Spoiler Alert: This text accommodates spoilers for Star Wars: Tales of the Empire.
Latest installments within the Star Wars franchise have incited no small quantity of heated debate. Stay-action exhibits like Andor and The Mandalorian have rightly acquired crucial acclaim. Nonetheless, I imagine a number of of the animated collection—Clone Wars, Dangerous Batch, Rebels, and the anime-style Visions, particularly—have been the best additions to the Star Wars grand narrative up to now decade.
Tales of the Empire continues this development. Launched as a part of this yr’s “Might the Fourth” celebration, Empire is a follow-up miniseries to Tales of the Jedi (launched 26 October 2022). Each miniseries encompass six quick episodes which give background to some iconic Star Wars heroes and villains. Although temporary, these miniseries pack a potent emotional punch. Jedi traces, on the one hand, Depend Dooku’s descent from Jedi knight to Sith lord and, on the opposite, the rise of disenchanted Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano.
Elsbeth is pushed by worry and insecurity into the jaws of the darkish facet.
Empire adopts the identical construction. We’re introduced with two characters: one falls into the darkish facet, one learns to withstand it. First, we see the rising bitterness and hatred of Morgan Elsbeth, witch-mother of the planet Dathomir. We then observe the troubled story of Barriss Offee—additionally a disenchanted Jedi padawan.
Elsbeth’s descent begins with tragedy. As a youth, her house planet is attacked by the Separatist Normal Grievous. Her mom and sisters are killed and her house is burned. She is rescued by the neighboring Mountain Clan, which presents her sanctuary and a path towards inside peace.
As an alternative, Elsbeth chooses to pursue vengeance. She recruits a number of members of the Mountain Clan right into a egocentric plot for revenge, taking part in on their newfound fears of safety. This plot is foiled by lingering Separatists, nonetheless, and Elsbeth is as soon as once more rescued by the Mountain Clan’s chief. Nonetheless, the daughter of the Mountain Clan’s chief is killed.
Somewhat than asking for forgiveness, Elsbeth flees Dathomir to the planet Corvus, the place she helps construct up a fledgling village. As she makes an attempt to assist Corvus, she unwittingly exposes it to the greed of the burgeoning Empire. This understandably turns Corvus’s inhabitants in opposition to her. As soon as once more, as an alternative of asking for forgiveness and providing safety, she falls into her prideful resentment and activates the folks she as soon as strengthened. She presents her technological and magical abilities to the Empire, successfully enslaving Corvus’s folks and violently stripping away its pure sources. Elsbeth ends her Empire arc perpetuating and intensifying the cycle of violence begun by Grievous: an invader burning the house of the harmless.
It could be straightforward to conclude that Elsbeth chooses to embrace the darkish facet merely out of vengeance. She admits as a lot herself. The calculating Admiral Thrawn, conversing with Elsbeth, notes that many males . . .
Thrawn: [J]oin [the Empire] out of greed and self-interest, others out of worry, all with ambitions of energy. . . . Why do you search Imperial favor?”
Elsbeth: Revenge.
Nonetheless, she is aware of there are deeper causes:
Years in the past my folks had been all however destroyed. Our tradition, our beliefs, are fading into reminiscence. Sure, I search energy to make sure my future, to destroy my enemies. My anger offers me power. It’s that power I provide to the Empire.
The episode titles of Elsbeth’s arc are “The Path of Concern,” “The Path of Anger,” and, lastly, “The Path of Hatred.” Star Wars followers will acknowledge this allusion Yoda’s sensible counsel to Anakin Skywalker in each The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith: “Concern is the trail to the darkish facet. Concern results in anger, anger results in hate, hate results in struggling.” The Jedi’s perennial answer to this drawback is characteristically Stoic: detachment. In Assault of the Clones, Padmé asks Anakin:
Padmé: Are you allowed to like? I assumed that was forbidden for a Jedi.
Anakin: Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I might outline as unconditional love, is central to a Jedi’s life. So that you may say that we’re inspired to like.
Anakin rightly understands real love as unconditional. The unfolding narratives, nonetheless, reveal that it’s a unsuitable understanding of affection and attachment which ends up in sin. Anakin loves, however in a approach inappropriate to his state in life, and it’s this which drives him to the darkish facet. In his makes an attempt to avoid wasting Padmé’s life, he turns to evil means to attain an excellent finish.
Likewise, Elsbeth is pushed by worry and insecurity into the jaws of the darkish facet. She too offers into her anger which, as she is aware of, offers her power. This anger is just doable whether it is preceded by a previous love. St. Thomas Aquinas notes this: “love should precede hatred; and nothing is hated, besides via being opposite to an appropriate factor which is liked. And therefore it’s that each hatred is induced [indirectly] by love” (Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 29, a. 2). In Elsbeth’s case, it’s as a result of she liked her household and residential that she falls into hatred. St. Augustine understood evil as merely the absence of an excellent factor (Confessions, VII). It’s this evil—this worry of shedding extra—which drives Elsbeth into anger and, ultimately, into hatred.
