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I started to play Star Wars: The Old Republic. In this game, you can choose between 2 factions (Jedi/Sith). However, in the quest you can choose what you want you do. For example: you can either torture a prisoner (dark side) or let him go free (light side), so you can increase your amount of dark or light points. As an example, my character has 100 light points and 550 dark points; I play as a Sith.

As far I know, it is possible to have a Sith using light side and a Jedi using dark side, without a change of faction.

Why is this? How it is possible to have a Sith using the light side of the Force? Perhaps I'm missing something?

RELATED: Can there really be Sith motivated by happiness or "joie de vivre"?

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    This feels like a stack gaming question... To clarify: If this was a question about if light/dark power crossovers consistent with the other Star Wars canon, I would be all for it. However, this seems to be a strictly in game mechanic question.
    – Ashterothi
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 19:21
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    i didn't know that decision is cos game mechanic, and almost all games of star wars follow cannon rules
    – osdamv
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 19:25
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    Can you clarify what you mean by "it is possible have a Sith using light side and a Jedi using dark side, without change of faction."
    – Ashterothi
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 19:26
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    @Pyrodante you can be a "jedi" using at maximum the dark side O.O
    – osdamv
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 19:34
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    It is not possible for a player to use light/dark side force powers based on their choices. It is in Knights of the Old Republic, but not this game. In this game, the Jedi powers are specific to the faction. For instance, you can be a level 4 light sith with no dark side points, but you will still only have access to dark side powers. For some reason, the devs didn't really think that aspect of the game through.
    – Robert
    Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 18:50

5 Answers 5

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I think the confusion comes from the difference between the Sith Empire as an establishment and Sith as a practice. In the main Star Wars universe (that is seen in the movies), Sith is the opposite of Jedi. Jedi = good, Sith = bad. But you must remember that originally the Sith was an empire, an institution that existed with formal structure. This organization is what exists in SWTOR. While the Imperials are far more "Evil" in their practices, individuals may or may not be truly wicked or even dark side. Also, the Galactic Republic is seen as good guys primarily because in the end they win. Winners often define our view of history, and so paint themselves as absolute good while painting the enemy as evil. These stereotypes persist until they become cemented in the vernacular you see in the movies.

There are dark side and light side force users in both the Galactic Empire and the Sith Empire. The Galactic Republic call their force users "Jedi" and the Sith Empire call them "Sith". It wasn't until after the events of SWTOR that Jedi became synonymous with "good guy" and Sith with "bad guy".

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    It's worth noting that in the Imperial Agent story, many "Light Side" choices still favor the Sith Empire and it's non-Force-using citizens. By contrast, the "Dark Side" choices tend to favor the Sith as a religion and the established order of the Sith Lords as the ruling class.
    – T.J.L.
    Commented Jun 25, 2015 at 20:13
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It was a choice they made early in the development, as explained by Daniel Erickson, the head writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, in this 2008 interview:

Like other MMOs, The Old Republic will have two factions--the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Though led by respectively benevolent and malevolent leaders, the two sides will be home to characters of morally varying stripes. "There's a lot more people than Sith and Jedi in the Empire and the Republic, so one of the things that became important to us is that we separate the idea of faction and good and evil," said Erickson. "Light Side and Dark Side is not the same as faction. In the original KOTOR, you could be Dark Side, even though you worked for the Republic. Here, just because you're in the Empire [faction], doesn't mean you have be Dark Side. You can play as the good guy in the bad place trying to do good things or the bad guy in the good place trying to do bad things."

So they wanted you to be able to play a Dark Jedi that work for the Republic or a good Sith that avoid the use of Dark Side.

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  • well, that make sense for the non force classes, but it is in the name, jedi knight, sith warrior ...
    – osdamv
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 19:21
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    @osdamv Not all Dark Jedi are Sith, and a Sith could choose the way of the redemption. They leaved that choice to the player.
    – DavRob60
    Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 19:36
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Look at it in the sense that good people can do bad things and bad people can do good things. That doesn't mean that they automatically change designation between good/bad.

In a more specific Star Wars reference, consider when

Anakin slaughters the Tusken Raiders

or

Anakin kills Count Dooku

These are some pretty evil acts, but Anakin is still a Jedi after each. He's definitely on the path to the Dark Side, but he's not really a Sith yet.

To lesser extents, you also have Luke and Obi-Wan using Force Persuasion - and Qui-Gon attempting to use it and resorting to using Force Push to cheat at gambling.

Using abilities from the opposite sides of the Force doesn't necessarily mean they are suddenly changed factions.

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  • I haven't heard of persuasion or cheating being considered Dark Side before.
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Oct 15, 2012 at 21:46
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    It's true that it is considered somewhat neutral. Wookieepedia mentions that Qui-Gon's uses were questionable at best: "Usage of the mind trick was a moral issue for the Jedi, as it did violate the individual's free will and conscience. Thus, the Jedi were strictly prohibited from using it for personal gain (such as in betting or bargaining), reserving its use for when it would serve the greater good (greater good could also be sometimes a reason to overlook this restriction); the Sith and other Dark Jedi however, had no qualms about the usage of the ability."
    – phantom42
    Commented Oct 16, 2012 at 12:44
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Think of it like this: I can be evil for good reasons, or I can be good for evil reasons. A light side Sith Warrior may be honorable and not kill people just to kill them. A Dark side Jedi Knight may not show mercy when it comes to empire opponents.

Not everything is black and white. If you look at Darth Vader in EP VI, he was a Sith who threw Palpatine down a pit to save Luke, a very light side action because Luke wasn't able to fight back, and he sacrificed himself in the act. Conversely Obi-wan operated outside of the Jedi code at times for the greater good, such as letting his emotions get the better of him in his final fight in EP III with Anakin, and dismembering him.

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  • Obi-Wan was clearly emotional at the time, but I'm not sure that's what drove the dismembering nor that it was a Dark side act.
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Oct 15, 2012 at 21:47
  • Why wouldn't it be a dark act? He didn't go in with the intent of killing or even dismembering him, but in a fit of his emotions sunk low to the point that he should have died, then left him to die. That's pretty dark.
    – Spencer Cole
    Commented Oct 25, 2012 at 18:15
  • I don't think leaving a corrupted, evil, and irredeemable (at that point) individual is an act born of the dark side of the force. I don't know what you mean by the fit of emotions and "he should have died".
    – Matthew Read
    Commented Oct 25, 2012 at 20:32
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The Sith and Jedi aren't Good vs Evil, they are merely two opposing philosophies. Jedi value control while Sith value power. Neither are evil in moderation but Sith often seek power and the dark side grants more power than the light, at least in the short term. A Sith does not have to be ruthless to get what he wants. He could just as easily gain power through the bonds he makes with his friends and allies as opposed to crushing all under his feet. But because of their philosophy focusing more on the self than the needs of others, Sith often become immersed in darker emotions, leading them to be more aggressive which is the start to their fall to the darkness.

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