Even though today is Star Wars Day, I have a terrible confession to make: I never trusted Yoda. While I found his introduction on Dagobah to be funny, and enjoyed his Puckish behavior in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, his gambit to prove Luke worthy comes across as utterly jerkass behavior (especially for the last living specimen of a group known for honesty and compassion,) Combine that with the fact that he is almost always wrong when the chips are down, and even his beautifully choreographed moment of combat awesome against Count Dooku can’t entirely redeem his character’s role in the saga. On the other hand, watching Star Wars as a kid, I found Darth Vader fascinating, with his unstoppable cyborg body and implacable nature making him the standout character, even though he was the villain of the piece. (Also, he can forcechoke the $#!+ out of you from light years away.) The heel/face turn given the character at the end of ‘Return Of The Jedi’ didn’t really work, but I completely understand why Lucas (and the fanbase) wanted to see him make good, as he’s the strongest overall character in all of the various Star Wars movies. I’m not saying that I’d automatically choose evil over good, but I do want a red lightsaber, which leaves me with a bad feeling about today’s query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) figures this one comes down to the ability to shoot lighting out of your face, which would be AWESOME, asking: Do you favor the Dark Side or the Light Side of The Force?
7 Comments
Light! The whole series is a story of good triumphing over evil. That arc is just too strong. I mean, really, who wants to root for the space Nazis?
Back when Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight came out, there was a huge online battle between the light and dark sides. It was my first major online gaming experience and it was awesome. I fought for the dark side and we won, probably in part because dark side powers were OP.
To actually answer the question, I’d like to think I would be all enlightened and not stray… But who knows how you will react once you have that power?
My mind says Light, but my heart says Dark (and I’m not entirely sure what that says about me).
I know the good guys win. I know that the Empire and the Sith are really bad people. But sometimes, it feels real good to be real bad. Someone disappoints you? Force choke ’em. Rebel scum in your way? Cut them down with your lightsaber! Those pesky hero types are trying to foil your plans again? Unleash your UUUUUNLIIIIIIIMIIIIIIITEEEEEED POOOOOOWAAAAAAAHHHH! Plus, the costumes are snappier.
I like to think I am a good person and that I, on average, do more good than harm in the world. But sometimes it’s fun to root for the bad guys. Especially the really cool ones with black capes.
It’s funny that you mention the whole Vader thing. I recently watched all the movies in numerical order (1-6) and it’s a completely different experience. Rather than being Luke’s story, it’s Anakin’s. It’s rather interesting to see his fall and redemption by the end and how the story is changed by that viewing order. And the Dark Side is the coolest.
One of the myriad reasons that I don’t care quite as much for the prequels…
I’m gonna have to go with the dark side for the force choke, lightning and black cloaks.
Although I do technically lean toward the Dark Side, I like the school of thought by various Force using groups that certain powers aren’t inherently Light or Dark, but it is how you use them that counts. For instance, powers like Force Lightning could just as easily be used by someone of the Light if they knew how to do it and used it without anger or hatred. It is just that certain powers are easier for one side to use than the other (such as Force healing being difficult for users of the Dark Side).