Star Wars is not the classic good versus evil trope it once led us to believe. Instead, the saga gives us a different trope: one that seeks balance. Solely embracing one side of the Force over the other never ends well in the history of the franchise, Canon or Legends.
Luke wanted the Jedi to end because many either fully embraced the light side or they turned Sith and embraced the dark side. It was something he saw occur with Kylo Ren and he feared the same for Rey, regardless of the side she would ultimately embrace.
Yoda wanted the Jedi to end for reasons similar to Luke’s. He felt that, in hindsight, the Jedi failed because they embraced just one side of the Force while neglecting the dark side, allowing the Sith to take power while hiding in plain sight.
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Why Does Luke Want the Jedi to End?
In the Sequel Trilogy, Luke has a revelation that actually started in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, three decades before the events of Episode VII: The Force Awakens. During his climactic battle with Darth Vader, Luke tapped into the dark side and allowed himself to feel its power.
In the background, Darth Sidious stated Luke’s rage and hate made him more powerful as he attempted to sway him to the dark side and kill Darth Vader.
It was ironically a moment that Vader succumbed to during his final days as Anakin Skywalker when he killed Count Dooku in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. During that battle, Dooku knocked out Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin tapped into the dark side with that same rage.
Darth Sidious, then known as Chancellor Palpatine, took advantage of Anakin’s emotions, something he continued to do throughout the film before the Jedi Knight turned Sith.
And if you go back further, to the events of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan Kenobi felt the same rage after Darth Maul mortally wounded Qui-Gon Jinn. The rage Obi-Wan felt helped him defeat Maul.
However, Obi-Wan immediately reverted his thought process back to the light side. Fast-forward to Return of the Jedi, and Luke did the same after he severed Darth Vader’s hand.
When you watch the scene closely, Luke looks at Vader’s severed robotic hand before his eyes revert to his own prosthetic. It was a foreshadowing of what he was turning into by embracing the dark side, even if for a moment. He saw himself becoming more like Darth Vader.
Yoda’s Warning
Luke’s experience during his final duel with Vader was something Yoda warned him about when he said:
“A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force, but beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression– the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
“Consume you, it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”
At the time, a brash Luke insisted the idea didn’t scare him, but Yoda noted otherwise. However, after Luke defeated the Emperor, the way he studied the Force following Return of the Jedi changed.
The power that came to him during the climax in Return of the Jedi became something he wanted to emulate, but without repeating his father’s downfall and turning to the dark side.
It served as a revelation that the dark side of the Force isn’t really evil. It can be if you allow it to consume you. The key was to strike balance with the light and dark sides.
Enter Rey and Kylo Ren
During her lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren, an untrained Rey fought the entire battle angrily, ultimately defeating Ren. Like Obi-Wan, Luke, and Anakin, Rey’s actions indicated she too tapped into the dark side to defeat her adversary.
The way she defeated Ren further supported Luke’s argument that the Jedi should end.
He served as Kylo Ren’s Master, and the pupil embraced the dark side after tapping into it for years. Rey could have gone this direction too if she had made the same mistakes as Ren under Luke’s watch, becoming consumed in the dark side’s power as Yoda warned.
Tapping into the dark side was a middling technique that Luke only took seriously after he experienced it. Both his father and Ren experienced the same thing and failed.
Luke felt the pull of the dark side and resisted its temptation, but afterward, both he and Darth Sidious knew he had been tempted.
Therefore, Luke wanted the Jedi to end because he was afraid that, if Force-sensitives stopped trying to deepen their connection with the Force, they would not feel the same pull he, Kylo Ren, and Anakin Skywalker felt, plus countless other Jedi. He knew this would strike a clear imbalance.
What’s more, if Rey embraced only the light side of the Force as the Jedi Order had, an imbalance would still exist if she prevailed. Or so Luke thought. Ultimately, given Rey’s bloodline, surname change, and yellow-bladed lightsaber, Luke was wrong.
She achieved balance to the Force. At the same time she could, if she chose, spark a new generation of Jedi that wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.
Why Did Luke Skywalker Close Himself Off From the Force?
Luke closing himself off started with his own actions when he sensed darkness around Kylo Ren, still known as Ben Solo, and contemplated killing him.
Hours later, Luke’s new Jedi Temple burned down and Ren killed any remaining Jedi refusing to join forces with him.
Since Kylo Ren’s Master, Snoke, knew Ren had an equal that matched his power, he suspected Luke. Knowing that Snoke was one of the galaxy’s best trackers of Force users over a long distance, Luke’s severing his connection from the Force prevented Snoke from tracking him.
It also allowed him to go into exile without anyone else tracking him through the Force, including his twin sister, Leia.
Did Yoda Want the Jedi to End?
Yoda wanted the Jedi to end because he felt the Order was responsible for the Sith’s victory in Revenge of the Sith.
Like Luke, Yoda realized that, with the Jedi embracing only the light side of the Force, there would always be resistance, and those who resisted would embrace the dark side as Anakin Skywalker did.
There was no balance to the Force given the constant warring between the Jedi and the Sith, who battled for supremacy on both sides of the Force’s spectrum.
If the Jedi Order ended, something new could emerge. Perhaps even under the Jedi banner, but a different type of Force user. One that could embrace the light and dark side, and therefore, bring the type of balance their predecessors, the Je’daii, initially sought.