SPECULATION: Is the Force in Balance in Star Wars: Episode 7?

Okay, so part of the great fun and excitement of a new Star Wars trilogy cycle is speculating about all the minutia that may or may not have any relevance whatsoever on the upcoming movie. So one burning question on my mind — What is the Balance of the Force as we enter Episode VII? Find out after the jump.



Anyone who’s read Star Wars 7 News will know by now that I tend to mention mythology from time to time. Understatement. Well, I know people don’t always like to get all hung up on the mythical relevance of everything, but that ship has sailed, folks! Star Wars IS mythology. Joseph Campbell, mentor to George, defined the monomyth, or “hero’s journey,” like this:

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”

This basic story structure is the basis for virtually every story man has ever told — a person, the hero, attempts a goal and must go through challenges and overcome them as well as enemies and then imparts what he has learned to his people. George’s life echoes the monomyth, he’s fought his battles with Hollywood, he’s won his boons, and he’s imparted his knowledge, saying this trilogy is a “passing of the torch” as the Big 3 from the Original Trilogy pass on what they have learned to the new generation. So, too, George passes his torch, his legacy, on to a new generation of filmmakers. Apropos.

In this mythical vein we must re-visit the concept of “the Force.” In our article on the Inquisitor, we first mentioned the “Mortis Arc” from The Clone Wars. It is important for the fans to know and understand this arc in order to understand the universe and the Force according to George Lucas.

Recall this symbol:


This is a symbolic representation of the universe broken into its simplest form and is obviously derived from the Taoist Yin-Yang seen here:


As the Yin-Yang is a symbol of BALANCE and harmony, so, too, is the Mortis symbol. They each depict the same exact thing. This is represented in “The Ones” from Mortis:


It should be understood that mythology is simply the exploration of grand concepts and ideas put into human form so that we can psychically absorb and digest them easier. Humans have done this since the beginning of our time. This is called “anthropomorphism” as Wikipedia defines:

Anthropomorphism, or personification, is attribution of human form or other characteristics to anything other than a human being. Examples include depicting deities with human form and ascribing human emotions or motives to forces of nature, such as hurricanes or earthquakes.

  
The Ones are a personification of the following concepts — The Father equals the Universe. The One. The whole circle or disk. He is the All from which all else is born. This is what Obi-Wan Kenobi taught Luke in Episode IV: 

“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”

The Father is the Universe and the Universe is the Force. I’ve read a lot of confusing ideas on the internet as to what fans think the Force is. Yes, it is the universe, prevalent in all things. Yes, it is a tool to be used for either good or evil ends. Some falsely believe that the Force can be neither good nor evil. This is not true. There is clearly a dichotomy — a splitting into two — which is a natural byproduct of the universe. For instance we would not know light without its opposite darkness. There is good and its opposite evil. Right and wrong. Left and right, up and down, and man and woman. The struggle for balance is what gives the universe its life, its motion (expansion) and keeps it from collapsing. Thus, the dichotomy allows for the PATHS to the Light or the Dark Side. This is a fundamental concept of many religions, philosophies, and traditions, for example Taoism which explains the Yin-Yang thusly:

“Yin-Yang is a deeply rooted concept in Taoist philosophy, representing the constant state of change or duality in the universe forming a whole. It describes how opposite forces are interconnected and mutually dependent in the natural world; and, harmony is only achieved when the two forces combined, are in balance.”

From the Father were born his children, which represent the Light and Dark aspects of the Force. The Light Side of the Force is represented in the Daughter.


And the Dark Side of the Force is represented in the Son.

When Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan go to Mortis they confront the Ones, gripped within the eternal struggle for domination, which they never achieve, hence balance. However, during this struggle Anakin is given a test, to make a choice to either join the Light Side or the Dark Side. He chose the Dark Side. By the end of this arc the Daughter, the Father, and the Son have died. Don’t be confused by this as their “deaths” are merely symbolic of the cyclical nature of all things, a concept that the Buddhists and Hindus have taught for hundreds of years.

Cycles of life and death can be likened to the alternating periods of sleep and wakefulness. Just as sleep prepares us for the next day’s activity, death can be seen as a state in which we rest and replenish ourselves for new life. In this light, death should be acknowledged, along with life, as a blessing to be appreciated. 

Just as the Son and the Daughter fought for the “upper hand” in the eternal struggle, which creates the balance, so, too, the Jedi and Sith fight an eternal war. As the Mortis arc taught us, neither side can accept the existence of the other. Every living creature exists within the field called the Force. Sentient beings of all races are Force “attuned” whether they believe it or not. Yes, even Han Solo! Qui-Gon Jinn taught this to Anakin Skywalker in Episode I:

Anakin Skywalker: Master, sir, I heard Yoda talking about midi-chlorians. I’ve been wondering…what are midi-chlorians?

Qui-Gon Jinn: Midi-chlorians are a microcopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force.

Anakin Skywalker: They live inside of me?

Qui-Gon Jinn: In your cells, yes. We are symbionts with them-

Anakin Skywalker: Symbionts?


Qui-Gon Jinn: Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them speaking to you.


Anakin Skywalker: I don’t understand.

Qui-Gon Jinn: With time and training, Annie, you will. You will.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much consternation as I have over such a trivial label. Nothing about the midi-chlorians negates, harms, or contradicts what we know about the Force in any way. The midi-chlorians reside in all living cells. They surround us, penetrate us, and bind the galaxy together. They are the Force and, as we have seen, the Force is the universe. Essentially the midi-chlorians are the basic possible constituents of the Force. So light has its photons, gravity has its gravitons and quarks, bosons, and neutrinos all exist in this universal pool of subatomic particles. Sure, this isn’t Star Trek, but having midi-chlorians doesn’t detract from the fantasy. It’s important to understand the midi-chlorians in order to understand the balance of the Force. As we learn Anakin Skywalker has a high count:
Obi-Wan: Strange. The transmission seems to be in good order, but the reading’s off the chart…over twenty thousand.

Qui-Gon: (almost to himself) That’s it then.

Obi-Wan: Even Master Yoda doesn’t have a midi-chlorian count that high!

Qui-Gon: No Jedi has.

Obi-Wan: What does it mean?

Qui-Gon: I’m not sure.
Qui-Gon Jinn wasn’t sure at the time but he would soon come to believe that Anakin Skywalker was “The chosen one who will bring balance to the Force,” according to this Prophecy:

In the time of greatest despair,
a child shall be born
who will destroy the Sith
and bring balance to the Force.

Aside from the whole midi-chlorian “controversy,” one of the single greatest sources of confusion and controversy comes from the Prophecy of the Chosen One. To clear things up straight away George Lucas has said himself that Anakin Skywalker IS the Chosen One:

There should be no more confusion. As I mentioned in the article about Darth Plagueis, his meddling with immortality caused a reaction by the Force, which created Anakin via a virgin birth. Anakin’s midi-chlorian count was exceptionally high for two distinct reasons: First, it was necessary in order to help balance the Force against the Light Side immediately (meaning during the Prequel era.) And second, it was so that he would be powerful enough to deal with Darth Sidious. Before we dissect Anakin and his Prophecy, we must first look at the state of the universe that gave his rise.

In the time of greatest despair the galaxy was falling to a corrupt senate, being over-run by conglomerates like the Trade Federation and the Banking Clan, and innocent planets were over-run by these manipulative, greedy entities. The Jedi, guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, were allegedly the dominant force. Yet, why then so much corruption and warring? The Jedi had become widespread, complacent, and arrogant. In their arrogance they failed to see the Sith — never really extinct — slowly rise to exact their revenge. In simpler terms — the Force was wayyy out of balance.


Imagine a see-saw. If you have one person on one side of the see-saw it becomes completely out of balance and the person does not move. Put an equitable person on the other side and you have balance and can therefore struggle (fight) each other to gain the “high ground” so-to-speak.

