Are Sith really evil?

[Megaphys]

No, I'm not ignoring the path, they take different paths to the same destination, but the paths are very different. I stated that the Sith path is one of fire, pain, power, emotion, the Jedi are of contemplation, serenity, peace. They are not inherently good or bad, but the Sith lends itself to evil rather well.

 

To follow that path and not get lost in the rush of power, to not falter and see it through, that is rare. The Jedi, also, get lost in their code, and in their doctrine. I evidence this by pointing out that the secret to unify one's self with the Force the Light side way wasn't discovered or taught by the Jedi, but by the Shamans of the Whills.

 

Edit: Oh, and, pulling in Occult reference into a discussion about mysticism in a fictional settings, is fair I think. The two paths are reoccurring themes in human culture, and whether intentional or not, it mirrors them very well. Beyond, it wasn't the main point of my point, I explain my point above.

 

When i say you are ignoring the path, path of good and bad is essentially based in actions, and in action, sith are basically following as close to a definition of evil as we can come up with. fir pain power and emotion, as a path to enlightenment might be neither good nor bad, but the siths as it is represented currently and in the past in all its forms in practice has been one of evil. Also the ultimate goal of the sith is a self centered one, of becoming all powerfull and thus free, wheres as the goal of the jedi is to become one with the force. Which even though i said it was the same goal before, is really not come to think of it.

 

Fact is, in practice the sith are evil, while i do think its possible to extrapolate a path based on some what sith idealogy that isnt evil, it wouldnt really be the current or past incarnations of the sith that exist in this fiction. It isnt so much that the sith get lost on the path, and become sith path is set up to make one more evil,

 

if you try to solve the problems with self pain (which would amount to sacrifice) they would say you are a fool and not very sith.

 

if you try to rely on love, joy or happiness (emotions to manipulate the force) they would say these are weak emotions that make you weaker.

 

if you tried to gain power through building trust and loyalty, they would say you are a failure.

 

The sith path as basically about destroying people, harming themself and others, trusting no one, building fear anger and despair in all those around you/self, while exalting self and pushing everyone else down, in practice, for all sith, this is what they are taught, this is what they actually believe, its not just a saying, they really are essentially evil.

 

jedi are actually more gray than sith.

[Syie]

I think the sith are misguided into hating the Jedi and republic, they were found by a dark Jedi whom trained them how to use to force but was kicked out of the order and republic space. therefore teaching them to hate the Republic and jedi back, hence where the hated begins. And it was grilled into them from birth to hate these people and all who lived in it.

 

This is just my opinon.

[DreamingGod]

When i say you are ignoring the path, path of good and bad is essentially based in actions, and in action, sith are basically following as close to a definition of evil as we can come up with. fir pain power and emotion, as a path to enlightenment might be neither good nor bad, but the siths as it is represented currently and in the past in all its forms in practice has been one of evil. Also the ultimate goal of the sith is a self centered one, of becoming all powerfull and thus free, wheres as the goal of the jedi is to become one with the force. Which even though i said it was the same goal before, is really not come to think of it.

 

Fact is, in practice the sith are evil, while i do think its possible to extrapolate a path based on some what sith idealogy that isnt evil, it wouldnt really be the current or past incarnations of the sith that exist in this fiction. It isnt so much that the sith get lost on the path, and become sith path is set up to make one more evil,

 

if you try to solve the problems with self pain (which would amount to sacrifice) they would say you are a fool and not very sith.

 

if you try to rely on love, joy or happiness (emotions to manipulate the force) they would say these are weak emotions that make you weaker.

 

if you tried to gain power through building trust and loyalty, they would say you are a failure.

 

The sith path as basically about destroying people, harming themself and others, trusting no one, building fear anger and despair in all those around you/self, while exalting self and pushing everyone else down, in practice, for all sith, this is what they are taught, this is what they actually believe, its not just a saying, they really are essentially evil.

 

jedi are actually more gray than sith.

 

Right, I concede the Sith as an organization are evil, but waht it menas, at the core, to be Sith, isn't evil. What the Followers of Bogan, the Legions of Lettow, and the Sith were fighting for, a different use of the Force, isn't inherently evil.

