‘Star Wars’ trilogy parallels: The Light and the Dark Side

Within the Star Wars trilogies, parallels are an undeniable reoccurring factor, and are once again coming to light (or Dark *nudge nudge*) in The Force Awakens.

The storylines often seem to line up and perhaps this will give us an insight into what’s to come in this new third trilogy of movies.

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In this article, we look at what we know so far represented through the parallels of the Light and the Dark Side…

Origins

Luke Skywalker began as a farm-boy in the beginning of A New Hope and Rey a scavenger in The Force Awakens. They’re just ordinary people who happened to go on extraordinary adventures. The Force is strong in them both, but the good in their hearts prevails above the bad.

Darth Vader began as Anakin Skywalker, who was a slave until freed by the Jedi. Kylo Ren began as Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia, grandson of Vader/Anakin. He was the only one born knowing who he was and where he came from; but perhaps this was part of the problem. Both of them were trained as Jedi, presumably, from a younger age, but in spite of this they fell to the Dark Side.

Initiation to the Light/Dark Side

For both Luke and Rey, it all began with droids. Luke was going to deliver R2-D2 to Alderaan and didn’t have anything to hold him to Tattooine once his aunt and uncle died. The good in his heart led him to rescuing Princess Leia and it all snowballed after that. Similar to Luke, Rey only planned on returning BB-8 to the Resistance and intended on going back to Jakku; that was until Maz helped her realise that there was nothing to go back for and she must go forward.

Luke saw Old Ben/Obi Wan being killed by Vader and Rey witnessed the death of Han at the hand of Kylo Ren which made them both aspire to train as Jedi after losing their mentors who had fought for good.

On the other hand, when Anakin lost his mother to the Sand-people he was overcome with hatred and killed all of the Sand-people. After dreaming about losing Padme, this fear combined with his resentment and anger towards Obi Wan and the other Jedi, led him to feel desperate to prove his power. The last straw was when he killed the younglings and Force-choked Padme. After fighting with Obi, Anakin died and Vader was truly born.

We haven’t seen Kylo’s full story but from The Force Awakens we can assume that the darkness was inside him and when training as a Jedi he fell to this. Perhaps his anger and resentment stemmed from Leia and Han being so involved in the Resistance that they weren’t always together.

Also, perhaps like Leia said, sending him away with Luke was not for the best?

Family ties

Luke’s aunt and uncle, the only family he knew of at that point, were killed by Stormtroopers; leaving behind their burned corpses for him to discover. Rey was left by her family on Jakku from a young age, leaving her to wait in hope of their return.

Despite them both losing/being separated from their families, they never succumb to resentment and as Yoda would say that leads to anger and hate which leads to the Dark Side.

Anakin’s only family was his mother, who he was separated from at a young age. After seeing his mother suffer in his nightmares, thanks to the Force being strong in him, he then watches her die in his arms after his rescue attempt.

Full of anger coupled with the thought of him losing Padme drove him further into the darkness. His resentment led him to a thirst for power and this led him to the Dark Side. Ben didn’t lose his family and went to train with his uncle, Luke, to be a Jedi.

We don’t know the full story; only that the Dark Side seduced him but the good still fights within. It is possible that a part of the Light side that calls to Ben (Kylo Ren) is Anakin himself; trying to prevent him from repeating his mistakes.