Discussion Let's talk about the Light Side

[Arlo Renard]

A couple years ago I asked people to discuss the Dark Side. Now we're going to talk about the Light Side.

How do you depict the Light Side in your RP, what do you like/dislike about writing Jedi, who are some of your favorite heroes and why, etc.

Based on the limited amount of SW media I've consumed, I usually see the Light depicted in one of two ways:

1.) The Light Side and the Dark Side are two sides of the Force, sort of like two sides of the same coin.

2.) The Light Side is the Force itself, and the Dark Side is what happens when those life energies are twisted and corrupted by Force Users seeking to destroy life.

Both of these define the Light in opposition to the Dark, without really going into too much detail on what the Light actually is. I assume it's so that the viewer can project whatever they think of as "good" onto it, which I don't find particularly satisfying, but then the whole theology of the Force tends to be pretty wishy-washy anyway.

 

[Terraxia]

In the canon movies, the Jedi/Sith divide is largely black and white, the classic good and evil tropes. But in the other media we see more shades of grey.

Martial arts films depict this duality sometimes. In some movies it's not the karate/kung fu that is good or bad, it's how you use it. In other films, there are literally dark arts/styles that corrupt you (ie. "Evil Karate" (1974))

Since I'm a fan of Kung Fu movies and other eastern media, that's definitely an influence in how I've RP'ed Sith and Jedi. I know that samurai movies was one of the things Lucas drew from when coming up with Star Wars and its mythos.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

The light side is the corner of the room I turn my glowstick on when the bulb is out.

 

[Ko Vuto]

Personally, I like to look at Light and the balance and harmony it strives for like Nature and ecology. I've said it before some, but what helps me get into the jedi mindset is to think of things kinda like an environmental scientist and the interconnectedness on how geography and organisms create a balanced yet rather delicate ecosystem. This doesn't necessarily means that it's all sunshine and rainbows however. Natural can be very harmonious and beautiful but also very violent, and can even demand such violence too.

As tragic as it might be for a rabbit to get eaten by a predator it is rather necessary. If not for such carnivores a rabbit population could grow out of control and doom an ecosystem. Sort of like the circle of life. Rabbit eats plant, wolf eats rabbit, wolf dies gets eaten by scavengers/bacteria/fungi, those things enrich the soil for more plants. Everything plays it's part to continue life on and it is in balance.

Being a lightsaber I like to see as being a steward of the Earth. Leaning from it, and helping it. Managing it to be healthier and more robust. Darkside is sort of like polluting and harming the environment for your own benefit or introducing invasive species. To me the Will of The Force is sort of the will of this natural balance and for a Lightsider to be guided by it. The Force is also kind of light electricity. Sort of instinctively driven to find balance. A lightning strike in a storm is a destructive yet brilliant display of our own natural universe seeking balance between charged opposite particles. When the imbalance grows too strong it self corrects and creates lightning. This sentiment sort of shown in the sequel movies when Snoke says "Darkness Rises and Light to meet it."

PS: On a bit of a side note I also try to keep in mind that being a lightsider should never come too easy. As Yoda described in Empire Strikes Back, the darkside is the easy and more seductive path. Like taking a short cut and cheating. But it comes at a cost. Like having a wrinkly scrotum face, and the additional cost of all the makeup it requires to hide it XD

 

[Jalen Kai'el]

Light is the natural state of all living things is ultimately what I gather from the lore of the series, goofy videogame mechanics aside. Allowing one's self to follow the will of the force rather than harnessing it for their own power and all that good stuff. I think of the lightside sort of as a default state for all things, and it's ultimately through being twisted by anger and obsessions that the darkside fully takes hold of an individual, creature, planet, etc...

 

[Caltin Vanagor]

Caltin is the only Force User that i have ever played and stuck with (I have 3 others FU's I have played but they are irrelevant). I've always depicted him as one who was not DEVOTED to the Light Side, but alligning along with it so that he "Can look at himself in the mirror every morning." He believes in standing up for the proverbial little guy

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Is the Light the water or the riverbed in a river running to the sea?