 

Now, like any long running establishment, the Sith has picked up many theories, practices, and interpretations that lend itself to the general view of 'evil.' But, Sith don't wake up asking how they can be evil today. They still hold onto that freedom, and their justifications, no matter how their actions deviate from the original path.

 

Now, that kernel of original path still remains, and, but most get lost along the path.

[ProfessorWalsh]

I've seen this topic come up a number of times, and it's gotten me to thinking: Are the Sith really a truly evil organization, or are they just completely misrepresented by people like Palpatine?

 

I'll start this off by presenting my own opinion on the matter. I personally believe the Sith to be a morally-neutral organization, one that has a select few bad seeds scattered here and there. The Sith use passion and emotion as conduits of the Force, as opposed to the Jedi, who use Inner Peace instead. The Jedi recognize that there are areas of the Force that cannot truly be understood or entirely controlled... Areas that they dare not access. Therefore, they practice restraint, dubbing this unexplored territory the "Dark Side" of the Force, and condemning any and all practitioners of its arts.

 

Now, this next part is what really sells me to the Sith... The Jedi detested Dark Side users do much that they hunted them to near extinction, in a manner quite similar to the Crusades. The Jedi hold themselves on a mantle above the Sith, declaring themselves "Good" and their enemies "Evil." But I now present to you the question... Are the Jedi truly good? And are the Sith, by extension, evil? Let's look at the facts.

 

Part of this is because you don't seem to grasp the Jedi all that well.

 

Jedi:

1. The Jedi cut themselves off from all physical attachment, considering emotion and attachment dangerous and dark. But last I checked, wasn't love a good thing? The same goes for joy, attachment, and many forms of passion. Take the love and attachment of a mother and child, for instance. What could be more good and pure than a love such as this? Yet the Jedi's principles condemn such a love, seeing it as a lure for the forces that they don't understand (AKA, the Dark Side)

 

Biased wording is biased.

 

First off the Jedi don't see emotion as a bad thing. They see emotions influencing or controlling one's actions a bad thing. That is a wholly different thing.

 

As to the love being a bad thing... It can be.

 

A mother's love for a child can make her irrational if something bad happens to that child. Now, add to that the fact that the Dark Side of the Force can and does actually damage the user mentally and physically, especially in large doses, and you have a serious potential problem.

 

In real life we have incidents like a mother hiring a hit man to go after her daughter's rival on the cheerleading squad or a mother helping her daughter in a campaign of internet harassment against another child at the school as a bonding experience with her daughter.

 

Those are things born out of love.

 

2. The Jedi are hypocrites to their own code. They condemn pride, yet declare themselves the single good, holy force in the galaxy, and condemn their opponents as evil. Is such a declaration not prideful?

 

Again, biased comment is biased.

 

The Jedi never condemned their opponents as evil. They are stating a fact, the Sith are evil. That isn't pride, that is honesty.

 

3. As Yoda himself stated in the novel-version of Revenge of the Sith, the Jedi's downfall came about because they stayed true to their old ways, while the Sith embraced change and adapted to a growing universe, taking on new ways and adapting to be as versatile as possible.

 

This comment has no bearing on good or evil. In fact this is also a trap the Sith have fallen into. During the GHW the Sith opted to use Sith Swords despite the lightsaber being superior. The Jedi adopted the lightsaber and won, partially because, they had a better weapon.

 

Sith:

1. The Sith embrace all emotions and physical affection, seeing passion as a powerful and wonderful thing. Yes, they wield Hatred, Anger, and Fear as blunt tools to master the Force, but they can also use positive emotions, such as Love, Joy, and Attachment, to wield the same powers and abilities.

 

Show me a single Sith in canon who ever used love, joy, and attachment. You can't.

 

Also, specifically, the Sith view love as anathema, so no, they can't use it. They also see attachment as a weakness (see the Darth Malgus vehicle, Deceived.).

