george lucas acknowledged that the jedi, sith, and other force concepts have been inspired by many sources. these include: knighthood, chivalry, paladinism, samurai bushido, shaolin monastery, feudalism, hinduism, qigong, greek philosophy and mythology, roman history and mythology, parts of the abrahamic religions, confucianism, shintō, buddhism and taoism, and numerous cinematic precursors. the works of philosopher friedrich nietzsche and mythologist joseph campbell, especially his book "the hero with a thousand faces" (1949), directly influenced lucas, and was what drove him to create the 'modern myth' of "star wars". in particular, the contrasting narrative relationship between the dark side-using sith and light side-using jedi mirrors several modern and classical literary tropes.