Knowledge is Power
In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda tells Luke Skywalker, "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack." The Jedi view knowledge as a good in itself – something to be sought for its own sake, not necessarily for its usefulness. It is telling that the two Jedi Temples in the nine-film Skywalker Saga both act as repositories of knowledge: in Attack of the Clones, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant has an archive, and in The Last Jedi, the Jedi Temple on Ahch-To has a library. The Jedi also use holocrons to store their knowledge in portable form.
In "Twilight of the Apprentice" (Rebels 2.21-22), Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and Ahsoka Tano travel to the Sith Temple on the planet Malachor, seeking "forbidden" knowledge that will help them destroy the Sith. Curiously, although Yoda is the one who directed them to go to Malachor, they are going against his teachings: they are seeking knowledge not for the good of knowing, but to help them attack their enemies. Unsurprisingly, the Sith holocron turns out to be not simply a source of knowledge, but also a key that turns the Sith temple into a destructive superweapon. Maul tells the Jedi that after the temple has been activated, he will use it to "exact revenge on all [his] enemies" – and destroying their enemies is precisely what Ezra, Kanan, and Ahsoka came to Malachor looking to do.
When Ezra places the Sith holocron in the obelisk at the top of the Sith temple, he says, "I was told this holocron was the key to knowledge." The holocron answers: "Indeed, Ezra Bridger. And do you know what knowledge is? ... Knowledge is power." For the Sith, knowledge is not something to be sought for its own sake; it is only a means to the end of power. The philosophy of the Sith echoes that of Francis Bacon: "ipsa scientia potestas est" ("knowledge itself is power").
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Characters: Ahsoka Tano / Darth Maul / Ezra Bridger / Kanan Jarrus / Yoda
Films: Episode II: Attack of the Clones / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Shows: Rebels
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Concepts: Jedi / knowledge / power and weakness / Sith / temples
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