We need to talk about Jedi Fallen Order.
Specifically Cere Junda (I love her).
One of the main themes of the story is the fact that nobody is perfect.
Cere Junda: Every Jedi faces the dark side. And it’s very easy to fail.
Cal Kestis: You’re still struggling with the dark side. Even after cutting yourself off from the Force.
Cere Junda: We will always struggle. But that is the test. It’s the choice to keep fighting that makes us who we are.
This is what is means to be a Jedi. If falling to the dark side wasn't so easy, the Jedi wouldn't need to exist in the first place. Their strength is their compassion. They choose diplomacy first because their goal is to defend life. They share a deep connection with the Force, but they don't weaponize it.
Cere used the dark side to escape Fortress Inquisitorius and killed everyone (except her former padawan) to get out. Her rage was so powerful that she cut herself off from the Force completely and stopped considering herself a Jedi. She feared that if she connected again she would succumb to the dark side entirely.
That is the battle. It's not about perfection but rather restraint.
She used the dark side and it didn't make her evil, but she struggled with it for years because of her own guilt and anger. She stopped herself from falling to the dark side, but she didn't fully trust herself anymore. When confronted with Vader once again, she almost allowed the dark side to consume her, but Cal reminded her that she still had a choice and she chose differently. Instead of using the Force as a weapon, she used it to create a force field to protect both her and Cal. She stopped herself from crossing the line, which takes a lot of strength considering she was facing the monster she felt so much hatred for. The monster who had brutally tortured her, not just physically but also mentally. The monster who forced her to watch as her former padawan succumbed to the dark side and became an Inquisitor.
Resisting the dark side is not easy. The temptation is always there, even for the Jedi, but their ability to rise above and choose compassion and mercy over rage and cruelty is what sets them apart. Sometimes they stumble, sometimes they fail, but failure is part of the journey too.
And that's a lesson that is repeated throughout the story of Fallen Order.
Eno Cordova: Failure is not the end. It is a necessary part of the path. Hope will always survive in those who continue to fight.
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Jaro Tapal: Get up. Try again.
Padawan Cal: I just keep failing, Master!
Jaro Tapal: Do you? Good. Keep failing, keep getting back up. That is the only way to succeed. Don’t allow yourself to be weighed down by ego and pretense. Let go of what you fear to lose and rise up.
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Cere Junda: Failure’s a part of the journey.
Failure is hard, but it always teaches a valuable lesson. Order 66 pushed Jedi survivors to their limits and tested them in ways they'd never experienced before. Cere's failure with Trilla haunted her, but she didn't fail because she was bad. She failed because the pain and the anguish became too much for her to bear any longer, and her failure put Trilla on the path that led to her becoming Second Sister. Darth Vader used Cere's failure to make Trilla hate her former master even though it was his own sadistic cruelty that wore Cere down to begin with. Despite her failure, Cere kept going. She kept fighting. And she never gave up on the Jedi Order.
