Why No Shroud of the Light Side?

[Stravo]

We saw that a single Sith can dampen the abilities of 10,000 Jedi over time. Why is there no similar ability for the light side Jedi? If a similar ability existed for the lightside someone like Yoda could easily have generated a light side shroud that would have interfered with the Sith abilties in return when they discovered the existence of the Darkside shroud perhaps even cancelling it out.

Is it a discipline recently discovered by the Sith? Is it a Darkside ability like Sith Lightning that the Jedi can't use? And if so why not? A shroud ability would be passive which would seem to fit into lightside philosophy much more than say Lightning.

[Noble Ire]

It is possible that the techinque was somewhat unique to Palpy. He was the product of a 1000 years of Sith who bided they're time, observing and passing on knowledge, growing in strength. Perhaps Palpatine used this gathered information on the Jedi as a whole to create a field of disruption specifically taylored for them, a sort of cloud that targeted the abilities and sensory techniques passed down unchanging for generations among the Jedi. Perhaps, since the ability is unique, Yoda had experience that would allow him to counteract it, or even idenitify its source. It is possible that this ability would not work against, say the NJO, considering their philosophy and training is signifacantly different than the old.

[Isolder74]

I think that a shroud aility is out of character for the light side.

But a lightsider can hide himself as is shown by Obi Wan on many occations,

[Drooling Iguana]

The Sith had been waiting and planning their eventual revenge against the Jedi for 1000 years, devoting all their energies toward that purpose. The Jedi, on the other hand, had to spend that time dealing with all the various situations that a Jedi would normally have to face throughout the Galaxy in that time, and couldn't really afford to specialize.

[Glocksman]

If you believe in the 'living' Force, perhaps it was to balance out the overwhelming numbers of Lightside users when compared to the few Sith?

That would also explain why Yoda and Obi-Wan were able to hide themselves after the Clone Wars.

[Civil War Man]

I have heard reference to a Jedi power called something like "Wall of Light", which IIRC is supposed to cut a Sith off from the Force, if only for a temporary period of time. I believe it only works on individuals, and a powerful enough Sith can counter this technique. Would make sense that it is designed against individual users, since the Sith have long operated with low numbers.

Anyone else remember hearing about this?

[Comosicus]

I have heard reference to a Jedi power called something like "Wall of Light", which IIRC is supposed to cut a Sith off from the Force, if only for a temporary period of time. I believe it only works on individuals, and a powerful enough Sith can counter this technique. Would make sense that it is designed against individual users, since the Sith have long operated with low numbers.

Anyone else remember hearing about this?

IMO it might have something to do with the penalty the Jedi of the old used against Sith (severing them from the Force). Probably something like the case of the Jedi Exile in Kotor 2.

[Molyneux]

I think that a shroud aility is out of character for the light side.

But a lightsider can hide himself as is shown by Obi Wan on many occations,

Yeah...darksiders shroud others (offensive), lightsiders shroud themselves for secrecy (defensive). Makes sense with the whole "Jedi use the Force for defense, never for attack" thing...

[Kurgan]

We saw that a single Sith can dampen the abilities of 10,000 Jedi over time. Why is there no similar ability for the light side Jedi? If a similar ability existed for the lightside someone like Yoda could easily have generated a light side shroud that would have interfered with the Sith abilties in return when they discovered the existence of the Darkside shroud perhaps even cancelling it out.

I'm not an RPGer, so I'll just talk about this in terms of the movies...

Is it a discipline recently discovered by the Sith? Is it a Darkside ability like Sith Lightning that the Jedi can't use? And if so why not? A shroud ability would be passive which would seem to fit into lightside philosophy much more than say Lightning.

Apparently the Dark Side is not the norm, it's a kind of "stain" or corruption of the Force itself. There is no "Light Side" per se (it's not a straight Yin/Yang thing). The closest thing is Luke's "to the Good Side" speech to Leia, but I think he's trying to explain his (incomplete) undertsanding of the Force to Leia, a person with even less understanding of it ("you have a power, I don't understand and could never have").

This is Lucas's current view anyway, from what I've gathered from the DVD commentaries. Your mileage in the EU may differ...

As to the "dampening" we see Luke hiding himself from the Emperor. Yoda and Obi-Wan hide their presences from the Sith for 20 years. So apparently it is a skill that they know, it's just not actively practiced during the PT era. After all, why would they need it? They think they Sith are extinct and the Jedi Order is the sole powerbase of Force weilding activity in the galaxy (again, your EU mileage may vary).

