Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace star Ahmed Best revealed in a recent interview why the Jedi will always be better than the Sith in Star Wars. The Phantom Menace was crucial to the Star Wars timeline, as it explored what the Jedi Order looked like before the Empire took over, introducing more of Star Wars’ most powerful Jedi and Star Wars’ most powerful Sith. With this addition to Star Wars movies and TV shows came even more questions about the light versus the dark side of the Force; however, it seems George Lucas’ stance is clear.

Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace and has returned to Star Wars as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian, shared insights about the Jedi and the Sith from Star Wars creator George Lucas himself. In an interview with StarWars.com, Best explained:

“George always talks about how everybody wants to be a Sith Lord and how the dark side is cool…But George’s thing was always about how the dark side is easy, the dark side is accessible. The Sith shoot lightning out of their fingers and people ask, ‘How come the Jedi don’t do that?’ It’s not that they can’t do it, but that they learn the control not to do it. Control is hard. Choosing the side of life, light, and harmony is a daily challenge, especially when you have great power. But when you come from this idea of love, then you will forever be on the light side. When love is not the impetus for your action, then that’s when you’re on the dark side. That’s what The Phantom Menace is really about: if you come from this place of love, you can overcome ‘the phantom menace.’”

This explanation of George Lucas’ logic by Ahmed Best is profound and rings true for Star Wars’ representation of the dark side of the Force and the ramifications of choosing it.

Power Is Easy, But Control Is Better

It’s true that the dark side of the Force is often seen as the cooler or even more fun side, and it’s easy to be drawn in by the power the Sith clearly wield. However, Ahmed Best’s (and George Lucas’) perspective makes perfect sense. In fact, Star Wars has reinforced time and time again that the dark side of the Force will only rip a person apart. Anakin Skywalker is perhaps the single best representation of this. As Best said, the dark side is easier, and it offers a more immediate power, which is precisely how Anakin fell.

Anakin wanted a quick solution to his fears about Padmé dying, and that made him vulnerable to Palpatine’s offers of great power. However, in the end, Anakin was a self-fulfilling prophecy; the very power he sought to save his wife contributed to her death. Moreover, Anakin’s fall to the dark side reinforces Best’s additional point about love. Anakin’s fears certainly stemmed from a place of love, but he fell because that love became about a need to control someone’s fate—the very issue with attachments.

In contrast, the Jedi learn to control not others, but rather, themselves. Because Jedi resist the temptations of power and don’t act out of emotions such as anger or fear, they will always triumph over the Sith. Best and Lucas also make clear that choosing the Jedi path is more difficult, but it is also more rewarding. While Ahmed Best’s insights in this interview reveal additional context for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, they also have massive implications for Star Wars as a whole by shedding new light upon the Jedi and the Sith.

Source: StarWars.com

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