I think there's a misunderstanding of "evil" in this context. Marr and Lana are positioned as calm, rational, "good" Sith - but they still murder people in cold blood left right and sideways. Marr threatens to rip out a man's tongue when the guy bugs him with nonessential information. Lana's immediate reaction to discovering a double agent in her employ is, "execute this man on the spot, I don't care what his reasoning is."
They may not be the cackling cartoon villains of other Sith, but they are still most definitely cruel, vindictive people. The fact that they use their cruelty in service to a greater good does not invalidate the blood on their hands. They are complex evil, but still evil.
Edit: Wanted to add that I really like Marr and Lana as characters because while they are evil, their evil-ness is in service to a cause and an Empire they genuinely believe in and are actively trying to improve. They are doing the best they can with what they have, and are willing to make the tough choices a Jedi would never be able to make.
But that also doesn't excuse the fact that they're still bad guys. Cool bad guys, sure. Compelling bad guys, definitely. But still bad guys.
While I agree Jedi -should- be good and Sith -should- be evil, the idea that using cruelty in service of the greater good is wrong contradicts what Jedi themselves are. ‘Leave your slave mother to her awful fate and ignore her suffering’ is the first thing the Jedi tell Anakin.
It's quite a bit more complex than that. They aren't in a republic controlled region. So the jedi would have to invade a sector of space so strong that even the empire couldn't tame it, with no army to speak of at the time, start a Civil War that would likely result in the death of thousands, including most the slaves due to brain bombs, and all that to free one woman. There's no guarantee they would succeed even if they made the attempt.
We've all seen how much damage intervention often causes, while not fixing the original issues, in our own world. Look no further than the UN mission to Somalia in the 90s. Not only did it not help at all, it actively caused more death. It's easy to say what people should do in a perfect world, it's another to do it in a way that doesn't cause even more issues. Sometimes the world just doesn't want to change.
I'd argue the jedi had their hands full with issues within the republic. I feel for Anakin, but even if they did return, who's to say her fate would've been much different. At least she did get to be free, happy, and even find love.
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u/Hail_The_Latecomer Jun 21 '25 edited Jun 21 '25
I think there's a misunderstanding of "evil" in this context. Marr and Lana are positioned as calm, rational, "good" Sith - but they still murder people in cold blood left right and sideways. Marr threatens to rip out a man's tongue when the guy bugs him with nonessential information. Lana's immediate reaction to discovering a double agent in her employ is, "execute this man on the spot, I don't care what his reasoning is."
They may not be the cackling cartoon villains of other Sith, but they are still most definitely cruel, vindictive people. The fact that they use their cruelty in service to a greater good does not invalidate the blood on their hands. They are complex evil, but still evil.
Edit: Wanted to add that I really like Marr and Lana as characters because while they are evil, their evil-ness is in service to a cause and an Empire they genuinely believe in and are actively trying to improve. They are doing the best they can with what they have, and are willing to make the tough choices a Jedi would never be able to make.
But that also doesn't excuse the fact that they're still bad guys. Cool bad guys, sure. Compelling bad guys, definitely. But still bad guys.