Why So Many People Misunderstand the Meaning of Star Wars
Star Wars, both the “Complete Saga” (Revenge of the Sith’s marketing materials and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga mark the saga as being complete upon reaching 6 Episodes) and Disney’s “Skywalker Saga”, revolves around the story of the Skywalker family. The mission that the Skywalkers are tasked with is to “bring balance to the Force”.
The word “balance”, by definition, is a condition or state in which multiple things are equal to each other or are in the correct proportions. Because of this, fans are correct in that the balance involves both the Light Side and the Dark Side.
In Legends continuity, popular among fans is the concept of “Gray Jedi”. Gray Jedi are Force-users that align themselves with neither the light side or the dark side but rather, in between both sides of the Force.
The prequels and the Clone Wars explored the flaws, wrongdoings, and the hubris of the Jedi; in combination with this, many fans seemed to further move away from viewing the Jedi as the good guys and towards the idea of Gray Jedi as a prime example of what a Force-user should be. Not harmful and malevolent like the villainous Sith, but also not falling into the traps of the Jedi.
Despite this, the core Star Wars saga has concluded and Gray Jedi have only been featured in Legends continuity which to the surprise of many anti-Disney era Star Wars fans, was never considered by George Lucas to be part of his canonical universe.
“I don’t read that stuff. I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world. But I do try to keep it consistent. The way I do it now is they have a Star Wars Encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it up and see if it has already been used. When I said [other people] could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one. They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions.”―George Lucas, from an interview in Starlog #337
Countless films, comics, novels, and video-games in, there are canonically 0 Gray Jedi. However, there are entities in the form of the Mortis Father from The Clone Wars and Bendu from Rebels that do represent what could be considered a “Gray” standpoint. While the Father on Mortis maintained balance between his children who represented the dark side and the light, Bendu claimed to represent the middle point of the Force as a spectrum.
So if the Father and Bendu can be “Gray”, why aren’t there any Gray Jedi?
According to Lucasfilm, there can never be.
According to Matt Martin of the Lucasfilm Story Group, the Mortis Father and Bendu are able to be “Gray” because they are not regular people or aliens.
Additionally, his words also reaffirm what most Star Wars viewers already believe, that darkness is synonymous with evil and light with good in the Star Wars universe.
So what is Ahsoka Tano then? Many fans believe she is a Gray Jedi because she left the Jedi Order to follow her own path. It is important to note, as Luke taught Rey in The Last Jedi, the Force does not belong to the Jedi. The Jedi are not representatives of the light; they make it their mission to follow the light side of the Force but they are human (or alien) and flawed and do not always get it right.
While a common fan belief is that the prequel-era Jedi almost met their end because they were not Gray, I would argue that the Jedi failed because they had fallen out of alignment with the light.
They were helping usher in the dark side, the Sith Empire and Palpatine into a place of power without even knowing.
Ahsoka recognized that the path the Jedi were on wasn’t the right one, not for her, and not for the Jedi themselves either, so she left. She may have left the Order but that doesn’t mean she abandoned the light.
A popular line in the Star Wars community is when Ahsoka declares she is NOT a Jedi in Star Wars: Rebels after Vader mocks her.
Dave Filoni: “[Fans] all focus very hard on the line, ‘I am no Jedi,’ from Star Wars: Rebels, but it’s undeniable that she’s trained by the Jedi,” Filoni said. “I think to most observers she is very Jedi to them. I would argue in some ways — by being so selfless and rejecting a lot of paths that would have given her power — she’s more Jedi-like than even some characters who claim to be Jedi.”
Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka herself, said the following;
“I think Ahsoka is a representative of good and the light side of the force. She’s far from the dark side.”
Ashley does not associate Ahsoka with being Gray, instead she draws a direct connection of being a representative of good to the light side of the Force.
Here is what Dave Filoni had to say about the nature of the Force:
“One of the fundamental things to always understand about the light side and the dark side of the Force and the intentions that drive those things are willingness or will to be selfless or selfish. From those two key points of starting grow out either in enlightenment of selflessness or greed and fear and anger and hate, and you just go spiraling down and down and down, but those are the building blocks that George [Lucas] would always talk about and I always keep trying to come back to in everything I do because if you work from that point, then actually you can tell a story with the Force.” — Dave Filoni
So Ahsoka was a former Jedi, but remained on the light side of the Force. And in official Star Wars canon, you can’t be a Gray Jedi.
Years later, Ahsoka appears in the second season of the Mandalorian. Both in-universe and in real life, Ahsoka is referred to as a Jedi once again as the episode featuring Ahsoka is titled “The Jedi”. Din (Mando) and the people on Corvus repeatedly refer to Ahsoka as a Jedi — she does not reject the title but accepts it.
Okay. So then what does the “balance of the Force” refer to?
When I was younger, I assumed that the balance referred to the numbers of Jedi and Sith being equalized. Many fans still believe this. That by the end of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the Force had been balanced by Vader because there were now only 2 Jedi: Yoda and Obi-Wan, and 2 Sith: Vader and Palpatine.
But it’s not a numbers game. Even if we were going by numbers, there are much more Jedi out there. Because of Order 66, many of them went into hiding; this includes Cal Kestis and Kanan Jarrus.
