The Force Theory: Discussion Thread

This is a matter that has been unanswered for quite a while, which side of the force is stronger: The Dark or Light. People have stated their point of view on these things various times, but never a logical reason has been given. In ROTS we learn that Sidious defeats Yoda, yet in ROTJ Yoda says the Light side is stronger, Is Yoda a person who doubts defeat or what he says is true, but if this how did Sidious overcome Yoda?

Vote on it and give a much needed reason.

1)The Dark Side is stronger because……..
2)The Light Side is stronger because……….
3)Alternative Answer…….

Ask Anakin. He's been on both sides 😛

Wish I could........

what does ROTS stand for? I thought Yoda was all power =o

My alternative answer: I always saw it like they're in flux yet both necessary parts of the whole....Like I couldn't tell you which is stronger, day or night..The side of a pound coin with the crest or the side with the head.....?
The darkside is immediately more powerful, but always leads to destruction/decay/being murdered by a darkside practioner who wants your job...etc whereas the lightside offers perhaps more longevity (allowing for the exception of possibilty of war of course) strength through flexibility and relaxation.... Advantage sways from side to side favouring light then dark and back again , each side compliments the other IMHO.... 🙂

Also it must depend on the time, at the time of ROTS the darkside is stronger and out of balance with the lightside, also sids doesnt defeat yoda, yoda just makes a tactical withdrawl

its a tough question because it brings up many ther debates,
the most notorious imho: is there an actual 'dark side' or is that dark
side within the thoughts of a force user. that arguement could go on forever, and it has.

as far as how individuals use the force, it depends on the situation.
ultimately, the light side is stronger(i trust yoda's word). but there are plenty of moments where the darkside is dominant. it is dominant many times because its rooted in deception, whether it be clouding others' vision, or holding out on their true power and using the element of surprise...or just an old fashion dirty trick. most of the times the good guys are being owned, they never saw it coming. this is because they were led to make a poor choices out of their misunderstanding of the situation. they fall victim to manipulation...so i think the darkside is not more powerful...but in ways smarter.

lets go over duels in the saga:

1-quigon rushed and was lured into a trap. he quickly advancing on maul while obiwan lagged behind. poor choice imho

2-obiwan slices maul's saber in half and is led to believe that he is winning. for a split second he gives in to his anger and take a moment to let maul know it by holding the saber locked on his and giving him the mother of all angry looks. imo obiwan was lured a bit to the darkside at that moment and his arrogance almost cost him his life. bad bad choice.
at least he learned from his experience.

3-anakin rushes to dooku because of his anger which caught him a major forcelightning bitchslapping. if he had waited, they probably could have ended the war right there. but wait...dooku had not manipulated anakin into doing that...but palpatine did by pumping up his ego.

4-obiwan vs. dooku. pretty evenly matched. more of skill vs. skill rather than force power imho, it seemed pretty much a stalemate until dooku outsmarted him.

5-yoda completely owned dooku until the giant column was about to crush obi and ani. so the second most powerful jedi was outsmarted by his padawan...all it took was a dirty trick.

6-luke rushed to face vader in ep5...and why? deception. vader tortured his friends to lure him there and thus forced luke to make a bad choice.

7-rotj, luke makes another bad choice by flipping out and almost killing his father...why? because vader baited him.

Yoda never said the Light Side was stronger.

However, GL indicates on the AOTC DVD that the Dark Side seems stronger- it seems to give you more power and to achieve what you want (as Yoda says- Quicker, Easier, more seductive).

But this is a false view- not because it doesn't work, but (as Sadako mentioned) because the Dark Side ultimately leads nowhere.

Remember, GL's theme for the Prequel Films is symbiosis. In interview, he talks about symbiosis being the natural state of things (this tying into Balance). The Light Side is the epitome of this natural symbiosis.

In contrast, GL tells us, the Dark Side is parasitic-it feeds upon and destroys itself. We are given the example of the Sith- mighty and powerful and evil and all that... but they destryoed THEMSELVES.

There is no true power on the Dark Side. It LOOKS like power, but it leads nowhere, for eventually it destroys you. Only the Light Side can ultimately endure.

As far as kicking the crap out of things goes, though- the Dark Side has the edge. If it didn't have that edge, no-one would bother using it.

Here is GL commenting on the matter:

"The Emperor was trying to get rid of Vader, and Vader was trying to get rid of the Emperor. And that is the antithesis of a symbiotic relationship, in which if you do that, you become cancer, and you eventually kill the host, and everything dies."

