Trash Talk Is Officially A Dark Side Technique In Star Wars
Star Wars fans could always count on the Expanded Universe to help flesh out our understanding of this famous galaxy far, far away. That’s usually a good thing, but the EU occasionally got very silly by creating weirdly complex lore out of the simplest things. For example, we eventually learned that the trash talk employed by Sith foes like Count Dooku and Emperor Palpatine is actually a special Dark Side technique known as Dun Moch.
Trash Talk Of The Force
At first blush, the idea of trash talk in the Star Wars universe having an official name is pretty crazy. However, the basic ideas of Dun Moch make sense when taking into account that the Sith are the opposites of the Jedi in many important ways.
For example, the Jedi draw strength from peace and concentration; not only do Sith draw their power from anger, but they hope to defeat their foes by disrupting the famous Jedi concentration in every way possible, including slinging insults during battle.
Vader Uses Dun Moch Like A Boss
While the scene arguably didn’t need any additional context, the idea of Dun Moch is meant to retroactively explain why Darth Vader is both chatty and catty while dueling Obi-Wan in A New Hope, taunting his old master as a way of gaining an advantage in battle.
Vader tried this against Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, and he was joined by Emperor Palpatine, someone whose every word was meant to break Luke’s will down and make him into a faithful servant of the Dark Side.
Dooku Talks A Lot Of Dooku
In that movie, Palpatine’s primary goal was recruiting Luke into the Empire. Most of the time, though, Dark Side users employ Dun Moch during battles, hoping it will make their foe lose concentration at a crucial moment.
After all, when fighting with lightsabers, it only takes a single successful blow to kill or cripple an opponent.
While this method of trash-talking an opponent to death is a proven one, Star Wars history is full of examples of Dun Moch backfiring on its user. For example, when Vader succeeds at making Luke angry in Return of the Jedi, it gives the younger man enough angry strength to easily defeat his father in combat.
Before that, Dooku’s own taunts to Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith gave the young Jedi the strength needed to defeat and ultimately behead his foe.
Inverse Dun Moch
While Jedi can technically use Dun Moch (this may be why Obi-Wan Kenobi got so good at trash talk), these Light Side users are more known for using a process known as inverse Dun Moch.
This is what Luke Skywalker ultimately did to redeem Darth Vader: instead of trying to drive the other man to angry hatred, Luke tells his father that he still has good inside of him. Famously, Vader comes back from the Dark Side and defeats Emperor Palpatine, though the later revelation that Palpatine somehow survived really undercuts the drama of this heroic moment.
Disney Star Wars
Like all of the other crazy ideas in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Dun Moch was eventually removed from the canon by Disney. That obviously hasn’t kept Dark Side users from trash-talking during battle, as exhibited by both Kylo Ren and Palpatine himself in the Sequel Trilogy.
It also hasn’t kept us from talking trash to Disney about its Star Wars content, but we’ve been unable to break their concentration, which might explain why they keep cranking out mediocre Mandalorian seasons.
