𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈

Surely other Jedi fans have an issue with the fact that the Jedi repeatedly and actively chose to be a distinctly Republic organization. Even when the choice leads them away from their tenants. I see a lot of pointing out that the Jedi only fought the war because they were conscripted but very little discussion of why the Republic Senate had that much power over them in the first place, and why they didn't chose to leave. The war was only set up the way that it was because Palpatine knew he would have the leverage and loyalty to ensure the Jedi didn't just pack up and move as soon as war was suggested. He knew they would take the Republic side no matter what moral lines they had to cross to do so.

Because the fact is that Darth Sidious only took control of the Senate because the Senate already had complete control over the Jedi. Debatable over whether the Sith actively put that power structure in place, but his entire plan was based on manipulating it, which would have been possible even if he wasn’t a Sith Lord. The Jedi are in a bad position in the Republic even without a Sith pulling the strings. Let me repeat that. Anybody with money a goal could have done what Palpatine did. He did what he did because he hated the Jedi but there were many other beings with equal wealth and equal hate who could have done the exact same thing—taken control of the Senate, and used that control to crush the Jedi and raise an Empire. He did what he did because he was a Sith Lord, but being a Sith Lord was not what enabled him.

The Jedi were exploited and eventually destroyed by the Republic, but they also chose not to remove themselves from the Republic. They chose again and again to be a Republic entity; to live on Coruscant, to represent the Republic’s political interests, to be loyal to the Republic and take orders from the Republic’s Senate. To be a Jedi is to be a citizen of the Republic and that is—really not good, actually. I think we can all broadly agree that it is Really Not Good when religious beliefs become inseparable from citizenship and national identity.

It always starts out as a good deal, right? Being a Republic entity and being known as a Republic entity enabled the Jedi to have a wider reach, to do more for more people. But those resources and that authority came at the cost of the Jedi’s highest loyalty.

This is not: “it’s actually the Jedi’s fault they were genocided,” this is: “the Jedi chose to become a part of the Republic government and if the Sith hadn’t taken advantage of that, someone else would have,” and I am honestly upset about the fact that I have to clarify that. They chose to be a political organization before they were a religion, and that doesn’t mean they “deserved” what happened to them but it does mean that we the fandom can and should discuss them and their choices with the understanding that they were a political organization.

I think that is my biggest frustration with the way the western fandom approaches the Jedi, actually. A lot of western fans view Christianity as uniquely evil, or all religion as inherently evil, and because the Jedi are presented to them as firstly a religion and not a political organization, those views of real life religion become a part of the conversation in ways that just… do not fit.

Opinions about real world religions shape the way we interact with fictional religions and I think in the case of the Jedi especially it makes it hard to be objective about the actual facts of the text. A belief that Christianity is uniquely evil is where you get takes like “The Jedi are perfect, they are immune to corruption, none of them have ever done anything bad in their entire lives,” and a belief that all religion is inherently evil is where you get takes like “The Jedi are the real bad guys, they were terrible to Anakin and they deserved what happened to them,” and neither of these takes are based in the role the Jedi have in the Republic, their actual tenants, and their struggle on both an organizational level and an individual level to find a balance between these two often conflicting loyalties.

The Jedi do not operate like any real world religion. They are not one-to-one with any real world religion. As much as their beliefs were inspired by Buddhism and Islam, their aesthetic and their role in the narrative was inspired by Samurai and Knights and Cowboys. There is a reason they are Jedi Knights and not Jedi Monks.

Surely other Jedi fans have an issue with the fact that the Jedi repeatedly and actively chose to be a distinctly Republic organization. Even when the choice leads them away from their tenants. I see a lot of pointing out that the Jedi only fought the war because they were conscripted but very little discussion of why the Republic Senate had that much power over them in the first place, and why they didn't chose to leave. The war was only set up the way that it was because Palpatine knew he would have the leverage and loyalty to ensure the Jedi didn't just pack up and move as soon as war was suggested. He knew they would take the Republic side no matter what moral lines they had to cross to do so.

Because the fact is that Darth Sidious only took control of the Senate because the Senate already had complete control over the Jedi. Debatable over whether the Sith actively put that power structure in place, but his entire plan was based on manipulating it, which would have been possible even if he wasn’t a Sith Lord. The Jedi are in a bad position in the Republic even without a Sith pulling the strings. Let me repeat that. Anybody with money a goal could have done what Palpatine did. He did what he did because he hated the Jedi but there were many other beings with equal wealth and equal hate who could have done the exact same thing—taken control of the Senate, and used that control to crush the Jedi and raise an Empire. He did what he did because he was a Sith Lord, but being a Sith Lord was not what enabled him.

The Jedi were exploited and eventually destroyed by the Republic, but they also chose not to remove themselves from the Republic. They chose again and again to be a Republic entity; to live on Coruscant, to represent the Republic’s political interests, to be loyal to the Republic and take orders from the Republic’s Senate. To be a Jedi is to be a citizen of the Republic and that is—really not good, actually. I think we can all broadly agree that it is Really Not Good when religious beliefs become inseparable from citizenship and national identity.

It always starts out as a good deal, right? Being a Republic entity and being known as a Republic entity enabled the Jedi to have a wider reach, to do more for more people. But those resources and that authority came at the cost of the Jedi’s highest loyalty.

This is not: “it’s actually the Jedi’s fault they were genocided,” this is: “the Jedi chose to become a part of the Republic government and if the Sith hadn’t taken advantage of that, someone else would have,” and I am honestly upset about the fact that I have to clarify that. They chose to be a political organization before they were a religion, and that doesn’t mean they “deserved” what happened to them but it does mean that we the fandom can and should discuss them and their choices with the understanding that they were a political organization.

I think that is my biggest frustration with the way the western fandom approaches the Jedi, actually. A lot of western fans view Christianity as uniquely evil, or all religion as inherently evil, and because the Jedi are presented to them as firstly a religion and not a political organization, those views of real life religion become a part of the conversation in ways that just… do not fit.

Opinions about real world religions shape the way we interact with fictional religions and I think in the case of the Jedi especially it makes it hard to be objective about the actual facts of the text. A belief that Christianity is uniquely evil is where you get takes like “The Jedi are perfect, they are immune to corruption, none of them have ever done anything bad in their entire lives,” and a belief that all religion is inherently evil is where you get takes like “The Jedi are the real bad guys, they were terrible to Anakin and they deserved what happened to them,” and neither of these takes are based in the role the Jedi have in the Republic, their actual tenants, and their struggle on both an organizational level and an individual level to find a balance between these two often conflicting loyalties.

The Jedi do not operate like any real world religion. They are not one-to-one with any real world religion. As much as their beliefs were inspired by Buddhism and Islam, their aesthetic and their role in the narrative was inspired by Samurai and Knights and Cowboys. There is a reason they are Jedi Knights and not Jedi Monks.

Father versus Son

I'm not fiction, I'm not fae, I won't lick your wounds today But I'll throw you in the ring, gift you with my sufferin' I'm not crazy, I'm not wild, you're just stupid, little child Get your image off my back, I'll give you a heart attack I will not suffer, cry under covers I'm not your mother It's nymphology, not psychology Be the manic pixie dream girl that you fuckin' ought to be Damaged oddity, bought by Sotheby's Auctioned to a selfish man who thinks that he's the prophecy

or like:

Call me your nymph Praise me for martyr, praise me for sin Call me your muse A sprite or an elf you cry to, then use