Star Wars: In the dark side of the Force only hate flourishes, love dies

In Star Wars, the dark side of the Force only seems to bring hatred and loss

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering,” Yoda, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Why would anyone ever think the dark side of the force could save lives when all it does is create hate and death?

Strange, isn’t it?  Darth Vader tells his son Luke to give in to the dark side, “it is the only way to save your friends.” When in fact, by giving into the dark side, Anakin lost literally everything and everyone that he wanted to save in the first place.

In the Star Wars franchise, Anakin gave in to the dark side in an attempt to save his wife Padme, the only person he really loved and desperately wanted to save. And after everything, Padme died. The dark side did not save her.

Anakin renounced his Jedi ways and marched on the Jedi Temple in a sick bid to learn the dark side powers that would surely save Padme.  Anakin became Darth Vader, dark lord of the Sith and freely killed any Jedi or enemies of the Supreme Chancellor. Vader continued the quest of destruction as the Republic fell and became the first galactic empire. Hatred replaced love. The dark side destroyed and took away everything, including peace and freedom.

Upon aligning himself with the Sith lord Sidious, Anakin, now Vader, after marching on the temple, travels to finish off Gunray and other separatists stationed on Mustafar. Padme arrived shortly after and pleaded with her husband.

Master Kenobi exited Padme’s spacecraft. Anakin becomes enraged and force chokes Padme, Kenobi pleads “let her go Anakin, let her go.” She collapses. “You turned her against me!” shouts Anakin. “You have done that yourself,” replies Kenobi. He also says Anakin’s lust for power is to blame and adds, “You have allowed this dark lord to twist your mind, until now… until now you’ve become the very thing you swore to destroy.”

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader replies, “Don’t lecture me, Obi-Wan! I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.” Obi-Wan Kenobi is incredulous, “Your new empire?!”

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader warns Kenobi, “Don’t make me kill you.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!”

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must.”

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, “You will try.”

A fierce duel ensues on the hellish planet. Obi-Wan gets the high ground and is able to cut his former apprentice down as Anakin leaps toward him. Anakin/ Vader was severely damaged, requiring prosthetic limbs and a special suit to keep him alive. Padme dies in childbirth.  Vader and his master Sidious rule the galaxy for almost 25 years.

The dark side was not the answer. The dark side of the Force was never the answer. By giving in to the dark side, only hate flourishes. Only death and pain and loss reign in the dark side of the Force. Anakin wanted to save life and love. Instead, he had a hand in destroying life and killing love when he chose the dark side.

“Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will.” – Yoda