What Do You Want?

We ended the last post with the claim that the Jedi had stopped listening. As we think about the Jedi, an important question is… what do they want?

They are an important, cohesive group. They are incredibly active in the plot. What do they want?

They don’t want the Senate to interfere with them, sure. And they want to be able to handle the threat of the Trade Federation / breakaway planets. And they want to stop obvious Sith lords who are trying to destroy them.

But those are all reactive. All of those things are threats to their power, and they only act on it as much as they are protecting their own power.

Because we go into the trilogy knowing who the Jedi are (yearning to hear of the golden age, remember), their goal isn’t described to us. We just assume it’s “good”. And every character down to the basest Toydarian knows what a Jedi is, so they never have to ask.

Obi-Wan does talk a lot about democracy, and they say some things about “protecting the Republic” but… democracy to do what? Is there any thing the Senate would vote on they are glad about or against? They certainly don’t believe in democracy in terms of themselves, as the Jedi Council takes no input from the Senate in its affairs. It’s unclear what “protecting the Republic means”, especially with there being no outside forces.

They need to protect the Republic from the threat of the Separatists one guess, but well, how much do they care? At the beginning of Episode 3.

PALPATINE

That maybe true, but with Count Dooku dead, he is the leader of the Droid Army, and I assure you, the Senate will vote to continue the war as long as Grievous is alive.

MACE WlNDU

Then the Jedi Council will make finding Grievous our highest priority.

They don’t really seem to care (or argue) about the war and its effects outside “find the dude the Senate considers responsible.” Do any planets need to be freed, or navies brought to heel? Were there any other bad effects of the war to clean up? Their definition of “protecting the Republic” is “find the guy that the Senate will say ends the war.”

What do the Jedi want?

PALPATINE

Remember back to your early teachings. Anakin. "All those who gain power are afraid to lose it." Even the Jedi.

ANAKIN

The Jedi use their power for good.

PALPATINE

Good is a point of view, Anakin. And the Jedi point of view is not the only valid one. The Dark Lords of the Sith believe in security and justice also, yet they are considered by the Jedi to be. . .

ANAKIN

. . . evil.

PALPATINE

. . . from a Jedi's point of view. The Sith and the Jedi are similar in almost every way, including their quest for greater power. The difference between the two is the Sith are not afraid of the dark side of the Force. That is why they are more powerful.

Underline added for emphasis. Anakin weakly deflects with “the Jedi want good”, but he has no knowledge of what that good is. It isn’t, as we’ve established, about freeing slaves or any other aim we know of.

(It's interesting, and depressing, to note how Anakin – who is the most ambitious idealist in Episode I who wants to free "all the slaves" everywhere… becomes a bumbling neophyte who doesn't know how to express a political view in Episode 2, nor even that he doesn't know how to express it without embarrassing himself.)

That isn’t to say we can’t think of what the Jedi would stand for, or what good is. Of course we could, and there are many times the script begs some substantive defense of the Jedi’s aims. The fact that we don’t get it is purposeful and relevant.

This is the first real seduction scene of the Dark Side, and as such it is incredibly important in the "trilogy of the fall of Anakin Skywalker". What does a Sith lord offer? Well for one there is the offer of the power over life and death, which Anakin sees purely in terms of preserving his attachment to another human being. So he offers worldly personal attachment. This is possibly something worth betraying your principles over, but many would reject the betrayal for such selfish gains. Anakin probably would.

But beyond that? The Jedi and the Sith are the same. They both just care about power. Darth Sidious doesn't oversell the Sith as some true moral foundation. He doesn't accuse the Jedi of some secret moral perversion that's killing many innocents. He just says they are the same, plus he'll offer you something you want.

To us this is utterly unconvincing. The Sith blew up Alderaan, we cry, trying not to think of our knowledge of the future but being unable to avoid knowing it. And we know a lot of cool stuff the Jedi do in the future.

