17th
Jedi, compromised: A portrayal of the Jedi Council’s dark position during the disintegration of the Galactic Republic
“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic.”
- Obi-wan Kenobi [A New Hope by George Lucas]
The Star Wars prequel trilogy of this millennium portrays the downfall of Anakin Skywalker, the powerful Jedi who becomes a twisted tool of the Dark Side; the Galactic Senate, where political squabbling and ineffective leadership leads to the dictatorship of the Empire; and the Jedi High Council, which is manipulated to fight a war that leads to the disintegration of the Republic.
“Jedi do not fight for peace. That’s only a slogan, and is as misleading as slogans always are. Jedi fight for civilization, because only civilization creates peace. We fight for justice because justice is the fundamental bedrock of civilization: an unjust civilization is built upon sand. It does not long survive a storm.”
- Mace Windu [Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover]
This charcoal/water-color drawing is of Master Yoda on Geonosis instructing a clone commander to “concentrate all your fire on the nearest starship.” Yoda is leading the clone army against the separatists, who are plotting to break free from the Galactic Republic. Here, most of the separatist forces are of The Trade Federation, the galactic shipping and trade cartel. Demarking the beginning of The Great Clone War, this moment captures compromised nature of the Jedi Council.
“Clones can think creatively. You will find that they are immensely superior to droids.”
- Lama Su, Prime-Minister of Kamino [The Attack of the Clones by George Lucas]
Jedi leading an army by itself is not out of character for the Warrior Monks. Samurai warriors lead the Japanese armies since the 7th century BCE. For a thousand years, the Republic had been downscaling its military forces with the help of the Jedi Order, thus the Jedi becoming commanders when the Republic commissioned cloned troops is a natural fit. The clones are highly optimized humans – they are tough, aggressive, think creatively and follow commands without question, while the Jedi are great strategists. On two counts the Jedi are out of their element in the picture at hand. The first being their continued backing of the Republic after the rescue operation at Geonosis and the second being the involvement with ultimately mindless weapons that are clones.
“We’re often called a militant Order, but do you know one of the principal differences between the military and the Jedi Order? The military are expected to follow orders, even when they feel those orders are not what’s right. The Jedi are expected to do what’s right, even when the course of action runs contrary to orders.”
- Jedi Master Cilghal [Outcast by Aaron Allston]
Back in the capital city of Coruscant, in private, Senator Padmé Amidala raised the concern that maybe the Jedi are fighting on the wrong side. She pointed out that the war is a result of a failure to listen to the concerns of the people. Under Chancellor Palpatine, Republic had become increasingly warmongering and not accountable. If the Jedi intent was upholding civilization, they had to cleanse the government (which they were increasingly closely aligned with) from internal corruption as much as from separatist forces of the outside. The 200-Jedi-strong mission at Geonosis was to rescue Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala from near-certain death. The droid army of the separatists had destroyed much of the Jedi force and would have completely overwhelmed it if not for Yoda arriving with the newly minted clone army, even before its incorporation as the Grand Army of the Republic.
“A weapon they are. Obey orders without question for good or ill. For now they fight for us. Who is to say what the future holds?”
- Yoda [Honor Bound by Ian Edginton/Steve Pugh]
The great army of clones is said to have been commissioned by the mysterious Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas without the consent of others in the Jedi High Council. Clones are biologically engineered to follow the commands given to them without question. When Chancellor Palatine issued the proper signal, Order 66, the very clone forces that the Jedi led turned on them destroying most of the Order. Given the Jedi penchant to not follow orders without critical assessment, they should not have been aligned with clone armies that do exactly the opposite.