 

2. Many look down on the Sith, seeing only individuals such as Palpatine or Malgus as representatives of the entire organization. Yes, some who wield the Dark Side of the force delve into the wrong areas, and become corrupted by it's unconteollable power.. But it seems that these individuals have cast a dark light over the entire Sith organization. Not all Sith are necessarily evil.

 

The Emperor from TOR, Emperor Palpatine, Malgus, Vader, Sadow, Ragnos, Bane, Zanna, Krayt, Ruin, Malek, Darth Revan, I could go on and on, but it isn't one or two, it is all of them.

 

3. They have lightning.

 

All in all, I believe that the Sith are the true gems of the galaxy. What do you think?

 

I believe, no, I know, that the Sith are evil. They are not gems, they are festering cesspools of disease.

[Jellison]

Jedi has wife. Sith ends up killing wife to get to him. Jedi goes insane and slaughters sith. Falls to dark-side, becomes an immensely powerful psychopath that kills at will.

 

Affection is apparently bad.

[ProfessorWalsh]

None of what you just said is actually true. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

By the very existence of "dark jedi" and "light sith" in the lore, not even TOR but the EU in general, means we are operating in varying shades of grey here.

 

There are no "Light Sith" in the Lore period and "Dark Jedi" aren't part of the Jedi Order canonically.

 

Thus... I award you no points, I reverse your decision to take points from him, and I ask you to leave the stage.

[Tallyhoe]

Anything out of balance is NEVER a good thing. Sith is like religious fanatics in todays society of religion number 1. Jedi are religious fanatics in todays society number 2. NO matter what, they will always be convinced that they're right, and if you don't follow them you're wrong.

 

Qui'gon , Mace Windu, and Revan are all immediate force users, that found clarity and balance in the force.

Qui'gon almost fell to the darkside of the force by letting his emotions take over him, while Obiwon was still a padawan, but he came back realizing what was happening. But from that moment he never entirely listened to the Jedi Council, because he followed his gut feeling and heart, and did what he personally believed best.

 

Mace Windu in Revenge of the Sith, during his encounter with palapatine, he specifically said, "He is too dangerous to keep alive." When Jedi would usually take the Sith into custody and have him stand trail(as Anakain responded with this).

 

To everything their most be a balance, anything that is too far to the right or too far to the left, can be cause of harm.

[DarthFanatic]

Anything out of balance is NEVER a good thing. Sith is like religious fanatics in todays society of religion number 1. Jedi are religious fanatics in todays society number 2. NO matter what, they will always be convinced that they're right, and if you don't follow them you're wrong.

 

Qui'gon , Mace Windu, and Revan are all immediate force users, that found clarity and balance in the force.

Qui'gon almost fell to the darkside of the force by letting his emotions take over him, while Obiwon was still a padawan, but he came back realizing what was happening. But from that moment he never entirely listened to the Jedi Council, because he followed his gut feeling and heart, and did what he personally believed best.

 

Mace Windu in Revenge of the Sith, during his encounter with palapatine, he specifically said, "He is too dangerous to keep alive." When Jedi would usually take the Sith into custody and have him stand trail(as Anakain responded with this).

 

To everything their most be a balance, anything that is too far to the right or too far to the left, can be cause of harm.

 

Why do so many people can hung over that Mace Windu tried to kill Sidious? He was a highly dangerous Sith Lord that worked his master plan in front of the Jedi for years. Mace Windu just fought Palpatine so he obviously knows that he's an immensely powerful Sith Lord. Knowing just how powerful Palpatine is, I wouldn't want to risk taking him into custody either. I doubt Mace Windu could even hold Palpatine until he was detained in some sort of cell, and how could a cell even contain Palpatine? Palpatine would escape easily if Mace Windu tried to take him into custody and the Jedi would be back at square one again.

[eldisper]

yes the sith are truly evil it is there very essence.

[Tallyhoe]

Why do so many people can hung over that Mace Windu tried to kill Sidious? He was a highly dangerous Sith Lord that worked his master plan in front of the Jedi for years. Mace Windu just fought Palpatine so he obviously knows that he's an immensely powerful Sith Lord. Knowing just how powerful Palpatine is, I wouldn't want to risk taking him into custody either. I doubt Mace Windu could even hold Palpatine until he was detained in some sort of cell, and how could a cell even contain Palpatine? Palpatine would escape easily if Mace Windu tried to take him into custody and the Jedi would be back at square one again.