But why is this so convincing to Anakin? Because nothing he has seen in the Republic contradicts it. Anakin believes in very stark black and white good and evil dichotomies, but the Jedi have given him nothing to underpin his view of good. The Jedi are Good, is a truism to him. But what is Good? He is caught flatfooted.

So let's fast forward to the true moment of Anakin's fall. When he trades all his whiny, needy, selfish, misguided desire to save Amidala's life in for treachery against the Jedi. I definitely remembered it as a low point of his moral arc. Then I watched the scene again.

MACE WINDU

You are under arrest, My Lord.

PALPATINE

Anakin! I told you it would come to this. I was right. The Jedi are taking over.

MACE WlNDU

You old fool. The oppression of the Sith will never return. Your plot to regain control of the Republic is over . . . you have lost . . .

PALPATINE

No! No! You will die!

PALPATINE raises his hands, and lightning bolts shoot out. They are blocked by MACE's lightsaber. PALPATINE is pushed back against the window sill.

PALPATINE

He is a traitor, Anakin.

MACE WlNDU

He's the traitor. Stop him!

PALPATINE

Come to your senses, boy. The Jedi are in revolt. They will betray you, just as they betrayed me.

MACE WlNDU

Aarrrrggghhhhh . . .

PALPATINE

You are not one of them, Anakin. Don't let him kill me.

MACE WlNDU

Aarrrrggghhhhh . . .

PALPATINE

I am your pathway to power. I have the power to save the one you love. You must choose. You must stop him.

MACE WlNDU

Don't listen to him, Anakin.

PALPATINE

Help me! Don't let him kill me. I can't hold on any longer. Ahhhhhhh . . . ahhhhhhh . . . ahhhhhhh . . .

MACE pushes PALPATINE out to the edge of the ledge. As the Jedi moves closer, the bolts from Palpatine's hands begin to arch back on him. The Chancellor's face begins to twist and distort. His eyes become yellow as he struggles to intensify his powers.

PALPATINE

I can't ... I give up. Help me. I am weak ... I am too weak. Don't kill me. I give up. I'm dying. I can't hold on any longer.

MACE WlNDU

You Sith disease. I am going to end this once and for all.

ANAKIN

You can't kill him, Master. He must stand trial.

MACE WlNDU

He has too much control of the Senate and the Courts. He is too dangerous to be kept alive.

PALPATINE

I'm too weak. Don't kill me. Please.

ANAKIN

It is not the Jedi way . . .

MACE raises his sword to kill the CHANCELLOR.

ANAKIN

(continuing) He must live . . .

PALPATINE

Please don't, please don't . . .

ANAKIN

I need him . . .

PALPATINE

Please don't . . .

ANAKIN

NO!!!

Just as MACE is about to slash PALPATINE, ANAKIN steps in and cuts off the Jedi's hand holding the lightsaber.

Uh, what? The Jedi and the Sith in this incredibly symbolic scene are almost total mirror images of each other. They're two politicians fighting over power over the Republic. Neither of them says anything about why they should have power and the other shouldn't.

Mace Windu could say that the Sith lord has killed thousands of people, and is responsible for the war. He could say everything good the Jedi order has done, and aims to do. This is not the time to really get into a dialogue about philosophical points, but he doesn't even try. In his mind, the Jedi have nothing to offer.

And I was surprised how reasonable Anakin is here. "Let's use the courts." If this were coming from another dark avenger, say Batman, we'd find it moral and natural. No, the Jedi don't even stand for maintaining the legal order. Not that they should reflexively trust the existing institutions, but what are they standing for at all? In this moment, the Jedi stand for nothing but "Anakin kill our equal and opposite enemy."

The enemy makes no pretensions at being any better (and occupies an equivalent rung on the status and legitimacy ladder). He just offers Anakin something he wants, in addition.

I won't be going into all the details about the final duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan here, but suffice it to say, Obi-Wan's rhetoric about why to choose the Republic and the Light Side is similarly empty. Not just hollow, but completely absent.

If the Jedi don't stand for something, they will fall for anything.