For no reason that I can pin down, I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about personality disorders and spotting good examples of them in TV and film. Interestingly enough, this has led me to a sort of Gray Jedi conclusion: The Jedi and Sith orders seem to be two sides of the same coin – they’re both filled to the brim with psychopaths.
Psychopathy is an interesting, if misunderstood, beast. Almost everyone has used the term, but almost no one seems to understand how to use it correctly. Psychopathy is a mental disorder primarily characterized by a lack of empathy and shallow or limited emotional responses. This isn’t to say that psychopaths can’t or don’t understand others nor that they have no emotions: rather they have atypical emotional responses and have a non-empathetic understanding of other people. The psychopath views other humans the way we might view lab rats or other “lesser” species and their emotional response tends to be shallow with regard to others. Strong emotional response is possible, but typically egocentric.
So the Sith are obviously psychopaths. We have no problem giving them the label at all, they’ve been called psychopaths by those who do and don’t understand the label alike for a very long time. The Sith narcissistically channel highly egotistical and negative emotions (anger, hatred, fear) into their use of the force and it’s seldom questionable that they lack empathy for others, but there is more than one kind of psychopathy.
American psychologist Theodore Millon identified five primary archetypes of antisocial behavior:
- Covetous – Those who feel that life has not given them their due
- Reputation-Defending – Those with narcissistic features
- Risk-Taking – Those with histrionic features
- Nomadic – those with schizoid or avoidant features
- Malevolant – Those with sadistic and/or paranoid features
Now most of the Sith we’re familiar with are obviously malevolant psychopaths, inflicting pain simply because they enjoy it or for fear of losing power. There are some good examples in canon of covetous or reputation-defending psychopaths as well, and certainly some risk-taking Sith, though those tend not to survive long enough to make a decent legend. But what of the nomadic psychopaths?
Nomadic psychopaths are characterized by schizoid or avoidant behavior. Avoidant Personality Disorder is characterized by social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation and avoidance of social interaction. Schizoid Personality Disorder (SPD) is characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward solitude, secretiveness, emotional coldness and a high degree of interalization. Those with SPD tend to have much richer internal lives than external.
APD is questionably applicable to the Jedi order at all, but SPD seems to fit them quite nicely, doesn’t it? Let’s have a look at the five-line mantra that is the Jedi Code:
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.
The Jedi order’s code sounds very peaceful and Zen – and it’s certainly not as frightening as the Code of the Sith, but it shows a rather psychopathic take on humanity, doesn’t it? The Jedi suppress emotion, shun social relationships to the point that they are prohibited to fall in love or marry, live spartan physical lives but vibrant internal lives and are taught that detached utilitarianism is the ultimate ideal. A Jedi should not only kill one man to save a dozen but he should do so without hesitation or feeling – the mark of a psychopath.
Now psychopaths are far more common than most would believe, and not all are dangerous. A quick glance at Millon’s subtypes reassures me that most of the psychopaths out there probably aren’t a big danger to any of us. As a matter of fact, it’s been suggested that certain kinds of psychopaths would (and do) make great CEOs and get along pretty well in life. If utilitarianism is your kind of ideal society, then you practically require psychopaths to enforce the rules in the toughest cases, but the downfall of the Jedi is that they fail to comprehend what they are.
Psychopathy is considered a personality disorder for a reason: most of us don’t think that way. Many folks can be utilitarian to a point and there were plenty of Jedi (like Qui-Gon Jinn) who simply ignored the council when their rulings seemed unreasonable or unethical. But some rare few, like a certain Skywalker, aren’t cut out for nomadic psychopathy of any degree. In the best cases these people will leave the order and do something else with their lives, but every once in a while someone just unstable enough will be forced into the psychopath mold and what you get is a genuine psychopath of the non-nomadic (read: Sith) variety.
