Posted by Professor Walsh | 2 Comments
Ask A Jedi: Are Sith or Jedi closer to the Force?
If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of the Jedi. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!
Dear Jedi,
Are the Sith closer to the Force then the Jedi? I know the Sith seem to use every aspect of the Force.
– Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
The Sith are not closer to the Force than the Jedi. The Sith do not actually use every aspect of the Force. This was explicitly pointed out in “Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire” where we learned that Darth Vader could not heal himself from his injuries specifically because he could only call on the Dark Side while angry and he could not maintain his anger long enough. This goes against the idea that the Sith use the Light Side in addition to the Dark Side.
You see, you cannot use both sides at once; they are diametrically opposed to each other. The Sith choose the side they see as stronger. The Dark Side, and because of this, and because of their unwillingness to serve the Force, they are actually much further removed from the Force than the Jedi are.
Dear Jedi,
Where do you base your pool of wisdom from, the movies, books, websites, another source of information or actually a combination of the above? Also to help the askajedi community could you share the names of the the books and websites so we can also benefit from your pool of learning.
– Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
I base my pool of wisdom from the movies, the novels, the source books, the RPG material, the comics, and the television shows. In short all of the above. I rarely use web sites unless I can confirm a source directly. I am a true Star Wars nerd. I am very proud of the fact that I have read every novel written to date with only, so far, one exception… Death Troopers… I simply can’t wrap my brain around the concept of zombies in space. So far that is the only novel I have skipped. This includes the Young Jedi Knights novels as well, as a matter of principle I have even read those.
Do you have a question for our Jedi-in-residence, Professor Walsh? Submit it via the form below, and we’ll be sure to pass it along to him when he emerges from meditation.
Posted by Professor Walsh | 3 Comments
Ask A Jedi: Special Edition
If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of the Jedi. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!
This question came in today and since this one is going to be a nasty one to tackle I figured it deserved a special article just focusing on it. This one will be controversial, there is no way around it, but I wouldn’t be the Professor if I wasn’t willing to tackle tough topics.
Dear Jedi,
Are the Jedi Libertarian or Socialist?
– Bozzvegas
Dear Bozzvegas,
This is a question with both a simple answer and a complex answer. I am glad that you asked it, and I felt that it was worth having an article all to itself. First, the simple answer: No. As both Libertarianism and Socialism are both philosophical viewpoints that originated on Earth and since the Jedi have never had contact with Earth, they can’t really be either. For the more complex answer, I think you are actually asking “Would the Jedi’s beliefs be more in line with Libertarianism or Socialism?” and that answer is amazingly more complex.
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Ask A Jedi: What Do The Jedi Serve?
If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of the Jedi. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!
Dear Jedi,
The essence of the Jedi, like the Samurai, is service. What, in your opinion, do the Jedi ultimately serve? The Republic? The Living Force? Civilization? Life?
– Rick
Dear Rick,
Thank you for such a wonderful question. The Jedi ultimately serve the Force, I don’t like using the term “The Living Force” because people often confuse that for a separate philosophy. That goes back to the so called “Unifying Force” which is a whole different topic entirely.
The idea is that the Jedi’s primary duty is to serve the Force, but also it must be remembered that the Jedi Order did pledge to protect the Republic as well. So they are honor-bound to serve the Republic after the Force.
The Jedi don’t have any particular requirement to serve civilization, though the fruits of civilization normally serve the Force so to then do the Jedi.
The Jedi are not required to serve life specifically but since all life creates the Force and the Jedi do serve that then the Jedi are indeed required to serve all life.
If I had to place it in a hierarchy it would be as follows: The Force, then the Republic, then Life, then Civilization.
Dear Jedi,
In the new novel “Fatal Alliance” the Jedi Padawan and the Sith Apprentice whip out some pretty crazy Force powers. Are these powers canon? I have never heard of anything like that before.
– DarthWheeler
Dear Wheeler,
This is an interesting question that is a little self-explanatory but I am going to go a little in-depth on it. Since they appeared in a Star Wars novel they are indeed C-Canon. I suspect what you meant to ask though was have they ever appeared before. To that question, I can only answer that for the most part those powers have never appeared before to the level that they were demonstrated.
I have a feeling that a lot of those powers will appear in TOR however. The powers that were demonstrated were pretty high end. In the novel we saw force fields capable of deflecting everything from blaster bolts to lava, the ability to push fire away like it was nothing, to withstand direct hits from wrist rockets without any damage what so ever, these things were way off the charts. To be honest I wish they weren’t as over the top as they were but in canon we have seen similar abilities before just never quite to that level.
I hope my answer helps.
Dear Jedi,
Ajedisayswhat?
– Goofin’
Dear Goofin’,
What?
Well my Padawans that is all I have to say for this week. Tune in next week for more questions and answers. Until then I’m Professor Walsh and may the Force be with you.
Do you have a question for our Jedi-in-residence, Professor Walsh? Submit it via the form below, and we’ll be sure to pass it along to him when he emerges from meditation.
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