The Jedi Order, which numbered at least in the thousands, tilted the balance of the Force wayyy in their favor. Remember that ALL living things have Force “attunement,” but especially sentient beings. Remove the Sith and you have one person sitting on a see-saw. BUT the Sith are every bit as much to blame for this imbalance as the Jedi, through their “Rule of Two.”

The Rule of Two was instituted because the Sith are selfish, power hungry, greedy, untrustworthy, and evil. They would just as soon kill each other as they would Jedi. So in their foolishness they made it easier for the Jedi to destroy them with their in-fighting. They eventually instituted a “Rule of Two.” The exact details of this are unimportant at this time, it only matters that the Sith used it and the Jedi believed it.

Darth Plagueis destroyed the “Rule of Two.” Not that it was ever really adhered to. His Master, Darth Tenebrous, was training a secret apprentice, which Plagueis defeated. Plagueis eventually took Palpatine as his apprentice. all-the-while Palpatine was training a Zabrak named “Maul.” Sidious killed Plagueis (we think) and took Maul for his apprentice, all-the-while recruiting Count Dooku AND Syfo Dyas. Maul dies (so we thought) and Sidious takes Dooku. Then Dooku takes Asajj Ventress as his unofficial apprentice, with Sidious’ blessing. Sidious recruits and grooms Anakin and eventually has Anakin kill Dooku and take his place. After the Empire has been formed we know that Sidious has Vader while someone is training the Inquisitor. Then Sidious attempts to turn Luke Skywalker to take Vader’s place, all-the-while rumored to have a secret apprentice.

“A Prophecy that Misread Could Have Been.”

Now this is where it gets really interesting as what Master Yoda suspects is true — misread AND mis-interpreted. The Prophecy is actually fulfilled twice! Anakin was created because of Plagueis, bending the limits of the Force, with his unnatural abilities. But the Force is still out of balance in favor of the Light Side. In order for Anakin to bring balance to the Force he had to set up the conditions to make it possible. In which case he needed to first help the Sith wipe-out the Jedi, which he did, almost completely.


During their Duel on Mustafar, Obi-Wan illustrates the confusion of the Jedi Order about their own Prophecy:

“You were the Chosen One! You were supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness…”

This is a myopic view of things, of course. How could destroying the Sith bring Balance to the Force? Had Anakin destroyed Dooku and Sidious, the Force would still have been far out of balance in favor of the Light Side’s Jedi [extreme.] An answer would have been produced by the Force to counter it — it was, in fact, produced as Anakin and he had to sacrifice himself and a lot of good people in order to ultimately fulfill the prophecy.

As of Episode IV we have only two Jedi known to be alive — Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Luke and Leia are strong in the Force. Two Sith survive — Sidious and Vader. (Asajj Ventress, while we don’t know her whereabouts, could still be alive.) This renders the “playing field” pretty even, until Vader kills Obi-Wan and then Yoda dies. Then Luke becomes the last of the Jedi and the next to last hope. And then, of course, Luke redeems Anakin who kills Sidious and then dies, leaving just one powerful Force being in the galaxy with his sister untrained, but strong, and a potential Dark Side user in Ventress (and perhaps even the Inquisitor still at large.) In other words, Anakin fulfills the Prophecy a second time and brings balance to the Force.


This is where we stand at the end of Episode VI — as far as we know, the Force in Balance. From this point on going through the 35 years leading into Episode VII we think the Light Side starts to dominate again as Master Luke Skywalker begins to re-build the Jedi Order at the behest of Master Yoda in Episode VI:

“Remember, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Luke… Luke… do not… do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor or suffer your father’s fate you will. Luke, when gone am I… the last of the Jedi will you be. Luke, the Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned, Luke. There is… another… Sky… walker.” 

And, of course, George Lucas had many ideas for what would come after Episode VI, but here was one particular iteration, according to Mark Hamill about a conversation he had with George in 1976: 

“Twelve movies! Out on the desert, any time between setups… lots of free time. And George was talking about this whole thing… ‘Um, how’d you like to be in Episode IX?’ ‘When is that going to be?’ ‘2011.’ […] I said, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ He said, ‘You’ll just be like a cameo. You’ll be like Obi-Wan handing the lightsaber down to the next new hope.’”

It appears as though Luke and company will thankfully have more than cameo roles in Episode VII:

According to multiple insiders, the reason for the parting of ways was not due to a timeframe issue, as has been reported, but rather due to a difference of opinion of which characters to emphasize. Arndt is said to have focused on the offspring of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), with the original trilogy’s heroes taking on supporting roles. Abrams, however, wanted Episode VII to focus on the classic trio of characters, so audiences could have one more chance to enjoy them before a fitting send-off. The new characters, the offspring, will now be in supporting roles, according to these sources, and take center stage in Episode VIII and IX. Some characters have disappeared from the Arndt script and new ones are being added.

Despite Leia being strong in the Force, I would doubt that she ever was trained as fully as Luke. I would expect to see her in some sort of political role instead. However, her child (or children) will of course be very strong in the Force as well. And reports thus far suggest that Daisy Ridley is playing the Solo daughter formerly known as “Jaina Solo:”
A source out in Abu Dhabi tells me that Daisy’s character is EXTREMELY gymnastic. Apparently some of her scenes are being doubled by a dancer called Hannah Collins.
And purely speculating, based on the table read photo from April 29th, I would guess that Andy Serkis is going to be playing a Jedi Master as well, probably an alien that he can perform with motion-capture and prosthetics. Serkis’ character is most likely Luke’s first padawan, although it remains to be seen what structure Luke institutes for his New Jedi Order. Will he call apprentices “padawans?” Will he recruit them young or institute an age limit before training? Can a Master take more than one padawan?

Sir Isaac Newton famously posited his Third Law (of Motion) in which he stated a universal truth — For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This absolutely defines everything we’ve been discussing. Forces always come in pairs.

So while it looks like the Light Side is growing with Luke, “Jaina”, Serkis’ alien Jedi and perhaps even John Boyega’s character as well, we should expect there to be an equal answer in the form of the Dark Side, perhaps from the Inquisitor, Asajj Ventress, Darth Plagueis, and maybe even Sidious as a Sith Spectre. The “Rule of Two” defunct and obsolete, it becomes clear that the Sith or Dark Side users need an army as well. And while NOT strictly Sith could this be our first glimpse of Mother Talzin?

Strong resemblance . . .

Or perhaps another Dathomiri Night Sister? There is no OFFICIAL word about this particular photo and it very well might prove to have nothing to do with Episode VII, especially since it was released through unofficial channels. That said, the Night Sisters would prove an interesting twist on villainy for our our heroes. The Night Sisters, in case you’re unaware, are Force sensitive practitioners of magic, or, in Mother Talzin’s case, shadow magic. And it should be noted that Mother Talzin existed beyond the corporeal realm, almost as a phantom.

Whether Sith or not, Dathomiri Night Sister or not, expect to see a Legion — we are Legion, for we are many — of Dark Side practitioners to fight the New Jedi Order in the eternal fight to maintain the balance of the Force.


+ posts

156 thoughts on “SPECULATION: Is the Force in Balance in Star Wars: Episode 7?

    • May 30, 2014 at 1:08 am
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      Id like to revisit the photo – look at my photoshop analysis of this image. Everyone wants to look straight at the big distraction in the middle of the photo…but I dont think that is what they intend you to see. For one thing…can a Nightsister or a Vong or whatever yall are talking about be that fat?? Does it have two heads? If none of the above…then I think its a total distraction on purpose….and what I’ve outlined is the real thing were meant to see.

      http://tinypic.com/r/nmn34o/8

      and this one:

      http://tinypic.com/r/b9fyx1/8

    • May 30, 2014 at 6:40 am
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      I saw your other post Keith but I really can’t see it and I doubt there will so much hidden in just one photo. But who knows…

    • May 30, 2014 at 9:34 am
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      I think you’re looking for something that isn’t there. To meitjust looks like a flowing/billowing cloak, nothing more.
      Whether it is a genuine picture at all remains to be seen.