I know I’m going against canon here, but perhaps this is what the prophecy really means when it speaks of a “chosen one” who would bring balance to the force: not that the dark side is unnatural, but that both sides are unnatural. In this respect, Luke makes the most sense as the “chosen one” since he wields the force with humanity and reason, adhering neither to the nomad-psychopath code of the Jedi nor the malevolent-psychopath code of the Sith. Regardless of its effects on canon, the prevalence of psychopathy in the Star Wars universe is quite compelling and I, for one, will never watch any of the movies the same way again.
KOTOR also covers the issues of emotionless compassion leading to the main plot of the story.
However, if you view the Force as, say, an abstract Christian God (which usually most Christians will say doesn't exist, and personify God through Christ instead), the Jedi are a little more horrifying.
Instead of "letting the Force act through them", it becomes "letting themselves become tools of God", and leading to the cheerful slaughtering of millions just because they worked for the wrong boss.
The destruction of the Death Star, for example, wasn't the destruction of a weapon… it was the death of thousands of people who were just collecting a paycheck.
In light of this interpretation one might now also look at the Vulcans in the same light as the Jedi. They express absolutely no emotion and if they do they pay a price for having done so. In the Star Trek spin off Enterprise, T’Pol the science officer of the Enterprise is shown making decisions where emotion plays a role in the process and she pays the price for even marginally abandoning the basics of their philosophy.
You are Crazy!
"A Jedi should not only kill one man to save a dozen but he should do so without hesitation or feeling – the mark of a psychopath."
This is a misreading of the films. Lucas is a pacifist: his films argue that violence should never be used in any situation. In cases where characters use violence for "good" ends (to save their friends, fight villains, etc.) the characters who embrace violence are defeated.
The Jedi in the prequels are all flawed characters who fail to live up to the rhetoric of their order. Nowhere is this more true than with the reckless and impulsive Jinn, which is why the promise of redemption that caps the third film comes not only with the birth of the children, but also with Jinn's surprising redemption, a hint that a similar change is not out of reach even for characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan who have made more substantial mistakes.
It wasn't meant as a reading of the films but of the code itself. Most of the Jedi presented in the films are highly imperfect with respect to the code. It's not necessarily that Yoda or Obi-Wan are obvious psychopaths or that any non-Sith character presented would pass the Hare psychopathy checklist, it's that the code itself sounds psychopathic – it's that psychopathy appears to be the Jedi ideal.
Alright, I feel obligated to analyze this as any lawyer would. So, let's start with the "law," that is, the standard under which you are classifying Jedi as a subset of psychopaths:
"Schizoid Personality Disorder (SPD) is characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward solitude, secretiveness, emotional coldness and a high degree of interalization. Those with SPD tend to have much richer internal lives than external."
Now let's look at your application of the "law" to the facts:
"The Jedi suppress emotion, shun social relationships to the point that they are prohibited to fall in love or marry, live spartan physical lives but vibrant internal lives and are taught that detached utilitarianism is the ultimate ideal. A Jedi should not only kill one man to save a dozen but he should do so without hesitation or feeling – the mark of a psychopath."
Presuming that the standard of judging that a person or group suffers from a form of psychopathy, your application in this instance is flawed.
1. The Jedi do not suppress emotion. There are many emotionally-charged moments in both the movies and games of Star Wars (e.g. "You were my brother, Anakin!!"). People often misconstrue the first line in the Jedi Code to mean that the Jedi should strip themselves of all emotions. Rather, it is that a Jedi should not let his or her actions be controlled by their emotions. One should only act when you are calm and at peace. But there is nothing inherently wrong with Jedi feeling emotions. Nor are they asked not to do so. Thus, the standard of "emotional coldness" cannot be appropriately applied to the Jedi.
2. The movies, books, and games, indeed the entire SW universe is replete with examples of Jedi forming and maintaining social relationships. The only restriction is on forming strong romantic relationships, as that leads to attachments that could cause a Jedi to act emotionally rather than rationally. But even the Council has gone back and forth on this issue so if you're going to use this as "proof" that the Jedi are psychopaths, then you're going to have to clarify which time period you're speaking of. Regardless, however, there are friendships, family, comrades-in-arms, diplomatic ties, covert contacts, and many other social relationships routinely engage in.
