Every once in awhile, as most of you know, I'll take to the OOC forum to write some critique of something I don't like about Star Wars. Usually, it's George Lucas, and usually, it's the prequels. And while my distaste for the prequels, and for Revenge of the Sith in particular for many reasons is, I think, well known among those who know me, there's one thing about Revenge of the Sith that I've not touched upon; yes, the yellow eyes. They are a cliché, of course; a tired, "evil" archetype that, in my opinion, insults my intelligence as a viewer. But they do more than that. Indeed, in this one scene—this one glint of Anakin's "evil" eye—George Lucas thoughtlessly destroyed the Force as it is known to tens of thousands of Star Wars fans, including me. He did, in short, what Darth Traya never could.

It shouldn't surprise us that George Lucas has a simplistic view of "the Force." After all, he set out to tell a tale that has been told for as long as humans have been telling tales; the good guy against the bad guys or, rather, "evil" guys. What's good and what's evil, to him, is something that is rather self-evident and doesn't need to be explained. Indeed, the Star Wars films put it in the simplest possible terms: the "light," or good side and the "dark," or evil side of the Force. For me, as a child, this was enough. But I am what's known as a "nerd," whose interest in Star Wars I've never put behind me (you're all nerds too, sorry). Today, as an adult, the problems of the "light" side and "dark" side dichotomy are a lot more apparent to me.

And not only to me; indeed, it's a problem that's been addressed from different perspectives in many works of Star Wars literature. The "Potentium" view of the Force was the first, if you will, alternate theory to what we are presented with in the films. First appearing by name* in the novel Rogue Planet in 2000, the "Potentium" view maintains that the Force has no "will." It is neither good nor evil—it is neutral, and it is, rather, how the Force is used that makes it good or "evil." Therefore, whether it is good or "evil" depends on what a person considers to be good and what he or she considers to be "evil." This, in my opinion, is how morality works in the real world; that is, it's not something cosmic, it's something that depends on the sensibilities of humans—sensibilities that change over time. I don't need to point out any examples of things that humans used to do to each other that, today, we would consider immoral. You've already thought of one, or two, or three. My point is made.

Until Revenge of the Sith, fans who were dissatisfied with the simplistic view of the Force that we see in the Star Wars films could quietly believe in the "Potentium" view instead. The references that are made to the "light" side and "dark" side, by characters like Yoda and the Emperor, could be dismissed as either A.) metaphors, or B.) particular religious views of the Force; the religious views of the Jedi and the Sith. Anakin's "luminous, sulfuric yellow" eyes changed all of that—not because George Lucas has any sort of opinion on this complicated issue, but, no doubt, because he thought yellow eyes are "way cool!"

But consider for a moment the implications of the yellow eyes. They are a physical manifestation of the "dark" side of the Force. This means that the "dark" side is something that is real in the Star Wars universe; not a metaphor, not some religious belief. It is, in fact, "evil." This means that good and "evil" are real, absolute concepts, and that the Force is something that knows what is good and what is "evil." This, in turn, means that the Force is capable of knowing. In other words, it is intelligent. Now we are dealing not with a "Force," but with an intelligent, supernatural entity. Yes, we're dealing with a god. Even if you believe in a god, surely you never watched the Star Wars films and imagined the Force as one. The fact that it's referred to as a noun is proof enough of this. And yet, the conclusion that the Force is a god is inescapable because of George Lucas's thoughtless insistence upon a tired cliché: the yellow eyes.

Well, not entirely inescapable. There is only one explanation for the yellow eyes that I can think of (improbable though it is, I admit) that can salvage the "Potentium" view of the Force that myself and many Star Wars fans and writers prefer. That is, Anakin made his eyes yellow on purpose. Emos wear eye makeup to appear more broody, after all, and does anyone here deny that Anakin comes across as obnoxiously emo in Revenge of the Sith? Okay, this is improbable, as I said. It's also silly. But for my characters, like Jace Varitek, who tend to believe in the "Potentium" view, this will be their opinion of other characters they come across with yellow eyes; that it's not a sign of the "dark" side of the Force, it's a sign of vanity.

* It first appeared by name in 2000. However, it's a view that had been explored in many Star Wars books, perhaps best in those of Timothy Zahn throughout the 1990s. His 1998 Vision of the Future, in fact, has an elegant, but forceful repudiation of most other Star Wars novels from that time period that espoused the version of the Force we see in the films. I would recommend the book if it wasn't 8,000 pages long.

Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here

"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes

Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee: