Light Side Powers

[Pantherrw]

This is how I view the force based on what I've seen, read, and experienced in various books, games, movies, and the like on Starwars.

 

The force has two elements, light and dark side. The light side is fed by the good will, kindness, and other "good" feelings people and creatures have towards one another. When these feelings are strong (i.e. a general peace in the universe or in particular places where these feelings are strong) the light side is dominant and powerful.

 

The dark side is fed by the hatred, anger, and general evil feelings towards others that people and creatures feel towards one another. When the universe is at war or in places where these emotions were strong, then the dark side is dominant and powerful.

 

So where do the Jedi and Sith come into this. The Jedi and Sith have a unique gift to draw upon the force, whatever you define the force as (i.e. alive, life energy of all people, etc), and use it for various purposes. Jedi focus and draw upon the light side for their powers and as such they try to encourage events and happenings that strengthen the light and weaken the dark. Jedi understand that there must be balance in all things though and that you can not erradicate the darkside, they primarily focus on containing its influences and preventing it from getting out of hand (hence their roles as diplomats, peace keepers, and investigators).

 

The Sith on the other hand draw upon the dark side and the anger, hatred, and destruction that it breeds. Only by encouraging these events can they obtain power and dominance. Unlike the jedi, they do not feel that the light side is needed, they see it as weak and something that should be erradicated. Because of this though they generally end up causing their own downfall, they beat the lightside into submission, thinking it is destroyed and then turn on each other, meanwhile the lightside brings a spark or kernel of its power inside some unknown agent to rise up and return balance, taking advantage of the weakned dark side (since it has turned on itself).

 

So where do force powers fall into this and how is it that Jedi can use darkside powers and darksiders can use lightside powers (there has never been anything that says they couldn't just that using darkside powers leads to the darkside and vice versa). Well I believe that you have the 3 types of powers, universal, light, and dark.

 

Universal powers are powered by the overall strength of the force, both light and dark. They do not favor either side and thus are used equally by both. Regardless of how peaceful or angry a jedi or sith is they can call on these powers as they're neither inherently light or dark, rather they are just universal things. This ranges from things like push/pull, to speeding up the movements/mind of the user, to basic manipulation of non-living material. Nothing offensive or defensive in nature.

 

Dark side powers draw upon emotions such as anger, hatred, malice, etc. Jedi find these powers more difficult to use because they rarely call upon these emotions, in a way their training and attunement to the light side has put a block upon these feelings and makes it much more taxing to call upon these powers. By using these powers the jedi must flirt with these emotions, hence why use of these powers can lead to the dark side. It isn't guarnteed that they will (and this is why I don't think you should see darkside points just for knowing these powers) it is how and why these powers are used that leads to the darkside. A jedi throwing force lightning in self defense isn't going to give a large enough spark to the darker emotions to cause a darkside shift. However the power that the lightning gives (striking down your foes so easily would be one heck of a rush of power) is the kernel of the darkside left in the jedi from their use. If the Jedi properly controls this kernel (i.e. keeps it in balance with his other emotions) then nothing comes of it, however if the jedi doesn't properly balance this emotion then a scenario where using lightning to dispatch a troublesome (but not dangerous) person could cause the jedi to do just that, this would of course be giving in to the darker emotions and causing a dark side shift. Now that the jedi has used his power in a situation where the darker emotions were in control he/she would find that using them next time would be a little easier, this new ease of use is the lure of the darkside and its pull. Such power and ability so quickly just for giving in to these dark emotions.

 

Light side powers on the other hand are fueled by the good emotions, peace, harmony, understanding, wisdom, etc. Someone who is in touch with these emotions and has a balance between the dark emotions within can call upon them a lot more easily then someone who is ruled by darker emotions which block out good emotions. Now light side powers are of course fueled by good will and the like, in the same way darkside powers are. So their use causes the lightside to gain strength. For example, lets say you're a jedi walking along the street and you notice someone is hurt, stoping to heal this person would of course make them happier and feel better in general, even if they're an evil person who will hate you just for the fun of it you've done something that will make yourself feel better (you did help someone and that does cause a good feeling). This of course would be an action that should gain lightside points. Now there are of course circumstances where light side shifts aren't caused, for example you are in the middle of a fight and you heal yourself to stay alive or your allies to help you kill your foe. Here your actions are a bit more self serving and the good they cause is balanced by the dark you cause for wanting to kill or the greed of keeping yourself alive (remember there is no death, there is the Force.). And there are even circumstances where light side powers could be used in a darkside way (resulting in a darkside shift), these would be things such as healing your opponent just so you can torture them a little longer. The reason it is hard for a darksider to use healing in this way is that their anger, greed, etc are in control and they block the emotions needed to use the light side. So it is a much greater effort to do this. (A real life example would be when you get into a fight, you are beating on your opponent with the upper hand (be it verbal fight or physical), sometimes its very hard to take a deep breath, calm down, and step back and approach the situation without wanting to claim victory, dominate your oppoenet, etc. This is why dark siders have trouble using light side powers, its that much harder for them to calm down as the dark emotions rule them throughly.)

 

Since both powers can be used by both sides and for intents that are both light and dark in nature it's not simple to just say "Light side should have attack powers". Light side does have attack powers, they're dark side powers. It is just harder and in some ways risky for a Jedi to rely upon these powers. By the same merit dark side powers do have healing and defensive powers, they're called light side powers. Destroy droid was an oddity really since it is a light side power, it probably should be universal because you're clobbering an inanimate object. Course sometimes beating on a poor helpless pillow can help you calm down so maybe that's why it is lightside. You're just beating on a piece of machine to vent anger, rage, etc to obtain a state of peace .)

 

Because of this view I don't think light side should really ever have any direct attack powers on people. Light side requires peace, calm, and control that just isn't found in wanton destruction, even if you are doing it in self defense. Jedi instead must flirt with the dark side and pay the price (either falling to the darkside or the extra strength it takes to resist that) or do it "old school style". One problem with a video game vs say an rpg is that a lot of the light side things you could do in a fight aren't available. You can't disarm your foe and ask that they yield, you can't put your foe in stasis and arrest them, you can't subdue them by instilling a sense of calm that overwhelms the darker emotions (Jedi mind trick to me is when a Jedi instills the "target" with a particular emotion that makes them vulnerable to suggestion. For light side it would be a state of euphoria, for dark side it would be dominate and in that case be a feeling of helplessness or the like).

In video games fights usually end with one creature dead and rotting, if they can get back up they just attack again, etc. And usually experience, rewards, and the like are given for destroying your foe or an obsticale, etc. KOTOR did a fairly good job of balancing this by having some very interesting side quests that placed more emphsis on verbal solutions for light side and fighting for darkside, but in the end about 75% of that game was just slug fests like other games. Of course in some ways this is fun even if you're a light sider. But it is a limitation on design, however I don't think this limitation justifies putting lightside attack powers in place, rather it's better to just have a "cost" issue that isn't limiting (i.e. darkside powers useable but cost more FP but don't give darkside points unless used for the darkside). If attack powers are added for jedi they should be neutral in nature and not as strong as the dark side attack powers (basically they're indirect attacks like push, whirlwind, and saber throw). Anyways that's my little thesis on the Force, rip it apart at will muahaha.

[Influence]

ok good job! :D