Obi-Wan Kenobi summed up the Jedi Order’s biggest problem in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and he never even realized it. Revenge of the Sith represented a turning point, not just for the Jedi Order, but for the entire galaxy. For thousands of years, the Jedi were known as protectors of the peace, fighting against the forces of evil. Then, of course, Order 66 happened, and the Jedi all but pᴀssed into myth once the Empire rose to power. But how did an organization so prevailing and ancient fall in the first place?

Of course, the simple answer is that Darth Sidious, aka Emperor Palpatine, masterminded everything, emotionally manipulating the Jedi’s most powerful ᴀsset and forcing the Order into an unwinnable war. The truth is more complicated, however. The Jedi were manipulated, it’s true, but they also arguably opened themselves up to manipulation by forgetting their true purpose. One brief, somewhat throwaway line during Revenge of the Sith’s climactic battle perfectly answers a crucial question: Where did the Jedi go wrong?

Even Obi-Wan Kenobi Forgot The Jedi’s Most Fundamental Role In The Galaxy

As Obi-Wan Kenobi confronts Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin says, “I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.” Obi-Wan responds, “Your new Empire?” with understandable disbelief. When Anakin subsequently warns Obi-Wan not to antagonize him, Obi-Wan vehemently proclaims, “Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy!” It’s an easy line to overlook, especially as it’s followed by the tragically iconic “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy,” but it says a lot about Obi-Wan’s and the Jedi’s role in the conflict.

The Jedi may have preferred the political system represented by the Republic and believed that democracy was the right way to govern the rest of the galaxy – understandably so. Yet the Jedi’s true role in the galaxy isn’t to work as a military unit within a political system. It’s to protect, study, and champion the Force, keeping it in balance and dispatching those who would seek to do it harm or control it for nefarious purposes.

Obi-Wan is often seen as one of the Jedi Order’s most loyal, unwavering, and well-balanced Jedi, and even he couldn’t see why declaring his allegiance to the Republic and democracy was wrong. The Jedi’s allegiance should have been to the Force and the life it represents. Not a political system that was, sadly, as the Jedi should have learned from their millennia-long history, destined to be overturned one day anyway.

What If The Jedi Had Opened Themselves Up To The Force More?

What Star Wars: The Clone Wars beautifully examines is what might have happened if the Jedi had truly opened themselves up to the Force during the Clone Wars conflict. Rather than listening to it (Grand Master Yoda admits that he can barely hear the Force speak to him), the Jedi utilized it as a tool in a war. A war that clouded their judgment and their senses.

The Force isn’t a tool, however. Yes, it can be useful in certain situations, but above all, it is the very thing that fuels life itself. That’s what the Jedi should have been protecting. You could argue that that’s what they were doing during the Clone Wars – protecting innocents from destruction – but perhaps, if they’d opened themselves up to the Force more rather than becoming embroiled in the galaxy’s politics, they might have discovered the truth of Palpatine’s deception sooner and understood Anakin’s role as the Chosen One better.

The real tragedy of the Jedi isn’t that they were unable to prevent the rise of the dark side. It’s that they never recognized they were actively participating in their demise. From the High Republic era onwards, the Jedi became political agents rather than independent scholars and peacekeepers, dedicated to the light side of the Force. Sadly, they never truly recognized it until it was too late in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.