We need to talk about Grey Jedi. Specifically, that characters like Ezra Bridger and Ahsoka Tano are not “grey.”
From what I understand, a “grey Jedi” operates in some middle-ground between “fully Light” and “fully Dark.” Possibly originating from games like Knights of the Old Republic, it’s the idea that a Force-user pulls from both “ends” of the Force spectrum in their practices.
(In the KOTOR games, you started out in a “grey” Force aura that either got lighter or darker depending on your choices throughout the game. If you made a mix of choices, you tended to stay in the grey, using both Light and Dark Side powers to defeat your enemies and influence your companions.)
But these are not the characteristics of someone like Ahsoka Tano or Ezra Bridger. Not Cal Kestis or Revan for that matter, either. The entire definition of a Jedi is someone who relies on the Force to promote peace throughout the galaxy. Someone who uses the Force to manipulate and harm others is not a Jedi.
Some Jedi (Ezra, Cal) have tapped into the Dark Side of the Force at some point in their lives. They remain Jedi because they came to realize this practice was not the Jedi way. They don’t continue to use it freely at will, as the “grey Jedi” concept suggests.
Don’t forget the messages Star Wars is actually communicating throughout its stories — that causing harm to innocent people is not how one achieves peace. That in the battle of good vs. evil, not everyone may be wholly good or evil, but there are right and wrong choices to be made.
It’s those who learn from their wrong choices and make the right ones that become heroes.
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