    • May 30, 2014 at 10:44 am
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      Well have extensive photoshop experience, I can tell you guys that this is NOT an original image. That much is absolutely certain. It has been completely altered. Its a jumble of at least 2 images. The colors, as well as the objects in the photo have been manipulated on purpose.

      I clearly see this white face in the 2nd photograph…but I am viewing on a 120 inch projector screen so perhaps that is why its so visible to me…as well as knowing how to identify false images.

      Anyways…it was fun to analyze 😉

    • May 30, 2014 at 11:48 am
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      i REALLY like when you guys make long articles with interesting topics & speculations, it is so nice to read this long articles & follow the authors thoughts when there is nothing “NEW” to report from the ongoing process with ep.7

  • May 29, 2014 at 6:05 pm
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    “Nothing about the midi-chlorians negates, harms, or contradicts what we know about the Force in any way.”
    Haha good one. How strong you are spiritually should be measured via your mind and emotions, not to do with cells. The force is BEYOND the physical. That’s the whole point. You tap into it with your mind. Not your cells.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:15 pm
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      Vader himself sensed Luke was strong with the force “the force is strong with this one”. It was not, I repeat NOT because of a blood sample. I can’t believe people actually defend the midichlorians oh dear oh dear

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:16 pm
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      Beyond the physical, the Force is. Yes. But midi-chlorians AREN’T the Force! They’re things that let people SENSE and USE it. Midi-chlorians are just for kind of “Hey, this dude should beome a Jedi, cause he feels the Force. Seems like there’re some midi-chlorians hanging around inside him, ya know.” And that’s it. But the Force is something we must not know everything about. It’s something. It’s like an Android phone.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:31 pm
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      And maybe thats why only a few people can use the force, the ones who born with the ability to use the force, if it was a spiritual thing everybody who chose to be a jedi could be one. So it actually works.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:33 pm
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      “the Force is something we must not know everything about.”
      Why does it have a home world (according to TCW)?

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:35 pm
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      Midi-chlorians make me think of the saiyan power level eye pieces from dragonball z.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:48 pm
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      And you would think with the highest midi-chlorian count, vader would be able to overwhelm any Jedi or the emperor, right? I didn’t get the feeling he was that powerful in the movies.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:51 pm
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      Darth Whiffy, beacause TCW is a crap. Mostly. Imo.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:02 pm
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      I agree! I can’t stand what the prequels and these animated series have doen and are doing to the continuity of the saga. We can only hope and pray that; A) Rebels doesn’t suck nearly as much as TCW, and B) That Episode VII will be the start of a trilogy that rights the wrongs as much as possible.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:05 pm
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      TCW has its moments. There are things that make me cringe to this day (Stinky? Skyguy? Maul is alive?) but there are some excellent episodes that bring a greater understanding of the whole saga.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:06 pm
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      dont think it matters much , blood test , brain wave patterns , strange birth mark , just a tool to identify the hero and the midicantbebotheredtospellits just enables the manipulation that allegedly gave birth to anakin , could have been something else , but thats the easiest way to get to the story point . probably never get mentioned in film again …………………………. i removed and re did some horrible spelling

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:43 pm
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      “midi-chlorians AREN’T the Force! They’re things that let people SENSE and USE it.”
      Well exactly and that’s a problem.. You should not have things running in your blood to sense a spiritual mythology force. How can physical things in your blood sense something that’s beyond the physical? It’s a contradiction, hence a problem. It should be about the mind and your emotions to sense it. Like someone said, Vader senses Luke was strong with the force because of his mind, not a blood sample. Midichlorians contradict what the force is about, and the themes of the force. Fact.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:53 pm
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      Man. Midi-chlorians bullshit. Prequels bullshit. George Lucas lost the soul of StarWars when he made the prequels. He did it to not disappoint fans who wanted a sequel to the saga, and of course, to get more money! The Force is not a thing to be counted in stupid midi chlorians that reminds me dragon ball. It is an energy field that surround all living things and binds them. An powerfull entity(yea, like the nature and the universe) that balances the universe, with that I agree in Echo´s article. But the way they explained it on the movies was ridiculous! They needed animated series to really explain this idea. And Anakyn Skywalker, no way, brought balance to the Force. He was a total jerk with unstable personallity that somehow married with Padme, that as I can see, was beside herself to get interested in a guy with assasin relapses. His son, in other hand, brought the true balance to the Force, when he destroyed a fucking battle station big as a moon and brought his father to the Light Side again. Of course Darth Vader was responsible for the death of the Emperor, but Luke was the one that brought him back! GL gave an horrible excuse to explain the such called prophecy he has created in the prequels.

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:25 am
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      Personally, I always felt that the midi-chlorians were more or less a way to measure the force physically. Almost as if they themselves were attracted to force-sensitive beings. So I guess what I’m saying is the force is still the mystical thing we always thought it was and midi-chlorians attach themselves proportionately depending on how force-sensitive they are.

    • May 30, 2014 at 5:08 am
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      “How can physical things in your blood sense something that’s beyond the physical? It’s a contradiction, hence a problem. It should be about the mind and your emotions to sense it.”

      I don’t see any problem with that, actually. This just explains why lots of Star Wars fans around the Force, who truly believe in it, can’t move that freaking cup of coffee to them! “Hey loosers, you didn’t get any midi-chlorians!”

    • May 30, 2014 at 5:11 am
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      ouch. Around the world*, who truly believe in the Force*

      sorry

    • May 30, 2014 at 5:12 am
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      So prequels were pretty good for me. iiiiiimmmmoooooo

    • May 30, 2014 at 12:07 pm
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      I do think that a force sensitive person is born with a certain aptitude in the force. Not every person can be a Jedi or force user. So midi-chlorians or not there has to be a way to identify a force user and something that seperates them from a normal person. Not just everyone can say I want to be a Jedi and start to train to be one. The Prequels happened, get over it. While they are not in the same league as the Original Trilogy they had a lot of good moments, and are Cannon. Also the Clone Wars Cartoon was good for a lot of things, I understand and accept the age it was directed toward. There was a lot of good story to come out of it, and by the way it is Cannon as well. Stop holding onto saying only the Original Trilogy is good.

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:23 pm
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      So I’m not a midichlorians sympathizer but Anonymous May 29, 2014 at 10:43 PM is highlighting the problem of mind-body interaction. The thing is, even without the midichlorians that problem still exists. How can the force interact with the physical world? Even Descartes, who this problem is famous for resorted to locating the seat of the soul in the pineal gland. It was supposed to act as a bridge between the physical and non-physical worlds. This never solved the problem obviously but at least there’s precedent in modern philosophy. The midichlorians are a bridge or a biproduct of this force-body interaction.

