Kenobi Eps. 4-5: Rest In Power, Tala
The Empire: A New Hope?
Tala Durith entered our lives as another one of those Star Wars characters who resolves tricky situations by showing up out of nowhere and shooting people in the back. Nothing unique there.
Only she was unique. In her brief tenure on our screens, Tala (played wonderfully by Indira Varma) was a remarkably powerful and complex character. Tala embodies the galaxy’s hope, confusion, and disillusionment with the Empire in its early days. As viewers of Episodes I-III, we saw the whole thing fall apart at the top. The average galactic citizen, though, probably didn’t understand the difference between the Republic and the Empire. The leaders were the same leaders, the chancellor was still in charge, and maybe now the transports would finally run on time. If there would be any changes, they’d probably be for the better, otherwise the whole rebranding would have been a waste of time, right?
Tala is the regular-citizen version of Padme, who put her life into serving the Republic only to realize she was playing for the wrong team, or that the team had shifted to playing a different sport without bothering to inform her.
“Have you ever considered we may be on the wrong side?” Padme asks Anakin in Revenge of the Sith. “What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we’ve been fighting to destroy?”
Power in Conflict and Negotiation
Tala learned the answer to that. Joining up to support the seemingly benevolent Empire, she was motivated enough to work her way up its officer ranks. And then, realizing what she was supporting, she began fighting against the Empire. Likely, she fought for and against it at the same time. It’s hard to do that and keep track of your sense of self and purpose. Which brings us right back to Tala’s powerful character. One source of Tala’s success was her ability to use multiple types of power in interacting, fighting, and negotiating with people.
Books on negotiation and conflict resolution often discuss the issue of power and its impact on these processes. For some reason, up until recently, none of those chose to use a negotiation in Star Wars as a case study. This is surprising (well, to me!) given that power is at the center of so many of the negotiations in Star Wars…
In her chapter on power in Star Wars and Conflict Resolution, Rachel Viscomi of Harvard Law School notes that power is a complex and subjective element of conflict.
“Your focus determines your reality. Our thinking drives our behavior which, in turn, drives our results. If we think a situation is hopeless and that we have no power to alter it, we are likely to give up, or to resign ourselves to being at the mercy of the other party. This, then, becomes our reality—if we believe that we can’t change a situation, we’re more likely to just stand there instead of trying to brace the trash compactor as it closes in on us… If, on the other hand, we believe that we have power, we will act with agency and have the potential to create a different outcome. Power can increase or diminish over time; it is not a static level in a static interaction. When our first attempt to change the situation doesn’t succeed, we can keep trying. If propping the trash compactor walls apart with a pipe/rod -thingie fails, we can call on our friends to leverage their skills in our service, attacking the problem from a new angle. And, sometimes it works; our friends shut down all the garbtrash compactors on the detention level, and we live to fight another day.”
Tala never doubted her power to affect the situations she was in. And yet, Star Wars is full of cocky nerf herders who thought they could do anything. What made Tala so uniquely effective at utilizing power?
Two, There Are
To understand this, we must understand that there are two types of power, and Tala excelled at employing both. Viscomi explains these types of power and their appearances throughout the saga:
“The Star Wars universe depicts two very different conceptions of power. The classic “power as force” model, often called “power-over” exists alongside a version of power modeled not on domination, but on collaboration and connection, sometimes called “power-with.”
Examples of “power-over”, dominance power, abound in Star Wars. In this model, exercising power often takes the form of compelling others to do your bidding against their will… The Sith and the Empire embody power-over most often—and most successfully. This is not surprising, because it is an approach that functions more effectively for the conventionally stronger party. And for much of the saga, the Sith appear to have the upper hand. They are better armed, have more resources, control the mechanisms of government, and command more people. Emboldened by these advantages, they regularly adopt traditional hard-bargaining strategies grounded in fear and threats, in an effort to compel others to do their bidding….”
Power-over? It’s like a second language to me
Tala excelled on playing fields where “power-over” was key. You hear this in every command of “Come with me” and “Stay here” she laid on Obi-Wan and Leia, or from the brusque tone she took with the pilot when moving up the timeline for transporting them off-planet.
Tala’s mastery at “power-over” was on full display while gaining entry to the secure part of Fortress Inquisitorius. Her staredown with the officer who tried to prevent her entry was a classic effort at mutual dominance. “I am the lead security on this level”-guy was simply no match for the force that Tala put into reminding him that “Then I am your commanding officer, and you will address me as “Sir”. She cut her counterpart off each he spoke, threatened to tell the Grand Inquisitor of his insolence, wondered aloud why she was wasting her breath on him at all, and finally granted herself clearance to stroll through the checkpoint.
