#force usage

Alright, I'm a little late making this but let's get into the big discussion from last week's episode of Ahsoka: Sabine being trained (as a Jedi...sort of), and what implications it has for Force use, talent, and Jedi training.

I was one of the people who when the trailers for Ahsoka aired, was very much not happy at the implication that Sabine was going to be retconned to have Force sensitivity and be trained as Ahsoka's apprentice. I have a bit of frustration with characters being headcanoned to be force sensitive or retconned to be force sensitive in general, but especially in this situation, it didn't make sense to me.

However, once episodes 2 and 3 aired and Huyang so graciously gave us and Sabine his opinion of her Force sensitivity and potential talent (aka the worst he's ever seen in his entire 25,000 years, not sure you can make a burn sicker than that), I was unexpectedly very excited at the direction this was taking: someone who is not measurably or traditionally strong or even decent in the Force trying to train and open themselves up to use it. Or, looking at it another way, taking Jedi principles after the fall of their Order and way of life, and learning to take some of those principles and add them to an already formidable repertoire and heritage of being a Mandalorian.

I went back to all three movies in the OT and TPM and pulled screenshots to compare and contrast Sabine's training with Luke and Anakin's. There are many more areas that Force usage is discussed (such as Yoda teaching clones how to tap into it in the first episode of TCW) but I wanted to focus on our original sources of how George viewed it working, and how the audience was first introduced to it--through Jedi Masters training their padawans in the movies.

First we have the classic introduction to the Force from Obi-Wan in ANH: The Force is "an energy field created by all living things," and it "binds the galaxy together". It flows through and in everything, whether or not they are aware of it or can harness it. "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter."

Ahsoka states it as: "The Force resides in all living things."

During Obi-Wan's first (and maybe only in-person) training session with Luke, he tells him to stretch out with his feelings and let go of his conscious mind to be able to feel the Force flowing through him and predict where the training droid is going to strike next. Ahsoka asks Sabine to concentrate, feel her presence, and sense what is around her in order to defend herself. While Obi-Wan does make the mention that a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him, and this is something that Sabine is unable to do at the moment, the emphasis is expanding one's ability to feel and sense what is around them, and not rely on their cognitive thinking abilities or five senses alone.

Now, from here you could argue that George seemingly presented two schools of thought between the OT and the PT on what exactly made someone eligible to become a Jedi. In the OT, midichlorians are not mentioned, but strength in the Force is, which could be interpreted as "you only become a Jedi or are capable of being a Jedi if you are strong in the Force." But I don't think that's the case. For one, this is mostly said about Luke in the OT and Anakin in the PT--the Skywalker family and the Chosen One in particular. It's presenting more of an upper limit on what being a Jedi looked like, not necessarily defining the minimum requirements.

With TPM, George introduced the concept of midichlorians, marking them as integral to at least Anakin's abilities with the Force and his place as the Chosen One. However, again this is applied specifically to him, and when discussed for other Jedi there is no "minimum" given as a requirement, nor even that they are required at all. And while having the highest midichlorian count of all time set Anakin apart, it did not automatically make him a Jedi or a strong Force user--it made him someone who had the potential to tap into it more easily than say, a Jedi with a lower midichlorian count, or say, a Mandalorian who has an indeterminably low aptitude for the Force. He also is mentioned as having a specific power--seeing things before they happen. But this is just one type of way to tap into or use the Force.

Also, I find it interesting that the term is "the Force is strong with..." not the other way around. Either the Force residing in all living beings contradicts the Force being strong with certain individuals (due to midichlorians or not), or it is meant to be two parts of a whole. While George retconned and changed infinite aspects of these stories and wrote them out of order, I don't think this is an area where he intended to blatantly contradict his worldbuilding.