    • June 8, 2014 at 11:38 pm
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      So Anoymous May 30, 2014 at 1:07PM. I agree with you that the Prequels are cannon, and that midhclorians are the way they used to separate force users from non force users. But they explained something about it in the movies? Perhaps in the Attack of the Clones they could have explained it, but they didn´t. I know that the shit has been done, but now I don´t want it to be repeated in the new movies. As our friend Echo said, George Lucas explained that Anakin is the chosen one, than we have this prophecy, about one that will bring balance to the Force. Well, there have to be a lot of prophecys than, about many chosen ones because we all know that StarWars cronology begins about 25.000 years before 0 ABY and that there were a lot of other greater wars in the saga´s universe that threated the balance of the Force. Talking about the Prophecy, what a good idea it was. You know who wrote it? Who predicted it? Zyfo Dyas, a guy that is always mentioned in the prequels but never appears, perhaps? And there goes Mace Windu aka Michael L Jackson babbling again about a prophecy that we don´t know shit. And I´m not saying that they needed to explain it on the cartoon series because I hate cartoon series. I like CW a lot actually, I´m not children stuff hater don´t say that. But besides explaining about the prophecy on the movies, George Lucas choosed cartoon series. Of course he haven´t choosed, he simply forgot or something like that. He didn´t cared about it, and I´m not saying it because I hate him. I just wanted an excelent movie of him again, a movie like ESB. Because the story is fantastic, the characters are awesome and the work they had to do it was massive. Let´s get an example of ROTJ and ROTS: You know what is to make a super battle of dozens of TIE fighters coming up on the screen making an edition of square by square? And you know what is to make a battle scene that keeps splitting shoots and explosions on your face (you don´t know the context of the battle, but I think they thought it would be cool without it) and you don´t give a shit? (the clones are cool however). And what about a scene where Harrison Ford improvises and creates one of the most emotional scenes of the movie industry, when in the carbon freeze chamber the princess says “I love you” and instead of following the script he says “I know” and there is Lord Darth Vader, a fucking badass villain with a directed motivation ready to perhaps bring an end to Han Solo´s life. In comparison, let´s get the would to be spectacular scene of the Prequels. Anakin and Obi Wan fighting in Mustafar, a lava planet full of dangers. And let´s give a look at what they are talking: “Chancellor Palpatine is evil!” – And there goes Anakin: “In my opinion the Jedi are evil!” – And let´s jump to another part: “I have the higher ground!” – Whatthef***? Yes, the prequels had some good moments and again(the seduction of the dark side in ROTS for example and the plot of Palpatine), I agree they are cannon but they should have been a lot better. The Originals have their failures as well, but they are insignificant. And what I want isn´t to destroy George Lucas career, this guy is excellent, but I want a better script, diallogues, characters etc in the new movie. I just want to have great, intelligent and emotive fun again!

    • May 29, 2014 at 6:19 pm
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      LOL

    • May 29, 2014 at 6:52 pm
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      I agree. So balancing the Force is now a numbers game? Am I the only other person who thinks this is mind-numbingly stupid and doesn’t feel like classic Star Wars?

      Anyway, thanks for the article, Echo-07.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:11 pm
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      Yes you are the only one.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:37 pm
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      I’m with you there, AnonymousMay 29, 2014 at 7:52 PM! It seems like Lucas was trying way too hard when he brought midichlorians into the picture.

  • May 29, 2014 at 6:51 pm
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    Maybe Driver is the Inquisitor. Maybe there’s a Sith witch or Nightsister aligned with him.
    We could speculate forever! We’ll just have to grin and bear it for another 19 months.

  • May 29, 2014 at 6:52 pm
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    MIND BLOWN

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:18 pm
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    Look more closely at Mortis. Initially, there is balance. The force itself keeps the light side and dark side in balance. But the conflict in the galaxy weakens the force. Soon it will not be able to contain it’s children, the light and the dark.

    What happens next? The light side, in seeking dominance, and in foolishness, hands the dark side the weapon needed to bring down the light. The Jedi, in their arrogance and blindness, their overeagerness to directly battle darkness, give darkness the tools of their own destruction.

    What does the Father want Anakin to do? To bring balance. However, he wants him to do so by using his power to RESTRAIN both the light AND the dark. To prevent conflict. Anakin helps the soon for a moment, but ultimately he DOES bring balance, but not through restraint. He brings balance and peace by using his power to destroy the dark side along with the light, and possibly the force itself.

    There is more than one way to achieve balance. Anakin chooses to destroy both sides. But the Father wanted both sides alive and well but held in check. Maybe this, too, is possible. Synthesis instead of conflict. The light and the dark must coexist as siblings, as TWINS rather than enemy combatants.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:21 pm
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      Which is itself a metaphor for reconciling the warring internal natures of human beings. The selfish and the selfless. (The daughter explicitly describes the light and dark side this way.)

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:03 pm
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      ^_-

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:25 pm
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    You may argue that midi-chlorians do not take away anything from the mythology of the force (I would say they do), but they certainly don’t add anything to the story that the story could have used.

    Like your article overall.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:50 pm
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      To me it did add to the story. It allowed us to understand the great capacity that Anakin had. He was born with a much greater capacity to utilize the Force and that is significant in how later events played out.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:08 pm
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      What did Anakin do that was so special?

      He felt like a regular Jedi Knight who back stabs his friends and helps Palpatine run the Empire for 20-something years before throwing him down a shaft.

      Did we really need a prophecy for all that? Why not a prophecy that Luke was going to destroy the Death Star?

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:27 pm
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    If these truly are the final 3 movies, you’d think they’d end with balance being achieved. Maybe a common enemy of the jedi and sith is introduced that required them to combine forces, which results in harmony of light and dark.

    Having said that, I highly doubt Disney will cap it at 3 more movies, regardless of what Lucas intended.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:48 pm
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      I could see this saga being capped at three more movies, I’d be shocked if it goes more than 6 more movies.

      I don’t like the idea of Jedi and Sith working together though. I feel like it would cheapen the history of the franchise a bit and become a bit too much like other sagas where the only way to overcome an arch enemy is to band with them against a common enemy.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:57 pm
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      Or maybe the Jedi are forced to embrace the dark side within themselves to defeat an enemy. Then you wouldn’t need the sith to achieve balance. The jedi end up wiping out the sith for good and we have a happy ending.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:01 pm
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      Yeah, for my part, i don’t want to see a team-up either. By balance through restraint i meant more just finding a peace between them OR internal balance. Acknowledging the light and dark within oneself but practicing restraint to keep both in balance.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:11 pm
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      A significant part of what made Star Wars great was its mythology and how we could learn from it. How do we learn from the Jedi and Sith joining forces or the Jedi embracing the darkness?

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:06 pm
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      I advocated neither. Acknowledging that people have darkness is necessary to combating it and not letting it gain dominance. One cannot improve oneself while in denial. Nobody is purely selfless.

      Regardless of where you fall in the political spectrum, we can’t fix social problems like shooting sprees, rape, and economic injustice without admitting that there is something in our society that encourages these problems. The black and white view of, “Well, there are just some bad guys, and we’re the good guys” is an oversimplification that doesn’t allow for improvement.

      The old Jedi feel because they made that oversimplification. The Sith ARE bad guys, but that doesn’t mean the way to solve problems is to get involved in a puppet war. The Jedi lack of self-examination made them vulnerable to evil.

      I agree the Jedi felt the war was necessary. They justified it to themselves. That doesn’t mean they were right. The Republic WAS corrupt. Just saying, “Well the Separatist leaders are evil so they’re wrong” is an oversimplification. It led to escalation rather than diplomacy. The Jedi were attached to the Republic. They did not acknowledge their own attachment, which led to fear, which led to hate, etc. Yoda’s speech is correct, his actions are not. This is why he later learns “Wars not make one great.”

      Without acknowledging internal conflict, one cannot identify one’s own motives and act properly. The Jedi fought a war because they were afraid the Republic would fall. They ceased to be peacekeepers.

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:30 pm
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    Also note that Anakin is the chosen one who chooses to fulfill the prophecy his own way. Balance and peace through violence and death. Luke, in the end, is more like the Father. He throws away his Jedi weapon rather than doing what the Jedi, represented by Obi-Wan in Mortis, did: Try to use a weapon against the dark side and end up helping it. Luke doesn’t win by fighting the dark side. He wins through compassion and love. He wins by refusing to fight. Anakin brought balance, but it is up to Luke and his Order to maintain it, as the Father initially wished, not through conflict, but through restraint, synthesis. Luke must make the light and the dark live as twins again, not as rivals. This can be fine only through love, the only thing the light and the dark have in common. Even the Son felt love for his sister. He didn’t wish her demise. Selfish love, maybe, but love.

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:34 pm
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    Please God, I hope there is no Serkis-cgi alien Jedi that Luke trains…leave it alone. lets get back to real people (or people in costumes a least).

