Gray Jedi Code

So this was posted recently.

In the comments, someone requested the gray jedi code. And so someone linked...

...This misquoting.

A few lines are swapped around, resulting in a code that just feels... awkward, and redundant. It lost its grace with just a few small errors.

The "Official" Gray Jedi Code

This is as close as Star Wars gets to an official Gray Jedi Code. This is the code that exemplifies Luke Skywalker's actions in any novel based after the Return of the Jedi. A common misconception about the Gray Jedi is that they don't believe in light and dark. This is false. They do wholeheartedly believe in the two sides of the Force, but also that both are necessary in order for life to flourish.

What the misquoted image above is trying to give is the unofficial expanded universe "fanon" expansion of the Grey Jedi Code. Many fans felt that the standard code, so similar to the original Jedi and Sith codes, didn't differentiate itself well enough. While some argued the point was to combine both sides into one, as the Gray Jedi practiced, others set to work on creating a new, expanded code that was more worthy of the Order.

The Expanded Gray Jedi Code

This is the fanon expansion of the code, word for word, with no edits, missing lines, or swapped sections.

This is the code that the New Gray Order, formed both upon the chosen path of Luke Skywalker and the direct beliefs and teachings of the original Gray Jedi Order, would have likely followed. Understanding the Gray Jedi Code is to understand that regardless of personal beliefs, the balance of good and evil in the galaxy is of utmost importance. The living Force has a will to guide life, regardless of the direction. Truly mastering the Force requires mastering oneself, and not allowing yourself to slip into either extreme. To put aside your personal beliefs and understand that there must always be some evil in the galaxy, that purity is both futile and dangerous.

Gray Jedi are guardians of choice, and enforcers of center. They believe in the right for you to make your choice, whatever it may be. However, should your choice affect the balance of the galaxy in a significant manner, they shall correct it by whatever means necessary. Knowing when a change must be made without letting personal prejudice affect them is possibly the most difficult part of staying Gray. They are known to stand and defend or fight for either side regardless of their personal feelings, confronting or crossing blows with both Sith and Jedi alike.

By this end, the true guardians of us all are not the ones that attempt to dominate, as both the Sith and even the Jedi attempt to do. They are the ones that protect those that need to be protected, feel as life should feel, and ensure that choice is made as freely as choice should, with minimal interference.

There cannot be light without darkness, there cannot be good without evil, there cannot be order without chaos, but balance must be preserved. If evil was eliminated, as the Jedi wish to do, the galaxy would grow complacent and weak in peace, preventing it from properly defending itself should evil return. If evil was allowed to take hold, the galaxy would be plunged into chaos. The goal of the Gray Jedi is to prevent either case, accepting that while evil must exist, neither must it be allowed to flourish. Acceptance by moderation.

"The Light must always be tempered by the fires of the Dark."

* BONUS CONTENT! * The New Dark Lord

CAUTION! WALL OF TEXT!

There's been some confusion in the comments, so let's expand on the Star Wars lore a bit, shall we?

With Disney acquiring Star Wars and their declaration that the two trilogies are the only official lore, the previous established lore has been fully split into three categories.

Canon:
Anything that came DIRECTLY from the 6 movies or certain other select mediums.

Expanded Universe, currently "Legends":
The original expanded content, derived from anything outside of the 6 movies, such as TV shows, comics, novels, games, etc.

and Fanon:
Any content that was extrapolated from the combination of Canon and EU content, the majority only speculated.

Shelly Shapiro, Editor at Large at Del Rey and responsible for the Star Wars fiction line of books, stated:
“Well first of all, we don’t want to just disappear stuff that everybody read and loved – including myself. Legends are things that are often told over generations so they’re not… they change constantly with the telling, so you can’t actually attribute an author to any particular one. Often it wasn’t someone who was actually there. You can go back to any of the legends… they’re pretty sure there was a ‘King Arthur,’ but most of the stories probably did not happen. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t kernels of truth in it.

“Even though they would no longer be part of a Star Wars official history, they’re still stories that mean something, and they can mean something to you, even if they didn’t ‘happen.’ That they are legends. And legends are big, and legends are exciting, and legends are special, and you can read them, and tell them, and love them. And then we also read history, and we retell that, and love it, and that gets retold until it’s a legend too.

“So that’s why we called it Legends… So it wouldn’t get shoved off too far to the side, and treated like it never happened.”

Previous EU content is now Legends, and soon a new EU will emerge, based upon the newly established Canon storyline. They did this to make it easier to continue creating movies and canon content in general, without having to worry about the hundreds (or even thousands) of authors who added their own bits to the puzzle.

This means there are some things to keep in mind with what you read here. For instance, Gray Jedi, as defined, do not Canonically exist. They were never mentioned at all in the movies or other select canon medias. Gray Jedi background, however, can be pulled from the Legends (old EU). Using this information, additional lore can be extrapolated, and in particular the Gray Jedi "template" can be applied to certain characters from the movies, Fanon.

Using this logic, there are three Gray Jedi by Fanon in the original 6 movies. Luke Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Mace Windu. Of the three, Jinn and Windu walked the line. They followed their hearts and defied the laws and code of the Order, and/or were open to select arts that were seen as inappropriate for a Jedi to perform, but were not ready or willing to denounce the traditions of the Jedi Order.

Luke Skywalker, on the other hand, had no rigid structure to follow, and thus was a "true" Gray Jedi. He follows his heart, he does what he believes is right, and he demonstrates an understanding of the balance of the force, having used both sides without falling. He also intends on rebuilding the Jedi Order, but as he never had any formal training, it won't be nearly as rigid as the Republic Jedi Order.

And then we come to EU vs Speculation. Will Luke rebuild the Jedi Order in the upcoming movie? How will that be handled? In the EU, the New Jedi Order itself walks a line that almost trips it over into Gray Jedi status, it's very close. If not for the fact that they teach the traditional Jedi Code, it probably would be. With the upcoming movie(s), we can't be entirely sure where they're going to go with it.

Will they recognize the long-time-standing EU and attempt to work with it, or will they go off in an entirely new direction and effectively cause a rewrite of the non-canon lore and invalidate EU content? Will they keep him following the path of a Gray Jedi, as the prophecies foretold, the one that will bring Balance to the Force? Or will they retcon him back into a Light side-only Jedi and enforce the extremes?

Only time will tell.

Gay Jedi tax.