Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Children of the Force” showed just how dangerous the Jedi mind trick can be when Anakin, Obi-Wan and Mace Windu united to use it on Cad Bane. When Obi-Wan first demonstrated the trick in A New Hope, it was utilized to assist the heroes in their journey by harmlessly convincing weak-minded adversaries to let them pass. Luke later employed the method in Return of the Jedi, first to compel Bib Fortuna to grant him a meeting with Jabba the Hutt, then later on Jabba himself to allow Han Solo to go free. But other depictions of the Jedi mind trick challenge the idea that this act is always benign and harmless.
Season 2 of The Clone Wars showed that use of the mind trick is not always as black and white as it seems. After kidnapping Force-sensitive children for Darth Sidious, a.k.a. Palpatine, to secretly experiment upon, notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane found himself in Jedi custody. The Jedi, desperate to locate the missing children, had failed in their interrogation attempts and decided that they would use the Jedi mind trick to implore Bane to talk. However, as explained by Obi-Wan, the Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded, and Cad Bane was no fool. It took the focus of all three Jedi to break into his mind. Although the Jedi were successful and their method allowed them to rescue the children, the practice brings into question the ethical parameters of using the trick.
In the process, it was revealed that the Jedi mind trick can be used to totally break someone’s will, but doing so will cause them pain and can potentially be lethal. Cad Bane was subjected to excruciating pain, and was also put at risk of losing his own mind if he did not cooperate. This is not unlike the experience of Rogue One character Bodhi Rook, who almost lost his mind after Bor Gullet forcefully penetrated his thoughts.
More chillingly, it also evokes similar instances where dark side users tapped into the Force to subject others to their will. Both Kylo Ren and Snoke utilize the Sith mind probe to extract information from Rey in the sequels, and doing so clearly causes her to suffer. While the Jedi were not forcibly extracting information from Bane, but implanting the suggestion that he tell them what they want to know, his resistance was still painful enough for him to reveal the children’s location. This is nothing less than torture. The interrogation of Bane shows how dangerous the mind trick can be when used with ill intentions or by corrupted individuals.
One of the darkest examples of this came in Star Wars Rebels when Ezra Bridger convinced an Imperial walker pilot to fire on his own men then commit suicide. That scene further illustrated how the Jedi were beginning to lose their way by the end of the Clone Wars. Anakin had already taken small steps towards the dark side, and would later use a Force-choke on Poggle after the Second Battle of Geonosis, but he was not alone. Although their intentions were to protect children, the Jedis' methods inflicted physical pain upon a prisoner - hardly the Jedi way. Yoda himself says that “To answer power with power, the Jedi way it is not. In this war, a danger there is, of losing who we are.” After all, a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack. As Star Wars: The Clone Wars dragged on, the Jedi became more and more militant, sacrificing their values as peacekeepers in exchange for the ranks of generals.