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:46 pm
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      CGI will be used in this film. And it should. CGI when done well and not dominating the entire film is useful and adds to the value of films like SW. I fully expect Serkis to be playing a CGI character and I think it can work very well with today’s motion capture technology.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:14 pm
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      JJ mentioned something about CGI or whatnot being “photo-real” a while back for VII.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:39 pm
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      Exactly Duke Groundrunner. It never looks photorealistic. after the novelty wears off and the initial fascination you are stuck with something that looks cold and dated. of course, there will be cgi in the film. the argument is is that it should compliment the other practical effects and not override them. no one is against new technology for the sake of bettering believability, but that is exactly it, it has to look real, tangible, and it has to be built to last. look at the prequels and the effects largely already look ridiculous, like a Pixar movie at times. unless they have a rabbit up their sleeve and are doing something completely revolutionary with motion capture and cgi characters I don’t want to see any cgi characters. they are NEVER pulled off in an ultimately realistic way. it has always look superimposed to a certain degree. Star Wars should have higher standards. this is not a Godzilla movie, or even The Hobbit.

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:36 pm
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    Great article Echo.

    I especially love the midi-chlorian discussion. This is EXACTLY how I have viewed this issue since Ep. I’s release. I’m still a bit dumbfounded by all of the outrage of this issue today.

    To Anon above: “Haha good one. How strong you are spiritually should be measured via your mind and emotions, not to do with cells. The force is BEYOND the physical. That’s the whole point. You tap into it with your mind. Not your cells.”

    Really? Then why can’t anyone become a Jedi or Sith through a strong adherence to spiritual practices. There’s more to it than that. You must be born with a certain capacity (this happens to be measured in midi-chlorians) and you have to work to attain the greater talent.

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:40 pm
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    Great article! This site is awesome.

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:45 pm
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    Why is Vader so small in that painting ?

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:05 pm
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      And why is Yoda’s lightsaber so long?

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:46 pm
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    I don’t think, that the Force is a bipolar thing in that way. It isn’t a see-saw, and it isn’t math. It’s more like a person. I belive, that the “Balance of the Force” is a state of enlightment. To achive that, you have to realize your emotions, accept them and treat them properly. One can only be truly himself (truly in balance) when he let go all of his negative emotions (wich are associated with the Dark Side). You should also remember, that the Jedis connection with the Force is based on “mutual respect” both of them could be the instruments of each other, while the Sith’s connection with the Force (or rather with the Dark Side) is a more brutal relation. The stronger the Sith squeeze the Force, the deeper they drown in the Dark Side.
    So yes, I think the Force is more balanced in EP VII than ever before.

    (Sorry for my poor english.)

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:58 pm
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      Your “poor English” trumps Lucas’ logic. Well spoken!

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:09 pm
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      Exactly. To have balance, you have to acknowledge your dark emotions. The old Jedi refused to do so. They ignored their negative impulses rather than dealing with them, which led to improper action, like fighting a war. They pretended they had no negative emotions which really just meant they didn’t notice when their actions really reflected suppressed internal feelings. Hence guys like Windu and Obi-Wan enjoying the chance to be space wizards with energy swords as soon as it was justifiable within their dogma. Balance is acceptance, restraint, sublime lucidity, understanding. Your interpretation doesn’t really run counter to Lucas’, he just uses the physical external world to represent the internal, which is mythology.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:26 pm
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      I never saw this in the PT. The Jedi Council was in a stupid fog, not in denial of their darker impulses. They fought the war because they honestly felt it was necessary.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:19 pm
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      In this case it is metaphorical. The Jedi felt they had to fight the war to defend the Republic. But why did they have to defend the Republic? What’s so perfect about it? It WAS corrupt. Palpatine was in control of it. It’s mired in special interests. The Jedi do not look inward and see the darkness inside their political body, even when they are straight up told, “A Sith controls the Senate.” They are so caught up in the idea, “Jedi are the good guys. The Republic are the good guys. Sith are bad guys. Separatists are bad guys.” that they rationalize and justify bad decisions. They stop being peace keepers and become warriors. They should have stopped the war, not tried to win it. They should have found the cause, not fight the symptom. The Republic and the Jedi ate the metaphor for the self. Look inwards to find the real source of external strife. Seek knowledge before action. Patience, control, the things the Jedi preach but do not see that they don’t act on. They do think they need to fight the war, but it’s because they refuse to think that maybe the war is wrong. Admittedly, this is more present in TCW than PT.

  • May 29, 2014 at 7:51 pm
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    The next Star Wars movies will have nothing to do with the Clone Wars (2008–2014) tv show.

    • May 29, 2014 at 7:57 pm
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      I think there’s a good chance that very little hearkens to TCW, but given the amount of George’s involvement in the Mortis arc I wouldn’t be surprised to see similar themes re-emerge in the new trilogy.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:46 pm
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      If Lucas had a bigger part in writing the EpVII script, I’d agree with you juliusvernon.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:52 pm
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      Good thing he doesn’t, i have a feeling Jeffrey Jacob Abrams couldn’t care less about that tv show.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:10 pm
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      I wouldn’t be too surprised if Disney changes its mind and decides to drop the Clone Wars series from the Star Wars canon in a not so distant future.

  • May 29, 2014 at 8:15 pm
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    First, I agree that there’s a lot of confusing about midi-chlorians, but to say that they ARE the Force is just flat-out wrong. They are NOT the Force. They might be just one aspect of it—a conduit, perhaps—but they are not the equivalent or the building blocks like is stated here. Per TPM, midi-chlorians “allow you to learn the will of the Force.” If I say that “this telephone allows me to hear the will of my mother,” would you conclude that this telephone IS my mother?
    Second, the balance of the Force is not a numbers game with regards to its users. It’s more akin to emotional balance, or harmony. Just Jedi=balance, Sith=unbalance. The Sith unbalance the Force, not the Jedi. Evidence for this: at the end of ROTS, Anakin has “left the Force in darkness,” despite there being 2 Sith and 2 Jedi. Anakin brings balance to the Force when he destroys the Sith.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:09 pm
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      No, that doesn’t make sense. But, OTH the whole lightside-darkside doesn’t really make sense either. I so wish GL had gone a completely different route.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:02 pm
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      I was going to write that part about the midiclorians too.
      They aren’t the basic possible constituents of the Force like photons are for light.
      They are just the conduit through which the Force can speak to sentient beings. Exactly like a telephone is a conduit between two people.

      About the balance issue, though, I have to disagree.
      The Sith aren’t the only source of inbalance, the Jedi are too.
      Anakin fulfilled the prophecy because he wiped out both the Jedi and the Sith. The Force is in perfect balance at the end of ROTJ, because there is just one Jedi remaining (Luke), and probably one Sith (the Inquisitor, or Talzin, or Ventress, or whatever).

      Also, balance isn’t a state of immobility. It’s just like a seesaw, as Echo-07 awesomely described, so it has alternating moments of inbalance around the center.
      I expect the ST to be the moment when the seesaw reaches exactly the center, which is when the forces are completely balanced.

      To achieve perfect balance, the Jedi (and/or the Sith) will commune with the Force, understanding that the secret for perfection is to accept both the Light and the Darkness within oneself, thus reaching the One, or the Nirvana.

    • May 29, 2014 at 11:12 pm
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      So maybe you are suggesting that Neo (Luke) will have to sacrifice himself to defeat the Big Baddie (Agent Smith) in order for there to be balance with the Force (between the machine world and real world)? As I have said over and over before, I hope to… God? … that Star Wars does not just end up another savior story like the Matrix trilogy and the New Testament. Been there, done that. Give us something new that transcends the tired old biblical and other religious stories…

  • May 29, 2014 at 8:24 pm
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    My big question: Did Anakin fulfil the prophecy or not? If the prophecy was fulfilled and everything back in balance at the end of ROTJ, then Abrams/ Kasdan will have to explain how the force has got back out of balance so quickly for another round of good vs evil in Ep. 7..

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:32 pm
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      Well, heres a Crazy idea, what if the force doesn’t go out of “balance” in the next movies?

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:07 pm
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      Didn’t you read the article…or think with your head? balance in the force is an equal balance of light and darkside in the universe. It doesn’t mean no sith.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:23 pm
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      No i didn’t read the article and i don’t really even care about the force side of Star Wars. It was interesting in the original movies and fun to use in some video games but other then that i don’t really care about it, lightside, darkside bla bla bla the universe goes on.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:30 pm
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      I would just forget that Force prophecy nonsense and go back to what made the classic Star Wars films great in the first place.

