Sith/Legends

I decided to recreate the Naga Sadow symbol from comics and what do you think?

What would happen if a Sith bathed in the pool of knowledge and a Jedi drank from font of power

Engraved the ancient sith empire logo on this lighter and the word "sith" in kittât.

Part 1: That's Not How the Force Works... Or Is It?

Within the galaxy of Star Wars, Force-sensitive characters have been shown to interact with the Light and Dark Sides of the Force as drastically opposing aspects of one cosmic energy field. To put it quite simply, the Light Side involved following the will of the Force and was aligned with selflessness in philosophy and actions, while the Dark Side involved following one's own will and emotions, and was conversely aligned with selfishness.

For many beings in the galaxy, the Dark Side was inherently more attractive, due to the personal gain that quickly became available by tapping into it. This frequently led to a corrupting effect whereby they became fully consumed by its influence, led astray from morality by their own greed and lust for power; this process of "turning to the Dark Side" often happened very fast and was very hard to reverse, corrupting the physical body almost as a reflection of its spiritual state. Light Side use was generally based on forms of higher enlightenment, which allowed beings to distance themselves from such greed; their motivation being a resolution to use the power of the Force for the good of all, and in a more religious sense, a devotion to the will of the Force in its role as a manifestation of all life in the galaxy. Without such resolution, giving way to the Dark entirely was very easy, with individuals' sense of morality and ethics becoming twisted or disappearing entirely.

It has been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the Dark Side certainly offered the promise of absolute power, as long as one was willing to go to any lengths to obtain it. The Sith movement leaned eagerly into this promise; their philosophy involved using the powers such an emotion-fuelled approach to the Force provided for personal and Imperial gain, which inevitably led to infighting in the race for individual success. This would lead to the rise of the Rule of Two, and eventually, their downfall.

Meanwhile, the Jedi shunned use of the Dark Side entirely, knowing how easy it was to become seduced by the power it offered and use that power for evil in a cycle of violence without end. They seeked to rise above and follow an altruistic path, listening to the will of the Force over their own emotions and worldly desires, to do what was truly best for the galaxy at large.

But is the strict dichotomy of Light and Dark, as represented and reinforced by the Jedi and Sith orders, all there is? Is this all-or-nothing attitude the only way to approach the Force?

Part 2: Neither Jedi, Nor Sith (Yet Borrowing From Both)

Of course, we have the oft-mentioned Gray Jedi, a concept which is popular in the Star Wars fandom, although poorly defined in the canon. In Legends material, "Gray Jedi" has variously been used to refer to:

1. Jedi who were raised to use the Light Side, and later began to use Dark Side techniques without succumbing to the Dark Side completely (at which point they would have become "Dark Jedi");

2. Jedi who were simply unorthodox or disobedient towards the Jedi Council, and whose views and practices were frowned upon, although they didn't go so far as the first; and

3. Force users who were never part of the Jedi to begin with, nor Sith, but who mixed Light Side and Dark Side approaches in their philosophy; or who belonged to orders that were founded by former Jedi or Sith, and became their own distinct groups.

Definition 1 is the one which, in my opinion, makes the most linguistic sense, and it applies well to this discussion; however, it's also the hardest to find examples of in Star Wars media. Arguably, any Jedi who gave in to their emotions with any regularity could be considered Gray, but here, in my opinion, intentionality matters; if such moments of Dark Side usage were accidental, and these Jedi weren't truly seeking a balance between Dark and Light sides in their personal philosophy, they don't exactly count as Gray Jedi. And most of them who dabbled in the Dark Side, such as Anakin Skywalker, ended up falling anyway, so their Grayness was short-lived.

Definition 2 is a less accurate use of the term, and seems to have been mainly used by orthodox Jedi attempting to label those who questioned them with a distasteful association with the Dark, hinting that they were veering dangerously close to a path that would lead them to fall. Politically motivated, so to speak. Ahsoka Tano is an example of this phenomenon, since she left the Jedi Order, yet remained a servant of the Light. I prefer to call such individuals "Rogue Jedi", as their relationship with the Force was still more Light than anything.

Definition 3 seems like a group among which truly balanced Force perspectives could be found; however, such Force users lie outside the Jedi Order entirely, thus I prefer to call them "Gray Force users" for clarity. One such order, the Jensaarai, was founded by a fallen Jedi who was drawn to Sith teachings; yet they later grew away from their roots and into a more Light Side-tempered approach to the Force. Within such a group's philosophy, refined over the years and with its members' wills strengthened against the Dark Side's corruption, an effective approach where emotion-driven Force use was tempered by a higher moral code appears to have been possible to achieve.

In Conclusion: There Is Another

So, with this material in mind, what would it mean to be a truly balanced Force user?

Not necessarily that one draws on both Light and Dark Sides equally, since that's both impossible to quantify, and would be extremely difficult to execute in practice, given the Dark Side's quickly corrupting tendencies. Rather, I personally believe that this hypothetical "true balance" would vary individually, as it pertains to one's self control and personal relationship with the Force. It hinges on one's ability to tap into the Dark Side without falling; to rely on the Light, but not to the exclusion of the power the Dark provides. To be selfless, but without excluding the self; to be able to unleash one's emotions when called for, yet have the willpower to reign them in, and the presence of mind to halt one's descent to the dark.

Has any character ever truly succeeded in this method long-term? I don't know, but it's fun to theorize about. A struggle between two natures, an eternal war within each being who chose to follow such a path; difficult and dangerous, perhaps... but, like a nuclear reaction, with the potential to achieve far greater things than its constituent parts.

Boom.

Please feel free to comment, whether you have any lore I've missed (I would have gotten into Bogan and Ashla, etc., but ran out of steam), characters you want to analyze, or your own philosophy on the Force. Just don't bring the thread too far into fanon, please; hopefully my theorizing will retain some veneer of legitimacy in the moderators' eyes (which are probably rolling as they read this). I just find the dichotomy of Dark and Light aspects of the Force fascinating, and would like to explore how they have intersected in canon, and could potentially do so in the future.

So, if you're up to it, drop a comment below; your thoughts would be most appreciated.

So I had just learned that Sith and dark Jedi cannot help out their new apprentices when they die called 🔥hell🔥 because they cannot walk the same paths as the Jedi. I'm now confused about where the GREY Jedi go when they die.