Warning: contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic #1!A High Republic-era Star Wars story depicts the Force, the dark side, and the Jedi concept of “balance” in a way that, while consistent with the rest of the current canon, is both problematic and inconsistent with the franchise’s original six theatrical films. The original and prequel Star Wars trilogies, along with the majority of Legends-era non-movie materials, portray the Force’s two aspects not as neutral notions of light and dark, but rather nature and an intrinsically unbalancing corruption of nature. Star Wars’ sequel trilogy and the majority of its post-2014 canon materials, however, have redefined the Force and what “balance” truly means.
The Force, as explained in the original Star Wars trilogy, is a fundamental energy field that unites all life. Its natural balance of life, death, and the harmony between sapient beings and nature is disrupted by the dark side of the Force. The dark side is typically shown to be a corruption of the Force, fueled by malice and highly addictive to Force-users, who it inevitably twists into horrifying shadows of their former selves. A common misinterpretation of the original concept of the Force is that it is akin to a spectrum or scale, with the dark side on one end, the “light side” on the other, and balance existing between the two. Unfortunately, this misunderstanding has been canonized in the Star Wars franchise’s post-2014 timelines.
Star Wars: The High Republic #1‘s “Peace and Unity,” by Cavan Scott and Andrea Broccardo, expresses this redefinition of the Force. During the Convocation of Force-using religions on Jedha, the Jedi Knight Oliviah Zeveron defends a representative of the formerly dark side-using Yacombe from other envoys who attack them for the religion’s former dark side affiliation. While Zeveron is clearly right to advocate non-violence in this situation, the comic issue continues the current canon’s troubling presentation of balance in the Force, treating it as a point between “light” and dark, which contradicts the Force’s depictions in the original six Star Wars saga films.
The Dark Side Should Not Be Neutral
What the original and prequel trilogies make clear is that the dark side of the Force is not a neutral entity. There are no redeeming qualities of a corruption of the Force that turns beings into murderers and fascists. Even in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, the dark side may be spoken of as an essential element of balance in the Force, but it’s only ever shown to turn Force users like Ben Solo into the worst possible versions of themselves. The Yacombe envoy does not instigate a conflict intentionally, so while the other Force users attacking them is unjustified, their suspicion towards a group historically twisted by the dark side is not entirely out of line.
What Is The “Light Side?”
Another element of the current Star Wars canon’s new definition of the Force is that it uses the term “light side,” and frames it as an aspect of the Force that must be balanced with the dark side. This once again does not coincide with the original and prequel films, as the old Jedi Order had become corrupt not because of its over reliance on the “light side,” but because the Jedi as an institution had become complacent and intertwined with the growing corruption plaguing the Galactic Republic. The current canon, problematically, suggests that balance is a halfway point between being an altruist who is in harmony with nature and being a power-hungry murderer.
While the story makes it clear that the Yacombe are no longer dark side adherents, making a Jedi standing against suspicion of the dark side the centerpoint of the story is troubling. In making the Jedi the ‘reasonable’ voice in this situation, Star Wars portrays the Order not as a beacon of the best humanity can be, but as defenders of its darkest flaws as inherent to the human condition. It’s a far less daring, less inspiring way to view the Force, but one which Star Wars seems to be embracing in its new era, from the modern Jedi to their ancient forebears.
Star Wars: The High Republic #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