  • May 29, 2014 at 8:39 pm
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    Wow, you pulled that Legion quote out from way back during speculation on Episode ones villains. When there was a rumor about a Legion of Sith. Like the Legion in the Bible.

  • May 29, 2014 at 8:42 pm
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    This nonsense is why I hope Episode 7 is just a sequel to the Darth Vader story that the saga previously became. The problems and inconsistencies of the previous saga came because it was a story Lucas kept stretching and reforming. This new episode would do well to be more of a self contained three parter sequel then yet another made up stretch of a story that at this point is as closed as it can be.

    • May 29, 2014 at 8:49 pm
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      I’m still waiting for Star Wars to sever its self from the Skywalkers. But yeah if this next Star Wars movie is not self contained i will most likely hate it.

  • May 29, 2014 at 8:47 pm
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    Oh Lord, please give us a dark and occulty Ep 7.

  • May 29, 2014 at 9:07 pm
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    A great read, Echo-7, as always. I’ve had this same topic come up in conversations over the years, and I actually have a slightly different take on the whole Balance of the Force issue. For what it’s worth…

    I’ve always seen the imbalance in the Force as mentioned in the PT as being more along the lines of the way cancer throws the human body out of balance. The Sith were, of course, that cancer.

    The Jedi, for all their tendencies (at least by the time of the events of the PT) to fall into the same sort of bureaucratic traps and conceits that plagued the Senate (minus the outright corruption, of course) tended to focus a great deal on living in harmony with the Force. There was always a sense of something akin to the “Prime Directive” from Star Trek in the way that they were careful to avoid manipulation of the planetary societies they were sent to assist. (Which, of course, fits in with the “knowledge and defense” thing that Yoda mentioned, as opposed to attack and aggression – of which there is always an element in forcing more help on somebody than they have asked for.)

    So I would argue that the Force was in balance when the Jedi were serving in their role as diplomats and peace keepers.

    Then came the Sith.

    It wasn’t just that the Sith were tapping into the dark side, nor just that they were manipulating the Senate and galactic events overall in order to sow chaos.

    It was also that they forced the Jedi to set aside their traditional, harmonious role as diplomats and peace keepers in order to wage war. In that sense, the Sith manipulated circumstances to push the entire Jedi Order toward the dark side.

    Which worked like a charm, of course. In the end, after years of war and destruction on a galactic scale, with the Jedi in the thick of it, the citizens of the Republic were more than willing to believe that the Jedi had attempted to assassinate the Chancellor and seize power for themselves.

    Like a cancer, the Sith spread their darkness throughout the Republic, caused the Jedi to become something that they were never supposed to be, and thus threw the Force further and further off balance.

    Therefore, I do not believe that the Force in balance would require parity between light and dark Force users. Rather, it would require that those who use the Force do so in harmony with the Force itself (i.e., following the Light side) and that those who would twist the Force for their own dark purposes be purged.

    Again, it’s much the same way that a human body is not brought back into balance by ensuring an equal number of normal cells and cancerous cells, but rather by purging the body of the cancerous cells so that the normal cells are free to do what they’re supposed to do.

    Just my two cents on the whole thing. As always, your mileage may vary. ;^)

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:41 pm
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      I agree, with the exception that I think the Jedi were already losing their balance before the Sith showed up. They were teetering. Not dark, still trying to do good, but so confident that they were that they stopped self-analyzing. The Republic was rife with corruption before Palpatine came to power. The Sith took advantage of built in instability to do what you said. The cancer didn’t win on its own. It had a ready host that didn’t realize how vulnerable it was.

      Attachment is problematic, but the Jedi didn’t try to overcome attachment emotionally and philosophically, they just put a rule in the books and called it a day. That doesn’t work. Overcoming attachment requires acknowledging it and not letting it rule you. Anakin has compassion, wants to be a good guy Jedi, cause he feels love for his mother and knows everyone has a mother. The Jedi want a causeless effect. Compassion without love. But there attached too. The Jedi are attached to the Jedi Order and the Republic. But since they don’t see it, they can’t see that it affects their decision making and think past it. The Jedi couldn’t help Anakin from falling because they refuse to deal with attachment, how to make the right decision anyway, so they can’t empathize and teach, only ban. True balance is, “I love my wife and kids, but I also understand that good is loving selflessly and understanding that everyone is loved by someone. Therefore, i won’t help the Sith destroy other families in order to save my own.” “I won’t turn help this guy nuke a city to save my own family.”

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:07 pm
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      Excellent points, Jeffrey. And I agree. By the time of the events of Episode I, the Jedi had already ossified into another sort of bureaucracy. Then again, the Senate was already badly corrupted by that time as well. My understanding was that, while Palpatine had not yet come to power, the Sith had been quietly manipulating things behind the scenes for a long time.

      And of course, the Jedi had also become rigid and stagnant in their own way. And this helped to bring about their downfall. From a Taoist standpoint, their rigidity made it inevitable that a strong enough wind would eventually break them.

      As you point out, merely pretending that one could simply turn their back on emotional attachment and have done with it was, in and of itself, an example of ways in which the Jedi themselves did not necessarily live in harmony with the Force. Whether this was an inherent flaw of the Jedi Order going all the way back, or whether it was something that the Jedi had fallen into over time, this lack of empathy and understanding of “human” nature was a major problem. If not for that, Anakin may never have fallen to the dark side in the first place.

      This is why I really think that we’re going to see a very different kind of Jedi Order in the new films. Because Luke managed to do the impossible and bring Darth Vader back from the dark side through exactly what the Old Republic Jedi so roundly dismissed: empathy and love.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:20 pm
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      If the Sith are the cancer, and the Jedi are the healthy cells, then the Mortis Arc, which was written with the help of Lucas himself, doesn’t make sense.

      In the Mortis Arc we don’t see the Father plagued with some disease and with no children. We see the Father, the Son and the Daughter.
      It’s really easy to interpret it as the One, the Dark and the Light.

      In esoteric symbolism the duality of the Universe is presented using Light and Dark, but also Female and Male. In the Mortis Arc we see both representation.
      So I tend to believe that Lucas is following the traditional esoteric philosophy, and so he believes in an actual duality of the universe, in a constant battle for supremacy.

    • May 30, 2014 at 12:06 am
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      Totally agree – Sith = cancer. Destroy Sith = destroy cancer === bring balance to the Force (Universe)

    • May 30, 2014 at 12:13 am
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      Blue Comet, that would mean that if there were a million Sith and a million Jedi battling their way across the galaxy and leaving rubble of planet after planet in the process, the Force would be in balance since there were an equal number of each.

      I’m pretty sure that’s not what Lucas had in mind either.

  • May 29, 2014 at 9:20 pm
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    And what about Ahsoka Tano? Maybe she was still around during a new hope

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:37 pm
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      I hope he decapitated that bitch.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:12 pm
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      I don’t get the hate towards Ahsoka. Maybe she was annoying in the first TCW season, but she became an awesome character by the end of it. I hope we will see her in Rebels.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:35 pm
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      To begin with, Star Wars never showed before a strong Jedi female lead, and so the character of Ahsoka was a good idea.
      She presents some traits that were shown in Anakin, but from a different point of view, which is that of a female young padawan who is firmly convinced of the benefits of democracy (as opposed to Anakin’s tendency towards dictatorship), but who also stuggles to understand the Jedi ways, having a strong ego (and his Master Anakin doesn’t really help with that).

      She is also the only Jedi to really understand the flaws of the Jedi Order.
      Having fought the war, having seen what the Jedi had to do for the peace, having understood the motives of the separatists, and how easily the Republic was bended by corporative forces, she decides to leave the order, just before its collapse.
      In that moment she demonstrated a great foresight and wisdom.

      And also, she is very cute. 🙂

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:44 pm
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      She is very cute ? shes a cartoon. The Kotor games have better jedi female character then Ahsoka, she is definitely not the only jedi to see the flaws in the jedi order. I think you give her too much credit.

