Do I understand Star Wars?
I have mostly only watched the movies and I read a few books when I was a kid, but I’ve always kind of understood Star Wars a certain way, and have noticed more things as Ive watched the movies as I get older. I do see things online tho (mostly here on Reddit actually) that makes me wonder if I have it wrong?
So idk I thought maybe I would lay it out here, and maybe we could discuss how wrong I am? Idk I think it could be a cool conversation anyway
The Force is like a living creature. It’s god-like but it’s not a god. Like it doesn’t have an identity, but it is an all encompassing life force. The Force wants to be “balanced” or “zen” or however you want to think of it. The dark side is almost an infection of sorts in the living creature. A cancer.
Things like despair, fear, hatred, anger, domination etc. create “bad energy” “bad vibes”. The dark side. That’s why the Sith are always so worried about starting wars, enslaving people etc because the more despair, hatred, and agony they can breed the more powerful they can become. They want everyone to live in fear, distrust, despair, and anger, they literally feed off of it.
The Jedi started out as monks who learned how to communicate with the force and realized that the force “wants” to be “balanced”. So they took it upon themselves to serve it. That’s why Jedi aren’t just peacekeepers, but ambassadors, scholars, healers etc. They strive to create peace, understanding, prosperity etc. and in return they can “use” the force to achieve this.
By the time of the prequels however, instead of serving the force, they have mostly started using the force to serve the republic. The Republic started out as a good thing, but over time has become corrupt, bureaucratic, and infiltrated and influenced secretly by the Sith. This is part of why their ability to use the force is diminished. They serve the corrupt Republic, not the Force.
Ultimately this is exploited to destroy them.
But Qui gon was still an “old school” jedi who was actually trying to listen to the force. If you pay attention to him in ep 1, he talks a lot about “the living force” and being mindful of the present, “the will of the force”. He’s actually trying to listen to what the force is telling him, rather than using it to discern what actions will give him his preferred outcome.
He’s telling both Anakin and Obi Wan to not spend so much time and effort looking into the future, keep your attention here and now. Like “stop trying to look into the future and play god, but listen. Listen to god and have a conversation with him, let him tell you what you need to know” (I know force doesn’t equal god but you get my point)
Because of this, he often butts heads with the council. He doesn’t serve the jedi, he serves the force.
(I also like how Yoda criticizes Luke for always staring off into the horizon, dreaming of the future. Almost like he learned the error of the Jedi’s prequel-era mentality and is criticizes that in Luke)
Anyway I guess that’s how I kind of think of the fall of the Jedi and the nature of the Force, and the motivations of the Sith. How far off base am I?