Dark side (Star Wars)

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The dark side of the Force is a prominent moral and psychic concept in the Star Wars universe. It is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and appears in all subsequent Star Wars fiction. The dark side is portrayed as the evil aspect of the Force, the Manichean mystical energy which permeates the universe.^[1]

1 Depiction
- 1.1 Original trilogy
- 1.2 Prequel trilogy
2 See also
3 References

[edit] Depiction

As portrayed in all Star Wars-related media, the dark side provides powers similar to those of the Jedi — telepathy, psychokinesis, and precognition — but draws energy from aggressive feelings to create purely harmful energy, often used in unprovoked attack. Examples include Force lightning, as used by Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and using the Force to choke people, as used by Darth Vader (David Prowse) in A New Hope and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

[edit] Original trilogy

The dark side is first mentioned in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) is explaining the Force to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). When speaking of his former pupil, Darth Vader, Kenobi says "Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force." Vader is later shown using the dark side to choke people who displease him, an ability portrayed in greater detail in subsequent films.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back elaborates on the dark side's power: Yoda (Frank Oz) tells Luke that fear and anger will pull him to the dark side, and that there is no turning back from a dark path; Vader, meanwhile, entreats Luke to "know the power of the dark side" and become his apprentice.

In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Luke comes perilously close to succumbing to the dark side as Palpatine (himself a Sith Lord) plays on his fear for the safety of his friends to release his anger and kill Vader, which would turn him to the dark side where he would take Vader's place as Palpatine's Sith apprentice. This fails and Palpatine attacks him with a torrent of Force lightning. Events conspire to bring about Vader's mortal wounding and redemption; with his dying breaths, Vader states that the good within him had not been destroyed after all, and then becomes one with the light side of the Force.

[edit] Prequel trilogy

In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Yoda explains to a young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) that his fear for his mother, Shmi (Pernilla August), could lead him to the dark side; he says "Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering."

In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, a teenaged Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) begins to feel the pull of the dark side when he falls in love with Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman); the Jedi Code forbids such strong emotional attachment as "the shadow of greed". His emotional conflict worsens when his mother is killed by Tusken Raiders, and he slaughters the entire tribe in a blind rage.

In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine manipulates Anakin's fear that Padmé, by now his secret wife, will die in childbirth to persuade him into becoming his Sith apprentice. Palpatine first tempts Anakin by challenging the dogmatic view of the world he had learned in the Jedi Temple ("'Good' is a point of view.") When Palpatine promises that the dark side can prevent death, Anakin becomes his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, and helps the Sith Lord massacre the Jedi and destroy the Galactic Republic. Mad with power, Vader uses the dark side to choke Padmé into unconsciousness when he suspects that she has betrayed him to Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), indirectly causing her death; ironically, the dark side brings on the very tragedy Anakin joined the Sith to prevent.