When it was discovered that TOR would be using both a two faction system (Republic and Sith) as well as a morality system (light, neutral, dark), many in the community began to argue whether or not there would be the ability to switch factions based on your morality. There is certainly precedence that a Jedi who falls to the dark side can be considered a Sith, at least in title, so this seemed like an obvious assumption. Then BioWare told us that there was no reason for that, as there could be "Dark Jedi" or "Light Side Sith".
BioWare stated that everyone in The Old Republic belongs to their respective side because of national affiliation, not moral point of view. The thought being that an Allied soldier in WW2 could be "bad" and still be fighting for a positive cause while an Axis soldier could be "good" and yet continue fighting for a negative cause. What culture a person associates themselves with supersedes their moral stance in these cases. This justification would allow for Dark Jedi and Light Sith, but it didn't answer the question over whether or not the Sith Empire was evil itself.
Many Star Wars fans contend that the Sith Empire isn't innately bad, more that it's based on different ideals.They focus on the Sith believing more in passion and emotion then the cold, distant Jedi. Under this premise, it is easy to see how such human emotions could lead some to fall to the allure of power and be considered "evil", but nothing about this means the empire itself is malevolent.
If you examine these lines of thought, it's easy to see where the confusion comes in. Is BioWare claiming that the Sith Empire is evil by saying that "good" people can belong to "bad" organizations? Or are they stating that the empire, as a whole, is not evil because it consists of both Dark and Light sided individuals? The recent developer blog may have answered this.
"Where is this all leading? Thats up to you. You can serve dutifully and pound away by the letter of your masters law, or you can risk plotting to someday destroy him and grab his power (as Vader reveals in his plea for Luke to join him). You can even have secret designs to redeem yourself, embrace the light and destabilize the Empire from within." - Neil Pollner
This quote seems toimplies that the Sith Empire, as BioWare sees it, is actually evil. The idea being that if a Lightsided person would want to destabilize the government then the Empire must be Dark Sided. If this is true, it wouldn't be too surprising considering how strongly BioWare relates TOR to the core movies as opposed to the EU. While we still don't have a conclusive statement from BioWare regarding this point of view, this could be a crushing blow to those fans looking for a more open view on the Sith Empire.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/6/2009 3:02:38 PM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/6/2009 2:44:03 PM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/5/2009 10:42:35 PM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/5/2009 9:25:23 PMWhat mixes this up is that in the films they are presented as the opposite. Jedi are a symbol of hope and freedom and the Sith are a symbol of control and forced unity. If you think about it in this way, than Luke Skywalker is not a hero by the Jedi code's rigid standard but he's a champion of the Alliance. And Darth Vader is somewhat of a hypocrite to the Sith code but he's a champion of the Empire. The expanded universe shows that in the end, the Rebel Alliance as a whole is not a morally superior organization, just a different one. I think Bioware is trying to accomplish the same thing here.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/5/2009 6:28:21 PM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/5/2009 6:25:14 PM- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/5/2009 6:22:45 PMAnyway, my thoughts on this topic is that you can't define the sith as evil, but you can't define them as being less evil then the jedi either, since people will always argue for one or the other, it all depends on how we, as individuals see it.
While i do see the argument for sith being not-so-evil, you have to remember that when a sith takes over a world, the people on that planet are like semi-slaves forced to do things for the sith.
Also the sith would not hesitate to destroy a whole planet (as shown in both the movies and in Kotor). So while their ideals may not be evil, many of their actions are. The jedi are the opposite, they try to suppress their feelings and emotions, which may seem evil, but their actions are (usually) good.
- View User Profile
- View Posts
- Send Message
Posted 10/5/2009 5:54:11 PM