 

[Alex StormWolf]

Alex tries very hard to uphold everything that's good and noble, but deep down, he's still deeply scarred and haunted by his past, making him dangerously susceptible to the Dark Side's influence.

 

[Corbin Vasher]

I do see the Dark side as an unnatural twisting of aspects of the Force, but I don't see the Light side as the only good side. It comes about through calmness and serenity, but I believe there is also a side that comes from positive emotions, which has been twisted into the negative emotions of the Dark side. I basically play into this MC (Corbin Vasher) using the uncorrupted form of that side of the Force. Positive emotions and excitement increase his strength and connection with the Force, but negative emotions like fear or hate weaken his connection and can even cause him to temporarily lose that connection. When he connects to the Force, he imagines it as a swirling purple flame in the Void.

 

[Terraxia]

Something random that popped into my head was the Green vs. Yellow power rings featured in DC Comics' Green Lantern. the yellow ring is kinda like the Dark side while the Green would be the light side. In the old comics, the weakness of the Ring was literally against the color yellow but in retconned media, they've clarified that the color yellow represents FEAR and it can be overcome with enough will.

In "Emerald Dawn II" , Green Lantern's arch enemy Sinestro used to himself be a Green Lantern and was Hal Jordan's trainer. But it was revealed that Sinestro had became corrupted by the absolute power of the Ring. The student ends up taking down the master in the end, establishing their long rivalry in the GL continuity. Alot of Sinestro's fall is similar to themes in SW; fear being the path to the dark side, the quick path to power, etc.

At first he was a benevolent Green Lantern and guardian of his planet but over the course of time he ended up as dictator of his homeworld. He ruled with an iron fist and with lots of fear, and kept terrorizing his people more and more until they openly revolted, power ring be damned. It was a cool comic, now I'm just rambling LOL

 

[Amani Serys]

I generally approach it from the perspective of there is no "light side". The light side is the Force. It is its natural state, while the dark side is a corruption of the Force. The movies have never been all that nuanced with morality: The light is good, the dark is evil. Binary ethics isn't always the most interesting, but something like, say, the concept of a Gray Force user never really jived for me. In most interpretations it feels like a "have your cake and eat it too" explanation. It works fine as a mechanic allowing player choice in something like a video game, but kinda feels like a cop out elsewhere. The dark side is inherently manipulative and corruptive. Resisting it while actively tapping into it may appear to work for a time, but inevitably it will consume you. Like Ko said, the dark is a seductive alternative for easy power, but it comes at a price.

That said, I realize halfway through typing this I'm really talking more about the dark side than the light lol. I feel discussing one inherently involves talking about the other, but to circle back to the real focus, tldr the Light is the natural course of things imo. Like any divinity worthy of varying interpretation, the Force is a metaphysical presence of ultimately indeterminate will and conscience. But at the end of the day, it seeks a natural harmony. Circle of life type stuff. Groups like the Jedi try to work in tandem the Force, whereas the Sith are twisting the Force into a weapon for selfish gain.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Well it comes in many flavors but of all my Jedi Matsu is the most lightside of them and she generally views the force as life. The cosmic creates it and all of the sweetnesses of it. Life experiences different things and eventually returns to it bringing it to enrich it all. The darkside is a corruption of that twisting it and trying to resist returning while taking more and more of it for themselves. It is one of those things that just like the darkside can be evil and wickedness sure can also be more subtle and prideful. Not all lightsiders need to be paragons nor do all darksiders need to be mustache twirling villains.

