In this entry, I want to touch upon "Dark Side clouds." I had an idea about them that may change the way you look at these clouds, not necessarily the ones in the sky though.

Before, I begin, I would like to refer readers to the blog of Dark Lord Zor, which you can find a link to on my blog roll. Many of his entries go into depths about things that contribute to my entry here, especially the ones about what led to the downfall of the Jedi Order.

Let's go over first what exactly these are. Basically, it's a metaphor for how the Dark Side covers itself or blinds others, it's not really specified and not too relevant. It blinded the Jedi from sensing the return of the Sith after its supposed destruction at the Battle of Ruusan which would ultimately lead to the Jedi's possibly deserved downfall. This is what the Jedi believe it to be at least.

Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.

This is the Sith Code. That last line of it, "Through victory, my chains are broken." is very important to my theory. When you have victory, you no longer are restricted (or in the Jedi's case, no longer restricted from things that are not rules in the Order). You gain a great amount of power. And soon you become overconfident in your abilities. This was the case with the Jedi when the Sith were supposedly destroyed on Ruusan and hundreds of years later when this was the case with the Sith after the Jedi were destroyed on Coruscant and they came to rule their new Galactic Empire. This adds depth to Palpatine's line: "All who gain power are afraid to lose it."

And believe it or not, both the Sith and the Jedi were clouded because of this. But why? Because the blinding of those who can sense through the Force is not caused by the Dark Side. It is the mighty will of the Force (mind that this is just a theory though).

The Jedi were clouded when they couldn't sense the return of the Sith. They gained a great amount of power in their golden age and became overconfident. Not only did they deserve this, the Force possibly had its own agenda for it that I will go into detail about shortly.

The same thing happened to the Sith. In the birth of the Empire, the Sith became powerful and overconfident. They were clouded by the Force. Note Palpatine saying "Strange that I did not." when Darth Vader informs him that he has sensed Luke on Endor in ROTJ. Vader was able to sense such things because he was restricted within his suit and by his almost slavic apprenticeship to Sidious. Because of this he wasn't overconfident or extremely powerful. He doubted his powers in his early years as a Sith Lord (something greatly touched upon in the short story, "In His Image", included in the ultimate guide to Darth Vader). Not being blinded by the Force and not being overconfident possibly contributed to him turning back to the Light Side because he wasn't forced to have impaired judgement.

So what exactly is this hidden agenda of the Force? My theory is the Force was trying to balance out itself until the fullfillment of the Prophecy by blinding whichever side of itself when it gains too much power. But then what's the point of the Chosen One if the Force can do that? Well, much like God if he/she does indeed exist, the Force cannot destroy the evil threatening the galaxy. Until the Chosen One fullfills his duties, there will always be a fued between the light and the dark in which the faction who has the most power will constantly be changing. But the Force can only use its otherworldly powers to keep things from getting out of hand. And even then, like with the heart, the Force might eventually exhaust itself although there's no sure proof that the Force will ever run out of energy. Only the Force's ultimate weapon, the Chosen One, who is a creature in direct contact with the factions of light and dark can restore balance. My idea of the whole "restore balance to the Force" thing is (note that this does not pertain to the post-ROTJ EU): There will always be a Light Side and a Dark Side but at least with the Sith destroyed, one side won't be forced to fight the other, thus keeping balance.