Bottom line the OT era, when the Jedi need to hide, they do. So perhaps it's a skill they picked up on lately ("oh, so that's how the Sith Lord hid from us! Better learn it quick... and teach that Luke fella").

As for speculation that Luke, Obi-Wan and Yoda could have worked together to "dampen" Vader and Palpy's abilities, I don't know. I think it takes a user of immense power to do that. Palpatine seems stronger than Yoda and Obi-Wan was deemed no match. Obi-Wan was barely a match for Vader as it is (and he was supposedly going to get even stronger). Not sure about that one.. it's intriuging, but I'm somehow inclined to doubt it.

[Vicious]

Yeah...darksiders shroud others (offensive), lightsiders shroud themselves for secrecy (defensive).

Different means to the same end. The Sith use the Force to blind their enemies to their movements. The Jedi use the Force to mask their presence. Each method jives with the philosophies of their respective orders. Also, Palpatine being obscenely powerful doesn't hurt his ability to blind others. I wonder if all the major Jedi Masters got together and had a kind of collective Force Seance, could they break Palpatine's shroud and discover his identity?

[Knife]

It is possible that the techinque was somewhat unique to Palpy. He was the product of a 1000 years of Sith who bided they're time, observing and passing on knowledge, growing in strength. Perhaps Palpatine used this gathered information on the Jedi as a whole to create a field of disruption specifically taylored for them, a sort of cloud that targeted the abilities and sensory techniques passed down unchanging for generations among the Jedi. Perhaps, since the ability is unique, Yoda had experience that would allow him to counteract it, or even idenitify its source. It is possible that this ability would not work against, say the NJO, considering their philosophy and training is signifacantly different than the old.

It is possible that the shroud was just as much circumstantial as on purpose. We know that Force users can hide themselves or dampen their 'Force signiture' from other Force users.

Palpatine obviously used this technique and it is still in the norm. Now the 'shroud' hampered the Jedi from seeing the future and many other truths in the galaxy.

It is possible that since Palpatine was a focus point (or if you go by that god aweful prequel book, he was a shatterpoint in the Force) for so many major events, that a side effect of Palpatine 'hiding' himself in the Force, removed him from the pre-cog visions of the future.

And since he was the fulcrum point of those events, with out him in the pre-cog vision, none of those events would happen and so the Jedi couldn't see them. So, in effect, by hiding himself and being the cause of so many conflicts with galaxy spanning effects, Palpatine hampered the Jedi pre-cog and the Jedi couldn't figure out what was coming, shrouding them in ignorance.

It's possible that Palpy did this on purpose too. A two for one.

[wilfulton]

Because only darkness obscures, light is supposed to illuminate, make things clearer.

[Lord Revan]

IMO it might have something to do with the penalty the Jedi of the old used against Sith (severing them from the Force). Probably something like the case of the Jedi Exile in Kotor 2.

(spoiler)The cut him/herself from the Force, it was taken from him/her (end spoiler) a better example would be Ulic Qel-Droma who had Force taken from him.

[Lord Revan]

Because only darkness obscures, light is supposed to illuminate, make things clearer.

but too much light will blind you just as lack of light.

[NecronLord]

We saw that a single Sith can dampen the abilities of 10,000 Jedi over time. Why is there no similar ability for the light side Jedi? If a similar ability existed for the lightside someone like Yoda could easily have generated a light side shroud that would have interfered with the Sith abilties in return when they discovered the existence of the Darkside shroud perhaps even cancelling it out.

Is it a discipline recently discovered by the Sith? Is it a Darkside ability like Sith Lightning that the Jedi can't use? And if so why not? A shroud ability would be passive which would seem to fit into lightside philosophy much more than say Lightning.

The Sith had advanced their understanding of the force for the last millennium. The Jedi.. hadn't.

[PainRack]

How do we know there isn't? Of course, under a different name, for example, say, the Decipher version of Cloak of Obiwan.

We do know that the Emperor failed to forsee his own death accurately. That is more likely than not a result of the Force betraying him.(insert version of Macbeth tragedy)

[His Divine Shadow]

The stronger the light of the Jedi shines, the darker the shadow of the Sith becomes.

Buahahahaha!