Star Wars‘ most powerful Light Side ability isn’t tossing stuff around with the Force, projecting your image across the galaxy, or even magical healing, but the ability to become “one with the Force” and transcend death as a Force Ghost. This is in stark contrast to the Sith goal of bodily immortality, which always seems to end with wrinkly, messed-up old monster dudes.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Luke Skywalker all returned in spectral form to continue dishing out pearls of advice and wisdom after their deaths. But, if this is such a useful tool, why don’t all Jedi manage it?
The issue is being debated on r/StarWars, where a user wonders why the Jedi murdered during Order 66 didn’t disappear into the Force:
The replies state that “vanishing into the Force” was something Qui-Gon Jinn learned and passed down to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, who in turn taught Luke. This raises the question of how Anakin ever learned it in his many years as Darth Vader, but apparently, this is addressed in one of the novels:
An alternative theory is that as Anakin is said to be fathered by the living Force itself, it makes sense for him to be able to naturally return to it upon death:
Another reply underlines that for the technique to work you have to be prepared and willing to accept your death, which the Jedi ambushed during Order 66 clearly weren’t:
An obvious question is how Qui-Gon figured this all out, especially in that he did so after his actual death. But as always there’s an answer:
So, to conclude, becoming a Force Ghost means you have to be prepared for your own death and have absorbed the teachings discovered by Qui-Gon Jinn. There are obviously other examples of Force Ghosts from across the Star Wars comics and novels, but at least as far as the movies go, they all stem from this source.
Now, all that remains is the question of what the was hell Han Solo when he appeared to Ben Solo in The Rise of Skywalker.
Published: Oct 3, 2022 09:19 am