 

That was just one example. Read into the past of Mace Windu and read how he studied the dark side of the force and made many dark side choices. Rather, you want to believe it or not, no matter who is evil or good, I believe personally, it's never ones right to take anothers life. Hence why I believe it was a darkside choice to make, regardless.

 

You, yourself are dealing in absolute. (Which sith ONLY deal in absolute.)

[eldisper]

"Show me a single Sith in canon who ever used love, joy, and attachment. You can't." quoted from professorwatch.

 

There is one that used love and attachement but that was to fufill a prophecy,and the answer is, Darth Vader. His love for his wife led to attachment to his son and the downfall of the emporer. So good(love) wins out in the end.

Edited February 7, 2012 by eldisper

[DreamingGod]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Vectivus

 

Here's an example of an arguably good Sith.

[JamieM]

I'm pretty sure Daniel Erickson wrote a long post about this some months (maybe even years) back, exploring what it meant to be evil and if the Sith fitted inot our preconception of evil.

 

I think the answer he came to was that they were in the non-theological sense evil as they believed totally in the individual, in passion, self satisfaction and enrichment and shunned altruism, kindness, democracy etc as tools of the weak that have corrupted the Jedi and the Republic.

[DarthFanatic]

That was just one example. Read into the past of Mace Windu and read how he studied the dark side of the force and made many dark side choices. Rather, you want to believe it or not, no matter who is evil or good, I believe personally, it's never ones right to take anothers life. Hence why I believe it was a darkside choice to make, regardless.

 

You, yourself are dealing in absolute. (Which sith ONLY deal in absolute.)

 

How am I dealing with absolutes? Killing is a last resort but Sidious was simply too powerful. Mace barely beat him in a lightsaber duel and he knows Sidious has kept himself cloaked from the whole Jedi Order while in the same city/planet. Knowing Sidious is a very strong duelist and powerful force user, how would Mace detain him? Certainly not by himself and 3 other Jedi Masters (on the council weren't they too?) got killed by Sidious in seconds. That's leaves Yoda who isn't present at the moment. Think about it realistically: how could Mace possibly detain Sidious? He can't and he knows that, which is why he knows he has to kill him.

 

People are also forgetting that Mace entered Sidious's room declaring Sidious under arrest and Sidious chose to start the fight, not Mace. If Mace kicked the door down and leapt at Sidious without hesitation, then that's a darkside choice. Giving Sidious a peaceful choice was the lightside option and Mace chose that.

Edited February 7, 2012 by DarthFanatic

[Numberjohnnyfive]

I really don't get why so many sith players feel they need to somehow bend the Sith into something they arent. The Sith are not happy nice good people. They are evil. They DO NOT use the "pleasnt side" of passion to fuel the Dark Side, it doesn't work that way. Only Negative emotions (hatred, fear, anger) power the dark side. Love does not. Love and compassion are frowned upon in the Sith. They are trained to be selfish, uncaring and cruel from the onset of their training. The Sith tend to loose their battles against the Jedi because it is inevitable that they will eventually turn on one another in some power play and completely mess every thing up. They are not nice people and they certainltly do NOT love.

 

While the Jedi may not EMBRACE their emotions, they don't deny them. They feel like every one else in the galaxy, but a good Jedi learns to control his emotions rather than allow their emotions to control them. Pleny of Jedi love, Plenty of Jedi have children and attachments, but only once they have learned to be able to let go of those attachments when they need to. This whole Jedi deny all emotion is far from the truth, they just try and not let their emotion get in the way of reason.

 

TLDR: Sith are Evil, and you need to accept that and move on, even if your personal sith character isn't evil the majority of those you live and work with are... deal with it.

[lokdron]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Vectivus

 

Here's an example of an arguably good Sith.

