Not sure if this is right, but I feel like the Sith Lord’s callousness and killing frenzy is actually an ‘exaggerated’ extension of the Jedi’s “mourn them not, but rejoice in Death”. Because, if you don’t mourn anyone, if you rejoice in all deaths. Then life don’t have much meaning anymore and the death toll is just a number, a means to an end. Thus, as long as the end is peace and order, any sort of means become acceptable. Then you start viewing death in an even more detached/pragmatic way.

redrikki:

cienie-isengardu:

redrikki:

cienie-isengardu:

praetor-canis:

padawanlost:

I’ve never
considered this before but it does make sense. I don’t think that’s what the
writers were going for but I believe there’s definitely a connection between
extreme detachment and the devalue of life. This is might be particularly true
for Yoda. I’ll have to think about this.

@redrikki @cienie-isengardu What do you guys think? Any opinions on the matter? Is there a connection between extreme detachment and the devalue of Life?

Well, I think the extreme detachment usually leads to devalue of life, but I’m not so sure if Sith Lords’ callousness and killing frenzy could be seen as
‘exaggerated’ extension of mourn them not, but rejoice in Death belief of Jedi.

Partially, because Sith Lords vary widely from each other and how they behave or
what they believe in

is determinated by many factors, including their species,
upbringing, life experiences and reason(s)
for the transition to the Dark Side. I mean, Darth Vader and Darth Sidious are both powerful Sith Lords, yet their
modus operandi

drastically vary. For example, Vader wants to bring to galaxy order and peace definied by him (regardless what galaxy wants or need), while Palpatine wants to rule everything and everyone – both are willing to kill tons of people to get what they want yet Vader is less likely to kill for his own amusement while Sidious is destroying innocent lifes just for fun. Some Sith Lords simply like to torture and/or kill others and no religious or philosophical feeling is involved in that.

For me, the biggest difference between Jedi and Sith approach to life and death is that, Jedi are taught to respect all living creatures, while Sith are selfish beings who mostly care for their own skin & ambitions, and simply see others (especially non Force-sensitive ones) as below them. At the same time Jedi do not mourn, because mourning means having feelings and attachment to someone, while Sith simply do not care, because they put their passion, striving for personal perfection and power above anyone else well-being. The Sith Lords are powerful, they know that, and such power makes it easy to believe they are more special than anyone else. In a way, they are chosen by Force, so what is the point of caring for the weakling around them?

But we must also remember that Sith Lords approach to life and death in not the same for all Dark Siders. There are those who tried to cheat death (Darth Sidious in Legends find a way to reborn and hoped to be immortal) and those who does not have much regard for their own life (Vader had his fair share of suicidal moments, like the Legends fight between him and resurrected(?) Darth Maul, when he literally stabbed himself with his own lightsaber to kill Maul). Like I said, Sith Lords vary from each other and because of that there is plenty reasons why they are so detachment – some couldn’t care any less for other people, some just like torturing and killing, some kill when it’s either pragmatic or unnecessary thing to do. Some may even believe that life means nothing since
death is an inevitable fate… though Sith Lords have an awful tendence to troubling galaxy even after their own death.

To be fair,
I can see Yoda as someone who get to that extreme point of thinking no mourn, rejoice in all deaths because (religious) faith is often used as a copy mechanism to deal with personal loss. And since Yoda lived for ages, he lost many friends and students. Anakin/Vader to some degree may be using that too since his connection to Force / Dark Side always had some religious accents – and I guess, he lost too much too soon and at this point of life may be simply too tired to care – but majority of Sith Lords simply were too focused at their own goals & survival to bother look beyond their own selfishness.

I agree with a lot of what @cienie-isengardu said. Yoda’s philosophy (which he clearly fails at following) is entirely based on his own trauma as a long-lived being in a short-lived world. He’s the guy who can’t help adopting cute puppies, but has tried to tell himself he doesn’t care when they inevitably die. This does not seem to be a philosophy shared by all Jedi. After all, Luminara explicitly says she would mourn Barriss if she died and the Jedi as a whole do have mourning rituals. That said, the Jedi do have a philosophy and practice of not letting their emotional attachments get in the way of THE GREATER GOOD. They respect all life, but are okay with sacrificing a few eggs to make some morally righteous, or at least politically expedient, omelets.

The Sith, regardless of their individual motivations, are also break eggs to make omelets types of guys. The differences is who and what those omelets are for. Jedi omelets are always for THE GREATER GOOD, while Sith omelets are for the evil loz, their own ambition, to save their loved ones above all, etc.

Out of all the Sith, Darth Vader is the only guy who attempts to actually follow Yoda’s messed up philosophy. As Anakin, he failed to follow it and it ended up backfiring so horribly that he lost everyone and thing he ever carried about. As a Sith, he spends years trying to not be the guy who cares about that. He also spends years breaking eggs for THE GREATER GOOD while ignoring any moral qualms he has.

Well said 🙂

The irony about Anakin/Vader always crack me up! He was bad Jedi, because he cared too much. He is not the typical Sith either, because he acts more for “the greater good” (definied by him, but still) than for power and fun. But also I’m laughing how Jedi wanted Anakin to became like them, to let go of feelings, to be detached – but the moment when he adapted Yoda’s Jedi philosophy (no mourn for the dead, no feeling guilty too about that) and follows it almost to the letter, he is now a monster. If everyone became a part of Force, so why he shouldn’t sent them there much sooner if by doing so, he is saving galaxy from
chaotic lawlessness?

Shame he never had a chance to
recall Yoda’s own words of wisdom
in his face. That would be one of hellish
catharsis…

#darth vader’s allies#the most untypical sith#most likely#but seriously make your mind jedi#caring is bad#not caring/feeling guilt about killing is bad too reblogging for @cienie-isengardu‘s tags.