    • May 30, 2014 at 7:14 am
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      you’re bashing someone for thinking a cartoon character is cute? What, is there some rule that only “real” people can be cute? That’s like saying that people should not have cartoon characters as their forum avatar… oh wait, Duke, you do have a cartoon character as one.

    • May 30, 2014 at 7:17 am
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      Ahsoka was an awesome character. She was strong-willed, talented, had an interesting character design, and learned as the show progressed.

      Not to ignite some OT hatred, but what is so good about, let’s say, Boba Fett? The guy was pretty one dimensional through the entire saga.

    • May 30, 2014 at 10:34 am
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      You Anonymous are so funny, i make a statement and you automatically think i’m “bashing” somebody. Rest assured Anonymous if i was bashing him my comment would be block.Great work on only focusing on that one thing Anonymous & Boba Fett is an overrated character.

  • May 29, 2014 at 9:22 pm
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    My two-cents, the concept of midichlorians aren’t bad, but they were used badly in the prequels. They add little to nothing to the story and have no payoff. But in the Darth Plagieus book, there is payoff, something I hope Ep. VII has.

  • May 29, 2014 at 9:25 pm
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    I would also say that the fact that Sequel Trilogy is being made at all indicates that the Chosen One prophecy will be disproven or at least reinterpreted. This should be interesting.

    • May 29, 2014 at 9:55 pm
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      Or possibly ignored. Even the OT ignored the Chosen One prophecy. Didn’t hurt them.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:06 pm
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      Swing and a miss.

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:06 am
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      Like my earlier comment, the problem wasn’t the concept but the execution (In fact this is the main problem with the prequels when you really think about it). The Mortis trilogy at least gave the prophecy some weight and payoff, let’s hope Ep. VII gives does it better.

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:09 am
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      One possibility I’ve thought of (but probably won’t happen) is that the prophecy was actually a lie, a Sith lie in fact, thought up by none other than Darth Bane, to weaken the Jedi Order.

    • May 30, 2014 at 7:11 am
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      Jake, now you’re getting into The Lego Movie territory.

  • May 29, 2014 at 9:55 pm
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    Wow. Oh wow. What a load of crap. I shall simply leave a quote from someone who actually understood the force and had common sense. This is Gary Kurtz talking about the original star wars-
    “The concept of the force was an important one to the story, and the difficulty was trying to create a religious spiritual concept that works in a very simple way without heavy exposition and without it seeming to pull down the story”.

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:16 pm
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      Why isn’t Gary Kurtz involved with VII as a consultant?

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:13 am
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      It would be so nice if he was involved. It’s pretty understandable though, George has probably had a fair few unkind words about him to Kathy and dragged his name through the mud.

    • May 30, 2014 at 3:51 am
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      This is what concerns me. Even though Lucas’ role with the new movies has been drastically reduced, he still has the ability to influence it negatively.

  • May 29, 2014 at 10:20 pm
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    Viral,
    I just want to say THANK YOU for not putting spoilers in your headlines! I’m all for taking part in the fun of speculating. But I don’t want to KNOW plot details that are for certain (or rumored to be for certain). Other sites say the spoiler in their subject line. I no longer visit those web sites. So just keep doing what you’re doing. Thanks!

    • May 29, 2014 at 10:41 pm
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      Yes, thank you.

    • May 30, 2014 at 3:52 am
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      Thanks a bunch!

  • May 29, 2014 at 10:42 pm
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    unrelated to this post, but is anyone aware if the public radio plays are canon?

  • May 29, 2014 at 11:16 pm
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    I never got into the Clone Wars stuff, so I am asking… Was it revealed in the shows that Plagieus was Sidious’ mentor, or in a novel? If in the book, does this not mean that this lineage is potentially no longer canon? Nothing I remember about the movies state when Plagieus lived. For all we know he could have been generations before Ep1?

    • May 29, 2014 at 11:27 pm
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      You’re correct. As far as I know, TCW does not make any mention of that.

      I do think it’s likely that Darth Plagueis will be confirmed as Palpatine’s master since Lucas had so much input into the Plagueis novel (with the intention of it being “the highest level of canon”). Since the novel is no longer canon it would have to be substantiated elsewhere, but it seems likely.

  • May 29, 2014 at 11:37 pm
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    As I´m reading your article, there ar mistakes in it. Let´s begin with pure speculations of anything before Sidious and Phantom Menace, as those informations are non canon. No one violated the rule of two. Sidious took Maul as an apprentice AFTER killing his Master. Then he took Tyranus after Maul being killed, then he took Vader….and it´s hard to believe that after all these years and knowing so much about Star Wars you don´t suppose to know that “Sifo Dias” was a personality of a death jedi taken by Sidious to order a clone army….To say it in other words – he took the phone, called to Camino and said – Hello, Master Jedi Syfo Dias here, please make this big clone army for the Republic….thank youuuuuu…..

  • May 29, 2014 at 11:47 pm
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    I do like your speculations Echo-07 even though they are a little long :)…..

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:18 am
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      then learn to read. We EU fans have no problem with this article.

  • May 30, 2014 at 12:35 am
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    It’ll be interesting to see how they work it out in episode 7… Part of my understanding was lead to a belief that another unbalancing of the light side, was to completely ignore their own dark sides… Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate you? Was it that hard for such light beings to control themselves? Upon the remnants of the old order in both Jedi and Sith’s destruction, Luke was left… He felt the dark side, majorly. He would have liked nothing more than to have slaughtered the emperor in hatred… He felt the dark, but controlled himself and kept his own balance whilst even redeeming his father… Him being the last of the Jedi and the one to start a new order, is the produced balance that Anakin brought about.

  • May 30, 2014 at 12:56 am
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    Another way to interpret balance of the force is to equate the dark side to cancer. In order for your body to be healthy and at peace, it must be cancer free. In order for balance in the force to exist, the dark side must be eliminated.

    • May 30, 2014 at 1:01 am
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      That’s how I see it too.

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:15 am
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      That’s how I see it. If it’s balanced then everything is calm and good, then when it’s unbalanced then the sith have come back.

    • May 30, 2014 at 4:01 am
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      I always saw “balanced” as meaning “the good guys win”, not how many Jedi and Sith are in the galaxy.

  • May 30, 2014 at 1:16 am
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    Fun read!

    Only one problem, any of this that is based on EU material that has been pushed over into Legends will now likely be overwritten.

    What if Anakin did bring about the balance of the Force by fathering Luke? What if Luke IS the balance of the Force. Not Sith, not Jedi. But something in between. Something new.

  • May 30, 2014 at 1:24 am
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    Well the PT imbalanced the OT and the ST will balance everything.
    Therefore the balanced equation is
    OT – PTxTCW =ST.
    So if you take out the PT and TCW nonsense from the OT, you get the ST. Balanced the force equation!

    • May 30, 2014 at 2:13 am
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      Except there was a lot of “nonsense” in the OT.

    • May 30, 2014 at 3:10 am
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      Careful Anon 2:24 – You’re mixing complex and imaginary terms. Someone’s head will explode trying to understand it. Besides, I think it’s better written this way (S for saga)…

      S = (OT+ST)-(PTxTCW)

    • May 30, 2014 at 7:08 am
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      Or…

      S= OT+ PT+ST

  • May 30, 2014 at 2:17 am
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    Echo-07:

    Please, please, please, PLEASE write an article about the Force ghosts. Why did the ghosts occur in the first place? Was this done by the Force itself to “reward” those important to the prophecy? What purpose will they play in Episode VII and beyond? Will the Sith have Force ghosts? If the Star Wars saga is really the story of Anakin’s rise, fall, and redemption, shouldn’t we be talking about Hayden Christensen appearing in VII?

  • May 30, 2014 at 3:08 am
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    I’ve done my best to stay positive on this blog. This though…please enough of this. Not mythology…but the Clone Wars episode about the archtypal good, neutral, and evil guys…I truly thought out of all TCW episodes, that set was the worst by far.