 

[Aoki-Barran Mira]

I tend to write the Light Side as the purest use of the Force. The Dark Side, meanwhile, is a corruptive and addictive warping of the Force. "Light Side" and "Jedi" are far from the same thing, though there is a level of connection. The Jedi is that big Order of Force users, but Jedi aren't the only "Light Side", aka true form Force Users. The examples of "grey Jedi" we see in Canon, such as Qui-Gon and Ahsoka, are moreso just Force Users not aligned with the Jedi, as opposed to being "have your cake and eat it too" Mary Sue's who can use whatever powers they want.

At the same time, it's hard not to see some "Light Side" abilities as "Templar/ Claric/ Holy Knight" kind of stuff, like true "Light Side." Should there be a specific classification for that sort of thing?

In my own writing, Gwyneira Krayt has been deathly tempted by the Dark Side in the past. Keep in mind that she's a Mandalorian. She also has seen the corruption and destruction of the Dark Side, and has worked to avoid the Dark Side. But is she what I would call a "Light Sider?" No. She isn't some kind of Claric or member of a religious order of Force Users. She adheres to no code. She just... uses the Force, avoiding the Dark Side as she does so. So in the sense of the Light Side being the Force?? You could call her that, but she's no Ashlan Crusader or Jedi. So it sounds weird calling her a Light Sider.

Meanwhile, in terms of Dark Side abilities and the like, I have taken inspiration to make some Light Side variations that don't rely on the negativity and corruption of the Dark Side. For example, Aoki Mira used a version of "Force Destruction," but it had no negative emotions in it and was used to bring quick and painless death. Like a gunshot, as opposed to the rip and tear that Force Destruction is classified as. Even the moment she used the power, she felt compassion and sorrow for the poor creatures she was mercy killing. And yes, Aoki Mira is a Light Sider. She avoids the Dark Side because Dark Side Bad. She's not a Jedi, so what? Jedi and Light Side are not the same thing! So if you remove the corruptive nature of a "Dark Side" ability, you're essentially using the Light Side since it's the true Force. I guess. At least that's my excuse for my engineer using Mechu-Duruwhatever!

So I do tend to see the Force as a whole as:

The Light Side/ the true Force: The base, true form of the Force in its purest and most natural form. The body. You don't have to be a holistic Jedi to use the true Force, which is uncorrupted by the Dark Side virus.
The Dark Side: The corruption of the Force, bent into malice and driven by negative emotion. Tends to addict like a drug, and brings terrible side effects to the user. The Dark Side is the virus that afflicts the true Force as a whole. The Dark Side is the sickness.
The Light Light Side: Paladin, Claric, Holy Knight, etc. powers for the ultra zealous. Tends to be anti-Dark Side affiliated and weaponised by the ultra zealous Jedi, Ashlan Crusaders, etc. So like... an antibody against the Dark Side Virus?? Wut????

Also, I dislike when people use "Grey Jedi" as a GOTTA COLLECT THEM ALL cheat.

 

[Corbin Vasher]

Is the Light the water or the riverbed in a river running to the sea?

The Water if you're Fallanasi

 

[Tiland Kortun]

The Water if you're Fallanasi

I, and then sort of Tiland, would say the Force is in fact the gravity

 

[Mairéad Solus]

My main lightsider isn't a force user (Isla) and my main darksider is actually a pretty decent person if you ignore the fact she is in the Mafia.

The hardest thing with lightside role play is that, due to canon and "good guys always win" mentality, there is a quite a bit meta knowledge involved in a lot of stories, right place, right time. And also where the force is pretty much entirely unregulated, it becomes a massive chekovs gun, always having knowledge of the exact right power at the exact write time and you rarely see the power fail. This is of course not limited to lightsiders and there are so many brilliant writers and stories. its just when you have someone who wants to play a hero (that is why they write a jedi) with a magical power than can do literally anything your imagination can come up with, it's an easy problem to come up against.

 

[Arlo Renard]

I generally approach it from the perspective of there is no "light side". The light side is the Force. It is its natural state, while the dark side is a corruption of the Force.

So, Option #2?

