Why Does Everyone Hate the Jedi?

In the newer Star Wars books, some fans are left to wonder, "Why does everyone hate the Jedi?"

The answer? Given how things have gone since the New Jedi Order books came out, they deserve it.

This has been the great weakness of the past decade or so of Star Wars fiction. We have had too many authors who have written Jedi that are cruel, caustic, and just jerks. Now, this isn't to say that I don't think you should write flawless Jedi, but let's consider a few things.

1. Jedi are supposed to be guardians of peace and justice. They should be good and selfless. Their flaws should flow out of this - where they do too much, or things like that. Not petulance.

2. Flaws should fit what a group is. The Jedi of the Prequel Trilogy had fossilized. They had developed sort of a white-tower approach that detached them from others. This is a believable flaw. The Jedi had fostered too much of an "otherness" -- and this makes sense because they had discipline that was no common. Likewise, their flaws shouldn't be the same flaws we'd expect in a den of scum and villainy. If they are, then they are rightly to be despised.

3. The main characterist of a Jedi is not power or skills, but philosophy. When you undercut all philosophy, you just get bullies.

I hope they work on this, I hope they try to fix this. The Jedi are supposed to be more than just Bullies that we put up with because they protect us from other, big bad bullies.