I think you could also argue that a force user that is trying to maintain a balance between light and dark would not stay neutral. A grey force user, to me, seems more like ANH-era Han Solo, but with a lightsaber and force powers. I can see someone like that being guided somewhat by their emotions, and not afraid to get involved in a conflict if they’re angered by some injustice.
The problem that arises for me, is that this again doesn’t seem that dissimilar from a regular Jedi, just maybe a bit more self serving. We’re told from dialogue throughout all 9 movies that once you start embracing the dark side, it corrupts you. So even if someone believes they can maintain a balance between light and dark, I feel like they will still wind up being corrupted, based on the logic within the Star Wars films. The dark side is defined as embracing anger, hatred, and lust for power. I don’t really see why someone should try to incorporate those emotions into their life if they are seeking balance. I don’t see any evidence that TLJ or TROS are advocating a “middle path.” Luke says the Jedi need to end, but then later says he was wrong.
I think a lot of people are misinterpreting the dark side as simply being emotions, and that embracing the light side necessitates suppression of all emotions.
This is how I feel, I see the criticisms in the Jedi Order of the prequels, but not the concept of a Jedi. Yoda never renounced the title, or Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon, unless they were Jedi in name only (JINOs) and were secret greys I don’t see why Jedi has to be so limited. And again I’m not sure where grey would even take us narratively.
So I don’t see the Jedi we have seen as balanced. We may see something different a few hundred years earlier, but I think the problems with the Jedi go back to the split with the Sith (provided that piece of the EU stays accurate). It would be a natural turn of events for the Jedi to start teaching complete avoidance of anything pertaining to the dark side.
I feel like we’re getting closer, the idea that the force has further untapped potential hidden behind ancient misinterpretations would be really engaging to watch both sides try to discover the secrets. Almost Like the Sith dagger except not stupid.
And I understand your valid trepidation on demystifying the Force. Just remember that we’re going to make it clear, these beings feed off and control the Force. You could say they are the Force, but they still aren’t, they just control it. And it’s okay that we get close to answering these epic questions, because this is the ending of the Saga. We’re wrapping things up for good, leaving no questions unanswered for future sequels.
You have me in complete agreement there, I would say it’s impossible to leave NO questions unanswered but I’m very interested in the finality of a much more total resolution compared to the previous trilogies.
I will say there’s going to be a certain point where there just isn’t enough information for the sequels George would have made as those movies were not fully developed. I don’t think it would be absolutely wrong to take good ideas that would make sense from the trilogy and make use of every part of the buffalo here, they weren’t Lucas but they were still made by Lucasfilm and even if the details would change it’s always easier to edit from something than to write from nothing.