Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyC
But Captain, couldn't you argue that every action done with Anakin's, or any lightsabre, during the Palpatine Republic was evil? If The Clone Wars taught me anything, it's that the Republic was doing all sorts of evil without really considering it so.
Invading sovereign planets
Killing beings simply defending their home world
Using individually aware people (clones) as expendable soldiers
Basically being a tool of war in general, which goes against their doctrine
All ultimately in the name of turning over the galaxy to a mad man.
|
Ok, here's my argument against that.
The Jedi I believe saw the Clone Wars not as a war between the Seperatists and the Republic, but as a war against the coming darkness that they could all feel.
Remember they were gradually being clouded by the dark side of the force. So while they did these things, the Jedi didn't believe that they were perpetuating evil.
Of course on later reflection even Yoda realized that it was a war that if they hadn't of fought it, it wouldn't have happened.
But they felt that they were doing good and saving lives, and most importantly they were fighting a war on a quasi-meta-physical level that ordinary people couldn't see, and it was the right fight.
However there is always a hole in the Jedi mind set that the Sith seem to understand and exploit every time.
going back to the legends EU.
The thousands years war, several Jedi thought that the Jedi were limiting themselves by not using the whole force including the dark side of the force. These Jedi were expelled from the order, and branded as heretics by the Jedi who seek to destroy them. This causes a war that kills millions and darken the force. In the end the dark jedi are banished and become the founding members of the Sith.
The Sith Jedi war - The Sith return to the republic, and fight a fairly successful war until the Sith fracture and start killing each other. The Sith retreat to their home world of Korriban. The Jedi follow and in their determination to destroy the darkside attempt to perform genoside on all the Sith. The Sith Emperor escapes and his small group of followers eventually find a new home world, and dedicate their entire society to the concept of avenging the genocide that the Jedi attempted.
The Reven Malak Wars. The Mandos attack and the Jedi decide not to go to war for once. Except for a group of zealots that decide that the Mando's are some great evil and go to war. The Jedi commit acts of mass genocide to win the war, this leads to the rise of Revan and Malak who seek out the evil behind the Mandos and become seduced by the Sith Emperor, they return and go to war with the republic. for once the Jedi don't fight back and go into hiding, and Reven returns to the light and kills his former apprentice.
The Sith-Republic War - Just that, the Sith invade the republic and the Jedi decide to fight and form armies, this leads to a multi-generational war.
The Brotherhood of darkness versus the army of light - The Sith invade as an army, and the Jedi respond as an army the dark and the light fight across the galaxy killing billions and trillions. Eventually a Sith Lord named Bane wipes out the Sith army and goes into hiding.
The clone wars - A army of battledroids attack the republic and the Jedi sensing darkness go to war, eventually becoming more like generals and officers then defenders of the light. Their actions allow the Dark side to win.
What I'm getting to is that the Jedi are a far greater threat to the mundane non force sensitive light and the actual light side of the force then the Sith ever were. They continually go into and expand war based on a philosophy that any concept of the force outside of their own is inherently evil and needs to be destroyed.
the Jedi see themselves as good, and the Sith as evil
The Sith see themselves as the true believers of peace and order and justice int he galaxy and see the Jedi as corrupt ignorant and evil.
But the Jedi never learn that if they don't actually get inolved in the war then none of the evil events can happen.
If the Jedi decided to leave the Clone Wars to the grand army of the republic, They would have been secure from order 66 and Palpatine might not have succeeded.
If the Army of Light hadn't taken the battlefield against the Army of Darkness on Rusaan, the Sith would have turned on each other and destroyed each other.
If the original Jedi hadn't tried to wipe out the Sith on multiple occasions, The Sith might have become a completely different thing or not existed at all.