So each time I watch through Episode I, I notice more and more how Qui-Gon is a rebel to the Jedi way. I'll notice one more example of how he lied, cheated, or disobeyed a direct order from the Council. It's not very obvious, because he is still a Jedi and on the side of good, but he does have his dark moments. I think it's very interesting, and even somewhat amusing.

So each time I watch through Episode I, I notice more and more how Qui-Gon is a rebel to the Jedi way.

 

Qui-Gon questioned the Council and did what he felt the Force wanted him to do, regardless of what the Council said.

 

However the Light Side doesn't mean blind obedience to the Council. Acting according to what the Force tells him, even if it means going against the Council is not a act of the Dark Side. If anything doing what they told him to do, despite what he feels the Force tells him would be more likely to be a dark side action.

Qui-Gon, apprentice of Count Dooku, questioned the Jedi a lot. Due to his training with Count Dooku, who left the order as a gray jedi, was very much like his master. He listened to the force over the masters and did what he thought was right.

 

So really, he was more "pure" than the rest. He did what the force told him to do, not the masters.

Funny that Qui-Gon is sometimes considered a 'gray Jedi' because he puts the Force above the Council... By the time of the LEGACY comics, Luke's 'New Jedi Order' tends to go with Qui-Gon's example, putting the Force above the governments. They consider the Imperial Knights to be 'gray Jedi' because the IKs serve the Emperor first, the Force second, though--like Qui-Gon--they're still firmly on the light side. They just scowl a lot more.

I would say Qui-gon is extremely pure. I mean, he is a force ghost and isn't the only way to become that is to love and be open to the force?

Funny that Qui-Gon is sometimes considered a 'gray Jedi' because he puts the Force above the Council... By the time of the LEGACY comics, Luke's 'New Jedi Order' tends to go with Qui-Gon's example, putting the Force above the governments. They consider the Imperial Knights to be 'gray Jedi' because the IKs serve the Emperor first, the Force second, though--like Qui-Gon--they're still firmly on the light side. They just scowl a lot more.

 

Not really.

The Imperial Knights were considered gray by the Jedi because, while they followed the light side and not the dark, they considered the Force to be merely a tool. A weapon and nothing more. They had no mystical leanings whatsoever and spent zero time in meditation or contemplation.

It didn't have anything to do with their allegiance to the emperor.

It didn't have anything to do with their allegiance to the emperor.

From Wookieepedia:

 

"Despite not drawing on the dark side, the Imperial Knights were said to not strictly follow the light side either, obeying the orders of the Emperor before anything else. As such, the Jedi viewed the Imperial Knights as "gray". The Imperial Knights were also considered Gray Jedi by the Jedi Order due to the Jedi's belief that they did not truly follow the way of the Force."

 

They served the Force as embodied in the Emperor, rather than the Force itself, so their allegiance to the Emperor DOES have to do with their being viewed as Gray by the Jedi Order.

I'm probably going to sound a bit too geeked out about this, but having read the Jedi Apprentice books when I was younger I can say that there are great examples in Qui-Gon's past of how he is very much a rebel. I am glad that people just don't see this one dimensional character that was in the first film only.

Qui-Gon was what the jedi order should have been. Edited March 28, 2012 by DarkCelestial

Qui Gon was also a rebel since he had a romantic relationship with another Knight. Definitely a nono, there.

And as far as the Imperial Knights go, they're grey Jedi, and luckily, the Fels are pretty cool people and not ***holes like former Emperors.

 

Oh, and they wear the coolest Armor EVER.

From Wookieepedia:

 

"Despite not drawing on the dark side, the Imperial Knights were said to not strictly follow the light side either, obeying the orders of the Emperor before anything else. As such, the Jedi viewed the Imperial Knights as "gray". The Imperial Knights were also considered Gray Jedi by the Jedi Order due to the Jedi's belief that they did not truly follow the way of the Force."

 

They served the Force as embodied in the Emperor, rather than the Force itself, so their allegiance to the Emperor DOES have to do with their being viewed as Gray by the Jedi Order.

 

I was looking at that same wikipedia page when I posted.

 

I guess I found the introduction to that paragraph to be more telling.

 

"The Imperial Knights were trained in many of the same philosophies and techniques as the Jedi, but differed markedly in their credos and method. The Imperial Knights viewed the Force as a tool–a powerful one to be respected, but not one that they spent time contemplating and meditating on. "

 

Their idea of the force is fundamentally different from the Jedi. They put the emperor before the force because they have have no mystical ideology surrounding the force and therefor have no reason to put it before anything. Ideology and practice is what defines a person's alignment with the force, not allegiance to a given ruler.

Ideology may determine their OWN alignment, but my point was the Jedi Order itself considered them gray largely because they put the Emperor above the Force. That was possibly the biggest problem the Jedi had, and all the other issues stemmed from it.

So each time I watch through Episode I, I notice more and more how Qui-Gon is a rebel to the Jedi way. I'll notice one more example of how he lied, cheated, or disobeyed a direct order from the Council. It's not very obvious, because he is still a Jedi and on the side of good, but he does have his dark moments. I think it's very interesting, and even somewhat amusing.

 

What dark moment are you talking about? Insulting Jar Jar, cheating at the pod race? No one ever said that being a Jedi meant being nice. Also the council is the Jedi governing body and ultimate authority on Jedi doctrine. But that doesn't mean they know to an absolute certainty what the Force is telling them or what the nature of the force is. The Council has interpreted and reinterpreted the code and there have been various schools of thought about the force that have persisted then been replaced as the make up of the council changes. Qui-Gon is a rebel but his actions aren't dark in that they are evil. For example, him cheating at the pod race allowed him to liberate Anakin from slavery (he couldn't have known how that would turn out) and get Padme to Coruscant. His desire to train Anakin turned out ultimately to be right, except even Yoda states that the interpretation of the prophecy about the "chosen one" could have been misinterpreted. So until it actually came to pass, Yoda and Qui-Gon were equally right given the evidence at hand.