—is never seen again after Anakin "dies" and is fully transformed into Darth Vader. Thus, quite curiously, turning to the Sith actually made Anakin less evil.

In the Star Wars universe, there is such a thing as Force Rage. It does exactly what one would think it does: one uses ones anger as fuel in a battle. By definition, this is a dark side power. We see this used against Darth Maul by Obi-Wan, which is why the padawan was able to win where the master failed. Anakin used it when he when on his genocidal rampage. He used it again to gain the upper hand against Tyranus in the Battle of Coruscant. The last time we see it used is at the Battle of Endor when Luke unleashes everything against his father. This "dark side" power is used exclusively by the Jedi.

What of anger itself? We see that Anakin and Luke have bouts of rage, but we also see these bouts in Mace Windu and Yoda while they battle Sith lords. The Sith are shown to be true to their Stoic ways. Master Yoda informs us that "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." Indeed, for fear, anger, hate, and suffering are common in our Jedi heroes. None of these attributes are found in the Sith. The Sith neither fear, nor express anger, nor hate, nor suffer (save for a brief moment when Darth Vader learns of the death of his wife (which itself could be seen as the final breath, so to speak, of Anakin)). The reason why we, the viewers, are averse to the Sith is because of the lack of emotion and passion they have as they go along their business. The Sith cannot both be emotionless automatons and also the embodiment of anger, hate, etc. This consistency is almost enough for us to wonder if there is a single trait that the Sith allegedly have that is not seen in its fullest form in the Jedi.

Finally, there is the matter of lightsaber battles and the initiation thereof. The only times that the Sith ignite their lightsabers first is when the battle is a continuation of an earlier battle. The first battle we see is Darth Vader against Obi-Wan on the Darth Star. Indeed, Darth Vader is ready for battle, but this is not a new conflict. So also does Darth Tyranus begin against Yoda on Geonosis, but this too is a continuation of the battle that Darth Tyranus had against Obi-Wan and Anakin. Darth Maul attacks first on Naboo, but we see that this is part of a larger conflict already in progress. Every other battle in the six movies is always begun by the Jedi. Even in the fake battle against Darth Vader on Dagobah, Luke stills attacks first.

The lack of compassion is not just seen on the battlefield or else we might see it as understandable. Instead, it permeates throughout everything we ever see from the Jedi. To be sure, the Jedi are loyal; they most certainly watch after their own. However, that is not what is meant by the "compassion" of which they speak, a compassion that is self-sacrificing to all those around them. In fact, one begins to wonder if we ever see that sort of compassion from a Jedi. Even the best act done in the movie—the destruction of the Emperor—is done only when the Emperor starts to hurt one of Darth Vader’s family members. The motivation to destroy the Emperor is the same motivation Darth Vader has to destroy the Tusken Raiders, including their women and children.

The question of compassion, at least for the author, becomes most important in Episode III. While Padmé and, later on, Luke know of the good that is still in Darth Vader, Yoda and Obi-Wan are blind to it. In the compassion these two Jedi exhibit, they see that Darth Vader is evil and there is only one thing that can be done: execution. We would expect from our compassionate Jedi that they would see through the same idealistic glasses that Padmé wears, but no. The Jedi can only see in absolutes—a trait allegedly Sith in nature.

The compassion of the Jedi is quite obviously skewed. This is also seen in the ideal that they are not allowed to marry. This seems to be one of their worst ideas. In Episode I we learn that the Force is passed on genetically. If the Jedi do not procreate, they are effectively destroying themselves. Not only is the Republic in need of revamping in the prequel series, we can see that the Jedi needed a reboot themselves.

The Jedi are usually clouded by their own arrogance and this usually results in turmoil. It is the arrogance of Qui-Gon that has Anakin trained in the first place, to the destruction of the Jedi. Obi-Wan dismisses Darth Tyranus’ truth that the Sith had control of the Senate, to the destruction of the Republic. Even the librarian in Episode II exhibits this trait, boldly claiming that the star system for which Obi-Wan was looking did not exist. It did exist and that fact ultimately led to the destruction of both the Jedi and the Republic.

