Star Wars’ real problem isn’t boring Jedi, it’s boring Sith

polygon.com:

In the esteemed circles of People Who Think Too Much About Star Wars, there is a persistent and popular diagnosis of what ails the franchise. It’s got to do with the Jedi: Frankly, they’re boring. The fact that they have laser swords does a lot to mitigate this; people love a laser sword. The magic powers are also cool, cool enough to tolerate the idea that one must become an ascetic to obtain them. Their interior life, however? It’s not very sexy — which is probably why the big Jedi stories of the films involve the temptation of the Dark Side.

This is the uphill battle faced by stories like the forthcoming Disney Plus series The Acolyte, which will be the first live-action Star Wars show to dive into the world of the Jedi at their peak. It’s got a bit of a leg up thanks to its murder-mystery structure and its wuxia-influenced action, and perhaps it will be successful in surmounting this challenge. Jedi, however, are not the real problem. The problem is that the Sith are boring, too.

Like the New England Patriots in the late Tom Brady era, no fictional group has ever won so consistently yet remained so dull. Their primary appeal is mostly twofold — cooler Force powers (lightning, choking) and sick accessories (masks, the color red). Going just by the movies, the Sith hardly make sense — motivated by lust for power and a grave threat to the galaxy, yet there are only two, per Yoda? Come on.

One of the funnier bits of old Expanded Universe Star Wars lore came from fan-favorite writer Drew Karpyshyn’s efforts to explain the so-called Rule of Two, and how a massive force of selfish strivers can even function if everyone wants to usurp the person above them. The result, the Darth Bane trilogy, is a fun read about a Sith’s rise to power that doesn’t originate from any inherent malice, but great talent gone sour in the margins of society. The short of it: Once upon a time there was a ton of Sith, until the conniving and powerful Darth Bane found a way to wipe out all