How The Jedi's Torture Of Cad Bane Showed How Far They Had Fallen.
The early episodes of the Clone Wars TV show portrays the Jedi as basitions of justice, morality and as all round good guys. However, over time, we see the Jedi for what they really are: an elitest order sitting in a literal ivory tower, who are constantly willing to bend their own rules in order to defeat the dark side.
This is shown most clearly during the second season of the clone wars, when Cad Bane steals a holocron containing the names and locations of every force sensitive child. The Jedi rightly fear that this information will be delivered to the dreaded Darth Sidious, putting the lives of these force sensitive children at risk.
To unlock the powers of the Holocron, Bane requires the powers of a Jedi. He goes on to capture Jedi Master Bolla Ropal, using torture to try and force the Jedi to do his bidding. After the Jedi Master refuses to cooperate Bane increases the electrical current, ultimately leading to the death of the Jedi Master. This brutal act of torture, just like many of the early episodes of the clone wars, is designed to show how evil and morally bankrupt the Jedi's enemies really are.
However, the next episode goes on to show how maybe the Jedi aren't much better. After capturing Cad Bane, the bounty hunter refuses to cooperate with the Jedi, with Windu rightly surmising that Bane is more scared of Sidious than he is of the Jedi.
After some deliberation the Jedi then decide to break the mind of Bane by force. Despite Windu informing them that the combined use of their powers could destroy the mind of the bounty hunter, they decide to proceed anyway.
This assault on Cad Banes mind clearly caused him significant pain and he quickly relented to the Jedi. This technique was very similar to the one that caused Darth Revan's mind to snap, leaving the dark lord without his memories, traumatising him for the rest of his life.
This act of torture by the Jedi highlights how far they had fallen during the clone wars. Some would argue that it was a necessary act, intended to help protect children and perpetrated against a ruthless bounty hunter who often engaged in torture and murder himself.
However, for an order of force sensitive monks, this act was far from justified. This act of brutal torture that could have killed Cad Bane shows us how the Jedi had become willing to give up their pacifist principals in order to achieve their objectives. Fighting the dark side using the dark side.
The show goes to great lengths to show the viewers that torture is never justified. In both cases, neither party get the desired outcome, with Bane failing to unlock the Holocron, while the Jedi are simply led into a trap, mirroring the abysmal success rate of torture in the real world.
Acts such as this would be illegal here on earth, no matter how apparentlyjustified the reasoning was. What's more, this became a slippery slope, particularly for Anakin Skywalker. While the torture of a murderer for the sake of saving children could be argued as justifiable, it paved the way for torture to be used against others. Something Anakin Skywalker would engage in many times, playing a part in his eventual fall.
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