The Insane Controversy around Gray Jedi

Today we'll take a look at Gray Jedi, including what makes them SO controversial among Star Wars fans from across the spectrum. We'll cover all that and more on today's video.

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[ClonedGamer]

I always viewed "Grey Jedi" as just a thing someone was, as opposed to an organized group. There was no "Grey order, " they were just Jedi who had a different sort of relationship with the force than most members of the order, or who didn't follow a significant number of the order's traditions but were still part of it.

[ZZMonkeysUncleZZ]

If we’re talking characters who didn’t fit the light vs dark mold of Star Wars, Vectivus deserves a mention. He was a dark side user who was also a businessman, had no interest in conquering or destroying the galaxy, and was very strict when it came to keeping his workers safe and happy with their jobs. He was also a full-blown Sith Lord.

[isaiahcolesanti]

I was recently commenting on Cal Kestis being a possible Grey Jedi. And man, oh man I realized the fandom I was apart of has always had its share of controversy or debate. Dude I had hundreds of comments debating left and right about the existence of the Grey Jedi hidden within the lore or just straight up pure fan fiction. God!

[kaizokuAUTO]

It's funny how Yoda's idea of dipping into the dark side leads to an inevitability dark path is actually seen in KotOR, Jedi Knight, etc. because everyone just gets force lightning cos its cool, and then you think ... welll maybe life drain isn't so bad ... soon enough you have force storm, you harvest life from your enemies, but in dialogue you're a happy-go-lucky starfarer making your way across the galaxy.

[mrfeicco]

I actually really enjoyed the idea of the Fel Dynasty's Imperial Knights.
They were "Grey" in the sense they had to find a balance between Light and Dark and if the Emperor or Empress ever became part of the dark side then they were there to remove the threat of a Dark side ruler.

[slowboy]

I think it’s more like people who are called Jedi but actually don’t follow the practices or beliefs of the order. However they are still light side force users though. Ashoka is a great example of this. She clearly doesn’t have the same ideology as the order she was in based on her experiences. Then there’s Ezra, who grew up outside the order and developed his own beliefs alongside Kanan. Who also had different views and had a kid which was a big no for the Jedi.

[westmoorefilms]

Kind of fitting that the reason why Grey Jedi blew up again is because a Twitter user got angry at somebody for having fun with a idea they thought was cool.

[twalls]

All this because people want to use force lightning as a Jedi

[lumberjackofalltrades]

In the Darth Bane series, when he was training his apprentice, he required healing from losing his bug armor. He was taken to a planet strong with the Force, but unbound to either light or dark. On this planet, there was a healer who was terrifyingly strong with the Force but was no warrior, and neither was she Jedi or Sith. I think she referred to her flavor of the Force as focused on nature, but I doing really remember She healed Darth Bane, but his apprentice drove her insane to cover their tracks

[Stryfe]

I love seeing people talk about this, man. I’ve been watching all kinds of discussions on SW stuff since I was little, and I’m just glad to see that some things don’t change.

[Darmoth]

I too always thought of grey Jedi being those who operated outside of the Jedi order. I don't imagine them using dark side powers necessarily, but rather those who reject one or more tenants of the order.

[Lorekeeper]

I think the problem with any kind of Grey Jedi is that the dark side is inherently corrupting; trying to balance that with the light, its polar opposite, must be like trying to tight rope walk between two skyscrapers in a Cat 5 hurricane. Most Grey Jedi, in my opinion, are either Jedi who ignore the Council, so light siders without the branding, or are dark siders who are deluding themselves. While balance is certainly possible, even the old Je'dai ultimately schismed along dark and light so I doubt any real order built upon it could last long.

[adrianaslund]

I think people feel strongly about it also because psychologically its not healthy to repress all negative emotion. Or pretend that you don't have negative emotions. Its better to be mindful of them. Accepting them and letting them go. Its also not a bad idea to make friends with and express the dark aspects of your personality safely than it is to hold it all in. Then there is light side Jedi who disagree with Jedi dogma. There is light side users that have arguably morally bad traits. Like Kidi Adi Mundi. And in legends you've got Darth Vectivus who was a dark side user with a truly grey morality and a personal code of self discipline and moderation. He was a wordly and mostly fair businessman that died peacefully surrounded by friends and family. And his employees liked him. He became a force user in adulthood. And perhaps that affects which side of the force you end up on.

[ZafiroDoesGames]

Fun fact: the “Light Side” of the Force is never referred to as such in the first six movies. Only The Force and the Dark Side are ever mentioned explicitly by name. My understanding is that The Force is balance, following the Will of The Force and that the Dark Side is bending The Force to your will. I’d argue Grey Jedi are generally good guys that, like you said, act outside the general rules of the Council but don’t use the Dark Side.

[bigj]

I tend to agree with your second point: Gray Jedi are simply light side force users who don’t follow the Jedi Council or Republic.

I’ve always felt that Kirak Infil'a and Rahm Kota were good examples of who a Gray Jedi is. Someone who doesn’t follow a set of codes or a hardline interpretation of the force, but also someone who understands the difference between right and wrong, and good and evil.

[albeon_draken]

The Potentium idea first showed up in Rogue Planet, a book that took place a couple years after Phantom Menace that set up a lot of the things that would later be used in The Unifying Force.

As for Grey Jedi, they absolutely exist, and like the color grey, they exist in a spectrum. They can just be Jedi who left the Order because they feel it's too hidebound and restrictive, with such an overwhelming fear of the Dark Side that they stifle the better parts of being alive, like love and parenthood. On the other end you have much darker specimens like the overpowered bioweapon named Galen Marek who use almost exclusively Dark Side powers and are perfectly happy to go on massacres in favor of the greater good, yet actively work against the existing Sith and their interests in favor of helping others.

I think the Grey Jedi idea came about because people (writers, game designers, etc.) started to develop more and more on the idea of the Jedi Order as a stuffy group of monks who seem to have forbidden anything that makes life happy or fun because it's "an inevitable draw to the Dark Side." It turned the Jedi into protagonists that you could root for, but not identify with, because they had so little in common with any actual person outside of a convent or monastery. Grey Jedi were a way to create heroes who followed the overall goals of the Jedi Order, making them unambiguous "good guys" while also making them relatable. They could fall in love, lose their temper, and make mistakes (as well as use some of the more "badass" force powers) without having to creep over into the anti-hero camp. All this is also why the EU writers (the good, original EU) redesigned the Jedi Order after Luke recreated it to be more, for lack of a better term, human. Their struggles with drifting either too far towards stuffy dogmatism or ends-justify-the-means utilitarianism are actually a recurring theme in the books.

[aidanszabo]

With George Lucas’ vision of Star Wars, I can’t see Grey Jedi being a sustainable thing that doesn’t lead to the dark side

[Bladedancer]

Actually the whole concept of a Grey Jedi goes back to the late 90s if not earlier. This can be found in several RPG books that delt with different types of Force users. Grey Jedi and Teepo Paladins are probably the two most common examples of the non-typical Jedi/Sith Force Users.

[nathanlang]

An interesting idea that seems to float around in the bane novels and is sort of implied by a lot of old republic material in general is that the force works as a personality multiplier. Its more noticeable in sith where general selfishness works its way up torture and senseless violence for violence sake, but seems to effect jedi as well as tranquility gives way to standing by while planets burn (like when the council sat out the mandalorian wars or when luke decided he couldn't be the one to fight caedus)

[rabbitknight]

The big issue is that Jedi as an organization and ideal gets confused with the concept of being a Lightsider. If you're following the will of the Force you're in the light, if you're imposing your will on the Force you're on the path to the darkside.