Throughout the Star Wars series, the Jedi are repeatedly wrong about the Dark Side, and a main character’s story proves it. Jedi Masters are frequently warning their Padawans, young Jedi, and regular citizens about the dangers of the Dark Side. Yoda famously says in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” He thinks young Anakin is more susceptible to the Dark Side because he’s afraid, and for this reason doesn’t want him to become a Jedi.
Despite Yoda’s protests about Anakin, he and the other Jedi aren’t able to recognize the true Dark Side when it is right in front of them. Palpatine a.k.a. Darth Sidious goes undetected for decades. And while the Jedi don’t trust Palpatine’s influence on Anakin, they also don’t realize how quickly he was turning him into a Sith Lord in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. If the Jedi had intervened earlier, they may have been able to prevent the ensuing tragedies. The massacre of the Jedi apparently only reinforced Yoda’s beliefs about the Dark Side.
The Jedi Feared The Dark Side
Decades after the massacre, Yoda says to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, “Once you start down the dark path, forever it will dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will.” But Anakin later proves this isn’t true. The Dark Side doesn’t dominate your destiny. So why were the Jedi so wrong?
Ironically, the Jedi fear the Dark Side—and are afraid of their own fear, hence Yoda’s line about it in The Phantom Menace. The Jedi are encouraged to look inward at their own darkness and are then taught that their darkness is a bad thing. Arguably, the Jedi push Anakin to the Dark Side by making him think there is something wrong with him. In the Jedi Order, Anakin isn’t given license to unpack his childhood trauma or make friends, so he eventually feels the Dark Side is his only option.
The Jedi’s fear of the Dark Side also means they avoid learning more about it. If Jedi Masters never take the time to understand the Dark Side, they also don’t take the time to teach anything about it to younglings. Anakin is fascinated by Palpatine’s story about Sith Lord Darth Plagueis because he doesn’t know anything else about the Dark Side, only that it’s supposedly bad. This lack of knowledge means the Jedi can’t recognize all the subtle ways the Dark Side works, and that people like Anakin are more susceptible to it. If the Jedi were more knowledgeable about their enemies, they may have caught Darth Sidious earlier.
The Jedi Believed The Dark Side To Be Too Powerful
In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke asks Yoda if the Dark Side is stronger than the Light Side. Yoda answers with an emphatic negative. He says the Dark Side is just “quicker, easier, more seductive.” Still, Yoda and the other Jedi act like the Dark Side is more powerful than the Light Side. They think that the Dark Side is all-consuming and that anyone who falls into it is beyond redemption. Meanwhile, they think anyone part of the Light Side can be turned to the Dark. If they know the Light is more powerful, they shouldn’t be so afraid of telling young Jedi information about the Dark Side.
This subconscious thought that the Dark Side is too powerful is why Yoda, Mace Windu, and most the Jedi Council don’t want to let Anakin into the Jedi Order. But once Anakin is allowed into the Order, the Jedi seem obsessed with the Chosen One prophecy and Anakin’s role in the future of the Jedi and Sith. They wrongly interpret the prophecy to mean the Chosen One will destroy the Sith. They desperately want to believe Anakin will do this because they think the Dark Side has the capacity to overthrow the Light.
Even Luke Skywalker, who wasn’t raised in the Jedi Order, almost kills Ben Solo (a.k.a. Kylo Ren) because he can sense the Dark Side in his Padawan. Luke realizes his mistake and doesn’t go through with the murder, but the thought crossing his mind shows just how deep the Jedi teachings (or lack thereof) about the Dark Side run. From only Yoda’s few words about the Dark Side and his own studies of Jedi history, Luke became afraid of his trainees turning.
Anakin Skywalker Proved The Light Is Greater Than The Darkness
Luke should know better because he saw his father prove the Dark Side isn’t the end. Whether someone could have stopped Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side or not, he was never beyond redemption. He proves this when he sacrifices himself to kill the Emperor and saves Luke and the rest of the galaxy in The Empire Strikes Back. Anakin/Darth Vader’s redemption shows that the Jedi are wrong to be so afraid of the Dark Side because there is a way out of it. The Dark Side didn’t dominate Anakin’s destiny like Yoda said it would. The Light Side won out, meaning it is more powerful than the Dark Side.
The Dark Side is insidious, forcing even the Jedi to question how powerful the Light is, but ultimately the Light always wins. Anakin exemplifies this, but it’s a lesson that runs through all of Star Wars, not just Anakin’s story. Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi shows how even the villainous Count Dooku’s fall to the Dark Side was not simple. Similar to Anakin, Dooku was manipulated by Darth Sidious into becoming a Sith. If Anakin hadn’t killed Dooku in Revenge of the Sith, it’s even possible Dooku could have rejoined the Light Side and turned against Darth Sidious, like Anakin eventually would.
Tales of the Jedi also continues Ahsoka’s story. She’s just one Jedi who left the Jedi Order but still follows the Light. Ahsoka never wavers from being a force for good because she knows the Light Side is the right side, even if she doesn’t want to be a Jedi anymore. Throughout the Star Wars series, the Jedi and their supporters almost always outnumber the Sith because, even if the Dark Side is “easier,” the Light Side is right. Instead of rejecting any dark thoughts, the Jedi should take the time to learn about the Dark Side, so they can better fight it.