This leads to another truth: the Sith never or seldom lie whereas the Jedi trip over themselves in fable-fests. From the beginning, the lies pour forth. Luke is told fanciful stories of his origins. "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough…" In fact, his father was a smoldering lump. The big lie of that conversation, of course, is that of Darth Vader killing Anakin. Yoda also deceives when he first meets Luke. Mace Windu does not let on that the Jedi are losing their power (another act of arrogance that ends poorly). In contrast, Darth Tyranus informs Obi-Wan that the Senate has been infiltrated. Darth Vader informs Luke of his true origin. Palpatine’s entire rise to power consisted of telling the right truth at the right time. To be sure, the Sith are utilitarian, but Palpatine rightly states that "The Sith and the Jedi are similar in almost every way." The arrogance and deception of the Jedi show that they too are utilitarian. The Sith and Jedi are two sides of the same coin.

Palpatine’s point in that dialogue was to present the truth that all who have power are afraid to lose it, even the Jedi. We do not want to believe Palpatine, but we know that he is right as the rest of the movie unfolds.
 

Palpatine:       "Don’t let him kill me. I can’t hold it any longer. I— I— I— I can’t. I— I— I’m weak. Anakin. Help me. Help me! I— I— I can’t hold on any longer"

Mace Windu: "I am going to end this once and for all."

Anakin:          "You can’t. He must stand trial."

Mace Windu: "He has control of the senate and the courts. He’s too dangerous to be left alive."

Anakin:          "It’s not the Jedi way. He must live."

With that, Mace Windu, in contrast to everything that the Jedi allegedly stand for, strikes forth at Palpatine. With that, Anakin, again motivated only by his self-interest, defends Palpatine. With that, Palpatine strikes the deathblow, a blow only made possible by exposing the Jedi’s many, many flaws and allowing the Jedi to act on them and follow through with them. From a certain point of view, the Sith only rise to power because the Jedi allowed them to.

What of that power? What was so important to the Sith that they rose and was so terrible to the Jedi that it had to be stopped? Reform. The Sith ideals are the exact same as that of the Empire: Peace, order, and stability. Palpatine in his moment of triumph declares "Once more the Sith will rule the galaxy! And we shall have peace." At his coronation, he states, "In order to ensure the security and continuing stability the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society." The refrain remains constant even into the original trilogy. As Darth Vader stands victorious over Luke, standing ready to finish him off, he instead offers his hand and pleads with his son. "Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy." Once again, we must ask what the Jedi motivation is. The Jedi seem to be the same as the Rebel Alliance: they do not stand for anything, they only stand against the Sith.

III. The Prophecy

The prophecy was that the Chosen One would come and would restore balance to the force. The Jedi, reading the prophecy through their own bias, interpreted that to mean that the Chosen One would destroy the Sith. That is not what the prophecy said. Yoda was correct in assessing that this was "A prophecy that misread could have been."

We have seen so far that the Jedi are far from perfect. To be sure, the Sith are also far from perfection, but this only furthers the point that the Jedi and Sith are two sides of the same coin. We have also seen that in the prequel trilogy, the Jedi are just as bloated and ineffectual as the Republic they purportedly protect. At the end of the trilogy they are cut down to size, sometimes literally, and the order is shown that they need to do some soul searching to get back to the true Jedi ideals.

We can assume that at the end of Episode III, only Yoda and Obi-Wan remain of what was once the Jedi order. The expanded universe would disagree, but the movie is as firm in canonicity as one can get. In the movie, Yoda states, "Heard from no one have we." If nothing else we know that there are no Jedi after twenty years for Yoda tells Luke of Dagobah that "The last of the Jedi you will be." The very title of Return of the Jedi assumes that there are no Jedi or else they could not return.

