So the Messiah in Star Wars is supposed “to bring balance to The Force,” but I never understood what it meant.

Star Wars is extremely dualistic–there is a good side and an evil side, a light side and a dark side, the Jedi and the Sith. Every plotline is based around a manichean struggle where only one side can win by annihilating the other.

The “good side”, the Jedi, are explicitly looking a savior to provide “balance” while at the same time imposing all sorts of restrictions on which force powers are allowed and which aren’t. For an order whose messiah is based on Taoist equilibrium, they are positively Christian in their obsession with purity.

I think there is an implicit subtextual critique of the Jedi Order in the prequels that they incompetent, as you might expect from the leaders of a theocracy, but that’s about as far as it goes.

I think the closest we get to ANY real discussion of balance is Luke’s vision on Degobah, where he must see himself as potentially Darth Vader, which can be interpreted as an attempt towards wholeness OR as a warning to not stray into evil.

Can anyone square this circle?

Edit: It’s funny to me that there are more comments than upvotes. People want to share. I love it.

    • BenevolentOne@infosec.pub
      2·
      7 hours ago

      There are detailed in-world explanations for precisely where the magic comes from, who gets it, why, and how it relates to other physical systems.

      It’s as much sci-fi as warp drives, planet cities, telecommunications aliens, ancient AIs, and space pirates…

      Anyways, enjoy this quote:

      There really is nothing to fear in fantasy unless you are afraid of the freedom of uncertainty. This is why it’s hard for me to imagine that anyone who likes science can dislike fantasy. Both are based so profoundly on the admission of uncertainty, the welcoming acceptance of unanswered questions. Of course the scientist seeks to ask how things are the way they are, not to imagine how they might be otherwise. But are the two operations opposed, or related?

      Ursula K. Le Guin, “It Doesn’t Have To Be the Way It Is,” June 2011; collected in No Time to Spare (2017)

      https://www.ursulakleguin.com/blog/28-it-doesnt-have-to-be-the-way-it-is

    • Danquebec@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      8 hours ago

      The books follow a series of Allomancers, who are individuals who can consume metal to wield magical powers.

      Doesn’t seem scientific.