Welive in a society, which relies on fairy tales and mythology to entertain andtake us off to a far away place where we can identify with our imagination. TheStar Wars trilogy is a classic example of the hero cycle. A young man is broughtup believing the light side of the force is his destiny. It has an old warrior,which teaches young Luke an ancient craft that has been used for centuries tobattle evil. Luke is told about his father and how he was a great Jedi Knight,how he was killed by a man named Darth Vader, but fails to tell him that thefate of the galaxy lies on his shoulders. Luke grows wise but still cocky andbull headed much like Oedipus Rex. Young Luke Skywalker sees his mentor gettaken down by the same man who killed his father thus giving birth to his innerdark side. He is yet to see the need for a balance of the two forces. Lukedevelops many friendships and is forced to choose whether or not he wants tocomplete his training with his new mentor Yoda, or watch his friends die intrying to defeat the Empire and Darth Vader. He ignores all that he was taughtby Obi wan and Yoda and decides to take his destiny in his own hands andconfront Vader and save his friends. In doing this rebellion to the light sideof the force, Luke can now feel the power of having the light side and the dark.
During his battle with Vader, Luke can see that there is a transformation of thevillain. What was once a cold and dark character, Lord Vader now has acompassion for his son. Though Luke is blinded and stubborn for the light sideof the force, is actions are now balanced between the two forces. Vader nowstarts to see compassion for his son, who is forced to do battle not by his ownwill. Vader then offers an ultimatum for his son who is to join with him todefeat the emperor and rule the universe. Luke denies his father and descendsinto his own darkness when he finds out Vader is his father, this symbolizes thedeath period in the fairy tale. The resurrection of Skywalker in Return of theJedi shows that Luke realizes that he has the power to defeat the Emperor andmaybe bring back his father to the light side of the force. When he confrontshis enemies, Luke almost makes the decent into the darkness as he battles hisfather. He realizes that the rage that is controlling him is the dark side. Lukestops the battle after he sees that Vaders chopped hand is just like his ownand he knows the two are both alike. Luke can see that he will soon become justlike his father. As the aggravated Emperor starts to kill Luke, Vader goesthrough his own resurrection. With this compassion for his son, Lord Vaderthrows the Emperor to his death. Saving his son showing us that there is stillgood in him. The light side of the force is not completely out Vader. The cyclethat these characters in the story Star Wars take, is a life-death cycle. Theychoose between which side of life to live. Campbells idea that both the lightand dark side is in a way diseased shows that a balance must be present. Thelight side is constantly in control and more of a thanatos way, whereas the darkside is in chaos and an eros view. The balance between the two is cyclicalapproach to life. There are ups and downs to everything of nature. As Yoda said,there is no try only do. A true jedi must confront the dark side of theforce in order to see what the light side has.