Personally, I like to look at Light and the balance and harmony it strives for like Nature and ecology. I've said it before some, but what helps me get into the jedi mindset is to think of things kinda like an environmental scientist and the interconnectedness on how geography and organisms create a balanced yet rather delicate ecosystem. This doesn't necessarily means that it's all sunshine and rainbows however. Natural can be very harmonious and beautiful but also very violent, and can even demand such violence too.

As tragic as it might be for a rabbit to get eaten by a predator it is rather necessary. If not for such carnivores a rabbit population could grow out of control and doom an ecosystem. Sort of like the circle of life. Rabbit eats plant, wolf eats rabbit, wolf dies gets eaten by scavengers/bacteria/fungi, those things enrich the soil for more plants. Everything plays it's part to continue life on and it is in balance.

Being a lightsaber I like to see as being a steward of the Earth. Leaning from it, and helping it. Managing it to be healthier and more robust. Darkside is sort of like polluting and harming the environment for your own benefit or introducing invasive species. To me the Will of The Force is sort of the will of this natural balance and for a Lightsider to be guided by it. The Force is also kind of light electricity. Sort of instinctively driven to find balance. A lightning strike in a storm is a destructive yet brilliant display of our own natural universe seeking balance between charged opposite particles. When the imbalance grows too strong it self corrects and creates lightning. This sentiment sort of shown in the sequel movies when Snoke says "Darkness Rises and Light to meet it."

PS: On a bit of a side note I also try to keep in mind that being a lightsider should never come too easy. As Yoda described in Empire Strikes Back, the darkside is the easy and more seductive path. Like taking a short cut and cheating. But it comes at a cost. Like having a wrinkly scrotum face, and the additional cost of all the makeup it requires to hide it XD

Interesting. I think something similar to this was presented by Vergere in Traitor, where she pointed out to Jacen a wild animal hunting prey, and how it was just a normal part of nature despite being considered "the Dark Side". That led up to her telling him there was no Dark Side, though.

Light is the natural state of all living things is ultimately what I gather from the lore of the series, goofy videogame mechanics aside. Allowing one's self to follow the will of the force rather than harnessing it for their own power and all that good stuff. I think of the lightside sort of as a default state for all things, and it's ultimately through being twisted by anger and obsessions that the darkside fully takes hold of an individual, creature, planet, etc...

Same as Amani Serys , you guys should team up maybe.

Is the Light the water or the riverbed in a river running to the sea?

Idk lol. What does that even mean?

I tend to write the Light Side as the purest use of the Force. The Dark Side, meanwhile, is a corruptive and addictive warping of the Force. "Light Side" and "Jedi" are far from the same thing, though there is a level of connection. The Jedi is that big Order of Force users, but Jedi aren't the only "Light Side", aka true form Force Users. The examples of "grey Jedi" we see in Canon, such as Qui-Gon and Ahsoka, are moreso just Force Users not aligned with the Jedi, as opposed to being "have your cake and eat it too" Mary Sue's who can use whatever powers they want.

At the same time, it's hard not to see some "Light Side" abilities as "Templar/ Claric/ Holy Knight" kind of stuff, like true "Light Side." Should there be a specific classification for that sort of thing?

In my own writing, Gwyneira Krayt has been deathly tempted by the Dark Side in the past. Keep in mind that she's a Mandalorian. She also has seen the corruption and destruction of the Dark Side, and has worked to avoid the Dark Side. But is she what I would call a "Light Sider?" No. She isn't some kind of Claric or member of a religious order of Force Users. She adheres to no code. She just... uses the Force, avoiding the Dark Side as she does so. So in the sense of the Light Side being the Force?? You could call her that, but she's no Ashlan Crusader or Jedi. So it sounds weird calling her a Light Sider.

