Welcome to the final look Inside the Holocron, for the time being, of course. A collection of articles from the archives of *StarWars.Com no longer directly available.
(*Archived here with Permission)
Mysteries of the Force
“The Force evolved out of various developments of character and plot,” said George Lucas in an interview with Empire Strikes Back publicist Alan Arnold in 1979. “I began to distill the essence of all religions into what I thought was a basic idea common to all religions and common to primitive thinking. I wanted to develop something that was nondenominational but still had a kind of religious reality.”
The idea of the Force is what many would agree distinguishes Star Wars from your typical space adventure — it’s at the heart of the Star Wars mythos, lending a spiritual dimension to a classic story which just happens to take place in a galaxy far, far away. The latest set of Clone Wars episodes — the Mortis trilogy, which ends with Friday’s “Ghosts of Mortis” — have given fans a rare glimpse into the mysteries of the Force, allowing us to form a clearer picture of its influences from the vague clues Lucas has scattered throughout the saga.
We’ve gathered a selection of quotes in which Lucas defines his concept of the Force, from the earliest mention in A New Hope’s 1975 second draft to the introduction of midi-chlorians in 1999, a concept which Lucas actually established in an internal 1977 story discussion:
1975:
(Note: The following two passages come from a very early draft of A New Hope in which the Force is defined as having two parts, the Ashla — a name later considered for Ahsoka’s character — and the Bogan, both of which could be channeled through a talisman called the “Kiber Crystal.” These concepts would ultimately be dropped from the script as it evolved)
“…[T]he “FORCE OF OTHERS” has two halves: Ashla, the good, and Bogan, the paraforce or evil part. Fortunately, [a holy man called the Skywalker] came to know the good half and was able to resist the paraforce; but he realized that if he taught others the way of the Ashla, some, with less strength, might come to know Bogan, the dark side, and bring unthinkable suffering to the Universe.”
— Luke’s dialog, Star Wars: Adventures of the Starkiller (second draft, Jan 28, 1975)
“A Jedi can use [the Kiber Crystal] to intensify the Ashla force a hundred fold; but, remember it can also be used to intensify the power of the Bogan…It must not fall into the hands of the Sith…They would do anything to have it.
— Owen’s dialog, Star Wars: Adventures of the Starkiller (second draft, Jan 28, 1975)
1976:
“Well, the Force is what gives the Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”
— Obi-Wan’s dialog, Star Wars: A New Hope screenplay (final)
1977:
“I have come to the conclusion that there is a force larger than the individual. It is controlled by the individuals, and it controls them. All I’m saying is that the pure soul is connected to a larger energy field that you would begin to understand if you went all the way back and saw yourself in your purest sense.”
— 1977 interview excerpt published in The Making of Star Wars
“The Force is really a way of feeling; it’s a way of being with life. It really has nothing to do with weapons. The Force gives you the power to have extrasensory perception and to be able to see things and hear things, read minds and levitate things. It is said that certain creatures are born with a higher awareness of the Force than humans. Their brains are different; they have more midi-chlorians in their cells.”
— 1977 interview excerpt published in The Making of Star Wars
“The act of living generates a force field, an energy. That energy surrounds us; when we die, that energy joins with all the other energy. There is a giant mass of energy in the universe that has a good side and a bad side. We are part of the Force because we generate the power that makes the Force live. When we die, we become part of that Force, so we never really die; we continue as part of the Force.”
— Lucas quotes paraphrased from 1977 Empire story conference transcripts for Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays
1979:
“For my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we…(Yoda pinches Luke’s shoulder)…not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you…me…the tree…the rock…everywhere! Yes, even between this land and that ship!”
— Yoda’s dialog, The Empire Strikes Back screenplay
1980:
“The Force has two sides. It is not a malevolent or a benevolent thing. It has a bad side to it, involving hate and fear, and it has a good side, involving love, charity, fairness and hope. If you use it well, you can see the future and the past. You can sort of read minds and you can levitate and use that whole netherworld of psychic energy.”
— Time Magazine (May 1980)
1999:
“Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life form that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force… 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.”
— Qui-Gon’s dialog, The Phantom Menace screenplay
“Bringing midi-chlorians into it as a device is something that existed from the beginning but I never really had the time to go into any explanation…why the Force is strong with some people and not strong with other people. I also liked the idea of symbiotic relationships — which again is an ongoing theme in the whole movie, people helping people, that there may be a completely different race of life form that lives inside your body that are completely independent of you but has some influence over you.”
— Episode I DVD commentary
“The overriding philosophy in Episode I — and in all the Star Wars movies, for that matter — is the balance between good and evil. The Force itself breaks into two sides: the living Force and a greater, cosmic Force. The living Force makes you sensitive to other living things, makes you intuitive, and allows you to read other people’s minds, et cetera. But the greater Force has to do with destiny. In working with the Force, you can find your destiny and you can choose to either follow it, or not.”
— Star Wars: The Making of Episode I (book)