Analysis of Star Wars: Jedi Knights

Jedi is a nice made-up word that came from Japanese samurai films. However, the word "Knight" has special meaning in western society. Knights were upholders of justice and morality, who derived their right to bear arms from fealty to a higher order. The order was hierarchical and started with God. A knight was more than a guy with a sword, but someone invested with authority from a divine source, and so someone who could mete justice autonomously. Our police have a code that they adhere to, but it is a temporal code, not a spiritual one, and so this code is fallible. A divine code, however, is perfect and infallible, as long as everyone sees it that way, so a knight is much more than a space-cop. Knights had a hierarchical order, so we would assume that the Jedi were also organized in a hierarchy, and also tied to the ruling class. I would not expect a Jedi academy, though, so much as a kind of brotherhood of knights, held together by common virtues, but who nonetheless serve the temporal hierarchy of monarchy. The idea of monarchy is further supported by the existence of a princess. If there is a princess, there must be a king and queen, and so there is a monarchical tradition. The knights would have been defenders of this hierarchical order. The monarchy would have relied on these knights to maintain their power, but with the expectation that their power was derived from a higher power. In ancient Europe, that would have been Christianity, but in the other galaxy, that is the Force. When the fighters are leaving to go defeat the Death Star, the officer who gave the briefing told them all: "May the Force be with you." Luke, who had never heard of the Force (perhaps owing to his backwards rural upbringing) had to have it explained to him, but all the other fellows in the room, being familiar with their culture, the monarchy, and the divine rights of persons to wield power, did not need the explanation. The Force was to them like God in ancient Europe. It bound them together. They understood what they were fighting for. They understood why the rebellion existed: a corrupt ruler was eradicating people who could see through their lies, so anyone who was attuned with the Force was a potential threat. The rebels saw the Force as being on their side, because they were on the side of divine will, filtered through monarchy, defended by knights.

It is important to note that there was no mention of Sith in Star Wars. Darth Vader was considered to be a Jedi Knight himself, but he was a dark knight: a knight who, after attaining his knighthood, betrayed the order and used his powers for evil. More on him later.