We see this play out visually. As episode 1 closes, the Mountain Clan chief, grieving her daughter, presents Elsbeth some parting phrases: “It seems your path is about, Morgan Elsbeth. I pity you, for I can see what’s to come back.” We see the Mountain Clan strolling away from Elsbeth, distraught and misplaced, surrounded by flames. Episode 3, in flip, closes with a really related picture. Elsbeth, totally decided in her hatred, orders the Corvus village burned. We see her surrounded by flames, resolutely striding in the direction of the viewer: whereas as soon as she was pushed by the flames of worry, she now owns her worry and inflicts the flame of her anger and hatred on others. She can’t see it, however we should not neglect the ultimate phrases of Yoda’s counsel: “hate results in struggling.” Eventually, Elsbeth’s flames will eat her and burn away any love she as soon as had. Evil burns away the great that must be current.
Lest we stroll away from Empire in despair, the collection ends with a story of redemption, as episodes 4–6 relate the story of Barriss Offee. For individuals who haven’t watched The Clone Wars collection, a little bit of background is required right here. Barriss was good buddies with fellow padawan Ahsoka Tano. Nonetheless, because the Clone Wars raged on, Barriss, like Dooku, grew to become disgusted with the Jedi order and believed it was accountable for the continuing battle. In revolt, she bombed the Jedi Temple, framing Ahsoka:
I did it as a result of I’ve come to comprehend what many individuals within the Republic have come to comprehend, that the Jedi are those accountable for this battle, that we’ve so misplaced our approach that we now have develop into villains on this battle, that we’re those who must be placed on trial, all of us! And my assault on the temple was an assault on what the Jedi have develop into, a military preventing for the darkish facet, fallen from the sunshine we as soon as held so pricey. (“The Fallacious Jedi”)
Barriss is apprehended and imprisoned. Her Empire arc picks up after the Jedi Order is almost worn out totally on the finish of Revenge of the Sith. She is launched by the brand new Empire and is recruited by an previous Jedi good friend, Lyn, into a brand new order of Inquisitors, a particular Empire activity drive whose mission is to search out the few remaining Jedi.
Regardless of all she has suffered, we see the seeds of goodness nonetheless stay. Episode 4 follows her Inquisitor coaching, through which Barriss is compelled right into a combat to the dying with a fellow recruit. She initially refuses however fights for her life when her fellow assaults her. Barriss eliminates her competitors and turns into a full Inquisitor.
In the middle of their work for the Inquisition, Lyn leads Barriss to an unnamed planet looking for a Jedi. The pair proceed to query a village concerning the Jedi’s whereabouts. Whereas Lyn resorts to intimidation, Barriss properties in on a scared-looking little one. In contrast to Lyn, Barriss treats the kid with dignity; she slowly, gently asks the kid to share what he is aware of. The kid relents, divulging the intel. Even after acquiring the required intel, nonetheless, Lyn proceeds to slaughter those that refused her info. Barriss protests:
Barriss: As Inquisitors we carry order, not chaos.
Lyn: Rebel creates chaos. Eliminating it brings order.
Barriss: However creating worry will flip the folks in opposition to us.
Lyn: They had been already in opposition to us. Now those that witness our power will respect it.
Right here we see the parallels to Elsbeth’s arc. Elsbeth’s worry to drove her into anger and hate. This anger and hate was used to dominate others: “My anger offers me power. It’s that power I provide to the Empire.” Barriss additionally sees the trajectory of worry into anger, then hate, then oppression. Nonetheless, she is going to select to reject this cycle.
The way in which these two miniseries are structured—pitting two related characters in opposition to one another—highlights the importance of the characters’ very totally different decisions
We additionally see Lyn justifying an evil means by interesting to an excellent finish: order. That is the ethical logic of the Empire: all means are licit in the event that they produce an excellent finish. (That is merely a entrance, nonetheless, for the puppet-master Emperor Palpatine, Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Sith don’t have any ethical logic and are obsessive about gaining energy at any value.) Lyn, like Elsbeth, is in the end pushed by worry: “those that see our power will respect it.” By way of oppression, Lyn hopes to guard her personal self—she forgets, nonetheless, that persons are pushed not solely by what they worry. They’re additionally, and primarily, pushed by what they love, as Aquinas and Augustine knew.
Lyn and Barriss smoke the Jedi out of hiding. The Jedi initially defeats Lyn however is bested by Barriss. Barriss presents the Jedi mercy, however Lyn cuts down the Jedi in chilly blood.
This episode is titled “Realization.” After seeing the depths of Lyn’s cruelty, Barriss activates Lyn, and throws in her lot with the Order she as soon as betrayed: “you could have one Jedi left to cope with.” Barriss throws Lyn off a cliff and heals the wounded Jedi. The episode closes to a hauntingly hopeful melody, as Barriss drops her Inquisitor helmet off the very cliff Lyn fell down.