 

he is evil he bended the spirits of the dead to get what he wants. I don't know why people say he is good SITH ARE EVIL. As a sith/dark side lore lover i cringe when ever someone quotes the sith code and then say I use positive emotions to fuel my power THE DARK SIDE DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. Or that sith are misunderstood! NO THEY ARE NOT. its only for gameplay and balance reasons why your force powers does not change as you go up on the light scale. Also for the sake of the story and voice acting cost is another reason why you cannot defect to the other side.

 

It also seems that many people who go light side sith don't understand the sith code and teachings. If the sith order found out your character is light side the sith WILL destory you.

 

The sith warrior story out right states this I played a LS sith since people on the forums say that LS sith are still sith NO THEY ARE NOT. In my opinion they are on the verge of converting to the jedi but the story/game demands you must be on the empire side.

 

THE SITH ARE EVIL. THEY ARE DESIGNED TO BE EVIL.

Edited February 7, 2012 by lokdron

[Filemina]

Two Cents:

 

Evil is in the eyes of the beholder. What you consider evil, someone else may not. It all really depends on what you were raised to believe is and is not "good". That being said, the world (both real and SW) is not made up of good and evil, black and white. You will always find shades of gray and they will always out number the stark black and white. Are Sith inherently evil? No. Are Jedi inherently good? No. It all depends on how you look at good and evil and where you're perched at the time.

 

I would also look at the 5% club in this instance. It's usually the 5% that ruin everything for everyone else and are usually seen the most by the public. In SW, the 5% club could easily be the Sith Counsel and those who strive to be a part of the Counsel. The Counsel members seem to be evil based on their power at any cost belief system. From what I understand, to be a Counsel member you must kill the person above you until you've worked your way up your ladder of bodies to become a member. Once a member you then kill anyone trying to take your place until you are eventually killed. Now that being said... there must be thousands upon thousands of Sith who are not in the race for Counsel. Surely there are those who see and recognize this as a destructive cycle and move away from it, seeking power in a different source. Ruling power is not the only kind of power. The Sith as a whole are bound to have seen this and moved on to these different kinds of power to fulfill their lives. Otherwise, too many would die trying to become a Counsel member and you would be left with a very depleted stock of Sith.

 

Disclaimer: To me this is a logical way to view the Sith as a whole. I am not saying this is the only way or the correct way. I'm not an expert on SW lore and so I looked at them as I would any other culture. I tried to see if from the point of view of their average citizen. Not everyone is cut out to be in politics like the Counsel members. In order to be a working society, you have to have all components of a society. Political entities, like the Counsel, are just one component.

[Numberjohnnyfive]

THE SITH ARE EVIL. THEY ARE DESIGNED TO BE EVIL.

 

QFT

 

I also want to add that this whole good and evil is a matter of perspective thing is such a cop out answer. To a certain degree it is a matter of perspective yes, but there are some things the Sith do that tend to be inherently thought of as evil no matter what perspective you have. Murder, enslavement, torcher, just to name a few. The sith would consider these acts they commit as necessary evils, and maybe they feel they are commiting them for a good cause (even though they usually aren't the selfish pursuit of power is not a good reason to bully, kill and enslave others), they would still never claim these are "good acts"(or maybe they would, on a whole the sith a rather delusional, and each one has inferiority/god complexes).

These evil acts are also so widely spread throughout the sith empire (esp slavery) that these acts have become cultural norms. This does not make these acts any less evil, just because everyone else is doing it does not make it right.

[Nyaralath]

I would also look at the 5% club in this instance. It's usually the 5% that ruin everything for everyone else and are usually seen the most by the public. In SW, the 5% club could easily be the Sith Counsel and those who strive to be a part of the Counsel. The Counsel members seem to be evil based on their power at any cost belief system. From what I understand, to be a Counsel member you must kill the person above you until you've worked your way up your ladder of bodies to become a member. Once a member you then kill anyone trying to take your place until you are eventually killed. Now that being said... there must be thousands upon thousands of Sith who are not in the race for Counsel. Surely there are those who see and recognize this as a destructive cycle and move away from it, seeking power in a different source. Ruling power is not the only kind of power. The Sith as a whole are bound to have seen this and moved on to these different kinds of power to fulfill their lives. Otherwise, too many would die trying to become a Counsel member and you would be left with a very depleted stock of Sith.

