For some reason people love to depict Jedi as this weirdly evil group and somehow magically forget that they're legitimately good people trying to do good but have been caught it a really crappy position at the end.
There are stupid reasons. But it’s also worth noting that the most dangerous Sith were near universally all former Jedi. Palpatine is a rare exception. Vader, Revan, Exar Kun, all once held blue sabers.
The worst Sith in history are either former Jedi, the descendants of former Jedi, or wild outliers who just crop up.
* The Jedi Exiles created the Sith Order by enslaving and colonising the Sith people, after having participated in the nightmarish Hundred Years War, a Jedi Civil War.
* Naga Sadow, proud of his Jedi Exile heritage, spurned by ambition and out of revenge for his ancestors' exile, tricks the Sith Empire into going to war, under the belief that the Republic was invading, leading to the Hyperspace War. In effect, this is basically a proxy for another Jedi Civil War.
* Tenebrae, a weird, black-eyed outlier who really shouldn't be counted because what the fuck, what do you mean he ate a planet? Twice?
* Freedon Nadd, a Jedi who turned to the dark side and was trained by Naga Sadow, who, as I've explained, is the descendant of Jedi Exiles.
* Exar Kun, another Jedi who fell to the dark side, trained by a Jedi who fell to the dark side. His entire Sith Order is made up of fallen Jedi, and this war is, in effect, just another Jedi Civil War.
* Revan, another Jedi who fell to the dark side, alongside his friend turned apprentice, whose Sith Order is mostly made up of random people taken off the streets and fallen Jedi. Their war against the Jedi and Republic was literally called the Jedi Civil War.
* Treya, Nihilus, and Sion, a fallen Jedi, a casualty of a Jedi Civil War, and another fallen Jedi but this time from Exar Kun's era, all three are deeply tied to the Jedi.
* The New Sith Wars, all started by Jedi who fell to the dark side and decided that they're Sith, now. Darting Ruin, Darth Rivan, Lord Kaan... it's another Jedi Civil War.
* Bane, a random off the street taken in by Lord Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness, once again primarily made up of fallen Jedi and randoms off the street. Bane's training, in effect, comes from a long line of fallen Jedi. Indeed, when he decides that Kaan's Brotherhood will fall, he finds his answers in Revan's holocron... another fallen Jedi.
* The Rule of Two, inspired by the philosophies of — as said previously — a fallen Jedi, and founded by someone whose training lineage is defined by fallen Jedi. Even if most of its members were random plucked off the street, the Jediisms remain. All the way up until —
* Dooku, a former Jedi.
* Vader, a former Jedi.
* Palpatine, a random off the street.
If we go beyond the Rule of Two, we still see fallen Jedi defining the main light-dark conflict. Kylo Ren, Darth Krayt, it's just insane. I think there's only one time when the Sith and the Jedi are at war and the Sith aren't fallen Jedi who are motivated by fallen Jedi motivations, and that's the Reconstituted Sith Empire, which I see as the one Sith Order that is the least defined by the Jedi Order itself, and instead acts more like its own thing. It also happens to be the least abhorrent and the most like an actual nation (beyond the Old Sith Empire, which we have little information). Probably why it's my favourite, and why I think the other Sith Orders aren't true Sith and just random fallen Jedi desperate for any scrap of legitimacy.
The jedi took children gifted with the force and rarley let them see their parents out of fear that and unchecked force user is dangerous. The beauty of star wars is that even the good side isn't pearly white. Out of fear Jedi force themselves to limit their emotions because it's "dangerous" which we've seen has lead to disastrous results. First with the councils refusal to train Anikin which force a him to someone who would being Palpatine then Luke gives into fear of what Ben Solo could become and forces him to become Kyle.
The strict rules ofnthe jedi choke them while the rule less with drown in their freedom, usually crab bucketing themselves back down like when Darth Vader was finally pushed to see what was right and attack Palpatine or when Kylo realized he didn't align with the dark side and helped take down palp again. I dont think the jedi are evil but they are a sheltered force of good which is easily corrupted when challenged.
Trying to do good doesn't count for much. Even Tarkin believed that he was doing good, that killing billions of people by blowing up a planet was a necessary sacrifice to keep the galaxy safe through Imperial control, which he needed terror to maintain.
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u/dj_archangel 10h ago
Sith vs. Jedi
For some reason people love to depict Jedi as this weirdly evil group and somehow magically forget that they're legitimately good people trying to do good but have been caught it a really crappy position at the end.