Yoda stated, "For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, make it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us."
'Dark vs Light' by Bayernownz1995
In the Star Wars universe, the Force often seems to intervene to help one side or another, but that begs the question, what side is the Force really on?
Qui-Gon Jinn refers to it as a "Living Force" the connects all living things, and as we see when the Force calls Rey to Luke's lightsaber, it seems to have it's own desires for the outcomes of future events.
The easy answer is that the Force wants to be balanced between the Dark and the Light, and that it has no affiliation with either side. I think there is more to it than that, and I will go into detail on why I have that opinion.
Many times in the Star Wars Canon, Jedi will say lines that are a version of "Trust in the Force" or "The Force will guide you." The Jedi say many things that would lead you to believe that the Force is an ally to a Jedi. Yoda even states this specifically. So why does the Force seem so much more powerful on the Dark Side?
Name any power that a Light Side Force user can achieve, and I would argue that any Sith could also achieve that same power. If you don't agree, think of it this way. If a Jedi turns to the Dark Side, does he lose powers that he gained as a Jedi? Can he no longer use a Mind Trick or Force Push? These are seen as Jedi powers, but they still apply to Sith. In the game Knights of the Old Republic, the more you fall to the Dark Side, the more force energy is used to do simple things like Healing or Speed Boost. In Star Wars Canon, we really don't see healing or speed boost as a power, but more of a latent Force ability that all Jedi and Sith have. The Sith use Force dashes just as much as any Jedi in all version of Canon as well. The only ability we see that Jedi only use is to become a Force ghost. The question I would ask though, is whether that is only a Jedi power, or have the Sith just not discovered it yet?
Now let us look at it the other way around. Sith can use additional Force powers that Jedi cannot. The Force Lightning is the most iconic ability that no Jedi would ever be seen doing. The question must be asked then, if the Force is living, and it favors the Light Side, then why is the Force Lightning power even in existence? If a Jedi cannot use it, then it has to have been created for a Sith to use. Then we must ask, who created these powers? There is no clear definition or backstory as to the creation of the Force, but only to Force users discovering the powers. I would argue that the living Force then allows a user to manipulate it the way it sees fit for its reasons. Though there seems to be no bias to the users other than what they are willing to do with it.
With that in mind, we start to wonder, since the Sith are using more available Force powers, do they unlock its full potential much more than the Jedi? If the Force favors none, but is allowing these powers to be used, then the Jedi have a very flawed system of beliefs since they consider the Force only their Ally.
So now we must consider events that we see that would lead one side or the other to ultimately "Win" against the other. Let's take, for example, Rey's Force vision, and the fact that the Lightsaber called to her. Since we know that the Force is living, the only explanation is that the Force wanted her to find Luke's lightsaber to help her in her path of becoming a Jedi. That's one point to the Light Side.
Now let us look at a time that the Force helped the Dark Side. While Luke was training on Degobah with Yoda, he had a Force vision that caused him to leave his training pre-maturely and take the chance of falling to the Dark Side. That vision cost him his arm and created doubts in his mind as to whether his Jedi teachers were really on the side he wanted to be on. His presence there did not help anyone else either. Whether he was there or not, the rest of his team would have had a similar outcome. Only R2-D2's presence changed any of their situation, since he unlocked a door.
There are multiple other times where a Force vision that seemed meant for good ended up putting Jedi in a bad spot. Ezra learns this in Star Wars Rebels (Considered Canon) and his master even warns him not to trust visions of the Force. Anakin Skywalker's vision of Padme actually turned him into a self-fulfilling prophesy. If he never had the vision, he would have arguably never strayed from the Light Side. The Empire may still have happened, but it was set in stone by the vision that helped turn Anakin into Darth Vader.
I'm running out of comparisons here, and we still haven't reached a conclusion, have we?
I'll cover another facet of the Force. The pull to each side.
Over and over in the Star Wars universe, Jedi are constantly wary of the pull to the Dark Side of the Force. They call it a quick and easy path that leads to pain and death. Yes, that may be true to an extent, but people like Emperor Palpatine still live a very long time and prosper much more than many Jedi. The path of the Jedi throughout Episode's I-III ultimately led them to death, while Palpatine lived on for decades longer. He seemed to not experience pain from his Dark Side use, unless you count his face being messed up, but we cannot even be sure that wasn't originally his true form being masked. Then maybe it is talking about the pain and death the Dark Side user would inflict on others? The problem then is, does that even matter to them anymore? Other than Kylo Ren, it seems not. I would include Darth Vader to that as well, but he turned back to the Light, so whether it mattered to him could easily be thrown out from that fact.
Now, there are a few instances of Sith being called to the Light Side, but they are much fewer and far between. The most notable is Darth Vader. Yes, he turned back, but ultimately it caused his death as well. He lived on as a Force Ghost, but as we see in Episode VII, it seems possibly short lived. As before stated, we can't be sure Sith can't do the same as well.
Kylo Ren feels the call to the Light Side as well, but he rejects it, which seems to be a difficult decision. Not the quick and easy path that Yoda made it out to be. Also, he is not fully trained either, and we don't know more about him, so it is impossible to base the decision off of him alone.
We see time and time again that the Force will be used for one side to gain advantage over the other but there is no clear proof as to which side it is an ally. If they came out with the Force being governed by two or more separate gods (Which they almost did in Clone Wars, but didn't take the final step as to make that the concrete answer) there could be an easy explanation of one god trying to take the throne over the other, but there is no clear separation such as this. The Force is one, and both sides use it in an attempt to keep their side dominate.
Myself, I like to be unbiased to one side or another and just enjoy the beautiful story that can be found in Star Wars, but at the same time, I would love to hear from any readers who read through this whole post. Give me a comment on what you think, and don't forget to like my Facebook page for more entries like this one!
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