Is it possible to enter the council without killing everybody ahead of you? I'm just curious, I don't know the answer. I thought they were entered into the council if deemed worthy by the Emperor, killing all one's enemies might gain his favor, but I would suspect that duty or tasks performed in the name of the Empire would also garner attention. There is a lot of Sith in-fighting but I don't think that's the only way to advance rank.

 

And to answer the thread question, the Sith species are not inherently evil. There were ancient "good" Sith that believed in a balanced force, where neither the light or dark side of the force dominated the individual force user. This will be further explored in the Dawn of the Jedi comic. If we are referring to Sith as in a "dark side" user, then yes these people have chosen a path of evil, of selfishness, of the never ending quest for more power. It's a path dedicated to selfishness at all cost. As a species ( as in human species) that depends on cohesion and cooperation to survive this can very well be viewed as evil.

[Lady_Alyria]

Before you can discuss if the Sith are really evil, you have to agree on what it means to be evil. And I doubt even the people in this thread would agree on what it means to be evil. Evil is an abstract concept and usually what it means to be evil is "does stuff that's in contradiction to our morals". And since morals are different from society to society, person to person, so is our concept of evil.

 

For example,

 

Is it evil to kill children?

Most people are going to say yes off the bat.

 

Is it evil to kill children with a terminal disease that are suffering horribly?

Here we will deviate, some will say the good thing is to put them out of their misery, others will think the good thing to do is preserve life at all costs. I can't say which is right because there is no true Good or true Evil, it's all a matter of perception.

 

From my own personal values, I don't deem the Sith to be evil as a group. I consider their philosophy more deterministic than anything. The strong rise, the weak die. Countless times similar philosophy has been part of human society. We weren't designed to be altruistic. I can be perfectly aware that there are people in the world starving while I enjoy my 50 dollar steak dinner. That doesn't make me 'evil', that level of selfishness is just part of being human. Jedi are taught to suppress their human (or alien) drives and to make choices based on reason. Sometimes that leads them to do things I consider good, sometimes not. But in the end it doesn't really matter, rather than a question of good or evil, it's really a question of "how one should live". Is the Jedi code or the Sith code, a better philosophy to live by?

 

But to answer that we'd have to agree on what makes a better life. The life where the fewest number of people suffer? The life where you are the most happy? The life that people are the most productive? Hopefully the measure of a good life code isn't survival considering both groups pretty much got wiped out, they'd both be failures.

[ErikModi]

I believe that not only are the Sith truly evil, THEY KNOW IT.

 

Again in the RotS novel, Palpatine and Anakin compare and contrast the Sith and Jedi philosophies. Palpatine sums it up with:

 

The Jedi seek knowledge to gain power, the Sith seek power to gain knowledge.

 

Thus, both Jedi and Sith agree that power in the Force comes from knowledge. What then is the greatest knowledge? Knowledge of oneself, of course. Sun-Tzu says as much in the Art of War:

 

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.

If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.

If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

 

Now, the popular "rule" for writing villains is that "no villain looks in a mirror and sees a villain. All villains see themselves as the hero of their own story." To an extent, this is the most important rule in writing villains, but if I may be indulged in one final quote, "know the rules that you might learn to break them properly," attributed to the Dalai Lama.

 

What all this means is that I firmly believe that, at some point, the power of any given Sith will plateau unless they are able to look themselves in the mirror, realize that, by any objective definition they are evil, and be okay with that. They must claim that ultimate self-knowledge to claim, a Palpatine so eloquently put it, "UNLIMITED POWER!!!!!!!!"

[Diamonddug]

Yes the Sith are evil. They use the dark side of the force. As a rule if you use the dark side for the most part you are evil. Look at the dark side powers. Force lighting: bringing the sith's anger into the world. Force Choke: causing the person caught in it to struggle for air for minutes before death. All of their powers are to cause pain and fear in the victim.