If that is so, then we can say that the force was brought into balance in Episode III. We know that the Sith always have two members; no more, no less. We know that the Jedi only had two members (Q.E.D.). Yoda and Palpatine are shown as being equal in power. Yoda ran away because when Palpatine’s reinforcements arrived, it would have swung the balance into Palpatine’s favor. Darth Vader and Obi-Wan are also equal in power—Obi-Wan won on Mustafar not due to superiority but due to Darth Vader’s tactical error. Again, neither the Jedi nor the Sith hold the key to the great mystery. Thus, it is here that the Force is brought into balance.

This is the view that was held by Darth Tyranus. We normally think of force lightening as a Sith power, but in Episode II, Tyranus explicitly says it is a Jedi power. Darth Tyranus was of the opinion that one needs to grasp both the dark side and the light side to actualize the power of the Force. Darth Tyranus was no friend to the Sith, per se, for he invites Obi-Wan to join him in destroying the Sith. If Darth Tyranus was lying and was trying to get Obi-Wan to join the Sith with him, this is the first and only instance of a Sith not being truthful. We have already seen that the Sith are more than happy telling the truth, for it hurts far worse than lies ever could. This dual-natured view of the force is most succinctly put in a conversation between Palpatine and Anakin.
 

Palpatine:    "You must break through the fog of lies the Jedi have created around you. Let me help you to know the subtleties of the Force."

Anakin:       "How do you know the ways of the force?"

Palpatine:    "My mentor taught me everything about the Force. Even the nature of the dark side."

Anakin:       "You know the dark side?"

Palpatine:    "Anakin, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force."

However, this is not the same Palpatine we know from watching Episode VI. Here, in Episode III, Palpatine is embracing both the light and dark sides, as did Darth Tyranus. In Episode VI, Palpatine goes on and on and on about the power of the dark side. Episodes IV-VI show the Sith lords as the emotionless automatons whereas Episodes II and III have Darth Tyranus and Sidious as personable and having friendships. Herein enters the idea of dual-fulfillment: the prophecy was fulfilled in Episode III and again, more fully, in Episode VI. In Episode III, the Force was brought into balance, but between that episode and Episode IV, the Emperor focused entirely on the dark side. The constant refrain of peace and order was the irony of the Emperor as he was unable to bring these ideals to his galaxy; that is, the Sith order in IV-VI was just as in need of a reboot as the Jedi order in I-III. At the end, then, the prophecy was fulfilled. Anakin, he who destroyed all the Jedi, also destroyed all the Sith: Darth Tyranus, Darth Sidious, and even himself, Darth Vader.

Episode VI ends with everything of the old order(s) swept aside. The Sith are destroyed and so are the Jedi. In a classic vendetta, the two have annihilated each other. In the aftermath and wreckage of it all stands Luke. In a very true sense, this moment is the return of the Jedi: not a return of the glory years of the prequel trilogy, but a return to the true ideals of the Jedi. Luke does embrace a larger view of the force. He does not cling to Jedi dogma. He can feel anger and still be a Jedi. He can feel love and still be a Jedi. Luke’s philosophy of the Force is akin to that of Darth Tyranus’ and even Sidious’ in Episode III. Luke is the heir to all that is best of both the Jedi and Sith schools of thought.

The Star Wars saga ends on a note both sour and hopeful. The Rebel Alliance was not run on concrete ideals but on wishful thinking. Because of that, Episode VI ends with the galaxy in chaos. Ideologically speaking, however, there is hope for the future. Gone is the Empire—whose sin was not a lack of ideals but the inability to actualize them—and gone is the Republic—which had no ideals to actualize. In the wake of the ruin of the Sith and the Jedi, the galaxy lies in darkness, but with the return of a true Jedi, the night is almost over.

Ideas borrowed from

The Case for the Empire, http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/248ipzbt.asp August 27, 2004
Philosophy and Star Wars, by Decker and Eberl
Wookieepedia, http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page