The Jedi Must End?
What does Episode VIII have in store for the Jedi?
If you are Star Wars fan, then there is no doubt you have already seen the teaser trailer for The Last Jedi. If you are like me than you may have it playing in the background right now on continual repeat, just taking it all in.
And you are also probably pondering, what could Luke possibly mean when he says, “I only know one truth, it is time for the Jedi to end.”
Yes, it is just a movie, but it is a scary thought to consider that my childhood dream of becoming a Jedi might, after all these years, prove to be misguided in some way.
So, what could it mean? We have eight months to conjecture, starting now.
The End of the Jedi
Could the Jedi, in spite of being the guardians of peace in the galaxy, somehow be responsible for the very forces they have spent thousands of years fighting against? Could the very notion of two opposing forces, the Light and the Dark, perpetuate the divide that separates us all, and inevitably lead to conflict, pain and suffering?
A core theme of the Skywalker saga has always been about bringing balance to the Force, which has always conjured in my mind the image of a scale, tipping back and forth between the Light and the Dark. In the original trilogy, the scales tipped in favor of the Dark Side, with the Emperor and Darth Vader on one end, and essentially no one on the other. Until of course, Luke becomes a Jedi, and Darth Vader sacrifices himself to save his son and kill the Emperor. Many believe it is this moment that Anakin fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One, and brought balance to the Force.
A more critical eye will observe however, that in that moment, the balance of power shifted from the Dark, to the Light. Balance, or a stable equilibrium, was never achieved. A vacuum of power was created, and the only thing that could establish balance, was an equal, but opposing force in the opposite direction. The seeds of Snoke, and the Knights of Ren were planted in that moment.
Perhaps it is our devotion to this ideal of balance, that locks us into a cycle of opposition, and the only way true balance can be achieved is to destroy the very scale that pits two opposing forces against each other.
The same theme exists in Game of Thrones, exemplified by when Daenerys tells Tyrion, that she is going to “break the wheel” — the never-ending struggle for power.
An Allegory for Today
What I like about this theory, is that it fulfills an important function of science fiction: to give humanity a mirror or lens through which it can safely view itself from a distance and achieve a more enlightened perspective.
We as a society are locked in a similar struggle. We are growing more polarized and opposed to one another everyday. It grows harder and harder to empathize with those that we disagree with, and easier and easier to see them as the enemy. The very notion of liberal vs conservative, Republican vs Democrat, capitalist vs socialist, all service one goal: to drive us further and further apart, rather than bringing us together.
And maybe, just maybe, Star Wars has more lessons it can teach us in this regard.
