The Jedi Are Actually The Biggest Villains In Star Wars, And They Don't Even Try To Hide It

For being so-called “good guys,” sometimes, the Jedi don't look that different from the bad guys. Like the First Order, they take young children away from their families and indoctrinate them in their ways. They are taken away from everything they know and forced to adhere to the Jedi Code.

At least the Jedi ask the children’s parents if they can whisk their kids away. However, in the case of Anakin, no one bothers to help Anakin's enslaved mother Shmi gain a better life. Why not mind-trick a person into paying for Shmi and then free her? Or just whisk her away, too? Not to mention, if Shmi Skywalker had foreseen what would eventually become of her little, pod-racing angel, she might have had second thoughts about letting Qui-Gon take Anakin.

So, Anakin is a brash and reckless Padawan, but what teenager isn’t? Even though he gave his life to the Order and tirelessly fights for the greater good during the Clone Wars, the Jedi High Council never fully trusts him. That distrust extends to Anakin’s Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, who, in The Clone Wars, the Council wrongly accuses of bombing the Jedi Temple. They are quick to turn on Ahsoka. Her expulsion as a Padawan and her subsequent decision to leave the Order, even after they halfheartedly asked her to come back, shake Anakin’s faith in the Order.

Everyone knows that bottling up emotions is a bad idea. It can lead to displaced anger, sudden outbursts, and overall emotional instability. So why, then, is it a key imperative of the Jedi? This impossible task of Jedi to quell their emotions is why so many Jedi fall prey to the Dark Side.

At every turn, Anakin is told to control his emotions, even though he has a lot riding on his shoulders as the Chosen One. He is constantly admonished for voicing his frustration with the Order’s lack of compassion and empathy. The end result? Well, Darth Vader and some dead Younglings. Years later, when Yoda and Force Ghost Obi-Wan are training a young Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, they insist that Luke put his emotions aside and leave Han and Leia to die at the hands of Vader. Instead, Luke ignores their advice and rushes off to save his friends – exactly what you would expect a good, heroic individual to do. And he doesn’t become the “agent of evil” Yoda and Obi-Wan fear he will.

Once Force-sensitive children are ripped away from their families, they’re forbidden to ever see them again. This could prove to be particularly difficult if, for example, you had to leave behind your enslaved mother to whatever fate might befall her. In the case of Anakin Skywalker, an annual mother-son visit could have drastically altered the destiny of the Skywalker family. Not to mention may have prevented the unfortunate death of Shmi Skywalker at the hands of Tusken Raiders in Attack of the Clones.

While Qui-Gon isn't perfect, he at least has more compassion than many of his fellow Jedi. He doesn't dismiss Anakin like the other Jedi are quick to do. Qui-Gon is a highly respected Master within the Order, but is considered to be too much of a rogue to serve on the Council. What were some of Qui-Gon’s radical, progressive actions? Wanting to train two Padawans at the same time. His main faults in the eyes of the Council are his desire to mentor and forge a deeper connection to the Living Force. Seems like a disproportionate reaction.

The Jedi Council's elitist mentality and inability to be flexible led directly to their downfall and the downfall of all Jedi.

This ties into the whole superiority complex the Jedi have. They think they are above and beyond everyone else and their abilities and connectedness to the Force make them not only untouchable, but that their decisions are wisest. How, then, do they explain that, for years, a Sith Lord plotted to take over the galaxy right under their noses? Palpatine even managed to create and hide an entire clone army without their knowledge. When Obi-Wan tells the Jedi Council that the Sith have returned and Darth Maul slew Qui-Gon Jinn, they initially don’t believe him. It's too hard for them to fathom being so totally clueless and vulnerable.