 

The ones who believe the sith are good mostly forget the first line of the code: Peace is a lie. The sith say to unlock the dark side of the force is though the sith code. If you wish to become powerful you must believe the entire code not just parts of it.

 

Sith do not use love or joy for any of their powers because the sith are all about the self.To be in a loving relationship if someone in it is being selfish the relationship doesn't work. The sith believe they are better than everyone else. If they find someone who might be stronger then them they must see if they can destory the enemy or die trying.

 

Ask yourself this: The empire had the republic. They had them beat. Coresant was sacked the Jedi temple destroyed Jedi were on the run and then Empire stopped and singed a treaty. Why?

 

If the Empire destroys the republic what is the first thing the sith would do?

 

When Revan left the acadamy on Korreban what did the sith do?

 

As for what happened between Palpatine and Windu. If you look at EU what powers Palpi had and Mace had. Mace had no chance of winning. Mace was only being kept alive so Vader could come to the dark side and cut his ties to the jedi. When he killed Dooku Vader could argue Dooku was a sith armed or disarmed he needed to die. When Vader cut off Mace's arm, Vader knew(thought) there was no going back to the jedi. He had just helped to kill a master jedi. Not evil sand people not an evil sith but a master Jedi in order to protect a Sith.

 

As for Mace's attempt to kill Palpi. It kinda reminds me of an episode of Star Trek tng:"The Most Toys". Data is kidnapped and tries to escape. When Data is trying to escape Varria (the one who helps Data) is caught by Fajo (the kidnapper) and he kills her with the Varon-T. Her death is excruciating and painful to witness as she is destroyed from the inside out. On hearing her scream, Data exits the escape pod he was preparing for launch, and picks up Varria's discarded disruptor, aiming it at Fajo. Fajo proceeds to taunt Data, saying that if he does not return to his chair, he will start killing others, and their blood will be on Data's hands as well. He continues by saying that if only Data's programming allowed him to feel rage over Varria's death, he could kill him and stop it – but he has no feelings; he is only an android. Data, however, decides that he must stop Fajo, who has already committed one murder and announced his intention to kill others. Data draws the disruptor at a suddenly-panicking Fajo, but is beamed back to the Enterprise just as he pulls the trigger. O'Brien detects the weapon in mid-transport and remotely deactivates it as a precautionary measure. Data hands it to Riker, and tells him to arrest Fajo for murder, kidnapping and theft. When Riker asks about the discharge, having noticed Data's pose on arrival, Data pauses and says perhaps something occurred during transport.

 

In both Mace and Data were trying to stop more murders by killing the cause of them. Both fail because of others interceding and imo both were doing what was right.

 

 

tl;dr yes the sith are evil.

[DreamingGod]

Stuff

 

Just a quick question, ErikModi from, say, the White-Wolf forums?

[ErikModi]

Quite so.

[AlphaAlpaca]

Jedis are inspired by Bhuddist monks in Ancient China. Thats where the whole concept comes from. The Bhuddists are independent of emotions. They would earn a living by trading bhuddist luck or ghost repelling rituals to local villages and towns in exchange for meals.

 

Their temples are usually situated on mountains overlooking villages.

 

When warlords wanted to conquer the area, they would take both the village AND the temple since it is an advantageous spot (on a mountain).

 

The monks therefore had to teach themselves to defend for themselves and the weak. It didn't matter if the warlords were trying to unite or pillage; as long as violence was used the monks fought back.

 

This is the base of what a Jedi should be. Independent of emotion and repelling of others who want to overtake their mutual bond with nearby villages.

 

The Sith on the other hand are an embodiment of extremists and idealists. They strive for "unlimited power", fuel themselves on emotions most of the time blindly and without thinking of consequences. They are ruthless all in all.

 

You have to think of this in terms of ideology and what each side embody. Remember that this has just as much analytic value as any other. The whole SW fantasy is an embodiment of human experiences and emotions.

 

As in every case, it's impossible to distinguish right from wrong. We simply side with whats more relatable, rational and believable for us.