The ultimate episode exhibits us the trail Barriss selected to make for herself. She lives a semi-reclusive life-style as a healer. A household involves Barriss searching for counsel relating to their new child little one. The Empire, they are saying, seeks the kid, however they have no idea why. Barriss is ready to inform them it’s as a result of the kid is robust with the Drive—Inquisitors want to eradicate the kid. Certain sufficient, an Inquisitor arrives not lengthy after, and it’s none aside from Lyn. The household flees to a ship hidden in a cave, a maze made totally of ice. The 2 previous buddies confront each other.
Lyn: After all it’s you. How ironic that when I’m not searching for you, I discover you ultimately.
Barriss: You need to depart, Lyn.
Lyn: I’ve been despatched for the kid.
Barriss: Is that this who you could have develop into? Chasing down harmless kids to your Empire?
Lyn: You’re a traitor. I wouldn’t count on you to know.
Barriss: You’re appropriate, Lyn. I don’t.
Lyn proceeds to assault Barriss. Barriss, having discovered inside peace, evades Lyn’s strikes simply and gracefully, exhibiting an astonishing calm, regardless of being unarmed. She tells Lyn that “your anger makes you predictable.” Barriss permits Lyn to pursue the household into the cave however tells her,
Barriss: I warn you to not observe the kid into that cave. You have no idea the trail. And in the event you go in, you’ll not come out.
Lyn: Concern is my ally, not yours.
Barriss: You select your allies poorly.
Lyn chases after the household however quickly loses herself within the cave. Once more, we see the inside state of our characters portrayed visually. Misplaced in a maze of ice, Lyn strikes out at her personal reflection—misplaced inside herself, imprisoned by the worry she thought was her ally.
In a disembodied voice, Barriss calls out to Lyn. The change resonates powerfully with anybody who has struggled with some kind of ongoing sin.
Barriss: You’re misplaced. I warned you.
Lyn: Sufficient of your trickery!
Barriss: That is no trickery. I don’t need you to die in right here. Lay down your weapon, and I’ll present you the way in which out.
Lyn: Are you aware what they’ll do to me for my failure?
Barriss: It appears worry isn’t your ally, however your grasp. . . . I’m right here. Let me aid you.
Lyn, persevering with to lash out, stabs Barriss (who appears to have instantly appeared, however has in actuality been current all alongside).
Barriss: I forgive you.
Lyn: I don’t need your forgiveness. I would like you to indicate me the way in which out.
Barriss: You understand how out. You simply have to simply accept it, Lyn.
Lyn: There isn’t any approach out.
Barriss: That’s what the Empire needs you to suppose.
The love of the Father, manifested within the flesh within the individual of Jesus Christ, involves the one caught in his personal satisfaction (which is incapable of humbly asking for forgiveness), his personal sin, his personal self. This closing episode of Empire, fittingly titled “The Manner Out,” ends on a sensible but hopeful observe. Lyn picks up the wounded Barriss, leaving her weapon behind. Far exterior the cave, we see two figures emerge, slowly, from the scar of darkness to the outer gentle.
Simply as Jedi and Empire mirror one another, so too do the present’s characters mirror one another. As Dooku and Elsbeth fall, Ahsoka and Barriss rise. There’s each similarity and dissimilarity on this mirroring. Dooku, Ahsoka, and Barriss all fell from the Jedi Order as a result of it didn’t meet the perfect normal they felt the Order must have upheld. Dooku and Barriss flip to the darkish facet of their makes an attempt to combat injustice; they thought the Jedi weak as a result of they refused to resort to evil means. To cave into this ethical logic—to make use of evil means for any finish perceived pretty much as good—is to undertake the sort of “morality” advocated for by Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche contends there isn’t any good or evil—there may be solely energy. There’s, then, no cause not to use any means in any way for any finish.
Whereas Dooku dies a villain, nonetheless, Barriss (and, we hope, Lyn) learns to reject an amoral cosmos outlined by energy struggles. This requires first refusing to succumb to worry. The Jedi are in a position to overcome this worry by interesting to an influence better than dying. The Jedi Code places it this (characteristically Buddhist) approach: “There isn’t any dying, there solely the Drive.” The Christian says: “Christ has defeated dying and reigns for me. He’s the way in which, the reality, and the life which units me free from my sin.”
Juxtaposing Jedi and Empire and their characters demonstrates to us that we’re outlined much more by our decisions than our circumstances or talents. The way in which these two miniseries are structured—pitting two related characters in opposition to one another—highlights the importance of the characters’ very totally different decisions. In one other, totally different approach, Empire suggests we’re first meant to pity and forgive, not combat, our enemies; and that we are supposed to pity not the useless however those that stay with out love.