Meanwhile, in terms of Dark Side abilities and the like, I have taken inspiration to make some Light Side variations that don't rely on the negativity and corruption of the Dark Side. For example, Aoki Mira used a version of "Force Destruction," but it had no negative emotions in it and was used to bring quick and painless death. Like a gunshot, as opposed to the rip and tear that Force Destruction is classified as. Even the moment she used the power, she felt compassion and sorrow for the poor creatures she was mercy killing. And yes, Aoki Mira is a Light Sider. She avoids the Dark Side because Dark Side Bad. She's not a Jedi, so what? Jedi and Light Side are not the same thing! So if you remove the corruptive nature of a "Dark Side" ability, you're essentially using the Light Side since it's the true Force. I guess. At least that's my excuse for my engineer using Mechu-Duruwhatever!

So I do tend to see the Force as a whole as:

The Light Side/ the true Force: The base, true form of the Force in its purest and most natural form. The body. You don't have to be a holistic Jedi to use the true Force, which is uncorrupted by the Dark Side virus.
The Dark Side: The corruption of the Force, bent into malice and driven by negative emotion. Tends to addict like a drug, and brings terrible side effects to the user. The Dark Side is the virus that afflicts the true Force as a whole. The Dark Side is the sickness.
The Light Light Side: Paladin, Claric, Holy Knight, etc. powers for the ultra zealous. Tends to be anti-Dark Side affiliated and weaponised by the ultra zealous Jedi, Ashlan Crusaders, etc. So like... an antibody against the Dark Side Virus?? Wut????

Also, I dislike when people use "Grey Jedi" as a GOTTA COLLECT THEM ALL cheat.

Ngl, I don't hate this explanation, but differentiating between the Light Side and the "Light Light Side" sounds like a cope. It's not the Light Side that is different, it's the people using it. But then I've never seen Force Light used in canon outside of video games, so I think it's just another example of a game mechanic that people take at face value here in the merry land of Chaos. They derive inspiration from paladins/clerics, yes, and those in turn derive inspiration from the knights templar, which creates a conflict between the philosophies of East vs West. Two very different traditions. As long as you treat it just as a culture clash (which is what it usually boils down to in RP as well) you shouldn't need this cope of thinking there are three different sides to the Force just because some Light Siders are more extreme than others.

My main lightsider isn't a force user (Isla) and my main darksider is actually a pretty decent person if you ignore the fact she is in the Mafia.

The hardest thing with lightside role play is that, due to canon and "good guys always win" mentality, there is a quite a bit meta knowledge involved in a lot of stories, right place, right time. And also where the force is pretty much entirely unregulated, it becomes a massive chekovs gun, always having knowledge of the exact right power at the exact write time and you rarely see the power fail. This is of course not limited to lightsiders and there are so many brilliant writers and stories. its just when you have someone who wants to play a hero (that is why they write a jedi) with a magical power than can do literally anything your imagination can come up with, it's an easy problem to come up against.

These people you are describing just sound like bad roleplayers. Metagaming isn't cool, even if there is supposedly a canon excuse for it.

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

But then I've never seen Force Light used in canon outside of video games, so I think it's just another example of a game mechanic that people take at face value here in the merry land of Chaos.

Force Light originates in the Tales of the Jedi comics. Arca Jeth and Nomi Sunrider use it there. Arce employs it to cleanse a darkside nexus on Ambria and to deprive Queen Amanoa of her power by purging the darkness emanating from Freedon Nadd's tomb.

Nomi uses it to counter Aleema Keto's Sith illusions. And apparently it's how Jacen Solo defeats Omini in the NJO novels.

 

[Terraxia]

another random head spam -- one of the coolest character concepts in the old WEG Star Wars RPG was the "Failed Jedi" template in the main rulebook. This gets around the problems of being the golden boy as well as being overpowered; maybe they didn't finish the training or their connection to the force has waned because they fell into alcoholism living as a rogue on some crappy planet. And of course this sets up the redemption arc where the character tries to do the right thing and actualize as a true Jedi.

 

[Joland Graves]

The Force is a social construct