A lot of fic is predicated on the assumption of the Dark Side being a potential break-glass-in-case-of-emergency Hail Mary power-up. It’s in like a zillion of them; the hero is losing the fight, he unzips Dark Side and wins, then gets unfairly persecuted for just trying to survive. But–like Force exhaustion–I don’t think there’s much evidence of that, either.
TPM:
- Maul vs Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon: there’s no indication that Obi-Wan leaned into the Dark Side here, or, rather, that Obi-Wan won because he leaned into the Dark Side. He wins after he calms down, even.
AotC:
- Anakin vs Dooku: if Anakin tried to summon more power here, it sure didn’t work.
RotS:
- Anakin vs Dooku: Anakin does win this fight after getting visibly upset, but Anakin was also always meant to win this fight. This was a fixed encounter, and I hesitate to use it as weighty evidence.
- Anakin vs Obi-Wan: if Anakin tried to summon more power here, it sure as shit didn’t work.
ANH
- Dark Side didn’t keep Vader from being punted into space like a field goal
ESB:
- I’m not sure what you could even suggest as potential line-toeing here. Ironically, neither Luke nor Vader achieves their objective on Bespin. If the Dark Side is a hax power-up, nobody used it here.
RotJ:
- Luke vs Vader and Sidious: so here’s the clearest case for a Dark Side power-up–Luke goes from getting bodied by Vader to just hammering him. A version of the script says this:
It does say “realizes he is using the dark side” right there! But it also says that Luke has grown much stronger since Bespin. I can agree that Luke drew on the dark, but I don’t think his moment of superiority came solely from the dark side. I don’t think this was a Super Saiyan level of magic power jump.
And Vader was not on his A-game, either; even Like can feel how conflicted he is, and Darth Vader absolutely does not want anyone to know he feels like that.
I also think it’s worth pointing out that being able to pound Vader like that didn’t actually save the day for Luke. If he had killed Vader right there and attempted to finish off Palpatine still in full loyalty to the Rebellion, he would have gotten fucked--as he does immediately after this scene, when Palpatine accepts his refusal and effortlessly fries him. It was not a case of “Luke could have won if he’d just taken a lil bit of dark side, as a treat”.
tl;dr I don’t the dark side is a powerlevel button. Sith are not powerful because they can throw chairs around harder than the Jedi ever could, they’re powerful because they’re willing to do that unethically. They all talk it up as hot shit because the entire arc of every Sith is someone who starts buying their own bullshit.
e: actually, that’s a better way of phrasing it–the dark side is exactly like cocaine in that you FEEL like it’s given you all sorts of power but its effect is nothing more mystical what than you’d have gotten from an adrenaline rush.
We also have, in ESB, Luke asking whether the Dark Side is stronger and Yoda emphatically answering that it’s not. I suppose a viewer doesn’t have to take Yoda at his word but there’s really nothing to suggest he’s wrong about this when he’s not just there to teach Luke, but also the audience about the Force.
I think a lot of the misconception stems from the popular trope (outside of Star Wars) of characters getting mad and that’s what lets them win. But Star Wars is, in some sense, an active rejection of that trope.
If anything, doesn’t Star Wars support the idea of the light side being more powerful?
TPM: Obi-Wan uses anger and then is about to get killed (would have if Maul didn’t waste time gloating). He calms down, uses (and trusts) the Force to get himself out of the pit, grab the lightsaber, and defeat his enemy.
AOTC: Dooku gets defeated by Yoda. He has try to crush Obi-Wan and Anakin, while they’re defenseless, to distract Yoda so he can get away. Because Yoda is skilled with a lightsaber and is able to use the Force to not be hurt by lightning (which was awesome).
ROTS: Obi-Wan manages to win the battle against Anakin, and Palpatine fails to kill Yoda
ANH: “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful then you can possibly imagine” and Obi-Wan becomes a ghost. Also, Luke uses the Force (probably as calmly as he could in that situation) and manages to blow up the Death Star.
ESB: Not really an example here, Luke was defeated because he wasn’t ready.
ROTJ: Yes, Luke beat Vader while he was angry (and it does seem he tasted the dark side), but he would’ve been killed had he done anything to Palpatine. Bringing Vader back to the light ends up being what defeats Palpatine and saves the galaxy.
The dark side seems able to grant someone some power at extremely high cost, with the person’s mental health going to shit and the people they care about getting hurt. Anakin trusts the dark side to save his wife, then he commits genocide and his wife dies, largely because of him. He isn’t even any more powerful either.
The light side has people work really hard to learn abilities. Yoda literally had to fight his own dark side in order to learn how to manifest himself after death. But the abilities actually work, they do get more powerful, and it doesn’t come at crazy high costs like being responsible for genocide.
note on my advice in the next paragraph: you don’t have to take it if you don’t want to. I’m not here to police how other people’s fics go. The advice is just something I think would help fics feel more Star Wars and more enjoyable for me to read.
My advice for any Star Wars fic writers who want to give their characters a power-up, have them get tested by the Force and then give them the power-up. This could also give an extra chance for character development or introspection. And you don’t have to worry about your character being shunned! And if you just want something lighthearted or humorous (but still want the power-up), make the test lighthearted and/or silly. Who says the Force can’t have a sense of humor?
The dark side is alluring because it’s easy to give in to frustration and anger, because the dark side is quicker and easier, but it comes with the cost of your mental health going to shit and you generally don’t get what you actually wanted/you drive everyone away because you’re being an absolute asshole. The light side is a lot harder, it takes a lifetime of discipline to choose the light every day, to do the hard work to build yourself up, to face and let go all the toxic crap inside you, to really earn your skills. The dark side is powerful, but it’s not more powerful. It’s an easier shortcut that will always, by narrative structure, come around to bite you in the ass again.