Join me…
However, Tala’s skill with utilizing power wasn’t limited to the extent of her rank and ability to keep a straight and disapproving face. She was also an expert at utilizing “power-with,” a form of power that involves working jointly with others. This might take the form of working together with your counterpart, utilizing your combined power to a mutual aim. Or, it might take the form of working collaboratively with others against a mutual counterpart, using your joint power to overcome theirs. Naturally, as Viscomi explains, “power-with” was often the preferred method of the Jedi, and it was at the very basis of the Rebel Alliance’s formation:
“…while this inequality limits the ability of resistance fighters to gain “power over” easily, it serves to increase greatly the appeal of collective power or “power with.” After all, the less you have, the less you have to lose.
While limited “power over” at their disposal, the Jedi look to collaboration with others to meet their needs. When Qui-Gon finds himself on Tatooine with a damaged ship, in need of a part in scarce supply, and only Republic dataries to offer in exchange, he first appears to be at Watto’s mercy… In a similar circumstance, a Sith counterpart might resort directly to dominance power, choosing to overpower Watto with force. Qui-Gon chooses a different route and makes Watto an attractive offer. Though he lacks funds, and requires Watto’s agreement to achieve his ends, he is not without power. His understanding of what his counterpart values—provided to him through relationships he formed along the way--and a well-crafted option, provide him the power he needs to match the situation.”
Collective power is most valuable, of course, when building a broad-based coalition to accomplish a shared goal. Viscomi notes Padme’s coalition-forming negotiation with Gungan Boss Nash as a prime example of this. In another example, she contrasts Poe offering Finn joint command of the Resistance (power-with) with Kylo Ren and Hux fighting over control of the First Order just thirty seconds after Snoke’s (lower) body hit the ground (power-over).
Tala is no less skilled in “power-with” than she is with “power-over.” Consider her fascinating interaction with Reva, when Obi-Wan needed a distraction to allow him to extricate Leia from the torture chamber. I mean, I would have just pulled the fire alarm, right? Tala, though, tried for so much more, engaging directly with Reva to get her to commit to a wild bantha chase in her search for the Path. Gone is the threatening attitude and infinite disdain she deployed at the checkpoint. Instead, she speaks in a soft, engaging tone, shares her information plainly, and walks toward Reva to symbolically join between them. She shifts to from speaking about herself to a “we” frame – you and I, Reva, working together, here’s what we need to do. She speaks to Reva’s (assumed) deeper interests – to take the Path network out at its root. She implies this is their shared mission and goal, and so naturally, they should apply all of their power in that direction. Even when Reva challenges her, saying “Unless, of course, you’re lying” she does not change her tack. She says “I will not have my integrity questioned” in full Imperial haughtiness to cement her base identity but then resumes her softer voice, bringing Reva into her story and experiences, explaining why Reva is the only one she could tell this to, as she walks even closer to her. While she doesn’t convince Reva – as we’ve noted, Reva is very challenging to negotiate with - it was a powerful enough display to cause Reva to somewhat doubt her instinct that Tala is an enemy. Tala’s masterful deployment of “power-with” would have worked on most people; however, she was not aware – nobody was aware, until she told Kenobi at the besieged door on Jabiim – just how much of a pathological loner she is. Loners don’t do “power-with.”
Tala’s capacity to form alliances and motivate allies are also on display in her conversation with Obi-Wan in Kenobi’s fifth episode. “Some things you can’t forget, but you can fight to make them better” was just the ladder he needed to climb out of his pit of despair and take a stand against Reva, leading to their fascinating negotiation at the door which we will definitely revisit in a future post.
Inner Power
Tala’s power came from her ability to harness both types of power, and ability that hinged on her own inner power. Viscomi’s words seem to paint a portrait of Tala:
“Walking the path of collective power can be challenging. One cannot leverage the benefits of “power-with” without cultivating “power within” oneself. Whereas “power over” merely requires surrendering to our darker impulses, partnership power relies on our ability to cultivate mental and emotional strength, staying grounded in the present.”
With this power at her disposal, Tala’s end is unsurprising, even if it leaves us wanting more time with her.
—————
Rose Tico distinguished between two ways to prevail: “That's how we're gonna win. Not by fighting what we hate. But saving what we love.”
“Hold my spotchka,” said Tala Durith, and with a flick of her thumb, did both.
Rest in Power, Tala.
—- Noam Ebner