There are also former Jedi still out there fighting the good fight including Cere Junda and Ahsoka.
Plus, while Darth Vader and Darth Sidious (Palpatine) may be the remaining Sith, there are more dark-side users including Maul and the Inquisitorius.
By numbers, it’s not a 2 v 2 = Force balanced equation. Those numbers aren’t even correct. The Sith are ruling the galaxy with an iron fist, the dark side is dominant, while everyone who opposes the dark side, not just Jedi, are forced into hiding. That doesn’t seem balanced to me.
Rian Johnson even responded to one of my tweets before the release of The Last Jedi that balance was not achieved at the end of the prequels.
We know the balance of the Force is not a mathematical equation of the number of Sith being equal to the number of Jedi.
We also know that the balance of the Force does not simply refer to the internal balance within an individual as it is not possible to sustain being a Gray Jedi. So it is safe to reason that the balance refers to an external balance of the Force, an energy field created by all living things. The Force is not about one sole individual but about the galaxy as a whole. It moves through and surrounds every living thing.
In The Last Jedi, Luke teaches Rey about balance.
Rey reaches out on the island of Ahch-To;
Rey: The island. Life. Death and decay, that feeds new life. Warmth. Cold. Peace. Violence.
Luke describes balance as being “powerful light, powerful darkness”. He also tells Rey that “for many years, there was balance.”
As balance was restored for many years, Anakin successfully restored balance to the Force and the galaxy by destroying the Sith. By doing this, this weakened the Empire and loosened the Imperial grip on the galaxy enough for the Rebellion to restore the Republic.
Anakin defeated the Sith by defeating Darth Vader and Palpatine but that doesn’t mean he destroyed the dark side. That’s impossible because the dark side is a part of nature. What Anakin did successfully do is restore balance because the dark side had grown too powerful. Without the dominance of the Sith, the galaxy was able to return to a balanced state.
The sequel trilogy opens with Lor San Tekka telling Poe that “without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force”. By the end of the trilogy, Rey becomes a Jedi, stepping into Anakin Skywalker’s role of defeating the Sith. Here’s what Chris Terrio, writer of the final instalment in the Skywalker Saga, had to say about how balance is restored.
“The balance of the Force always, as George [Lucas] has said, means that the dark and the light exist,” Terrio said.
“There are corners everywhere in the galaxy where the dark still exists, except that with the rise of Palpatine and the original trilogy, I think the way George would describe it is that the dark had become too powerful to the point where the light had almost disappeared. So in winning this victory against the First Order and the remnants of the Empire and the Sith loyalists, I think that the balance is restored, because the dark had been growing much, much more powerful than the light. By Rey striking this blow, it doesn’t mean that everything is happily ever after forever, but it means that at least for this moment in time, the dark has been held off as the light has pushed back.” — Chris Terrio, writer of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
The end of the Sith does not mean the end of the dark side. The dark side is a part of the Force and continues to exist all throughout the corners of the galaxy with or without the Sith.
Star Wars does not promote a be half-a good person and half-a bad person stance. Neither does it support a lifestyle or existence that is dominated by emotion like the Sith, or fearing, avoiding, and repressing human emotion like the prequel-era Jedi.
It is possessiveness through the fear of loss that pushed Anakin towards the dark side, but it is also the fear of losing someone he loves that brought Anakin back towards the light. Anakin restored balance when he gained control over his emotions rather than letting them control him. During one moment, his emotions clouded his vision. During his final moments, his ability to process his emotions and the love between father and son brought him clarity.
Similarly, Snoke/Palpatine put voices in Ben Solo’s head and manipulated Ben Solo throughout his entire life to use Ben’s feelings and emotions against him. With some help from Rey and accepting the continuing love from his parents even beyond their deaths, Ben is finally able to process his emotions healthily and abandon his Kylo Ren alter ego.
Had Ben lived post-The Rise of Skywalker, I believe his destiny would be in joining Rey in the light as a Jedi. Not as Kylo Ren or as a “Gray Jedi”. A Gray Jedi, because they aren’t completely opposed to killing because they’re 50% dark side, would consider killing someone in their sleep. But a Jedi, as Yoda said, “a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack” — that would never even be considered.
A Jedi’s duty is to do their utmost to protect the balance of the Force, and had Rey and Ben began to train a new generation of Jedi, the lessons they have learned would have helped prevent another Snoke/Palpatine/Kylo Ren-scenario from happening again.
Star Wars isn’t about being a wishy-washy, morally flexible, morally grey anti-hero. Star Wars isn’t about giving in to selfishness and anger or becoming an emotionally cold robot. Star Wars is about being human, loving others, and fighting for what you believe in while helping correct some of the wrongs in the world.
“Love people. That’s basically all ‘Star Wars’ is.”
— George Lucas
While those who wield the dark side seek to dominate, the light is not about overpowering the darkness, but to watch over it and keep the darkness in check.
A true Jedi follows the light side of the Force, not the Jedi Order. A hero counters the darkness by bringing more light into a world that needs it… and you don’t need to be a Skywalker or a Jedi to do that.
