This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic #8.
The Star Wars franchise - but it increasingly looks as though their temples are universally strong in the dark side as well. The Force is one, but every person in the galaxy must choose their allegiance - whether to align with the light side of the Force or the dark.
From the dawn of time, Jedi and Sith alike have built their temples at Force vergences - places that are naturally rich in one aspect or another of the Force. Star Wars: The Last Jedi introduced the first Jedi temple, on the distant and remote planet of Ahch-To in the depths of the Unknown Regions. Meanwhile, Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The High Republic transmedia initiative has introduced a wealth of new temples established across the Outer Rim some 200 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. And, little by little, it is becoming clear there is a dark secret about the Jedi's temples.
It increasingly seems as though all Jedi temples are strong in the dark side of the Force. The Jedi temple on Coruscant was built atop an ancient Sith shrine, with the Jedi actually using the dark side vergence to perform rituals of purification. The temple on Ahch-To contained a similar vergence, one that Rey was drawn to - much to Luke Skywalker's concern. And, according to Star Wars: The High Republic #8 by Cavan Scott and Ario Anindito, even the temple constructed at Starlight Beacon was fashioned with a Bogan Vault, a repository for the dark side.
There is a sense in which this is natural; the Jedi and the Sith may be adversaries, but the Force is one, and it exists in balance. Where the light side is strong, there will always be a shadow; where the darkness is strong, there will be a starburst of light. The Jedi used this principle when they established their temple on Coruscant, attempting to overwhelm the dark side nexus with the flood of their light, and finding a way to use it by purifying dark side relics. Master Yoda would use it on Dagobah, with the darkness of the cave concealing his light from the Emperor. But they appear to have been blind to its implications.
The light cannot exist without the dark, and vice versa. Thus the antagonistic relationship between the two different aspects of the Force is foolish, for they are supposed to live in balance. The first Jedi understood this truth, for the early Jedi were servants of balance, not bound exclusively to the light side. They became afraid of the dark side after a number of their fell, becoming proto-Sith, and committed themselves to just the one aspect of the Force. This schism, this unnatural divide, may well have been the balance the Chosen One was destined to restore - for, when the battle between the Jedi and the Sith was finally over, Rey learned from ancient Jedi texts that potentially predated the schism. It is quite possible the new Jedi Order she builds in future installments of Star Wars will be one that understands the balance of the Force rather better than the Jedi of the prequel era.
