This is just a random thread for the discussion of the Force from Star wars, mostly because I had an attack of philosophy yesterday, and ended up with what I thought was an interesting metaphor for the Light and the Dark sides.
First, if we consider the power of the force - the actual exercise of force-powers - to be like water, I believe it can be said that the Light side is rather like a desert, while the Dark is more like an oily ocean. Let me explain.
With the Light, the road to any kind of significant power is long and hard. Guides are needed, to show the way to the sparse oases. It requires great will and discipline to find one's way, but oh, the water is sweet! However, the further one journeys into the desert, the more one forgets the green of life and emotion and the more the sun burns away who you are, leaving a white, bleached and smooth thing where there was once a living being, a husk preaching the love, honor and nobility which it no longer understands and following the guiding light of the burning sun because it can no longer make a light of its own.
With the Dark, claiming power requires only that you dip a cup over the side, but the power does not satisfy. It is bitter and salty, and leaves you craving more. All the while, one must be cautious that they do not fall from the boat and into the waters to drown. The waters are black and dark, and every draught stains the skin, the teeth and the tongue until the drinker is transfigured, unrecognisable to those who once knew him. Finally, the drinker is indistinguishable from the ocean from which he drank, more akin to an elemental force than a living, feeling, breathing thing, but godlike in his might and bestial in his endless hunger.
First, if we consider the power of the force - the actual exercise of force-powers - to be like water, I believe it can be said that the Light side is rather like a desert, while the Dark is more like an oily ocean. Let me explain.
With the Light, the road to any kind of significant power is long and hard. Guides are needed, to show the way to the sparse oases. It requires great will and discipline to find one's way, but oh, the water is sweet! However, the further one journeys into the desert, the more one forgets the green of life and emotion and the more the sun burns away who you are, leaving a white, bleached and smooth thing where there was once a living being, a husk preaching the love, honor and nobility which it no longer understands and following the guiding light of the burning sun because it can no longer make a light of its own.
With the Dark, claiming power requires only that you dip a cup over the side, but the power does not satisfy. It is bitter and salty, and leaves you craving more. All the while, one must be cautious that they do not fall from the boat and into the waters to drown. The waters are black and dark, and every draught stains the skin, the teeth and the tongue until the drinker is transfigured, unrecognisable to those who once knew him. Finally, the drinker is indistinguishable from the ocean from which he drank, more akin to an elemental force than a living, feeling, breathing thing, but godlike in his might and bestial in his endless hunger.
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