3. The Jedi's temple (prior to the sacking of Coruscant) was located in the downtown area of the universe's most populated planet. Their missions took them all over the universe where they engaged with innumerable species and forged peace through diplomatic ties and conversation. This hardly constitutes "a tendency toward solitude."
4. Although the Jedi keep some of their core training and knowledge secret, that does not define the whole order as being marked by "secretiveness." Many Jedi are quite outgoing, gregarious, personable, and approachable. I've got a few files stored away on my computer that contain some of my private information. That doesn't mean that "secretiveness" is a primary personality trait. So again this standard does not apply either.
5. The only standard that I might concede applies to the Jedi is "a high degree of internalization." Introspection and self-reflection are part of the very monastic-like tradition of the Jedi Order. As you come to know yourself, you come to know your place in the universe and understand the Force.
Four out of the five hallmarks of SPD cannot be applied to the Jedi. And with the "and" connection, by literal interpretation, one can only assume that all five requirements must be met for a person to be classified as suffering from SPD. As a result, the standard for SPD is not met by the Jedi and that cannot be classified as psychopaths.
Now, if you want to start analyzing specific individuals, that's a completely different argument. But to blanket classify the entire Order…. well I'm afraid you just haven't met your burden to prove your point by the preponderance of the evidence. :)
The Jedi Order need not suffer wholly from schizoid personality disorder to still suffer from psychopathy. I wasn't necessarily implying that SPD was rampant, truly the Order shows more avoidant features than schizoid features, which still qualifies them for the "nomadic antisocial" subtype as defined by Millon. The key feature I was taking note of is the marked lack of empathy, which is the hallmark of psychopathy.
Now that the non-disclosure agreement on the SWTOR beta is lifted I can also publicly disclose what led me to begin this line of thinking (slight spoiler warning). One of the opening quests for the Jedi Consular class has you learning from holograms of past Jedi masters. One line of questioning available from one of the holograms straight out tells you that the Jedi shouldn't always use their powers in defense of others, only in defense of the order or as guided to by the force. Defense of the weak, it said, is an emotionally-driven response and a proper Jedi should suppress that instinct. (heavy paraphrasing and working from memory – the beta isn't in session right now and I don't exactly have video of the exchange)
This is great stuff! I've always felt there was a flaw or weakness in the Jedi way that I couldn't quite put my finger on. After all, the history of the Star Wars universe is full of Jedi going massively bad. Every "Sith" since the Great Hyperspace War (with the exception of the events in the new video game) has actually been a Jedi gone terribly wrong who figured the sith code sounded good to him.
Okay, actually a lot them were students or students of students of ex-Jedi gone wrong, but you get the idea.
My point is, psychopathic force users, of all varieties, seem to excel at wielding the force. It seems probable to me that the original Jedi and Sith, way back in the before times, were all psychopaths. Perhaps because it takes the atypical emotional responses of a psychopath to train yourself to use the force for anything very impressive. They broke into two groups, the 'Bad Psychopaths' and the 'Good Psychopaths' and everyone since has learned to use the force one way or the other.
Now, we've already seen lots of examples of perfectly good (some of the best?) Jedi who weren't psychopaths, so it stands to reason that wielding the force and being a psychopath aren't bed mates. With the right guidance anyone with the talent can learn to do it and potentially become extraordinarily powerful.
And so, I wonder if there's a third path. The Gray Jedi you started this with. Could a Jedi (or a sith, I guess) with a more balanced mindset create an organization to potentially replace the Jedi? One that would be less prone to abuses by and the advancement of psychopaths. One that would lead to fewer outbreaks of Dark Jedi trying to take over the galaxy. I wonder what their code would be?