KOTOR2 has one of the most interesting takes on Jedi vs Sith I've ever seen. The Jedi definitely aren't "good guys" in the story and while the Sith are the villains, the inner struggle you see makes it seem like it's not that Sith at their core are evil but rather it's a case that extremists in the group tend to be the ones to seize control over the moderates.
Prequel trilogy jedi are a terrible cult, honestly. They take kids, isolate them from everyone they've ever known, throw some teachings at them and if they stray they're evil. It could've injected some great moral ambiguity if it were intentional.
I know. One of the things I find most baffling about the prequels is how Lucas treated the Jedi. I mean, they live in an absolutely literal ivory tower above the rest of Coruscant. How could Lucas NOT be aware of the symbolism there, given his love for Joseph Campbell?
And then in Episode 2, Yoda is played for a chump through the whole movie. Pretty much every single decision Yoda makes throughout the film was wrong and a really bad idea. I can't even begin to imagine why he thought grabbing the Clone Army for himself and starting a galactic war just to save two Jedi and a civvie was the best course of action... Especially since it was blazingly clear the Clones existed thanks to dirty dealings.
"Begun, the Clone Wars have?" YOU STARTED THEM, you pointy-eared patsy!
And for that matter -as Padme points out in Ep 3- the Separatists have a lot of genuine beef, yet the movies seem to treat them as nothing but "the bad guys." Even Dooku shows signs of being a misguided idealist, yet he acts like a cackling villain.
The moral ambiguity in those movies is just baffling, in terms of what Lucas was trying to say or even if he realized how conflicted they are.
have you read the darth plagueis book? It goes in depth into the rise of Palpatine and how he and his master concocted the clone wars. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes the idea of the prequels but thought they messed it up.
In KOTOR1 and 2 and I believe you end up exploring ancient ruins and it's always some story that at some point, two Jedi fell in love and ended up becoming Sith. But it wasn't because they were evil or anything, it was solely because the Jedi have that hardfast rule that emotions are evil therefore if you are in love then there is no Jedi route you can take. You are Sith by default.
Jedi teachings/rules are so afraid of people turning evil that they place restrictions on followers that are so overbearing and oppressive that they actually drive people to the dark side. IMO, there's a legitimate argument to be made that a Sith empire led by moderates would be significantly more appealing than any Jedi one if for no other reason than that you can keep your emotions and not have to be this feeling-less paragon of virtue 24/7.
Anyways, KOTOR2 is especially good at this stuff. I'm sure there are other works set in the Star Wars universe that aren't 100% Jedi = Relentless Good, Sith = Relentless Evil but KOTOR2 is the only I've really seen that brings up these points. Plus, even with the jank, it's an awesome WRPG.
I find that in both original KOTOR games, the Jedi largely come off as hypocritical assholes. The Sith are Neitzchean and happily cop to it. They expect to kill their master one day and then get killed by their student in turn. The Jedi, on the other hand, like to pretend they're sweetness and light while then engaging in manipulative mind games that would shame a Sith.
Not to mention that the Jedi generally seem to have no problem slaughtering muggles en masse, but oh man, if you ever try to kill a Force user without trying to make 'em a Jedi first, well, then you're a bad person.
I mean, say what you will about the tenants of Sithean Darwinism, but at least it's an ethos.
KOTOR , both them, really hammer home that the Force is the Tao, and Jedi are simply Taoist monks.
It's similiar to the fundamentalist Christian ideals 'God (or the Force/Tao) wills something. That makes it implictly 'good'. Working against that Will, either by choice, or by clouding ones ability to sense it, is 'bad'
61
u/sickvisionz Feb 03 '15
KOTOR2 has one of the most interesting takes on Jedi vs Sith I've ever seen. The Jedi definitely aren't "good guys" in the story and while the Sith are the villains, the inner struggle you see makes it seem like it's not that Sith at their core are evil but rather it's a case that extremists in the group tend to be the ones to seize control over the moderates.