I havent really formed a theory on the force cause there is :

The Dark side of the force - easier more seductive
The Force - just mentioned plainly as the Jedi have commonly done
The living force - Strongly upheld by Qui-Gon

I have noticed that The Light side of the force is hardly ever mentioned in the movies. we are assuming that if there is a Dark side, then there should be THE "Light" side. Does anyone remember who says the LIGHT SIDE in any of the Movies ?

Luke says "the good side" in ROTJ to leia

I think it depends what you use the force for. If you use it for aggression, violence, attack then the dark side is much stronger thats why for the most part it takes two Jedi to take on one Sith. Now if you use the force for sustaining life, knowledge, defence. Then the light side is stronger. But for the most part I think, though dangerous, the dark side is stronger but it leads to your destruction. Yoda was speaking from a certain point of view, but think about it, at that time he was hiding in a swamp, and the emperor & vader were ruling the galaxy..........

Originally posted by smoker4
Luke says "the good side" in ROTJ to leia

So here is another question. Bringing balance to the force for what reason ?

if the Jedi thought that the Sith (users of the Dark Side) where extinct, then they DID think that the force had to be brought into balance. Because the force was outbalanced by the Good Side.
The Prophecy states that The one will bring balance to the Force.

Was it a coincedence that Anakin was discovered by the Jedi at the same time that the Sith made an official re-appearance ?
My opinion is that it was the Force that has made this happen. It guided both Jedi and Sith to Tattoine in a race for the chosen one.

IMO , ANAKIN is the Strongest part of the Force. He goes from Good side to Dark side and back again to the Good Side.

Gahhh! That old misapprenehsion again!

GCG, you are wrong. The Light side was NOT unbalancing the Force. As GL tells it, it is the Light side that CREATES balance.

The Light Side balances, the Dark Side seeks to unbalance. It is the existence of the Sith that creates imbalance, their removal causes the Balance to returm.

I Have A Theory That Might Be True...What Is The Mystery About A Chosen One That Can Bring Balance To The Force? I Have The Answer Right Here Folks!...The Force Is Inbalance In The Prequels...Thats Why The Darkside Was Stronger In That Time... Because If Anakin Had Stayed On The Light Side Of The Force Then The Light Would Be Stronger But Anakin Turned Dark And With Palpatines Power The Dark Grew Even Stronger Because Of The Chosen One A.k.a Anakin. That Is What The Whole Movie Is About...How The One Made His Decisions. Palpatine Maybe Knew Of This Balance Already, Thats Why He Wants Anakin To Be Lured To The Darkside Of The Force...To Have The Galaxy By His Feets...And Anakin Is Just The Key That He Needs.

now i got that right probably

have to agree with ush on this.
people misinterpret 'balance' as a scale. light on one side, dark on the other.

balance really means peace in a way. balance in that there is no (sith) mortal manipulating the force to dictate the fate of everyone in the galaxy. so there is no balance when the sith are in control, in that the will of the force is irrelevant.

Exactly PVS. To me, the only true balance will be when there is no good AND no evil, just coexistense without war, poverty, slavery, etc....

not necessarily bilb. infact, i dont think that good and evil are relevant.
the hutts have probably bought and sold slaves for the entire existense of the republic, and 1000 years of balance.

the sith are not the source of evil, they just are evil, with the power to manipulate the force and use it to dominate everything. its that dominance which causes the destruction of balance.

without the sith, there has been and will still be evil, but yet the force will remain in balance. there will still be 'wretched hives of scum and villainy', but yet they wont dictate the fate of the galaxy as a whole.

k, maybe i didnt clarify enough. You are right, for 1000 years all this stuff has been going on. My thought is that for 1000 years the balance has been slowly geting out of whack and it wasnt until the balance was shifted to such a dire level that Anakin was born. That said, so long as there is never a 7,8 or 9 made then after Vader is killed true symbiosis will be acheived.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Gahhh! That old misapprenehsion again!

GCG, you are wrong. The Light side was NOT unbalancing the Force. As GL tells it, it is the Light side that CREATES balance.

The Light Side balances, the Dark Side seeks to unbalance. It is the existence of the Sith that creates imbalance, their removal causes the Balance to returm.

Ok i agree with what GL says in the 1st part (ie): the good side creates balance BUT we are all aware that the Jedi had long thought that the Sith were Extinct.........and yet there was still need to bring balance ?

so if we take Ushgarak's first part and what PVS says here:

Originally posted by PVS
without the sith, there has been and will still be evil

then it does start to look a bit clearer.