Deejon_Loy Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Okay, so we know that there are emotions/qualities that are tied to both sides of the Force, the Light Side teaches compassion, mercy, honesty, wisdom, selflessness, while the Dark Side teaches anger, hate, mistrust, betrayal, and the quest for power. Love has largely been forbidden by the Jedi (with exceptions like Anakin, Luke and Revan), but Sith also despise it as it will make the lover weak, and cause him/her to lose sight of their quest for power (this was best explored in KotOR). But what about Fear? In the Original Trilogy, Luke was taught to control his Fear, for both Vader and Palpatine could use it to control him, and eventually turn him. The Prequels teach that "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate-- leads to suffering". So it is accepted throughout the SW Community that Fear is a Dark Side trait, however the Sith would definitely disagree with that assumption. Darth Vader, in his first duel with Luke said "Obi-Wan has taught you well, you have controlled your Fear. Now, release your anger; only your hatred can destroy me." As a Sith, Vader is applauding Luke for controlling his Fear. Bioware kind of explored this in KotOR in that the Sith who could not control their Fear were "weak" and therefore "disposed of" at the Sith Academy on Korriban. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lokryn Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I always thought that Fear is the first step towards the Dark Side. It's progression. First, you acknowledge your Fear, conquer it, then you move to the next step: anger and so on and so forth. So, when Vader tells Luke that he has conquered his fear; he is basically saying he passed the first test towards the Dark Side. A Sith who is fearful has not completed that first step and moved on to anger, hatred, passion etc. Therefore they are a failure because they are not progressing in their path to the Dark Side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tausra Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) Fear is easy to manipulate. Vader was a master of the Dun Moch technique. By controlling one's fear, it gives such a verbose enemy one less way to get a hook in you. Fear is power, especially in combat. Fear makes an enemy lose concentration, can ruin focus, and can most of all incite paranoia. It's a dark tool because it involves demoralizing, being cruel and acting with lethal subtlety, rather than the preferred honesty of the light. Despite being a dark tool, fear can be used by Jedi and light-siders, but isn't done often. Edited January 7, 2012 by tausra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deejon_Loy Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 I always thought that Fear is the first step towards the Dark Side. It's progression. First, you acknowledge your Fear, conquer it, then you move to the next step: anger and so on and so forth. So, when Vader tells Luke that he has conquered his fear; he is basically saying he passed the first test towards the Dark Side. A Sith who is fearful has not completed that first step and moved on to anger, hatred, passion etc. Therefore they are a failure because they are not progressing in their path to the Dark Side. I won't disagree, but I would like to point out that controlling your Fear is also the Jedi's first lesson in controlling your emotions. So Fear is basically the enemy of all Force-Users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelousWang Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 All emotions when used in conjunction with the force lead to the Darkside. To truly use the Lightside you must be calm, tranquil, opinion-less and motivation-less. Jedi may need to use positive emotions to govern their lives and actions, but they should not use them when actually acting. This separation is a very difficult part of being a Jedi that many fail, and why most see it as beneficial to just purge all emotions out right. For example, say a Jedi comes across a town near a mountain, and giant boulder suddenly falls down towards the town. Now obviously the Jedi will try and stop the boulder, as it is the compassionate thing to do, to save all the people. But the Jedi cannot be compassionate when acting, he cannot think "I must stop the boulder to save the town" because this would cause him to act rashly and add fear of failure to the situation, which is a distraction and if the Jedi fails he is (in his own mind) personally responsible for the towns destruction, which would cause him, regret, guilt and he would dwell on it (guilt > anger > hate > Darkside). What the Jedi must instead think is "I must stop that boulder", he must remove motivation and emotion from the situation leaving only the goal, which he can then approach/solve in calm and tranquil manner, should he fail, all he has failed is " to stop a boulder". Which is not bad thing in itself, and while will be sorry for the town, it was not his fault and he can move on to help others with no regret/guilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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