  • May 30, 2014 at 3:24 am
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    Midi-chlorians are not, and never were meant to explain the Force, or be the Force. They are tiny facilitators for the Force.

    To every one who has a problem with midi-chlorians, try this…

    ——-
    Anakin Skywalker: Master, sir, I’ve been wondering…what are eyeballs?

    Qui-Gon Jinn: Eyeballs are small organs that reside within everyone’s face and communicate with the light.

    Anakin Skywalker: In my face?

    Qui-Gon Jinn: In your face, yes.

    Qui-Gon Jinn: Without eyeballs, we would have no knowledge of the Light, and we would be blind. When you learn to open your eyes, you will see.

    ——-
    Rainbows and sunsets are, to my eyeballs, just as mysterious and wonderful as after I learned about optics.

  • May 30, 2014 at 3:29 am
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    I think you are very close in your thinking. However I believe that Luke would have trained Leia first as Yoda’s last command before his death. A Jedi always follows his masters orders except for Anakin. I believe Leia was the second Jedi. And to further that she trained Jaina and Luke knighted her after. This would complete Leia’s mastership. I believe that VII will open with Jaina and the other kids trained but untested. Also will still stand that the movie will center on the holograms from the Jedi temple and the final test is for the kids to recover them. On Tattoine and maybe Hoth. This is where Jaina and the others are jumped by Sith apprentices and we know that the balance is back. And they learn of the sith which they have been taught about.

    Remember the story was rewritten from Arndt’s adaptation. Also remember Mark Hamill speaking for the group last year saying they were pushing for a non CGI movie and to bring back the old props. I believe they the big three held out and did not sign until the changes were made to the story. Thus the rewrite… Thus the new story and I am sure they had something to say with JJ about the story with Lucas behind them. We will probably read about this sometime in the future after the movie comes out. It would be very bad for Disney who after all is really about the money and Mark Hamill and the rest of the big three saying Episode VII sucked because of this this and that… Plus they would loose a huge fan base which they want to capture which are us original episode folks…

    So in my opinion educated as well I expect some remnant of the Empire to include storm trooper (old school). Force ghosts of Yoda (remember Luke is the only one who can see him), Obi One, and Anakin. Leia might be able to see Anakin since Darth Vader knew her when he held her captive. Also expect the Emperor to visit his apprentice who ever that is. There is your balance you speak of.

    Again I believe that Mark Hamill and the rest held out and would not sign until the changes were made to the script with Lucas backing them. Read between the lines. Thus the story that Lucas wanted and also JJ wanted all the stops pulled out. Arndt was Disney’s choice not JJ’s. Again the rewrite… I hope this shed’s some light for everyone…

    • May 30, 2014 at 4:12 am
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      This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    • May 30, 2014 at 6:38 am
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      According to George Lucas, Hamill, Ford and Fisher were already signed up for the film by 2012, and that was long before the various script redrafts. Any changes in character focus were enforced by the writers and producers, not the actors.

    • May 31, 2014 at 6:18 am
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      You do not know that for sure John and it is purely speculation on the press release. As with any large business there is only so much the public will ever know. He might have said that and he did after it was announced of the rewrite. Again read between the lines… Lucas probably said that after they had a deal with Disney and agreed on the rewrite then later it was announced to the public…

    • May 31, 2014 at 6:38 am
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      Also I believe that when Lucas called them all together the big three and told him he was selling to Disney and Lucas explained to them this is what he expected. Then after the sale Disney changed lanes on him and thus the hold out from the big three. If Lucas had them signed Hamill, Ford and Fisher would have not been all ummmm about it. Hamill saying we are talking ring a bell? Again Disney tried to change lanes on them and have them in supporting roles and not the main characters. So the big three changed lanes on them as well. I am sure Ford had his own deal working with Indiana Jones and probably had a hand shake from Lucas on it before Disney rolled in. Ford would not have rolled with the movie if he was in a back seat plus of the big three he is the most expensive. Remember Hamill saying “this is what WE want! and what we are asking for!”? Also read his last tweet posted in the other place… We are in good hands now? And the fans will thank us later??? Way to go Mark! Way to go! Business folks pure business…

  • May 30, 2014 at 5:57 am
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    Mark hammill does not wield that kind of power man. He is not actually Luke Skywalker. I like him, but the reasons for the rewrite was merely difference of opinions on direction. Probably even amiably. That’s how movie making and creative process in general operates. No biggie. I personally hope there is no mention of balance. I would like to see a new story, same universe.

  • May 30, 2014 at 7:25 am
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    Though I liked where a lot of that was going, it seems odd to have a 1000-year old prophecy that there will be a couple years of balance a millennia later. I’d kind of like to see that balance last a little.

  • May 30, 2014 at 8:38 am
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    Echo talks a lot of the Balance in the force but when he adds up the light side users and darkside users and find that the Jedi outnumbers the sith and therfore conclude that the light side is the stronger side he do not count in the nightsisters. But later in the article he uses them. Should not the nightsisters be reckoned in the Balance between light and dark?

  • May 30, 2014 at 7:15 pm
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    Luke and Leia are not the only force sensitives alive after ROTJ. O66 only was to wipe out JEDI. Not ex-Jedi, not untrained force sensitives. Based on this we can infer that it would be highly probable that there are more beings who have a high enough midi-clorian count to access the force.

    I don’t remember what book I was reading that they described midi-clorians in but it said: <2500 mc= normal, 2500-5000= force sensitive but not enough to be trained, >5000= trainable.

  • May 31, 2014 at 6:28 am
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    Luke was the last of the Jedi at the end of ROTJ according to Yoda. And remember the film’s are now Canon and not the EU. With that being said Leia was the next to be trained and again on orders from Yoda to Luke at the time he died. Now that we all know what is Canon and what is not go back and again rewatch the OT. Especially ROTJ where Yoda is dying there is a lot of intel there on the future. Lucas left many easter eggs there and also with what Ben tells him after. You will see Leia as a Jedi she might be a politician and not practicing but will show that she has powers sometime in the movie. My hope is they have a scene with her wielding a Lightsabre thus the reason she was asked to get into shape. She could have stayed a little heavy and been hidden in the fab wardrobes that she wears as a politician. But they asked her to get into some type of shape for a reason.

  • May 31, 2014 at 10:34 pm
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    Definitely a Nightsister/Sithwitch character, and whomever said she was fat was full of bullocks, that is a pic of a very slender female, look through the sheer fabric at her figure. The face is painted in a definite black/white witch pattern. Her nose isn’t missing, it’s painted black and continues to forehead. Notice the pattern on her eyes and cheeks. Kudos to the costume designer, that outfit rocks, it’s sinister, yet elegant, very beautiful cut and flow, especially when things get physical. I bet she doesn’t make an appearance till near the end of the movie, setting things up for the next two films. She is either played by Lupita Nyong’o or Maisie Sellers, hence why keeping the role and the actor playing it secret. Perhaps both are in the film as Nightsister’s, which would be awesome.

  • May 31, 2014 at 10:45 pm
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    I forgot to mention, apparently it was a family member of Ray Santos that saw the image and posted it w/o permission, thereby MR Santos unfortunately has been removed from SWVII and demoted to Disney’s game/animation department. Which gives credence to the authenticity of the image, if it was some minor unimportant costumed extra, Mr Santo’s wouldn’t have received such harsh punishment. Therefore it must be a Nightsister and a major player in the film or later films.

  • June 1, 2014 at 4:55 am
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    On second thought after enlarging the pic and sharpening the image, it appears the actor is entering a tent, what I thought was part of the robe is in fact the flap of a tent, with tassels. The right side of the person is still outside the tent, hence the silhouette. That is the sun in the upper portion. What appears to be a costume might be one of those delicate Arabian robes to hide the actors makeup and costume from prying eyes and cameras, will have to wait and see. The main point of the image it is most definitely a Nightsister, the makeup is a giveaway, but the costume is either the robe, or what’s hidden under Arab garb.

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